Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions contains the papers accepted for Rock Mechanics:

Meifeng Cai
the 2nd ISRM International Young Scholars’ Symposium on Rock Mechanics,

Achievements and Ambitions

which was sponsored by the ISRM and held on 14–16 October 2011 in Beijing,
China, immediately preceding the 12th ISRM Congress on Rock Mechanics.

Highlighting the work of young teachers, researchers and practitioners, the

present work provides an important stimulus for the next generation of rock
engineers, because in the future there will be more emphasis on the use of the
Earth’s resources and their sustainability, and more accountability of engineers’
decisions. In this context, it is entirely appropriate that the Symposium venue for
the young scholars was in China — because of the rock mechanics related work Editor:
that is anticipated in the future. For example, in the Chinese Academy of Sciences
report, “Energy Science and Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050”, it is
predicted that China’s total energy demand will reach 31, 45, 61 and 66 x 108 tce
Meifeng Cai
(tonnes of coal equivalent) in 2010, 2020, 2035, 2050. The associated per capita
energy consumption for the same years is estimated at 2.3, 3.1, 4.1 and 4.6 tce.
This increasing demand will be met, inter alia, by the continued operation and
development of new coal mines, hydroelectric plants and nuclear power stations
with one or more underground nuclear waste repositories, all of which will be
improved by more modern methods of rock engineering design developed by
young scholars. In particular, enhanced methods of site investigation, rock

Achievements and Ambitions

characterisation, rock failure understanding, computer modelling, and rock
excavation and support are needed. The topics in the book include contributions on:

- Field investigation and observation

- Rock constitutive relations and property testing
- Numerical and physical modeling for rock engineering
- Information technology, artificial intelligence and other advanced techniques

Rock Mechanics:
- Underground and surface excavation and reinforcement techniques
- Dynamic rock mechanics and blasting
- Predication and prevention of geo-environmental hazard
- Case studies of typical rock engineering

Many of the 200 papers address these topics and demonstrate the skills of
the young scholars, indicating that we can be confident in the continuing
development of rock mechanics and rock engineering, leading to more efficient,
safer and economical structures built on and in rock masses. Rock Mechanics:
Achievements and Ambitions will appeal to professionals, engineers and
academics in rock mechanics, rock engineering, tunnelling, mining, earthquake
engineering, rock dynamics and geotechnical engineering.

an informa business

ISRM young scholar FINAL 3b.indd 1 01-09-2011 16:07:15

ROCK MECHANICS: ACHIEVEMENTS AND AMBITIONS
This page intentionally left blank
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2ND ISRM INTERNATIONAL YOUNG SCHOLARS’ SYMPOSIUM ON
ROCK MECHANICS, BEIJING, CHINA, 14–16 OCTOBER 2011

Rock Mechanics: Achievements

and Ambitions
Editor
Meifeng Cai
Chairman, Commission on Education of the International Society for Rock Mechanics

Editing Members
Jin’an Wang, Mowen Xie, Shijie Qu,
Bo Song, Zhuoying Tan, Shengjun Miao
CRC Press
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International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4665-1273-3 (eBook - PDF)

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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Table of Contents

Preface XV
Organization XVII
Acknowledgements XIX

The ISRM young members presidential group

On ‘the way ahead’ for the ISRM and its young members – South America 3
L.O. Suarez-Burgoa

Field investigation and observation

New development of In-situ stress measurement with hydraulic fracturing technique
at great depth in China 13
M.F. Cai, H. Peng & X.M. Ma
Application of microseismic monitoring technology on fully mechanized top-coal caving
face of extra-thick coal seam 17
Q.G. Huang & J. Zhao
Study of the horizontal crack of hard rock or sprayed concrete on high sidewall
of large underground cavern 21
Q. Jiang, X.T. Feng, C.P. Shi, C. Jing & Y.J. Jiang
Field investigation and surface detection techniques of abandoned coal mine goafs 27
R.T. Liu, W. Li & H.S. Ma
Optical fiber sensing technology in deformation monitoring shaft of Jinchuan Mine 31
Z.H. Liu, G. Gao, F.G. Xu & Z.J. Chen
Application of high-density resistivity method in investigation of mountainous highway tunnel 35
P. Wang, P.P. Liu & L. Zhang
Study on characteristics and change regularity of tunnel sidewall cracks 41
D. Wei, T.M. Wang, R.Q. Ma, G.L. Wang, C.L. Cheng & D.M. Miao
Prediction of rockburst based on microseismic monitoring technology 45
A.X. Wu, X.H. Liu & C.L. Wang
Comprehensive analysis of large trapezoidal section workings’ stability in broken rock mass 51
Y.P. Wu, X.M. Wu & Z.Z. Chen
Numerical simulation of controlled perimeter blasting and field test on the fracture zones
in Guanjiao tunnel 57
Y.Q. Yu, Y.B. Lu & Y.P. Lu
Analysis of excavation damaged zone of auxiliary tunnel based on field wave velocity test at
the Jinping hydropower station 65
J.W. Zhou, X.G. Yang, H.T. Li, H.W. Zhou & W. Hu

Rock constitutive relations and property testing

Microstructure characteristic and mechanical behavior of mudstone under water environment 75
J. Chen, X.T. Feng, Q. Jiang, S.J. Li & H. Gao

V
Coupling between inherent and induced anisotropies in sedimentary rocks 81
L. Chen, Y.M. Liu & J.F. Shao
Experimental study on the adsorption content of coal 87
L.H. Cheng, S.G. Li, H.F. Lin & T.J. Zhang
Experimental study on the reticular cutting rock fragmentation with the teeth of single cone bit 91
R. Deng, Q. Hu & Y.B. Xu
The macro-mesoscopic property and particle-number influences of rock uniaxial
compression numerical simulation based on parallel-bond model 97
X. Du, Y.W. Zeng, Y. Li & Y. Cao
Experiment study of the thermal deformation of in-situ gas coal 103
Z.J. Feng, Y.S. Zhao & Z.J. Wan
Microcosmic structure analysis by SEM and creep test on undersea tunnel tuff 109
S.B. Gu, C.Q. Wang, S.T. Gu, F.H. Yu & S.B. Gu
The method for overcoming salt formations creep by using the relationship of drilling
fluids density and chloride ion content 113
B. Hou, M. Chen, Y. Jin, X.M. Liu & G.P. Chen
Analysis of empirical estimation of rock mass modulus and its application 117
J.J. Jiao, S.C. Wu, H.L. Han, X.W. Du & L.C. Niu
Experimental study on mechanical mechanism of reinforced cracked rock mass 123
A.B. Jin, F.G. Deng & S.X. Ming
Study on variation of pore water pressure in dredger fill by vacuum preloading 127
Y.Y. Li, Q. Wang, X.L. Peng, H.G. Wang, Y.B. Xia, Y.J. Chen & J. Liu
Damage experiment of projectile penetration into high-strength concrete 133
M.Q. Lin, Y.Y. Xia, Z.X. Xiao & X.B. Guo
Visco-elastical constitutive model identification of rock mass 139
B.G. Liu
Study on failure process and fracture modes of a rock bridge under stress by laser
real time holographic interferometry 145
D.M. Liu & S.J. Miao
Study on deterioration law of rock strength parameters based on PFC simulation method 151
Y. Liu, M.F. Cai, Z.J. Yang, W.C. Wu & X. Chen
Fracture analysis of jointed rock mass based on nonlinear FEM and physical experiment 155
Y.R. Liu, Z.X. Cui, Q. Yang & L. Zhang
Study on the constitutive relation of mudstone by nonlinear large deformation measurement
of borehole 161
Y.H. Lu, M. Chen, Y. Jin, J.B. Yuan, F. Zhang & L.C. Jia
Experimental and fractal study on the critical loading force for rock fragmentation by pick tine 167
H.S. Ma, H.G. Ji & L.J. Yin
Experimental study on permeability of Beishan granite 173
L.K. Ma, J. Wang, X.G. Zhao & L.G. Tham
Experimental study on the dielectric constant of tectonic coal 177
L. Meng, Y.D. Jiang, J. Zhu, Y.X. Zhao, M.J. Liu & Y.G. Wang
Research of I type fracture parameters of rock using DSCM 183
Y.M. Song, Y.D. Jiang & R.Y. Shan
Research on freezing ring of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) storage based on multi-coupling
theory under low-temperature 189
M.M. Tang, Z.Y. Wang & P.J. Duan

VI
Mechanical behavior of claystone exposed to high temperatures and its possible
impacts on the stability of a deep nuclear waste repository 193
H. Tian, M. Ziegler & T. Kempka
Experimental research on consolidation properties of tailings granule in paste discharge 199
H.J. Wang, S.K. Yang, A.X. Wu & H.Z. Jiao
Creep behavior of a soft rock in triaxial compression and shear conditions 205
W. Wang, T.G. Liu, W.Y. Xu, Z.L. Zhang & H.C. Wang
Measurement on thermal conductivity of compacted GMZ001 bentonite 211
J.L. Xie, Y.M. Liu & W.J. Jiang
Acoustic emission characteristics and strength variation of skarn under true triaxial test 215
S.C. Xu, X.T. Feng & B.R. Chen
Experimental research on aperture evolution of single granite fracture under stress-chemical
solution permeation condition 221
J.B. Yang, X.T. Feng, L.F. Shen & P.Z. Pan
Study on mechanical properties of porous rock by CT technique 229
Y.M. Yang, Y. Ju, L.T. Mao, Y. Ju & L.T. Mao
Mechanical properties of sandstone after cyclic drying and wetting 235
H.Y. Yao, Z.H. Zhang & P.Z. Pan
Estimation of the elastic tensile and compressive modulus through measuring the
displacement filed in Brazilian disc test 239
J.H. Ye, Y. Zhang, H.G. Ji & F.Q. Wu
Characterization by X-ray computed tomography of the bedding planes influence
on excavation damaged zone of a plastic clay 245
S. You & H.G. Ji
Experimental study on shear behavior of rock mass discontinuity under special stress condition 249
Q.Z. Zhang, M.R. Shen & W.Q. Ding
A new calculation model of mechanical parameters of the joints without cutting through free face 255
B. Zhao & Z.Y. Wang

Numerical and physical modeling for rock engineering

Impact of joint inclination and confining pressure on strength of sandstone 261
Z. Bai & S.C. Wu
Study on water conductive zones in the roof and floor strata induced by mining
of coal seam group under enriched aquifers 265
Q.J. Cao, J.A. Wang & Y. Zhang
Optimization of structural parameters of underground mining caverns with FLAC3D 271
S.X. Chen, Z.Y. Tan, X.F. Cai & H.G. Ren
Numerical study and application on technology of slotting and blasting
down the roof for handling mined-out areas 277
L. Fu, Q. Li, L. Qiao & Y. Li
The recovery scheme determination of steep narrow veins based on 3-D numerical simulation 281
B. Gao, Y.T. Gao, S.C. Wu & Q. Han
Study on the bearing behavior of CFG composite foundation 287
S.G. Huang
Stability analysis of surrounding rock based on measured underground karst
caves and goaf modeling 291
C.H. Li & Y. Cheng

VII
Numerical simulation of heat-supplying tunnel adjacent to subway shield tunnel 297
C.H. Li, S.H. He & X.D. Chen
Stability analysis of stope roof by combined action of anchor cable and anchor rod 301
C.H. Li, H.J. Li & Y. Li
Safety assessment of abandoned stope – method and practice 307
J.P. Li & J.P. Guo
The upright reliability analysis of large stope cemented backfill 313
X. Li, Q. Gao, Z.H. Liu & S.Q. Nan
Effect of water pressure on deformation of roadway surrounding rock based on
solid-liquid coupling theory 321
S.J. Liang
Simulation on influence of different loading rates on Jinping marble in
uniaxial compression test by PFC2D 327
N. Liu & C.S. Zhang
Reliability analysis of the progressive slide of arch dam abutment 331
X.C. Liu & L.Q. Yang
Numerical simulation of liquefaction of saturated sand using discrete element method 337
Y. Liu, F. Jiang & X.D. Zhu
PFC numerical analysis on prediction of ore loss and dilution of ore drawing
below backfilling waste rock layer 341
Z.H. Liu, Q. Gao, X. Li, Z.H. Liu & J.H. Li
Numerical manifold modeling of sliding instability of rock slope 347
X.J. Mu, S.H. Wang, M.D. Guo, Z.P. Feng & S.H. Wang
Numerical simulation on dynamic response of non-destructive test of anchor system 353
Y. Qin & Y.L. Wu
Simulation study on the mechanical stability of subsequent filling mining stope 357
G.H. Sun, S.J. Cai & W.B. Wang
Analysis of deformation and failure effects for the roof of mined-out areas
under mechanical construction load 363
S.R. Wang, H.H. Jia & J.M. Yu
Experiment research of deformation of cavern by using DSCM 369
Z.W. Wang, B.B. Su & S.J. Ma
Numerical simulation research on surrounding-rock control of deep mine cemented paste filling 373
A.X. Wu, H.Z. Jiao, H.J. Wang, S.J. Zhang, Y. Wang & H. Li
Numerical simulation of pressure relief mining in Chengchao iron mine 379
M.G. Xu, Y. Zhang & Y. Li
Numerical calibration of micro-parameters of the mixed gneiss rock in uniaxial compression 385
S.L. Xu, Q.G. Lei & X.J. Li
Numerical simulation research of goaf caving height in soft rock mine 389
Z.L. Xu, X.Y. Kong, Z.G. Li, J. Li & Y. Zhang
Physical simulation study on arrangement about mining roadway with short distance 393
G.C. Yan & Y.Q. Hu
On rationality of the construction methods for wearing tunnels 397
J.H. Yang, X.M. Wen, H.H. Zhu & Y.Q. Shang
Rheological mechanism and numerical simulation of stability analysis in a silty slope 401
P.J. Yue, Z.Y. Tan & L. Wang
Numerical test of fracturing grouting of rock mass 405
F. Zhang, B.G. Liu & T. Li

VIII
A study on natural classification of loose covering strata and its effect on drawing 409
G.J. Zhang
The study of Thermal-Hydrologic-Mechanical (THM) coupled process in dual-porosity rock 413
G.Q. Zhang & B. Cui
Numerical analysis on bolting reliability of jointed rock mass with filling 419
X. Zhang, Y. Yang & J.H. Wang
Optimization design of supporting and analysis of stability for mining tunnel with soft coal seam 425
X.H. Zhang, J.G. Song & Q. Gao
Simulation of tunnel excavation in fractured rock masses using extended finite element method 429
Y.L. Zhang & M.M. Shi
Numerical investigation of the stability of roofing with cemented tailing backfill and its application 435
K. Zhao, Y.Y. Deng, X.J. Wang, Z.H. Xu, L. Liao, C. Gong & X. Yang
Pull-out rheological test of anchorage system and evolution characteristic study of interfacial stress 443
T.B. Zhao, C.L. Liu & Y.L. Tan
Numerical modeling of hard rock dilation effect on fully grouted rebar support 447
X.G. Zhao & S.L. Lu
A numerical study on failure behavior of rock containing three-dimensional pre-existing flaws 453
W.W. Zheng, P. Lin, S.Z. Kang & H. Hu
Study on the wall rock stability of Yantan hydrologic station’s underground caverns 459
J.L. Zhu, H.D. Wang, Y.L. Gao, X.Q. Xue & J.F. Lian

Information technology, artificial intelligence and other advanced techniques

Research on factors influence of deep foundation structured by soil nailing based on grey system theory 467
H.F. Dai, X.B. Xiong & M.B. Wu
Application of three dimensional geological models to geotechnical engineering problems 473
M. Dong, H. Hu & R. Azzam
Stability analysis of jointed rock based on block theory 479
Q.F. Guo, J.H. Liu & X. Wang
Comparative analysis of acoustic emission signal frequency characteristics between
packsand and granite 483
H.G. Ji, Z.F. Hou, Y. Jin & H.W. Wang
A new methodology of block system construction and visualization for three-dimensional
block-group analysis 489
Q.H. Lei & Z.X. Zhang
Study on PSO-GPR intelligent algorithm for saturated uniaxial compressive strength of rock 495
C.H. Li, S.H. He & C. Xu
Stability classification of mine roadways surrounding rock using genetic algorithm neural network 499
P.X. Li, Z.X. Tan, L.L. Yan & K.Z. Deng
Weights determination of tendency indexes of coal bumps and hazard evaluation 505
J.G. Lu, Y.D. Jiang, Y.X. Zhao & J. Zhu
Application of improved AHP method and variable weight theory to rock mass quality evaluation 509
S.Y. Peng, G.J. Li, S.W. Qin & J.Q. Ma
Study of seepage generation technology in excavation process based on 3D geo-mechanical model 513
K.Z. Wang, Z.K. Li, L.J. Cheng, Z.Z. Zhang, F. Lin & Q.Y. Cheng
Three-Dimensional joint modeling and stability analysis of rock blocks around tunnel 519
S.H. Wang, X.J. Mu, Y. Xu, H. Yang & S.H. Wang

IX
GIS-based 3D wedge stability evaluation of a high rock slope 523
Z.F. Wang, M.W. Xie, X.Y. Liu & N. Jia
Failure mode classification and control for surrounding rock of large-scale cavern group 527
T.B. Xiang, X.T. Feng, Q. Jiang & J. Chen
The design of WebGIS-based real-time visual analysis and forecasting system of landslides 535
M.W. Xie & X.Q. Chai
GIS-based three-dimensional real-time dynamic construction management
system for expressway pavement 541
M.W. Xie, L.W. Wang, R. Ma, N. Hao & J. Sun
Slope stability evaluation based on projection pursuit and attribute mathematics 545
F. Xu, J.D. Su, W.Y. Xu, Z.B. Liu & K. Liu
Method of fuzzy synthetic evaluation for safety of operating railway tunnel lining 551
Y.Q. Yang, S.H. He & F.L. Qi
Prediction of roof subsidence in metal mine goaf based on BP neural network 557
K. Zhao, J.A. Wang & S.N. Chen
Application of EH-4 in field investigation of engineering geology for strongly weathered slope 561
W. Zhong, Z.Y. Tan, Y. Li & X.J. Li
Research on meso mechanical parameters determining method of rock-soil material 567
Y. Zhou, S.C. Wu, X.Q. Wang & J.F. Ding
Format analysis of surpac solid model and its input-output algorithm design 573
J. Zou & H.G. Ji

Underground and surface excavation and reinforcement techniques

Stability analysis and optimum design of high and steep slope in a deep-concave open pit mine 581
M.F. Cai, M.W. Xie, J.A. Wang, C.H. Li, L. Qiao & W.H. Tan
Theoretical analysis on influencing factors of fault activation on mining floor 587
W.K. Bu & H. Xu
Coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical study on GMZ bentonite 593
S.F. Cao, L. Qiao, Y.M. Liu, J.L. Xie & L.K. Ma
Analysis of distance between underground caverns in a water-sealed underground oil
tank engineering 597
X. Chen, H. He, X.B. Qi, J.Z. Sun & J.K. Zhang
Study of key technique of double-arch tunnel passing through water-eroded groove 601
Y. Chen & X.B. Liu
The calculation on the thickness of tunnel insulating layer in cold region 607
Q. Feng & B.S. Jiang
Study of structural safety and reasonable thickness of the covering layer under open
to underground mining 611
D.Q. Gan, Z.J. Li & C. Chen
Research on large deformation mechanism and its control of a loess tunnel entrance 615
L.L. Gao, S.C. Wu, G.L. Fan & Y.H. Wang
Mechanism and practice of cable truss control in super-high abutment stress coal entry 621
H.Q. Han, F.L. He, H.B. Li, H.Z. Yang & H. Yan
Mechanical analysis on instability of mining roadways under the close neighboring gob 625
F.L. He, J.Z. Tian, S.B. Zhang, H. Zhang & G.F. Zhai
Analysis of supporting structure deformation and axial force in subway foundation pit 629
M.D. He, D.L. Zhang, M.D. He, J. Liu & G.P. Le

X
Study on key supporting techniques of large cross-section roadway in compound mudstone roof 635
Y. Hong, F.L. He & H.Z. Yang
Elastic analysis of releasing depth of borehole for overcoming stress measurement 641
D. Ji, F.H. Ren & H.B. Jia
Simulation analysis of failure mechanism of roadways in soft rock supported with bolting
and shotcreting 647
A.B. Jin, B. Li, Y. Wang & F.G. Deng
Mechanism of slurry membrane for slurry shield tunnel 651
X.P. Kong, Y. Bai & S.M. Liao
Destabilizing mechanism of deep granite tunnel in a metal mine and its supporting measure 657
K.G. Li & J. Xu
Contribution to damaged formation and evolution of time behavior during the deep buried
tunnel excavation 661
Z.H. Li, X.T. Feng, S.J. Li, H. Zhou, B.R. Chen, C.Q. Zhang & S. Hu
Drilling technology and development of LM series raise boring machine 671
Z.Q. Liu, H.G. Ji, M.F. Cai & H. Tan
Study and practice of railway support in broken and dilatant roof with high pretension and short
cable bolting 677
L.X. Yan & B. Li
Instantaneous response of pore water pressure in the process of dynamic drainage consolidation 683
G.H. Yang, R. Xue & H.Q. Li
Basis of pit slope design mechanics and parameters sensibility analysis 687
G.T. Yang, X.B. Li & J.G. Ding
Study on checking method for safety of operating railway tunnel lining 691
Y.Q. Yang & S.H. He
Settlement of subway tunnel affected by different pilot tunnel sequences excavation 697
Y.Y. Yu, Y.T. Gao & S.C. Wu
Analytical solution for passive piles subject to lateral soil movement 703
A.J. Zhang, H.H. Mo, A.G. Li & W. Gao
Stability control mechanism and integral supporting technology of roadways with thick
compound roof strata 709
H.Q. Zhang, L.S. Han, Y.J. Qi & Y.F. Zhang
Study on displacement fields and settlement characteristics of composite foundation with
compound piles 713
L.H. Zhang, S.F. Zhao, H.B. Liu & S.R. Wang
Study on the rational width of coal pillars for protecting roadway in fully mechanized top
caving mining face 719
S.J. Zhang, J.A. Wang, H.W. Wu & F. Li
Fault instability’s mechanical mechanism and technology of retaining waterproof pillar 725
W.Q. Zhang, X. Hua, J.M. Zhu, G.P. Zhang, Z.Q. Zhou & X.S. Zhou
Effects and influences of water injection on coalbed exploitation in mining engineering 731
D. Zhao, Z.C. Feng & Y.S. Zhao
Optimization of rock slope in an open pit mine using strength reduction method 737
D.P. Zhu, Y.D. Lin & G.X. Hu
The comparison of surrounding rock stress analytical solutions for three tunnel sections 741
J.H. Zhu & H.G. Ji
Study of consolidation grouting effect for downstream block of high arch dams 745
X.X. Zhu, P. Lin, S.Z. Kang, Q.B. Li & Z.L. Wang

XI
Dynamic rock mechanics and blasing
Experiment on dynamic stability of soil slope ballasted by un-cemented concrete blocks 751
G.Z. Cao, Toshikazu Ikemoto & Masakatsu Miyajima
Hybrid analysis of dynamic destabilization to HSTCC workings in steep coal seams 757
J.T. Cao, X.P. Lai, P.F. Shan, Q.S. Wang & F. Cui
Study on seismic behavior of frame-brick mixed structure 761
J.Q. Chen & H.G. Ji
Case analysis and safety issues in demolition blasting technique of an old-fashioned chimney 767
F.J. Chu, D.M. Zheng, J.Z. Feng, H. Tan & S.F. Ren
Simulation experiment study on the coal blast damage and failure 771
H.B. Chu, W.M. Liang, Y.Q. Yu & X.L. Yang
Analysis on weakening effect of pre-blasting in top coal of steep and thick seams based on
nonlinear dynamics 775
F. Cui, X.P. Lai & J.T. Cao
Numerical simulation on rock penetration by blasting with uneven-thickness-covered
linear-shape tandem charges 779
A.P. Fei
Dynamic constitutive model of limestone under shock load 783
F.G. Gao, A.J. Hou, X.L. Yang & J. Yang
Experimental determination of dynamic tensile strength of sandstone at different loading rate 789
F.Q. Gong, X.B. Li & L.J. Dong
Research on the relationship between rock stress level and the occurrence of rock burst 793
H.G. Ji, Y.Z. Zhang & Z.F. Hou
The fuzzy comprehensive prediction of rock burst induced by deep mining in Xincheng gold mine 797
L. Li, C.H. Li & Y. Cheng
Numerical simulation for cavity formation process by progressive large diameter
empty hole spiral cut blasting 803
P. Li, Y.J. Wang & B. Ke
Technology of deep hole blasting relief of the hard roof of coal seams and optimization 809
S.H. Li, X.H. Chen, P.F. Xie, T.L. Wang & J.W. Zhou
Characteristics of ground vibration from blasting in a metal mine’s underground stope
below mined area 815
H.X. Liu, S.J. Qu, H.X. Liu, G.S. Zhong & D.H. Zhong
Experiment on dynamic stability of soil filling slope protected by concrete slab 819
Y. Qiang, F. Li, Toshikazu Ikemoto & Masakatsu Miyajima
Wavelet energy analysis on blasting vibration signal of surrounding rock roof
considering confining pressure and fracture 825
B. Song & Y. Cao
Chaotic dynamics study of nonlinear rock beam and application to rock burst forecast 831
W.B. Wu
Research and application of slope stability control blasting technique in Shandak open-pit mine 837
W.Y. Xu, S.J. Qu, J.F. Liu & Z. Zhang
Analysis on dynamic response of underground rock tunnel to earthquake load 841
P.S. Zhang & W. Yan
Numerical simulation of uncoupling charge blasting 847
Y.P. Zhang & Y.M. Xu
Numerical simulation of blasting excavation across a soil-rock interface of highway tunnel 851
X.T. Zhao, Y. Liu & X.D. Zhu

XII
Block element method for time-history stability analysis of a rock slope 855
H.F. Zheng & G.Y. Wu
Study of impact of surface blasting on stability of underground tunnel 861
D. Zhou, Z.Y. Tan, X.F. Cai & H.G. Ren

Predication and prevention of geo-environmental hazard

A comprehensive evaluation model for rockburst risk prediction based on analytic
hierarchy process and probabilistic optimization 869
G.L. Feng, X.T. Feng, B.R. Chen, Y.X. Xiao & H.J. Ming
Development and application of BIM-based highway construction management platform 875
Q. Fu, L.W. Zhang, M.W. Xie & X.D. He
The study of casing collapse deformation for slump fault 879
B. Hou, M. Chen & Y. Jin
Study on the effect of underground blasting on slope stability based on the AE monitoring 883
L. Qiao & Q.W. Li
Experimental research on early identification of landslides by D-InSAR technique 887
M.W. Xie, J.H. Huang, Z.F. Wang & M. Hu
Reliability analysis of tailings dams under both seepage and earthquake actions 891
K. Yang & Z.C. Ma
Study on real-time monitoring and pre-warning system of rock burst based on equivalent
drilling cuttings quantity 895
Z.X. Yu, F.X. Jiang, X.C. Qu & S.H. Yang
Reliability analysis of rock slope stability 901
L.W. Zhang & L.Q. Yang
Application of relevance vector machine to predict rockburst 907
H.B. Zhao, Z.L. Ru, X.J. Zhao & Y. Meng

Case studies of typical rock engineering

Rock mass instability evaluation at the La Volcana segment of the Valle de Aburrá – Río Cauca road,
Colombia – South America 913
J.A. Arévalo-Cardona, E. Muñoz-Hoyos & L.O. Suarez-Burgoa
Study on the control of thick and hard roof strata of Wongawilli face in mining shallow coal seam 917
S.G. Li, D.Y. Li, W. Li & B. Zhang
Numerical analysis on the stability of the lining structure of a tunnel 923
X. Chen, S.J. Miao, F.H. Ren, L. Shi, W.C. Wu & Q.S. Wang
Inversion analysis of mechanical parameters of slope rock mass in Baiyunebo open pit iron mine 929
D.Q. Gan, H.J. Lu & Z.J. Yang
Using coupled fluid-solid theory to forecast the water inflow for conveyance project of
Dahuofang reservoir 933
M.D. Guo, S.H. Wang, X.Y. Rong & W.Y. Cui
False tunnels as prevention measures against impact from rock falling on mountainous
roads: Experience in Colombia 937
D.A. Henao-Vergara, M. Arenas-Rios & L.O. Suarez-Burgoa
Intelligent back analysis of constitutive parameters for soil slope based on unified strength theory 941
J. Li, Y.T. Gao, Y. Li, B. Cui & Z.B. Deng
Analysis on ground settlement induced by shield tunneling undercrossing railways and tall buildings 947
T. Li, B. Liu & H.Y. Dou

XIII
Optimization of structural parameters for mining large iron ore stope by filling method in
Sijiaying district 953
X. Li, Q. Gao, S.H. Zhai & S.Q. Nan
Application of three measurement methods for determination of in-situ stress state in Qianan area 959
Y. Li, L. Qiao, S.J. Miao & Z.L. Sui
Effect of excavation dewatering on adjacent underground metro structure for super
large diameter piles in weathered rock foundation 963
B. Liu, W. Xu, C.Y. Yang & Y.Q. Zhou
Study on railway support techniques in deep soft rock and engineering example 969
Q.B. Meng, W.G. Qiao, D.G. Lin & L.C. Wei
Numerical research on top coal movement, failure mechanism and supports’ stresses characters
of fully mechanized top-coal caving in steep thick seam 973
S.J. Miao, C. Long, Y. Li & S.R. Wang
Technology innovation and practice for construction of CFRD 977
L. Qiao, L.X. Pang, Y. Li & J.S. Song
Influence of blasting vibration on stability of the high slope of Shuichang iron mine 981
L. Qiao, H. Zhao, C.L. Qu, L.K. Liu & X. Wang
Feasibility analysis on 1300 fully-mechanized coal mining face of Jining No.2 Mine during
exploitation approaching to faults and its optimization design 987
H. Wang & H.G. Ji
Study on cross-section shape and excavation scheme of transportation roadway in Haishiwan coal mine 993
J.A. Wang, S.J. Zhang, F. Li, J.X. Chen & L.L. Zhu
Stability analysis of completely-strongly weathered high-steep rock slope 999
L. Wang, Z.Y. Tan, Y. Li & X.J. Li
Mechanical stability of intensifying mining for residual ore under complicated goaf groups 1007
Y.M. Wang, G.H. Yao, H.B. Yi, A.X. Wu & M.Q. Huang
Study on anti-seepage scheme in subsidence area based on investigation of the underlying
goaf below Mahe River 1013
S.C. Wu, D.G. Pan & Y.T. Gao
Optimization of mining parameters for coal mining under unconformable overlying stratums 1019
Y. Zhang, H.G. Ji, J.A. Wang & J.H. Ye
Deformation analyses of excavated-underground metro station at different depths in
soil-rock combined strata 1025
J.G. Zheng, T. Liu & X.H. Wang
Stability analysis of soft foundation earth-rock dam in lake 1029
B.H. Zhu & Z.Y. Tan

Author index 1035

XIV
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Preface

John A Hudson FREng

Emeritus Professor,
Imperial College, London, UK
President,
International Society for Rock Mechanics 2007–2011
john.a.hudson@gmail.com

These Proceedings contain the papers accepted for the 2nd International Young Scholars’ Symposium on Rock
Mechanics which was sponsored by the ISRM and held on 14–16 October 2011 in Beijing, China, immediately
preceding the 12th ISRM Congress on Rock Mechanics.
Highlighting the work of young teachers, researchers and practitioners through this second Young Scholars’
Symposium proceedings provides an important stimulus for the next generation of rock engineers because, in
the future there will be more emphasis on the use of the Earth’s resources and their sustainability, and more
accountability of engineers’ decisions. In this context, it is entirely appropriate that the Symposium venue for the
Young Scholars was in China—because of the rock mechanics related work that is anticipated in the future. For
example, in the Chinese Academy of Sciences report, “Energy Science and Technology in China: A Roadmap
to 2050”, it is predicted that China’s total energy demand will reach 31, 45, 61 and 66 × 108 tce (tonnes of
coal equivalent) in 2010, 2020, 2035, 2050. The associated per capita energy consumption for the same years is
estimated at 2.3, 3.1, 4.1 and 4.6 tce.
This increasing demand will be met, inter alia, by the continued operation and development of new coal mines,
hydroelectric plants and nuclear power stations with one or more underground nuclear waste repositories, all of
which will be improved by more modern methods of rock engineering design developed by Young Scholars. In
particular, we need enhanced methods of site investigation, rock characterisation, rock failure understanding,
computer modelling, and rock excavation and support.
It is pleasing to note that many of the ∼200 papers presented at the Symposium addressed these topics and
demonstrated the skills of the Young Scholars, indicating that we can be confident in the continuing development
of rock mechanics and rock engineering leading to more efficient, safer and economical structures built on and in
rock masses. Congratulations to all those Young Scholars who had the skill and confidence to write and present
papers at the Symposium. I have been most impressed by the range and quality of the contributions.
All our thanks go to Professor Meifeng Cai, Chairman of the Organising Committee and President of the
ISRM Commission on Education, for arranging both an excellent suite of papers and an enjoyable Symposium
at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing. Additionally, our appreciation is extended to the Organising
Committee Members and the participants for ensuring such a successful gathering.

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Organization

The International Advisory Committee Organizing Committee

Prof. G. Barla (Italy) Chairman

Prof. B. H. G. Brady (Australia) Prof. M. F. Cai
Prof. Z. Y. Chen (China)
Prof. X. T. Feng (China) Co-chairman
Prof. C. Erichsen (Germany) Prof. M. C. He
Prof. N. F. Grossmann (Portugal) Prof. C. A. Tang
Prof. D. S. Gu (China)
Prof. J. C. Gu (China) Secretary-General
Prof. J. A. Hudson (U.K)
Prof. P. K. Kaiser (Canada) Prof. J. A. Wang
Prof. M. A. Kwasniewski (Poland)
Dr. L. Lamas (Portugal) Members
Prof. C. Lee (Korea) Prof. M. Chen Prof. X. X. Miao
Prof. Y. S. Li (China) Prof. S. H. Hao Prof. L. Qiao
Prof. B. C. Liu (China) Prof. H. G. Ji Prof. M. W. Xie
Prof. M. U. Ozbay (U.S.A.) Prof. Y. D. Jiang Prof. G. S. Yang
Prof. F. Pellet (France) Prof. L. R. Jing Prof. Q. Yang
Prof. M. G. Qian (China) Prof. C. H. Li Prof. X. L. Yang
Prof. Q. H. Qian (China) Prof. Z. K. Li Prof. Z. Q. Yue
Prof. J.-C. Roegiers (U.S.A.) Prof. M. J. Lian Prof. G. J. Zhang
Prof. O. Stephansson (Germany) Prof. T. S. Liang Prof. B. X. Zhen
Prof. Shunsuke Sakurai (Japan) Prof. D. Y. Liu
Prof. S. J. Wang (China)
Prof. H. P. Xie (China)
Prof. L. Yuan (China)
Prof. J. Zhao (Switzerland)
Prof. R. W. Zimmerman (U.K.)

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© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Acknowledgements

The 2nd International Young Scholars’ Symposium on Rock Mechanics is sponsored by the International Society
for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) and organized by the ISRM Commission on Education as an ISRM specialized
conference 2011. The Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (CSRME) and the University of
Science and Technology Beijing are co-organizers of the symposium.
Sincere thanks go to Professor J.A. Hudson, the ISRM President, for his eminent support to the Symposium
and kindness in writing the Preface of these Proceedings.
The contributions made by the Members of the International Advisory Committee, the Members of the
Academic Committee and the Members of the Organizing Committee are greatly appreciated.
Special acknowledgements go to Prof. J.A. Wang, Prof. M.W. Xie, Prof. S.J. Qu, Prof. B. Song, Prof. Z.Y. Tan,
Prof. F.L. He, Dr W.H. Tan and Dr L. Shi for their contribution in reviewing and revising the papers submitted
to the symposium.
Thanks are also to Dr S.J. Miao, Dr Y. Li, Dr S. You, Dr Y. Liu, Dr H.S. Ma, Ms X. Chen, Mr Q.F. Guo, Ms
W.C. Wu, Mr X. Wang, Mr Q.S. Wang, Ms R. Zhang, Ms Z. Li, Mr X.N. Liu for their excellent work in compiling
the proceedings of the symposium.
Financial support to the Symposium from Jinchuan Group. Ltd., China Pingmei Shenma Group, Guangdong
Hongda Blasting Engineering Co. Ltd., Sinosteel Mining Co. Ltd and Mining Company of Capital Steel (Group)
Co. is also deeply appreciated.
Professor Meifeng Cai
Chairman of the Organizing Committee

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The ISRM young members
presidential group
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

On ‘the way ahead’ for the ISRM and its young members – South America

L.O. Suarez-Burgoa
ISRM Young Member Presidential Group for the South American region

ABSTRACT: As part of the current ISRM modernization plan, the Board has formed in 2010 the ISRM Young
Members’ Presidential Group (YMPG) in order to address young members’ interests. In this context, the present
article makes an analysis about the actual situation of the young rock mechanics students and professionals of the
South American region and its relation to the actual and general context. Subsequently, the basic necessities for
young students are enumerated. Finally, it is resumed the YMPG initiatives, which could be taken if a changing
of that context is desired.

1 INTRODUCTION Modern rock mechanics in South America has

In 2010 the International Society for Rock Mechan-
ics (the Society) Board has formed the ISRM Young
Members’ Presidential Group (YMPG). The main rea-
son of this decision was to address young members’
interests as part of the current ISRM modernization
plan.
The main subjects to be addressed by the YMPG
were established to be:
– Issues which the younger members have regarding
the Society
– Initiatives for making the Society more responsive
to the needs of young members
– Initiatives for addressing the objectives and pur-
poses of the Society by injecting new ideas into
the on-going modernization plan and offering sug-
gestions for promoting the Society to young rock
mechanics professionals who are not
– Initiatives for increasing the overall membership of
the Society
In order to define the issues that the SouthAmerican
YMPG should afford, the author presents the South
American context related to the Rock Mechanics Dis-
cipline (the Discipline). Then, the author will expose
some of the initiatives he considers should be done in
order to address the objectives of the Society related
to the YMPG, and finally concludes the analysis, by
enclosing the principal appreciations.
2 THE SOUTH AMERICA CONTEXT
The first manifestation of modern rock mechanics
as an independent discipline in the South American
continent was probably in 1965, when the Brazilian
Committee of Rock Mechanics (CBMR) was estab-
lished. The CBMR belongs to the Brazilian Associa-
tion of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
(ABMS) that was found in 1950.
been developed especially by the energy demands
and exploitation of nonrenewable natural resources
projects since the fifties of the 20th century, and the
necessity to overcome the communication adversities
that offer the Andes mountainous range and outcrops
of the South American Continental Shield and Cra-
tons. Since the last two decades of 20th century, rock
mechanics has also been needed to consider for the
underground space projects (e.g. metropolitan trains
in diverse cities: Caracas, São Paulo, and Santiago de
Chile, among others).
However, the Discipline had been present in
the continent since the first native cultures, where
Americans began to build large structures with rock
(i.e. Megaliths). Probably, the oldest stone structures
built in the South American continent are the megaliths
of Tihuanacu (1400 BC), which are newer compared
with older Megaliths of Stonehenge in England (2500
BC or 3100 BC). These historic monuments located
around 4000 m above the sea level, in the Bolivian
Altiplano plateau, are still preserved for over three
thousand five hundred years against weathering attack
(Figure 1).
2.1 The need of the discipline
There are many antecedents that make the rock
mechanics knowledge users think about the advan-
tages to have an institutionalized discipline. Perhaps,
reviewing the history of the Society in this first 50
years is a good exercise to understand that it was a
wise move.
Also, by looking forward to the future, one can see
a favorable application field of the Discipline in this
region.
For example since the early years of this century,
there have been an increase in road expansion policies
of many South American countries (e.g. Colombia,
Bolivia), as well as the reactivation of hydroelectric
projects (e.g. Colombia, Brazil); two challenges that

3

Figure 1. The Puerta del Sol (The Sun Portal), one of several
structural monoliths of the Tiahuanacu civilization, La Paz –
Bolivia. One can still see the engravings in relief on the rock.
require the knowledge and the state of the art and
technology of the Discipline.
In the immediate future, two projects of High-Speed
Trains (HST) are under consideration: the HST that
will connect the São Paulo with the Rio de Janeiro
cities, which is in current design and would be finished
by 2014; and the HST that will link the cities of Buenos
Aires, Rosario and Cordoba (Argentina), which is still
under feasibility study. These two projects will require
plenty of tunnels inside rock masses.
Similarly, the Discipline will be necessary for the
construction of underground storage systems for fuel.
In this context, for example, the federal oil company
of Brazil is building this type of underground tanks in
the Brazilian Atlantic Coast.
Also, the Discipline will be necessary (in a high
level of knowledge) for designing the radioactive waste
disposals of the existing nuclear power plants in the
continent: Angra 1, 2 and 3, in Brazil (i.e. Central
Nuclear Almirante Álvaro Alberto), and Atucha 1 and
2 and Embalse plants in Argentina.
It is also noticed that the continent will need to meet
the environmental requirements of carbon dioxide
sequestration, as has been considered by Chile.
Finally, the mining technology in the continent will
still use the Discipline developments in order to extract
ores in the best environmental way; not only at the
actual mines, but also in Greenfield mines (e.g. the La
Colosa mine project in Colombia).
Rock mechanics in the industry.
Rock mechanics in the industry was present in
South America even before the establishment of the
Disciple. One can found old mines (e.g. Cerro Rico de
Potosí in Bolivia, since 1546), railway tunnels (e.g. Las
Raíces tunnel in Chile, since 1939 with 4528 m of lon-
gitude), road tunnels (e.g. Tunnels in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, since 1887) and many hydroelectric projects
(e.g. Serra da Mesa in Brazil, San Carlos in Colombia).
Industry brought to the continent most of the best
specialists in rock mechanics coming from the United
States, Portugal, Canada, West Europe countries,
4
Figure 2. Biaxial machine for rock mass testing of the Pon-
tifical Catholic University of Chile (Photography: Prof. Van
Sint Jan).
Australia and South Africa. Also, industry makes the
Discipline research to be active. But only in the last
decades, industry is trusting in local professionals,
construct and consulting companies, most of them
supported by the transnational companies.
2.2 Laboratories and centers of research
With regard to research centers and laboratories related
to this discipline, one can state that in the region there
are few, but efficient centers; most of them concen-
trated in Brazil. Some known research centers in the
region, which have specialized and state of the art
equipment, are:
Rock Mechanics Laboratory Ludger Pimenta Ávila
of the Department of Technical Support and Control
(DCT.T: Departamento de Apoio e Controle Técnico)
of the Furnas Company (Brazil).
Laboratory of Mechanics and Hydraulics of Rocks
of the Research Institute of the São Paulo State (IPT:
Instituto de Pesquisas do Estado de São Paulo).
Rock Mechanics Laboratory of the Engineering
School at San Carlos of the University of São Paulo.
Rock Mechanics Laboratory of the Research Center
of PetroBras (Brazil) (LMR-CENPES: Laboratório
de Mecânica de Rochas do Centro de Pesquisas de
Petrobras).
Also, it is necessary to highlight the development
of specialized, research equipment, which are unique
in the region:
Rock Biaxial Machine of the Pontifical Catholic
University of Chile (Figure 2).
Rock Biaxial Machine of the Engineering School
of the University of São Paulo at San Carlos.
Polyaxial Testing Machine of the Furnas Company.
In general, most of the universities in the region
have small or basic rock mechanics laboratories, with
the Point Load Test machine, Brazilian test machine,
and equipment to obtain the basic index properties
of rock materials. Most of them, inclusive don’t have
the minimum equipment to prepare rock cylindrical
samples; and cannot cover the actual demand of the
industry.
 In this analysis, the author didn’t include the situa-
tion of laboratories and centers of research of Chile
and Venezuela. It is possible that they have impor-
tant research centers and laboratories to afford the
Discipline research demands.
2.3 Local research about rock mechanics
Commonly, industry guesses that importing knowl-
edge is more rentable than financing local research
projects. Importing knowledge and technology cre-
ates an ambient of conformism in the industry. For
example, having in hand imported state of technol-
ogy equipment and imported state of the art software
makes a company capable to accomplish most of their
projects. But, in many cases, the technology trans-
fer is not clear, nor total. So, industry will always be
dependent on the foreign state of the art.
On the other hand, local research centers don’t
give the appropriate and opportune answer to industry
demands.
These two drawbacks are perhaps the reason of why
research is postponed in the region.
The author’s opinion about this issue, related to rock
mechanics, is that research centers should at mini-
mum develop own equipments and software to offer
to the industry economical alternatives to cover their
necessities.
2.4 Rock mechanics in the academy
Even though the region can have a favorable context
about the Discipline, it is detected that academic poli-
cies to promote de Discipline are not according to the
actual and possible demands in the region.
At some universities, indirectly the Discipline is
increasingly taught in their undergraduate programs.
However, they are still a small percentage (proba-
bly around 10%) in respect to the total number of
universities present in the region.
In most of the cases, the Discipline is given as the
last chapter of main courses of Engineering Geology,
Advanced Soil Mechanics and/or Underground Works.
This have the consequence that the Discipline themes
is passed roughly in these courses, and many times,
because of time restriction (as being the last theme
of the course), the Discipline is badly or not tough in
these courses.
The undergraduate course, with the real name of
the Discipline (i.e. Rock Mechanics), have not been
introduced in almost all the Universities in the region (a
possible exception could be present, but is not known
by the author).
Also, it was observed that in most of the Universities
of the region, a great lack of basic books for undergrad-
uate students is present. This lack of information is not
only present in the official languages of the region (i.e.
Spanish or Portuguese) but even in English.
In postgraduate courses, the Discipline is taught in
only one course of 40 academic hours, but the themes
reach only the fundamentals, and no more courses of
advanced rock mechanics are available, nor promoted.
5
For postdoctoral works, universities don’t have
agreements with international universities that are in
the state of the art in the Discipline themes.
2.5 Books about rock mechanics
Since the beginning of the Discipline (after the fifties
of last century), few outstanding foreign books related
to the advances of the Discipline were translated to the
Spanish or to the Portuguese languages.
Possibly, the first book of rock mechanics that
was translated into Spanish was that of Stagg &
Zienkiewicz (1970), whose original publication is
dated to 1960, and appeared in the Spanish language
10 years after, thanks to the Spanish editor Blume.
Almost simultaneously, in 1973, was translated into
Spanish the book of Coates (1973) and placing on the
market by the Spanish publisher Litoprint. The book
of Krynine & Judd, whose original edition in English
dates from 1957, was translated into Spanish 23 years
later by the Spanish publisher Omega; but it lightly
touches the subjects of the Discipline.
Practically, these three works covered the demand of
the Discipline knowledge in all the Spanish speaking
countries and have been the most cited references in
the Spanish language on this issue for over two decades
at universities and technical reports.
Books written in Portuguese language, this also usu-
ally used by Spanish speaking readers, the situation
was even more critical. Only the book of Rocha (1973)
was the primary reference. But the printing of this book
was not massive, so most of the universities and pro-
fessionals had used the books translated to the Spanish
language (i.e. the few books mentioned above).
Only since the first decade of this century, the
above mentioned books have been replaced by one and
now recognized as successful commercial work enti-
tled "Engineering Geology" of González de Vallejo
et al. (2004). This book has become the main refer-
ence in universities and technical institutes. However,
this book with more than 700 pages, with figures in full
color and finished with hardcover, is trying to cover
the entire subject of Engineering Geology (i.e. soil
mechanics, rock mechanics, geophysics, risk analysis,
exploration), so this only gives a basic idea of what the
Discipline is useful for.
Books published by research centers and univer-
sities have been more numerous (e.g. White 1981,
Ramirez Ojanguren 1984, Castro 1989, Moretto 1989,
White 1998, Oteo Mazo 1999, Carrillo, 2001; Chacón-
Montero, 2004; Correa-Arroyave 2000, Serrano 2001,
Duarte-Azevedo & Gomes-Marques 2002, Suarez-
Burgoa 2010), but the low print run and weak distribu-
tion strategies, had always failed to meet the demand of
the Ibero-American knowledge about the Discipline.
Only with the current use of the Internet was possible
to ascertain the existence of many of the past research
books. But many of these books are only accessible
physically to the reader, by visiting libraries in different
countries.
A similar case happened with books published by
research centers in Portuguese, for example Mello
Mendes (1968), Perez-Rodrigues et al. (1983) and
Ladeira (1981).
From all these books, some of them present regional
and interesting information about local researches and
projects; but also and unfortunately, many other books
are a bad translation of a foreign book, they lacked
a good structure, are of poor editing and printing,
cover many unsorted subjects about the Discipline,
they explain in a un-accurately and un-academic way
and they don’t have nothing new to present by com-
paring with foreign, outstanding and state of the art
books about the Discipline.
Even these shortcomings, and because only their
added values were considered by readers, new publi-
cations of some of these books (the newest ones) were
sold in less than five years, and many of them are
in their second edition. This is a clearly advice, that
students and professionals are demanding references
about the Discipline.
2.6 Journals about rock mechanics
There are no journals in Spanish or Portuguese lan-
guage about the unique and specific theme of the Dis-
cipline. Some of the journals developed in the region
are covering themes of geotechnics, engineering geol-
ogy, mining engineering, petroleum engineering and
civil engineering. A great percentage (approximately
from 80% to 99%) of the articles published in each
issue is about themes other than rock mechanics. By
comparing only geotechnical issues, local publications
about the Discipline are very scarce by comparing with
soil mechanics themes.
Some journals produced in the region in where the
Discipline theme was encountered are for example:
Soils and Rocks (ISSN 1980-9743).
Boletín de Ciencias de la Tierra (ISSN 0120-3630).
Revista da Escola de Minas de Ouro Preto (ISSN
0370-4467).
DYNA Revista de la Faculta de Minas de la Univer-
sidad Nacional de Colombia (ISSN 0012-7353).
Revista Geológica de Chile (ISSN 0716-0208).
Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina
(ISSN 0004-4822).
Boletim Técnico da Petrobras (ISSN 0006-6117).
Many other articles can be found disperse in
other journals, published in the region, in the Sci-
entific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) platform
(www.scielo.org).
From all the journals edited in South America, the
Soils and Rocks journal can be the first choice for
South American researchers for publishing their arti-
cles about the Discipline, this because this journal
became in 1999 the Latin American Geotechnical
Journal, as an agreement of country societies related
to geotechnics; and in 2007 it acquired the status of an
international journal. The journal, nowadays, receives
only articles written in English language.
Then, the Boletín de Ciencias de la Tierra may be
the alternative for publishing articles in Spanish, and
the Revista da Escola de Minas de Ouro Preto for
publishing in Portuguese.
6
In relation to the availability of foreign jour-
nals in the region, it was appreciated that the two
representative journals about the Discipline subject
(i.e. the International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Mining Sciences [IJRMMS] and the Rock Mechan-
ics and Rock Engineering journal [RMRE]) are not
present in many of the universities libraries. In some
universities, because new librarian agreements with
the publishers were signed, these journal articles are
possible to be downloaded electronically since the
year of 1996 up to date. But for older volumes of
these journals, encounter a reference is a difficult or
impossible task.
The author found out the availability of old vol-
umes of these journals in few universities in the region.
For example, the IJRMMS is physically present in
an incomplete collection at the Mines Faculty of the
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, at the Engineer-
ing School of the Universidad de São Paulo and the
University of Ouro Preto libraries. The RMRE jour-
nal was encountered in more incomplete collections at
the University of Brasilia and the University of Ouro
Preto.
2.7 Congresses, Symposia and Lecture Tours
Due to the return to their countries of origin of South
American professionals, who were studying in for-
eign universities during the seventies, an ambient of
great interest to the Discipline was established in the
eighties. As a consequence, in 1982 took place in
Bogotá Colombia the first South American Congress
on Rock Mechanics (CSMR: Congreso Sudamericano
de Mecánica de Rocas), with the venue and organiza-
tion of the Colombian Geotechnical Society (SCG:
Sociedad Colombiana de Geotencia). This initiative
came by the suggestion of Professor Orestes Moretto,
from Argentina, and other recognized professionals
of the region (ISRM, 2003). Henceforth, these con-
gresses have been held every four years, except in
2002.
References of the proceedings of these congresses
are the following:
Memorias del Primer Congreso Suramericano de
Mecánica de Rocas (Bogotá, Colombia, November
1982), vol. 1 & 2, Sociedad Colombiana de Geotecnia.
Anais do Segundo Congresso Sul Americano de
Mecânica das Rochas (Porto Alegre, Brasil, 1986),
vols. 1-2, Associacão Brasileria de Mecânica de Solos
e Engenharia Geotécnica.
Memorias del Tercer Congreso Suramericano de
Mecánica de Rocas (Caracas, Venezuela, October
1990), vol. 1 & 2, Sociedad Venezolana de Geotecnia.
Memorias del Cuarto Congreso Sudamericano de
Mecánica de Rocas, Aproximación Integral a la
Mecánica de Rocas Aplicada (Santiago de Chile,
Chile, May 1994), vol. 1, Sociedad Chilena de
Geotecnia.
Memorias del Quinto Congreso Suramericano de
Mecânica de Rocas (Sao Paulo, Brasil, November
1998), vol. 1 & 2, Associacão Brasileria de Mecânica
de Solos e Engenharia Geotécnica.
 Memorias del Sexto Congreso Suramericano de
Mecánica de Rocas (Cartagena de Indias, Colom-
bia, October 2006), vol. 1, Sociedad Colombiana de
Geotecnia.
Memorias de Séptimo Congreso Sudamericano de
Mecánica de Rocas (Lima, Perú, December 2010),
Instituto de Ingenieros de Minas del Perú y Sociedad
Peruana de Geoingeniería.
According to the author’s opinion, the CSMRs that
stood out were the 4th CSMR, took place in Chile,
in 1994, and the 5th CSMR took place in Brazil, in
1998; because they had specially achieved an impor-
tant interaction with leading researchers from other
continents.
The First Symposium on Rock Mechanics took
place in Bogotá Colombia in 2008 and the next will
take place in Costa Rica in 2012. It is programmed to
have this type of event every four years.
Finally, for the first time, in 2010 took place in
Bogotá and Lima the first ISRM Board Lecture Tour
to South America.
2.8 Participation of South America in the ISRM
An evaluation of the International Society of Rock
Mechanics (Lamas, 2008), about active participation
of regions in the Society, shown that South America
participates only in 2% (even showing a downward
trend in the last six years). The maximum participa-
tion has the European continent with 52%, followed
by Asia, North America, Southern Asia and Africa.
But, in 2010, two new country groups coming from
South America were added to the Society: Costa Rica
and Bolivia. Perhaps, in the following years we can
have more professionals and students being part of the
Society.
In respect to corporative ISRM members coming
from South America, it is informed that the unique
corporative company from this region canceled its
membership last 2010.
3 YMPG INITIATIVES FOR THE REGION
After knowing the South America context related to
the Discipline, is possible to see that the panorama for
making a change can be difficult. Even though, young
professionals can make the change if they are oriented
well from a group of leaders.
3.1 Discipline promotion should begin
in academy
Young members are often still studying, still need to
study and are new at the Discipline issues. For that
reason, conditions should be available, named here:
the basic necessities of young students. For the case of
South America, these are the following:
Laboratories equipped with the basic equipment
for preparing and testing rock material samples (e.g.
point load test, slake durability test, Brazilian test,
apparatuses, universal stiff frame, triaxial cells).
7
Properly text books in Spanish and/or Portuguese:
new local/regional developments and/or foreign trans-
lations.
A medium to disseminate their research results (e.g.
a new specialized journal that allows young researches
to publish).
Fully access to all volumes of the two main journals
of the Discipline (i.e. IJEMMS, RMRE).
A medium to interact (e.g. congresses, symposia).
A medium to know outstanding researchers (e.g.
Lecture Tours).
Incentives to maintain in the Discipline (e.g. awards).
A social environment to have the possibility to
grown up with the passing years (e.g. the Society).
A leader institution to direct their efforts to the main
needs of the Discipline (e.g. professors and senior pro-
fessionals grouped by the regional vice presidency of
Society).
If the Society, though YMPG, takes action to meet
the above basic necessities of young students, it is
likely that the Society will receive a progressive
increase of its members (i.e. a consequence fact).
3.2 Undergraduate students, the engine of the
society
Undergraduate students have the energy, interest and
youth to be the engine of the Society. In the fol-
lowing paragraphs some examples will support this
affirmation.
In the last years, Research Undergraduate Groups
(RUG), called in South America as Semilleros de
Investigación, have been good places to incentive the
Discipline interest.
For approximately eight years the Semillero de
Investigación en Mecánica de Rocas RUG of the Uni-
versidad Nacional de Colombia at Bogotá have been
organizing Academic Workshops on Rock Mechanics.
In this activity, professors and specialist all over the
country are invited to expose themes on rock mechan-
ics related to projects in course in the region. Incom-
ings are used to finance and impulse the research
activities of the RUG.
For the past South American Congress on Rock
Mechanics, took place in Lima – Perú (December,
2010), twelve students coming from the Grupo Estu-
dio de Obras Subterráneas (i.e. a research Under-
graduate Group) from the Universidad Nacional de
Colombia at Medellín, jointed efforts to travel to
Lima. To support the travel costs, these students made
activities as fetes and raffles, also professors deliv-
ered courses to help the initiative and finally the
university covered the inscription to the congress
(Figure 3).
Also, five Bolivian students traveled by bus approx-
imately 1000 kilometers through the rough roads of the
Andean mountain range, investing their own savings
in order to assist to the same congress.
These reflect how the enthusiasm of students can
persuade other students, professors, and institutions in
order to accomplish their noble interest, and how the

Figure 3. The author and the 12 students who assisted
to the 7th South American Congress on Rock Mechanics
(Photography: GEOS group).
Discipline can be over other popular interests of young
people.
3.3 The proposed YMPG initiatives for the region
In the following paragraphs it is explained shortly the
initiatives can be taken in order to meet some of the
basic necessities of young students.
In order to afford the problems related to the labora-
tories and centers of research (i.e. lack of equipments
in universities of the region), the author suggests cre-
ate international agreements with other universities
all around the world that can sell old un-used equip-
ments at bargain prices. Author has observed in their
visit to laboratories in other countries, obsolete equip-
ments in deposits; but those obsolete equipments can
be really useful for others. One should consider that
as the gift that the older brother gives his younger
brother.
In order to help the industry with research, young
students and professionals can form Research Groups
for basic software and equipment developments,
guided by the directions of ISRM professionals and
Universities. For example, the Joint Working Group on
Representing ISRM Suggested Methods in Electronic
Form (RISMEF) has been developing Excel spread-
sheets for basic rock mechanics tests (Zhao, et al.,
2009). The above mentioned initiative will cover the
main industry demand, and therefore, state of the art
research will be performed only by research centers,
that will obtain results some years before the industry
really wanted to use.
In order to improve undergraduate information
about the basis of the Discipline, specially Spanish and
Portuguese academic books should be promoted for
re-impression, because unfortunately most of the grad-
uate students rarely are capable to read and understand
the scientific international language (i.e. English).
Also, the Society could guide and promote regional
researchers to produce outstanding books about basic
and state of the art themes of the Discipline, and in
the languages of their regions. Parallel to this, the
Society could promote the translation of one or more
8
outstanding books written in the English Language
to the Spanish and/or Portuguese languages. And, in
order to accomplish copyright permissions for the new
regional books, the Society may consider the possibil-
ity to promote free of charge or low rates permissions
of their illustrative material, or facilitate the communi-
cation between authors and outstanding researchers all
over the world, in order to use some illustration from
their documents.
In respect to the journals about the Discipline, and
on the author opinion, actually there are the con-
ditions (i.e. demand, local peer-reviewers, diffusion
media) to promote a journal that concentrates only the
works developed about the Discipline in the region. It
can be named, for example: Revista Sudamericana de
Mecánica de Macizos Rocosos e Ingeniería de Rocas
(South American Journal of Rock Mass Mechanics
and Rock Engineering); and could be under the super-
vision of the vice-presidency of the Society. Inside this
journal can be a space offered to young researchers to
publish their new challenges.
To mitigate the un-availability of the most impor-
tant international journals about the Discipline
(i.e. IJRMMS and RMRE), the author proposes to per-
form a data base that informs in which library, in the
region, the desired volume of these journals is avail-
able. With this information, the students and profes-
sionals can make use of librarian international services
to obtain the desired article. Probably, the first volumes
of these journals are not present in any university of the
region, so at least one representative university of the
region is invited to support the costs for the acquisition
of the first volumes of these journals.
In relation to the necessities to have: a medium
to interact (e.g. congresses, symposia), a medium to
know outstanding researchers (e.g. Lecture Tours),
incentives to maintain in the Discipline (e.g. awards), a
social environment to have the possibility to grown up
with the passing years (e.g. the Society) and a leader
institution to direct their efforts to the main needs of
the Discipline (e.g. professors and senior professionals
grouped by regional vice presidencies of the Society);
the author observed that this themes were good treat in
these fifty years of the Society’s life, and now is only
missing to adapt wisely the polices accordingly to the
demand and to take advantage of the actual mass media
tools (e.g. internet and all their additions: Facebook,
Twitter, webinars, web castings, wikis, etc.).
The above tools in fact are modern and excellent.
In the same manner as fifty years ago (when the Dis-
cipline was instituted), the television was the most
developed mass media, and was widely used to trans-
mit ideas (e.g. politicians used well this media to
transmit their messages and ideas). Therefore and in
essential, are not the mass media techniques the unique
thing we have to change; we have to change our man-
ner to do the things in favor to the Discipline. The mass
media technology should never be regarded as chang-
ing procedure, because the need for good decisions
and for changing policies remain as strong as ever, or
as fifty years ago.
 All these issues are being discussed in the YMPG,
and we promise excellent results.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Even though the comments presented here has been
concentrated in the South American region, many of
the conclusions and recommendation can be valid for
the Ibero-American region, or any other region having
a similar context.
Despite the efforts made in South America, in the
first 50 years of the Discipline, it can be concluded
that it is the region that has developed and contributed
less to the Discipline (or at least that was not shown),
both in research and development of own technology
and teaching processes.
With the YMPG, students and young professionals,
changes can be done; not only for the future of the
Society, but also for the future of the region. However,
their basic necessities should be met with the help of
the actual senior members of the Society with their
experience, efforts, contacts and capabilities. If profes-
sionals belonging to the Society have overcome many
challenges present in rock mechanics projects, why is
not possible to give a hand to their young successor of
the Discipline’s knowledge?
REFERENCES
Alvarado, P.V., 2010. Guillermo Gusano encuentra una mina
de oro William worm hits pay dirt. Piggy Press Book.
Blanco Torrens, R., 1981. Mecánica de Rocas. Editorial
Oriente, La Habana.
Blanco Torrens, R., 1998. Elementos de la mecánica de los
medios rocoso. Editorial Felix Varela, La Habana.
Carrillo, C. J., 2001. Nociones de mecánica de rocas. Uni-
versidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Minas,
Departamento de Ingeniería Civil, Medellín.
Castro, O., 1989. Mecánica de rocas aplicada a la construc-
ción. Editorial Técnico Científico Técnica, La Habana.
Chacón Montero, J., 2004. Mecánica de suelos y rocas: prác-
ticas y ensayos. Publicado por el Área de Ingeniería del
terreno, Universidad de Granada, Madrid.
Chen, Z.Y., Zhao, Y.F., Chi, M., 2009. Standardization
and digitalization of the ISRM suggested methods on
rock mechanics tests. In: Hudson, J.A., Tham, L.G.,
Feng, X.-T., Kwong, A.K.L. (eds.). Proc. ISRM Spon.
Int. Symp. Rock Mech. (SINOROCK 2009), Hong Kong,
pp. 1–5.
Coates, D.F., 1973. Fundamentos de Mecánica de Rocas.
Litoprint, Madrid.
Correa-Arroyave,A., 2000. Caracterización de rocas, ensayos
de laboratorio. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Santa
Fé de Bogotá.
de Mello-Mendes, F., 1967. Mecânica das rochas. Publicado
por Secção de Folhas da Associação de Estudantes do
Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisboa.
Ferrer, M., González de Vallejo, L., 1999. Manual De Campo
Para La Descripción y Caracterización De Macizos
Rocosos En Afloramientos, 1ra edición. Instituto Tec-
nológico Geominero, Madrid.
Ferrer, M., González de Vallejo, L., 2007. Manual De Campo
Para La Descripción y Caracterización De Macizos
9
Rocosos En Afloramientos, 2da edición. Instituto Tec-
nológico Geominero, Madrid.
Goodman, R., 1989. Introduction to rock mechanics, second
ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
González de Vallejo, L.I., Ferrer M., Ortuño, L., Oteo, C.,
2004. Ingeniería Geológica. Prentice Hall, Madrid.
ISRM, 1978. Suggested methods for the quantitative descrip-
tion of discontinuities in rock masses. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences &
Geomechanics Abstracts, Vol. 15 (6): 319–368.
ISRM, 2003. Candidates for the ISRM board 2003–2007.
International Society for Rock Mechanics News Journal,
Vol. 8(1): 11–17.
Krynine, D.P., Judd, W.R., 1957. Principles of engineering
geology and geotechnics: geology, soil and rock mechan-
ics, and other earth sciences as used in civil engineering.
Mc Graw Hill, New York.
Krynine, D.P., Judd, W.R., 1980. Principios de Geología y
Geotecnia para Ingenieros: geología, Mecánica del Suelo
y de las rocas y otras ciencias geológicas empleadas en
Ingeniería Civil. Editorial Omega, Madrid.
Lamas, L., 2008. Report of the ISRM secretary-general for
2008. International Society for Rock Mechanics News
Journal , Vol. 11: 12–15.
Ladeira, F.L., 1983. Ensaios em Mecânica das Rochas.
Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto.
Londe, P., 1974. La mecánica de rocas y el proyecto
de cimentación de grandes presas. Publicado por la
Comisión Internacional de Grandes Presas, Comité
Nacional Español, Madrid.
Moretto O., 1989 La mecánica de rocas en la Ingeniería Civil:
Conferencias. Academia Nacional de Ciencias Exactas
Sección de Ingeniería, Físicas y Naturales, Buenos Aires.
Oteo Mazo, C. 1999. Apuntes de mecánica de rocas y túne-
les. Universidad de Granada. Publicado por Universidad
Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid.
Peres Rodrigues et. al., 1983. Desenvolvimentos Recentes no
Domínio da Mecânica das Rochas. LNEC. Lisboa.
Ramírez Ojanguren, P., 1984. Mecánica de rocas aplicada a
la minería metálica subterránea. Publicado por Instituto
Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid.
Rocha, M., 1973. Mecânica das Rochas. LNEC. Lisboa.
Serrano González, A., 2001. Apuntes de mecánica de rocas.
Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos,
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. ETSI de Caminos,
Canales y Puertos, Madrid.
Stagg, Zienkiewicz, 1970. Mecánica de Rocas en la Inge-
niería Práctica. Editorial Blume, Madrid.
Suárez-Burgoa, L.O., 2010. Descripción del macizo rocoso,
introducción a la ingeniería de rocas de superficie y
subterránea. Editorial El Autor, Brasilia.
ToeiAnimation, 1978. Capitan Future.TV anime, 53 episodes
based on 13 original stories of Edmond Hamilton.
ANNEX: HOW ABOUT ROCK MECHANICS FOR
CHILDREN?
In the seventies decade of the last century there were
the interest of physicians to transmit the knowledge of
space science and technology to children. The author
remembers an interesting anime series called Captain
Future (ToeiAnimation, 1978), where some astronomy
physics theories were explained though the adventures
of this Captain and his friends Otto, Grog, Professor
Simon, and the nice Joan. Perhaps many of the actual
young (or not so young) ISRM members knew this
anime. Even today, the author remembers some of the
goals the physics are waiting for, and even the author
did not understand modern physics, he knows how long
physics can go.
The author thinks that introducing children many
of our today incomprehensive themes may help rock
mechanics discipline in the future. Perhaps we can
find out our answers to our unsolved rock mechanics
problems with the children we can teach today.
It could be interesting to explain indirectly to
the children some basic concepts of rock mechanics
(e.g. deformability of rock mass, drillability of rock,
blasting, rock bursting and water bursting).
The author found an affectionate personage in chil-
dren literature, whose adventures are made under the
10
surface; he is Guillermo Gusano Terradura (William
Worm Earthnaut). Now, William Worm presents by
himself:
“Hi, my name is William Worm. I’m a tunnel
engineer and an expert in the recycling process.
My family recycles old leaves and other things
to save the forest. Life beneath the earth can be
dirty and dangerous, but it can be rewarding.
Let me tell you about the time an oil company
hired Robert and me to oversee the drilling
process.” (Alvarado, 2010; page 6).
If it is possible to persuade and inspire the author
to create, at most, one of the William Worm Earthnaut
adventures in the rock mass, we probably could catch
some of our youngest rock mechanics scientist.
Field investigation and observation
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

New development of In-situ stress measurement with hydraulic fracturing

technique at great depth in China

M.F. Cai
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

H. Peng & X.M. Ma

Institute of Geomechanics, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, China

ABSTRACT: Hydraulic fracturing technique is a commonly used technique for rock stress measurement. Based
on the demand of various rock projects which are towards to larger scale and deeper position, it is necessary
to develop proper techniques suitable for in-situ stress measurement at great depth. Some bottleneck problems
influencing reliable use of the traditional hydraulic fracturing technique at great depth are analyzed. To solve
these problems, corresponding key improved techniques have been developed and successfully used for in-situ
stress measurement at depth more than 2500 m in China.

1 INTRODUCTION projects which were towards to larger scale, deeper

Hydraulic fracturing technique is an efficient tech-
nique for in-situ stress measurement at deep position.
It was first introduced to China at the end of 1970’s
by F. Li and J. Ding from Institute of Crustal Dynam-
ics of the China Earthquake Administration. During
1983–1987, they cooperated with M. D. Zoback and
B. C. Haimson from USA to conduct practical in-situ
stress measurement with hydraulic fracturing tech-
nique for investigation of the tectonic stress field in
westernYunnan Province (Li 1986). The measurement
was completed at 4 boreholes, in which one borehole
was 800 m deep and other three boreholes were 500 m
deep. Since then, hydraulic fracturing technique grad-
ually become a popular technique for in-situ stress
measurement in rock engineering, especially in hydro-
electrical and water conservancy engineering, highway
and railway engineering, but less used in mining engi-
neering before 2000 in China. (Gao & Ding 1990,
Guo & An 2002)). However, in the recent few years
it was already used in mining engineering for in-situ
stress estimation at the early exploration stage of the
mine and also in deep open-pit mines with high-steep
slopes as the importance of in-situ stress state for such
open-pit mines was recognized (Cai et al. 2010). It
is clear that in the open-pit mine and in the early
exploration stage of the underground mine, there is
no any entrance to underground positions, compared
with overcoring and other techniques, hydraulic frac-
turing technique is the only economical and reliable
technique for detecting their underground stress state
(Cai 1993, Ljunggren & Chang 2003).
During the recent 20 years, new ideas and improved
techniques of in-situ stress measurement were devel-
oped based on the demand of various engineering
position and more complicated geological conditions.
As mentioned above, the maximum measuring depth
for in-situ stress measurement using hydraulic frac-
turing technique in China was 800 m, which lasted
for about 20 years. To improve the measuring abil-
ity of hydraulic fracturing technique at great depth,
main problems influencing reliable use of the tradi-
tional hydraulic fracturing technique at great depth
are analyzed, corresponding key improved techniques
have been developed and successfully used, which will
be introduced below.
2 NEW DEVELOPMENT OF HYDRAULIC
FRACTURING TECHNIQUE FOR USING AT
DEPTH
2.1 Main problems influencing measuring depth of
the traditional hydraulic fracturing technique
The traditional hydraulic fracturing equipment used at
great depth has 3 bottleneck problems.
1. The pressure-enduring ability of the sealing packers
and pressurizing system of the hydraulic fracturing
equipment is not enough. Because at depth over
1000 m, the pressure supplied by the pressurized
water should be high enough to make the borehole
wall fractured. However, the high enough pressur-
ized water will also make the sealing packers and
water pipelines damaged or lose function.
2. Along with increase of the measuring depth, the
pressure of ground water is increased. In many engi-
neering fields, such as in Wanfu coal mine which
is situated in the alluvium of Yellow River, the

13
 more than 700 m thick soil layers will make the
borehole at measuring position filling with slurry.
It will strongly influence sufficient pressure relief
and removal of the sealing packers after completion
of the fracturing test.
3. The traditional hydraulic fracturing equipment uses
double-loop system. Because the borehole is more
than 1000 m deep and will cross more than 700 m
thick soil layers, the hydraulic fracturing equipment
will suffer removal difficulty due to stuck on the
borehole wall during transferring to the lower or
upper positions.

2.2 Key techniques for improvement of the

hydraulic fracturing technique
To increase pressure-enduring ability, removal flexibil-
ity and measuring accuracy of the traditional hydraulic
fracturing technique with equipment, following 5 tech-
niques were developed and used in Wanfu coal mine
by the authors in 2004 (Cai et al 2006). Figure 1. Location of measuring boreholes.

1. A new type of sealing packer with special structure

was developed, whose pressure-enduring capacity
is 70 MPa which is enough for hydraulic fracturing
test at 2000 m depth.
2. A single-loop hydraulic fracturing system was
developed, in which a push-pull switch with high
strength is used for transforming the pressurizing
lines to the sealing packers or to the sealed section
of the borehole.
3. An automatic valve for low-pressure relief of the
sealing packer was developed, which automatically
makes pressure relief of the sealing packers after
completion of the fracturing test.
4. Two sets of pressure monitors are used to detect
water pressure in the pipeline, which ensure the
measuring accuracy of water pressure supplied to
the sealed section of the borehole.
5. The pressure-loading and unloading process is
automatically program-controlled, which elimi-
nates the influence of manual control in the tradi-
tional hydraulic fracturing system on the measuring
results.
With the improved equipment and techniques,
in-situ stress measurement at 37 points of 7 boreholes
whose length are all more than 1000 meters in Wanfu
coal mine has been already successfully carried out.
3 IN-SITU STRESS MEASUREMENT IN
WANFU COAL MINE
3.1 General geological conditions in Wanfu coal
mine
Wanfu coal mine is a part of the Juye coal field which
is located in south-west of Shandong Province, China.
Juye coal field is within the range of the alluvium of
Yellow River, so the overburden soil layer is 726 m
thick in average and the averaged burring depth of the
coal seam is 1104 m in Wanfu coal mine. The fault
structures in the mine area are very developed, most
of which are normal slip faults and oriented in NE or
NEE directions.
The complicated geological conditions and high
level of rock stress at depth more than 1000 meters
will strongly influence stability of mining structures
and safety of mining operation. In order to provide
reliable engineering-geological information for design
and construction of the mine, in-situ stress measure-
ment should be carried out in the early exploration
stage, i.e. before design and construction of the mine.
3.2 Arrangement of measuring boreholes
and points
To save the measuring cost, the hydraulic fracturing
stress measurement was performed in the exploration
boreholes. There were 29 exploration boreholes in
the mine, in which 7 boreholes were meticulously
chosen for hydraulic fracturing tests, as shown in
Figure 1.
Among the 7 boreholes, 6 boreholes are close or
over the depth of 1100 m, and the depth of the deep-
est measuring point is 1105 m. It is a new record of
measuring depth for in-situ stress measurement using
hydraulic fracturing technique in China (Cai et al.
2006).
3.3 Measuring results and analysis
Successful hydraulic fracturing tests were carried out
at 3∼6 measuring points in each borehole and alto-
gether 37 hydraulic fracturing tests are completed
in 7 boreholes. The measuring results are shown in
Table 1. In the Table, σH and σh are the maximum
horizontal principal stress and minimum horizontal
principal stress respectively, which are calculated from

14
Table 1. Results of in-situ stress measurement in Wanfu coal
mine.

Magnitude of stress/MPa Orientation

Borehole of
No. Depth/m σH σh σv σH /(◦ )

1# 891.2 30.55 20.40 18.64 65.3

1# 1046.2 37.05 24.28 22.74 78.7
1# 1104.9 42.49 27.67 24.30 62.9
2# 890.3 36.83 23.55 18.47 76.8
2# 1025.1 36.43 24.50 22.05 63.4
2# 1079.6 36.54 25.98 23.50 68.5
3# 791.0 28.49 21.60 15.75 46.1
3# 859.0 34.11 26.00 17.55 44.7
3# 1063.0 40.17 29.00 22.95 52.4
4# 799.6 52.10 32.80 16.16 36.0
4# 1026.4 54.04 32.70 22.14 39.2
4# 1052.7 55.47 33.90 22.85 43.6
5# 874.7 46.75 29.10 18.08 45.5
5# 1027.9 48.12 29.70 22.12 67.9
5# 1080.4 36.80 24.80 23.50 52.8
6# 813.8 26.35 20.47 16.53 98.1
6# 843.8 41.85 26.89 17.32 110.6
6# 892.2 44.97 30.51 18.59 92.5
7# 891.2 30.37 20.34 18.57 38.5
7# 1046.2 37.73 24.85 22.67 32.6
7# 1104.9 46.27 29.99 24.23 39.0

Figure 2. New type of hydraulic fracturing stress measure-

the measured fracturing parameters; σv is vertical
principal stress, which equals to the gravity stress
(2 MPa/100 m in Wanfu coal mine).
It should be pointed out that the impression test
for determine orientation of the fractures made by
hydraulic pressure was conducted at only 3 points in
each borehole. So, there are other 16 measuring points
in which no impression test was carried out and their
measuring results are also not listed in Table 1.
Through analysis of the measuring results, the
in-situ stress state and its distribution law can be
obtained.
1. The ratio of maximum horizontal principal stress
to vertical principal stress is 1.97 in average, which
shows that the in-situ stress field in Wanfu coal
mine is dominated by tectonic horizontal stress
field.
2. The orientation of the maximum horizontal prin-
cipal stress is basically coincides with direction of
the regional tectonic stress field.
3. The measured in-situ stress values are commonly
increased with depth, especially in boreholes 1# , 2# ,
3# and 7# , both the maximum and minimum hori-
zontal principal stresses show approximately linear
increase with depth.
4. The fault structures have remarkable influence on
distribution of in-situ stress field and make it less
uniform. The measured stress value in boreholes
4# , 5# and 6# are relatively high because these three
boreholes are near ends of faults or in a narrow
place between two big faults, in which exists high
stress concentration.
ment system.
4 FUTURE IMPROVEMENT OF HYDRAULIC
FRACTURING TECHNIQUE
After the measurement in Wanfu coal mine, the
hydraulic fracturing equipment and technique were
further improved (Institute of Geomechanics 2010).
A series of newly invented or developed equipment
were used. Among them, the diameter of the seal-
ing packers was increased from φ130 to φ230 and
made of specially developed high strength material,
which can also be serially arranged to increase pres-
sure enduring ability; an ultrasonic scanning probe is
used to detect fractures in the borehole wall which
can determine less than 0.1 mm wide fractures with
their direction. The high-pressurizing system with a
specially developed pump, the automatic controlling
with data collection system and the sealing packer are
integrally connected, as shown in Figure 2, which is
sent to the measuring point in the borehole with a
armoured cable. The cable is also used as remote con-
trolling signal line to the automatic controlling with
data collection system in the measuring point. With
the further improved equipment and technique, in-situ
stress measurement at depth of 2800 m was success-
fully completed in a exploration borehole in Xinjiang
oil field in 2010, which changed the record of mea-
suring depth with hydraulic fracturing technique in
China again.

15
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. Hydraulic fracturing technique bas been recognized
as an useful and convenient stress measurement
technique in underground engineering at its explo-
ration stage and for large-scale high and steep slope
engineering. Because in such engineering condi-
tions, there are no any entrance to access under-
ground positions, compared with overcoring and
other techniques, hydraulic fracturing is the only
economical and reliable technique for detecting
their underground stress state.
2. Traditional hydraulic fracturing technique has some
bottleneck problems influencing its reliable use
at great depth. The most serious problem is the
pressure-enduring ability of its sealing packers
and pressurizing system is not enough. Because
at great depth, the pressure supplied by the pres-
surized water should be high enough to make the
borehole wall fractured, however, the high enough
pressurized water will also make the traditional
sealing packers and water pipelines damaged or
lose function.
3. To improve the measuring ability of hydraulic frac-
turing technique at great depth, a series of new tech-
niques and equipment have been developed whose
main function is to increase pressure-enduring abil-
ity, removal flexibility, remote controlled automatic
measuring ability and accuracy of the traditional
hydraulic fracturing technique with equipment.
4. With the improved techniques and equipment, pass-
ing through a more than 700 m thick overburden
soil layer, successful in-situ stress measurement
was completed in Wanfu coal mine in 2004, which
proved the strong ability of improved hydraulic
fracturing technique used at deep and compli-
cated geological conditions. 1105 m of measuring
depth created a new record of measuring depth
for in-situ stress measurement using hydraulic
fracturing technique in China. Further improvement
16
after the measurement in Wanfu coal mine made the
measuring depth increased to 2800 m in Xinjiang
oil field in 2010, which changed the record again
in China.
REFERENCES
Cai, M.F. 1993. Commentary of principles and techniques
of rock stress measurement [J]. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering12(3): 275–283. (in Chinese)
Cai, M., Peng, H., Ji,H. 2004. New development of hydraulic
fracturing technique for in-situ stress measurement at
great depth of mines. Journal of University of Science
and Technology Beijing: Mineral Metallurgy Materials
15(6):665–670.
Cai, M., Chen, C., Peng, H., et al. 2006. In-situ stress measure-
ment by hydraulic fracturing technique in deep position of
Wanfu coal mine. Chinese Journal Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 25(5): 1069–1074. (in Chinese)
Cai, M., QIAO, L., Li, C., et al. 2010. New development of
in-situ stress measurement in Chinese mines. Rock Stress
and Earthquakes-Proceedings of the 5th International
Symposium on In-Situ Rock Stress 135–142.
Gao, J. L., Ding J. M. 1990. In-situ stress measurement using
hydraulic fracturing technique at Longyang Gorge hydro-
electric station. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 9(2): 134–146. (in Chinese)
Guo, Q. L., An, Q. M., Zhao, S. G. 2002. Application
of results of in-situ stress measurement with hydraulic
fracturing technique to design of the Guangzhou pump
storage project. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 21(6): 828–832. (in Chinese)
Institute of Geomechanics. 2010. Report on research of deep
borehole hydraulic fracturing stress measurement system.
Beijing: Institute of Geomechanics.
Ljunggren, C., Chang, Y. T., et al. 2003. An overview of rock
stress measurement methods [J]. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci., 40: 975–989.
Li, F. 1986. In-situ stress measurement by hydraulic fractur-
ing and preliminary results. Journal of Earthquake 8(4):
431–438. (in Chinese)
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Application of microseismic monitoring technology on fully mechanized

top-coal caving face of extra-thick coal seam

Q.G. Huang
Engineering School, Tatong University, Datong, Shanxi province, China

J. Zhao
Technology Center of Datong Coal Mine Group, Datong, Shanxi province, China

ABSTRACT: Microseismic monitoring technology was used on fully mechanized coal caving face of extra-
thick coal seams in Tashan coal mine to study the movement law of the surrounding rock mass in order to provide
a scientific basis for the coal mining design and the mining pressure control. According to the practical situation
of the fully mechanized top-coal caving face, the arrangement principles of survey area was determined and
data was collected and analyzed on the basis of the requirements of high-precision microseismic monitoring
technique. The movement parameters of the surrounding rock mass on the coal caving face, which have practical
value for the safety in mining, are given in the end of this paper.

1 INSTRUCTIONS 2. The installing depth of the instrument should meet

Microseismic monitoring technique (Jiang et al. 2003)
is a new high-tech monitoring technique, involving
electronic technology, computer technology, informa-
tion technology, signal identification and processing
technology. It can be used in many scientific and
technological fields by monitoring and analysing the
influence and impact of the micro earthquake caused
by the productive activities. It is also a physical geo-
graphical technique based on the accoustic emission
theory and seismology. When the underground rocks
are moved or broken by reason of artifical or phys-
ical factors, micro seismic waves would occur and
propagate around, these waves can be captured by the
detectors arranged around the fractured zone. Then,
the data of the waves can be analysed based on the
vibration-location theory to show the location of the
fractured zone on a 3D space display. Microseismic
monitoring technique is highly practical with good
reliability due to its advanced theory and technological
means, the application of this technique can realize a
continuous dynamic monitoring with little investment
and short cycle (Li et al. 2006).
2 HIGH-PRECISION MICROSEISMIC
MONITORING TECHNIQUE
Microseismic monitoring technique is developed from
seismic observation class, there are three requirements
for the application of this technology in coal mines:
1. The precision of the instrument and positioning
software should meet the high-precision require-
ment of the coal mines.
the extra-deep requirement of the coal mines (usu-
ally below 400 m in Datong district).
3. The instrument should be explosion prevention.
The explosion-prevention coal mine microseismic
monitoring equipment developed by Jiang Fuxing and
Zhang Xingmin (Jiang & Zhang 2005) perfectly meets
the specified requirements in the mine environments.
It can be divided into two parts as the hardware system
and software system.
2.1 Hardware System
The hardware system consists of eight pieces:
1. Explosion-prevention computer
2. Preamplifier
3. Data acquisition board (card)
4. Three-component microseismic sensor and the
cable
5. Digital communication modem
6. Special exploder
7. Electrical source
8. Communication cable
Where the explosion-prevention computer is the
crucial part. The computer adopted in Tashan mine
is Langchao CYB001 type explosion prevention
computer (as shown in Fig.1), it can meet the GB3836-
2000 electrical installation standard at explosive gas
atmosphere.
The characteristics of the hardware system are high
integration level, explosion prevention, and digital
communication. It has been used in 2 mines in Tashan
district, the results show that the hardware system can

17

Figure 1. Explosion-prevention computer.
meet the requirements of working under coal mines.
The technical parameters are as below:
1. The number of channels is 64
2. Minimum sampling interval is 0.125–2 ms
3. The registration accuracy is to 16th decimal place
4. Maximum record length is 512–4096 sampling
points
5. The fixed-gain of preamplifier is 1–100 times, and
the programed-controlling fixed gain is 1, 2, 4, 8
times, separately
6. The amplifier quiescent operation current is smaller
than 15 mA
7. The maximum output and input alternating current
voltages are ±10 V, respectively
8. The output DC drift is smaller than 100 mV
9. The width of transmission bands is 10–1500 Hz
10. The consistency error of time recording is ±1 ms
11. The consistency error of amplitude recording is
smaller than 3%
12. The power dissipation is 20 W
Meanwhile, two kinds of wave detectors and their
installing methods are also developed: Recoverable
detector installed by hydraulic pressure method suit-
able for the hardrock stratum with covering depth less
than 50 m and non-recoverable detector installed by
drill-blasting method suitable for the softrock stratum
with covering depth of 50–100 m. Both of these two
kinds of detectors and methods have been tested and
applied at construction sites.
2.2 Software System
The software system consists of 4 parts:
1. Operating system
2. Driver program for the data acquisition board (card)
3. Data acquisition program system for the microseis-
mic monitoring results
4. Digital communication program
High-precision positioning software system is an
important part of the monitoring system. Based on the
18
relationship of the coal-face scale and the monitoring-
control scale, many realizing techniques such as
the detector arrangement principles for small scale
monitoring precision, average speed structure, com-
posite positioning method, are developed to design
the positioning program. Besides, in order to show the
monitoring results in intuitionistic form, programs, for
example, the graphics program, the statistical analysis
program, and the dynamic display program , are also
developed to draw the profiles of any place in plane
graphs and to show the fracture position during the
fracturing process.
3 THE ARRANGEMENT OF SURVEYING
AREA
3.1 Brief introdution of The Caving Face
No. 8103 caving face is in Tashan coal mine south
of Yanya coal mine, the overburden layers of which
are No. 11 and No. 14 coal seams formed in juras-
sic period. The ground elevation of the caving face
is 1408–1561 m, the floor elevation of the caving
face is 1010–1045 m, and the burying depth of the
coal seam is 363–551 m. The length of inclination
and orebody trend are 230.5 m and 2793 m respec-
tively, average thickness is 18.46 m, average dip angle
is 3◦ , and the covering area is around 643856 m2 .
Generally speaking, the geological formation is
simple.
3.2 The arrangement principles of
surveying area
The principles are determined according to the moni-
toring requirements on No. 8103 caving face:
1. In consideration of the small a dip angle of the
caving face, the terrane movement and the stress
distribution of the surrounding coal are both sym-
metrical to the center line of the caving face, so
the monitoring area can be arranged in just one
roadway (No. 8103 return airway)
2. In order to precisely and safely locate the fracture
zone, the first drilling can be arranged 230 m away
from the cutting hole, the others can be arranged
at intervals of 30–50 m. The boreholes are upward,
30–50 m deep, and inclining towards the coal pillars
so that its life could be longer. There are 23 compo-
nent geophones placed in the boreholes with a total
monitoring range of more than 1000 m.
4 DESIGNING PARAMETERS OF THE
BOREHOLES
There are 20 boreholes with serial number from 1#
to 20#, among which the No. 10 borehole is a blast
hole. The diameter of these holes is 97 mm, and three-
component geophones are placed in the boreholes as
shown in Fig. 2.

Figure 2. The boreholes with serial numbers in surveying
area.
5 THE CALIBRATION OF THE MICROSEISMIC
MONITORING SYSTEM
The microseismic monitoring system is calibrated
through a blast test. After the blast, the elastic waves
would be used to modify the working condition of the
detectors and the whole system by analysing the propa-
gation parameters of the waves in the surrounding rock
such as the average propagation velocity, the energy
decay velocity, calibration precision, and so on.
Fifteen kilograms mining explosive was charged in
the No. 10 borehole with an depth of 35–40 m, and the
microseismic monitoring equipment was adjusted to
single channel mode. After the explosion, the detectors
all effectively recorded the waves, indicating that the
monitoring system was in a good working condition.
The actual coordinate of the blast is (543900.9,
4425097.5, 1009.3), the positioning result is (543899.3,
4425089.3, 1009.1), the error is (0.6, 8.2, 3.0).
6 THE POSITIONING PRECISION
The positioning precision is the key in microseismic
monitoring project (Jiang et al. 2007), the influencing
19
Figure 3. Microseismic event projected in the profile graph.
factors such as the mining fact, geological factor, mon-
itoring factor and algorithm factor are anylised sys-
tematically based on the practical situation in Tashan
mine, and measures are taken to adjust the monitoring
results. The error of the results is within the esti-
mated scale, and the positioning precision meets the
engneering requirements.
7 THE DATA ACQUISITION AND
PROCESSING
The data is recorded in the autographic recording
instrument in the computer, and transferred by the
optical fiber. It is binary files, and can be opened
and processed by the “Microseismic Interpretation”
software and the “Microseismic Positoning” software,
separately. Then, the seismic event is projected in
the plane and profile Graphs by the “Microseismic
display” software for the further analysing (see Fig. 3).
8 CONCLUSIONS
During the monitoring project, No. 8103 caving face
had been advanced for about 398.4m, and the the
microseismic data was collected and processed mean-
while. The results are as below:
1. The microseismic waves propagate as the fracture
pattern of the surrounding rock.
2. The propagation velocities are different in the top
and floor coal seams.
3. The fracture of rock stratum has an obvious horizon
effect in the vertical direction, the fracture of the
high horizon precedes that of the low horizon.
4. The rupture height is 50 m in dense distributing
area, 75 m in normal distributing area, and the
maximum height is 150 m, or even 200 m in some
area.
5. The scale of the front abutment pressure is about
100 m ahead of the caving face.
6. The fracture area is within 100 m around No. 8103
caving face with a rupture height of 75 m.
These parameters are in good agreement with obser-
vation results at construction site, providing a solid
basis for the mining design and the pressure control.
REFERENCES
Jiang, F.X., Wang, C.W., Yang, S.H., Zhang, X.M. 2007.
Microseismic monitoring and measuring technology for
pumping presure, coal and gas outburst and water inrush.
Coal Science and Technology.
Jiang, F.X., Yang, S.H., Xun, L. 2003. Spatial fracturing pro-
gresses of surrounding rock masses in long wall face
20
monitored by microseimic monitoring techniques.
Journal of China Coal Society.
Jiang, F.X., Zhang, X.M. 2005. Microseimic Detector. China
patent: ZL20042003944219, 2005-03-23.
Li, F.Q., Zhang, X.M., Jiang, F.X. 2006. Microseismic mon-
itoring system and application in underground coal mine.
Coal geology & Exploration.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study of the horizontal crack of hard rock or sprayed concrete on high

sidewall of large underground cavern

Q. Jiang, X.T. Feng, C.P. Shi & C. Jing

State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China

Y.J. Jiang
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan

ABSTRACT: During the construction of underground engineering horizontal or nearly horizontal cracks have
been observed usually on the surface of high sidewall in large underground cavern, which would influence the
local stability. The creaking mechanism on high sidewall of large cavern was studied through the case study
of Laxiwa underground main powerhouse. By the numerical simulation of cavern opening, the changing of
displacement and stress of rock were revealed. And the results indicated that the surface rock of high sidewall
goes through the sharp displacement release and stress unloading. Several main factors which could induce
cracks of sidewall have been summarized, including hard rock mass with very low tension strength, caver profile
with large erective surface, considerable displacement of rock mass at high sidewall and redistributed stress
state with tension stress. And an index considering unload strain energy (USE) was introduced to evaluate the
intensity and depth of crack on high sideward. Some engineering measurements were discussed also to deal with
cracking of high sidewall.

1 INTRODUCTION displacement evolution and stress evolution of rock

During the construction of large underground engi-
neering, surrounding rock goes through extreme stress
unloading and partly fails accordingly (Blair 1998,
Ishida 2000, Efimov 2004, Jiang 2011). As a typical
failure mode, horizontal or nearly horizontal cracks
have been observed usually on the surface of high side-
wall in large underground cavern, which brought on
uncertainty for large cavern and induced serial engi-
neering accident sometimes (Zhao 1998, Wang 2008,
Jiang 2010 & Wu 2010).
In general, the failure face of crack is uprightness
with surface of high sidewall. The existed cracks cut
down the integrality of high sidewall and can induce
secondary stability problem, such as local falling,
breach of bolt. Observation shows that activity of
cracks is expand along the original crack and increase
step by step. So, the cracking of high sidewall in large
underground cavern is a longtime activity and the sta-
bility issue of crack will go with the full excavation
process also. Thus, the key is that what is mechanism
of horizontal cracking during excavation and which
is the way to evaluate the intensity of crack on high
sidewall.
This paper has exposed the mechanical essence
of cracking on high sidewall of large underground
cavern for preventing cracks of high sidewall. Taking
Laxiwa underground powerhouse as an instance, the
are presented by the numerical simulation of cavern
opening, which indicates that the surface rock of high
sidewall goes through sharp displacement release and
stress unloading. Four disadvantageous factors, which
effect cracking of sidewall, have been summed after
detail analysis. For evaluating cracks on sidewall, an
energy index named unloading strain energy (USE) is
put forward to describe the intensity and depth of crack
on high sideward. Several measurements, including
supporting method and excavation method, are dis-
cussed also to prevent development of cracking. These
give new clues for dealing with cracking problem of
sidewall in large underground cavern.
2 BASIC CHARACTERS OF CRACK
2.1 Background of Laxiwa hydropower station
The Laxiwa hydropower station, located at northwest
area of China, is the largest hydropower station of
Yellow-river region in the aspect of generated electri-
cal energy and equipped capacitor. This power station
is also a strategic north channel of northwest electric
network and plays a key role in “West-East electricity
transmission project” of China.
The underground hydraulic structure is a large
cavern group located at right bank of Laxiwa valley

21
Figure 1. Layout of Laxiwa underground caverns.
and consists of main powerhouse, main transformed
cavern, tailrace chamber, six high press water tun-
nels, two surge chambers, six tailrace tunnels, and
so on (shown as Figure 1). In the underground
caverns, the size of main powerhouse is about
311.8 × 30.0 × 73.8 m in length, width and height with
axial of N25◦ E. The main transformed cavern, exca-
vation size of 232.6 × 29.0 × 53.0 m in length, width
and height, is at downstream side of and parallel to the
main powerhouse and connected to the main power-
house through the busbar channel. There is one surge
chamber for three power units with the excavation size
of 32 m in diameter and 69.3 m in height. The outside
wall of main powerhouse has a horizontal distance of
150 m from bank slope.
2.2 Cracks on high sidewall of Laxiwa
underground main powerhouse
Granite in the Laxiwa project is a hard and compact
rock with low tension strength. During the opening of
Laxiwa’s underground main powerhouse, many cracks
of granite rock or sprayed concrete on high sidewall
appeared step by step with excavation from up to bot-
tom. The length for cracks is range from 0.5 m to more
than 10 m. The width of most cracks is about 0.4 cm,
few cracks have the breadth of 1 cm (as Figure 2). But
the depth of crack is had to be measured.
In summarizing, the cracks observed in Laxiwa’s
upstream high sidewall have several characters.
1) Most of cracks were near horizontal, although
nearby tunnels affected the shape of cracks.
2) Most of cracks appeared at the middle part of high
sidewall of main powerhouse.
3) The cracks were failed by the tension stress from
the judgment of in-situ observation.
22
Figure 2. Observed cracks on the upstream sidewall of
Laxiwa’s underground powerhouse.
3 MECHANICAL PROCSS OF SIDEWALL
DURING EXCAVATION
Given appearance of crack is related to cavern opening,
the mechanical process of sidewall rock, including dis-
placement and stress, are analyzed firstly by numerical
simulation.
3.1 Numerical simulation of excavating Laxiwa
underground main powerhouse
In the opening program of Laxiwa underground
caverns, the main powerhouse had been designed as
nine benches and excavated from up to bottom. Before
the layer “V” of main powerhouse had been exca-
vated, the busbar tunnels were open firstly. Before
the layer “VII” of main powerhouse had been exca-
vated, the press water tunnels were open firstly. Thus
the numerical simulation of excavation follows this
opening program, and mechanical process of several
points (from P1 to P4) on upstream sidewall will be
traced, as shown in Figure 3.
Since the surrounding rock of Laxiwa project is
granite with brittle break mode, a constitutive model,
named rock deterioration model (RDM), is adopted to
describe brittle failure and damage accumulation of
granite (Jiang 2010). Criterion of the maximum ten-
sion stress, i.e. Rankine criterion, is adopted accord-
ingly to judge the tension failure of rock in this
model.
 Figure 4. Relationship between deformation value of traced
Figure 3. Opening program of main powerhouse. points and excavation layer.

Table 1. Main mechanical parameter for numerical simula-

tion.
p p
Eo Co εc fo εc
Parameters /GPa /MPa /×10−3 /o /×10−3

Value 26.4 12.6 3.0 50.1 4.1

where, σt is the tension strength of rock mass and σ3

is the minimum stress.
Deterioration of rock is represented by the change
of material mechanical parameters, which are the func-
tion of general plastic strain (as Eq. 2) and vary with
the degree of general plastic strain, as evidenced by
Eq. 3.

Figure 5. Displacement vector and displacement contour of

Laxiwa main powerhouse’s upstream sidewall.

not synchronous, i.e. the rock at high altitude releases

where, Eo , Co and φo are initial elastic modules, cohe-
sive strength, and initial friction angle, respectively, at
the elastic state of rock; Ed (ε̄p ), Cd (ε̄p ) and φd (ε̄p )
represent the deteriorated elastic modules, deterio-
rated cohesive strength and deteriorated friction angle,
respectively, at the yield state of the rock; fE (ε̄p ),
fC (ε̄p ) and fφ (ε̄p ) are the functions of mobiliz-
ing parameters. In this numerical simulation, main
mechanical are shown as Table 1.
distortion firstly and the rock at low altitude releases
distortion lagged. The total deformation of sidewall is
about 35 mm, which is not a small deformation value
for hard granite.
On the other hand, displacement vector of sidewall
orients to excavated void and the maximum displace-
ment appears at the middle of sidewall (shown as
Figure 5). Since the largest displacement value appears
at middle of high sidewall and the displacement vector
orients to excavated void, failure of rock mass should
happen at middle of high sidewall.

3.2 Displacement variation of high sidewall rock

In the course of opening a large underground cavern,
excavation of rock is generally conducted layer by layer
from top to bottom. The side wall comes into being
step by step also. Thus rock deformation release at
sidewall will appear with excavation process (shown
as Figure 4). From Figure 4, we can find that the defor-
mation releases of sidewall rock at different altitude is
3.3 Stress variation of rock on high sidewall
The numerical simulation of opening large cavern
shows that the surface rock of sidewall has undergone
strong stress relaxing and stress concentrating during
excavating layer by layer, as shown in Figure 6. From
Figure 6 we can find that the maximum principle stress
of rock and the middle principle stress have a climbing

23

Figure 6. Stress evolution of surface rock during excavation
layer by layer of Laxiwa upstream sidewall (a. three principle
stresses of Point 3, b. three principle stresses of Point 4).
part and a depressed part in the course of stress evolu-
tion. But the minimum principle stress has depressed
part only. That means the stress environment of side-
wall rock migrates from preferable initial stress state
to disadvantageous stress state during excavation. The
last result is that the stress of sidewall rock has relative
big compression stress and small tension stress.
Obviously the kind of stress state is adverse to
rock material which has high compression strength
and very low tension strength. In the map of Mohr
stress circle, the last stress state of rock is more near to
the strength envelop line. Since there appears tension
stress about 0.5 MPa, the rock mass of high sidewall
has the tendency of tension failure
4 MECHANISM OF CRACKING ON HIGH
SIDEWALL AND PREDICTION
4.1 Discussion of cracking reasons
From above analysis and calculation, the reasons of
cracking on high sidewall can be summed as following
disadvantageous factors.
1. Hard rock mass with very low tension strength.
Experiment shows that the tension strength of gran-
ite mass is not more than 0.5 MPa, which means this
24
kind hard rock can not endure ductile distortion
similar to soft rock (Tham 2005, Nasseri 2006, Lin
2008). So tension cracks maybe the unique failure
mode.
2. Cavern profile with large erective surface. The
straightly erective surface is not a favorable struc-
ture to endure outside compressive loading.
3. Considerable displacement of rock mass at high
sidewall. On one hand, the large displacement
vector orienting to excavated void leads to large ten-
sion strain. If the tension strain is beyond the limit
strain of granite, crack will appear (Glenn 1977,
Tao 1997, Diederichs 1999) On the other hand, the
deformation release of sidewall rock at different
altitude is not synchronous, which can bring up eas-
ily strain localization. So this kind of displacement
process is adverse to sidewall rock.
4. Redistributed stress state with tension stress. After
redistribution of rock stress caused by excavation,
the rock mass of sidewall had undergone com-
plicated stress relaxing and stress concentrating
and fell into an undesirable stress state with large
compressive stress and small tension stress.
So the sidewall appears horizontal cracks under
coupled effects of above factors. And the failure
mode of cracks performance as tension yield. Since
the considerable displacement appears at middle of
high sidewall, the poison of cracking locates at mid-
dle naturally. The crack process can be abstracted as
Figure 6.
4.2 Evaluation method of sidewall crack
Since the cracking of high sidewall is usual in large
underground cavern, the evaluation of crack risk and
depth is important. Reviewing the mechanism of crack,
it is clear that rock mass of sidewall has strong stress
unloading and energy release during opening and the
cracks appear exactly in the course of energy release.
Considering its failure mode is tension yield, an energy
index, named unloading strain energy (USE), is put
forward here. USE refers the released energy of ele-
ment during excavation from the energy point when
tension yield starts, to the energy point when tension
yield ends (expressed as Eq.4).
where Ets is the elastic energy point when tension
yield starts (as Eq.5); Ete is the elastic energy point
when tension yield ends (as Eq.6). That means the
USE is released energy during tension failure, shown
as Figure 7.
Figure 7. Sketch map of cracking at high sidewall.
Figure 8. Calculating method of USE in strain energy curve.
Figure 9. USE distribution of powerhouse’s upstream side-
wall in Laxiwa project.
where σ1 , σ2 and σ3 is the three principle stresses
when tension yield starts; σ1 , σ2 and σ3 is the three
principle stresses when tension yield ends; υ is the
Poisson ratio and E is the elastic module.
If we define an energy threshold for macro crack,
the USE can predict the range and depth of crack-
ing on high sidewall. Using the USE, the cracks of
underground powerhouse upstream sidewall in Laxiwa
project can be described as Figure 8. If we regard USE
threshold of macro crack is 6 kJ/m3 , the position of
macro cracks can be find in ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, et al (as shown
in Figure 8).And, the depth of crack can be judged also,
which is about 0.5∼1.0 m.
25
4.3 Dealing measurements
Since many factors analyzed above leaded to the crack-
ing of high sidewall, some measurements should be
considered to change or amend factors above effect-
ing rock cracking for dealing with rock cracking of
sidewall.
Firstly, some supporting measurement need be con-
sidered. Since the factor of tension stress induced the
cracks of sidewall, improving stress state of sidewall
rock, such as decreasing or avoiding tension stress,
need be introduced. If some rock bolt or anchor wire
had been set on the sidewall, which can increase the
normal compressive stress, tension stress on surface
rock of high sidewall can be depressed.
Furthermore, some excavation measurement need
be considered also. For the purpose of avoiding abrupt
displacement and stress unloading, careful excavation
with small height of layer and multi step opening are
reasonable.
The engineering experience of Laxiwa underground
powerhouse has indicated that these measurements are
available: (1) adding rock bolt and anchor wire in
the middle of upstream sidewall; (2) reducing height
of excavating layer. Using these measurements, the
stability of powerhouse sidewall was achieved.
5 CONCLUSION
Taking Laxiwa underground powerhouse as an
instance, this paper analyzes the mechanical essence
of cracking on high sidewall of large cavern. From the
aspects of displacement evolution and stress evolution
of rock exposed by numerical simulation of cavern
opening, several main factors which can induce cracks
of sidewall have summarized, including hard rock
mass with very low tension strength, cavern profile
with large erective surface, considerable displacement
of rock mass at high sidewall and redistributed stress
state with tension stress. The coupled effects of above
factors lead to horizontal cracks and tension yield.
For evaluating crack risk and depth, an index con-
sidering unloading strain energy releasing is put for-
ward to describe the intensity and depth of crack on
high sideward, which gives new clue for dealing with
cracking problem of sidewall in large underground
cavern.
What’s more, two practical dealing measurements
are also introduced for prevention cracking of high
sidewall in large underground cavern.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work is financially supported by National Nat-
ural Science Foundation of China (No. 40902090),
important direction of CAS creation engineer-
ing (No. KZCX2-EW-110) and National Special
Funds for Major State Basic Research Project (No.
2010CB732006).
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of microscale heterogeneity on macroscopic deforma-
tion. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
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Diederichs, M.S., Kaiser, P.K. 1999. Tensile strength and
abutment relaxation as failure control mechanisms in
underground excavations. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36: 69–96.
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activation by measuring rock resistance. Journal of Mining
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Glenn, L.A., Janach, W. 1977. Failure of granite cylinders
under impact loading. International Journal of Fracture
13(3): 301–317.
Ishida, T. & Uchita, Y. 2000. Strain monitoring of borehole
diameter changes in heterogeneous jointed wall rock with
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Engineering Geology 56: 63–74.
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characteristics and numerical simulation based on a new
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381–388.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Field investigation and surface detection techniques of

abandoned coal mine goafs

R.T. Liu
State Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines of Ministry of Education,
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

W. Li
Mine Safety Techniques Branch , China Coal Research Institute, Beijing, China
State Key Lab of Coal Resources Mining and Environment Protection, Beijing, China

H.S. Ma
State Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines of Ministry of Education,
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: A series of disasters caused by abandoned coal mine goafs, such as roof collapsing suddenly,
spontaneous combustion, water disaster, poisonous and harmful gas, etc. have become one of the important factors
threatening coal mine and social safety. In order to detect the abandoned coal mine goafs distribution scope and
the existing safety dangers in Ordos Mining Area, China, based on field investigation, three surface detecting
techniques of goafs, including the high density resistivity method, the transient electromagnetic method and the
EH-4 geoelectromagnetic method, are applied to obtain the comprehensive cross sections and time cross sections
of the video resistivity by the field data collection, data pre-processing and the reversed evolution calculation to
explain the geometry and substance property features and to establish a detection technical method of abandoned
coal mine goafs suitable for the coal mines in Ordos, China. The results showed that: almost all the abandoned
coal mine goafs are shallow goafs and the depth is generally less than 200 m, the abandoned coal mine goafs
distribution scope and condition are lack of detailed record and data; based on the technical detection method
of the abandoned coal mine goafs, the high density resistivity method should be suitable for the detection of the
shallow goafs and the detection depth should be less than 200 m; the transient electromagnetic method should
be suitable for the detection of the goafs in medium depth and the detection depth should be less than 600 m;
the EH-4 geoelectromagnetic method should be suitable for the detection of the goafs with deep depth and
the detection depth should be less than 1000 m. This paper provides helpful experience for coal mine goafs
investigation and detection in the future.

1 FIELD IVESTIGATION OF ABANDONED
COAL MINE GOAF
At present, Ordos mining area is one of the main coal
production bases in China. According to the borehole
data, the strata from new to old in Ordos mining area
are mainly involved: stratum of Quaternary (5∼10 m),
stratum of Cretaceous Zhidan Group 30∼50 m), stra-
tum of Jurassic yenan formatio n(about 300 m). In the
mining area, the main coal seams are coal 2, coal 3,
coal 4 and coal 5. The abandoned coal mine goafs
by the room and pillar method (or lane and pillar
method) are mainly distributed in the coal 2-2, and the
coal 2-2 is nearly horizontal and its thickness is about
3m. The mining area’s terrain and geological condi-
tions are of large variation: local terrain is relatively
gentle or up and down within large range, and local
surface is with bedrock exposed or with high-voltage
wire interference, etc. Because of the faults cutting,
the buried depth of coal 2-2 is about 50∼100 m.
According to field investigation of Ordos in March
2009, there are totally 198 local coal mines, and
the field area is about 905.59 km2 , among them, the
total area of abandoned coal mine goafs is about
213.12 km2 , the 23.5% of field area. There are 51 coal
mines existing spontaneous combustion phenomenon;
98 coal mines existing surface subsidence; some of
coal mines existing different degrees of remaining
water, etc. The field investigation of abandoned coal
mine goafs in Ordos mining area is shown in Table 1.
The distribution of spontaneous coal mine as well
as surface subsidence coal mine in Ordos are shown
in Figure1 and Figure 2.
The field investigation is only for the investiga-
tion of status. Due to years of integrating mining in
Ordos mining areas, the distribution and the situation

27
Table 1. The field investigation of abandoned coal mine In most goafs, roof collapsing was caused, and
goafs in Ordos mining area. falling zones, fractured zones and bending zones
were formed. Compared with the intact formation,
*Z.Q *Y.Q *E.Q *D.Q *D.S Total the falling zones of abandoned coal mine goafs
became looser and their density became lower. The
*F.A/km2 458.4 225.1 54.9 21.6 145.7 905.6
apparent resistivity of falling zones was significantly
*G.A/km2 95.9 57.2 39.1 5.1 15.9 213.1
*S.C/num 17 8 14 6 6 51
higher than surrounding media, the electrical prop-
*S.S/num 51 28 10 5 4 98 erty showed high resistivity anomalies. the apparent
*G.C/km2 18.2 9.2 4.1 1.3 0.7 33.5 resistivity of fractured zones occurred no significant
changes, but because the fracture was full of air
*F.A: Field Area, G.A: Goaf Area, S.C: Spontaneous Coal and showed lower conductivity, the electrical prop-
mine, S.S: Surface Subsidence Coal mine, G.C: Goaf Col- erty showed high resistivity anomalies; if the falling
laped area, Z.Q: ZHUN’QI, Y.Q: YI’QI, E.Q: E’QI, D.Q: zones or fractured zones were filled with water and
DA’QI, D.S: DONGSHENG. the electrical conductivity would increase rapidly. The
apparent resistivity was significantly lower than sur-
rounding media, the electrical property showed low
resistivity anomalies. This kind of electrical changes
provided geophysical application premise of con-
ductive differences for the approaches such as the
high density resistivity method, the transient electro-
magnetic method and the EH-4 geoelectromagnetic
method (Liu 2005, Li 2011).

Figure 1. The distribution of spontaneous coal mine in

Ordos. 3 THE SURFACE DETECTION TECHNIQUES
FOR ABANDONED COAL MINE GOAFS
AND EXAMPLES

3.1 The high density resistivity method

Figure 2. The distribution of surface subsidence coal mine
in Ordos.
of remaining water in abandoned coal mine goafs are
unknown, so it is very necessary and important to carry
out the surface detection work for the abandoned coal
mine goafs.
2 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES PREMISE OF THE
ABANDONED COAL MINE GOAFS
Now the surface detection techniques for abandoned
coal mine goafs mainly includes two methods: geo-
physical detecting and borehole drilling. As one of
the most intuitive detection method, borehole drilling
method has the obvious advantages of high preci-
sion. But borehole drilling is just “peep-hole view”,
and obviously the drilling is a large work with slow
progress and small controlled range. So, geophysical
detection method is mainly adopted to surface detec-
tion of the abandoned coal mine goafs with borehole
drilling verification as an auxiliary method. Now the
mature methods mainly include the high density resis-
tivity method, the transient electromagnetic method
and the EH-4 geoelectromagnetic method.
The high density resistivity method is an improved
edition of the conventional resistivity method. It is
a detection method based on rock electrical differ-
ences. The abandoned coal mine goafs can be detected
through the observation and research on the distri-
bution rules of the underground stable electric field
which is artificially built. The high density resistivity
method has the following features (Lv 2005): (1) the
electrodes are laid out for once, which can reduce the
fault and interference caused by electrode setting, and
can collect the field data rapidly and automatically; (2)
it can achieve effective scan measurement of variety
of electrodes arrangement; (3) it can realize data pre-
processing and profile curve shape displaying, then
can also automaticly draw and print various results
maps; (4) compared with traditional resistivity method,
it owns lots of advantages in lower cost, higher effi-
ciency, abundant information, convenient explanation,
and significantly improved detecting capability.
Example: One measuring line of high density resis-
tivity method was selected in Ordos mining area which
has gentle terrain. In this region coal 2-2 is buried at
about 80 m depth, and the line crossed a piece of known
abandoned coal mine goafs, which has the position of
about 160∼190 m of the line. In addition, there exists
one 110 kv high voltage wires on the surface.
The apparent resistivity comprehensive profile of
the high density resistivity method is shown in
Figure 3. The chromatographic result reflects the
apparent resistivity of the strata, the darker the color,
the higher the resistivity. It can be seen that in

28

Figure 3. The apparent resistivity comprehensive profile of
the high density resistivity method.
measuring line between 140∼210 m the apparent
resistivity is higher, which can be inferred that the
goafs is abnormal and with no water. The position and
range reflected by the high density resistivity method
is slightly larger than actual goafs, and it is shown
that the high density resistivity method is preponderant
for detecting abandoned coal mine goafs with shallow
coal seam buried, gentle terrain, and high voltage wires
distribution on the surface.
3.2 The transient electromagnetic method
The transient electromagnetic method (TEM) belongs
to the electromagnetic induction detection method,
it follows the principle of electromagnetic induc-
tion; The mechanism is that the conductive medium
will produce eddy current field effect when step
change electromagnetic fields generated. That is,
using a ungrounded loop or magnetic dipole to emit
the underground firing pulse electromagnetic wave
as excitation field source (traditionally called “First
Field”). According to Faraday law on electromagnetic
induction electromagnetic pulse, when electromag-
netic pulse finished and under the action of excitation
field, the interior of the strata or geological target (the
abandoned coal mine goafs) will produce vortices and
magnetic field (traditionally called “Second Field”),
this kind of eddy current has space and time char-
acteristics. Through the observation and research on
the space and time characteristics of Second Field,
the geometry and physical property characteristics of
the strata or the abandoned coal mine goafs can be
speculated.
The transient electromagnetic method detection has
the following characteristics (Zhang 2007): (1) the
Second Field is pure abnormal field, and a field back-
ground interference does not exist; (2) the penetration
ability in high resistance layer is strong, and has high
ability of distinguishing low resistance layer; (3) the
topographic influence is small, the measurement is
simple and with high efficiency.
Example: One measuring line of transient electro-
magnetic method was selected in Ordos mining area
which has undulating terrain, in this region coal 2-2
is buried at about 35∼80 m depth, the line crossed a
piece of known abandoned coal mine goafs, which has
the position of about 140∼260 m of the line, the max-
imum drop is about 45 m. There exists no high voltage
wires and buildings on the surface.
29
Figure 4. The apparent resistivity comprehensive profile of
the transient electromagnetic method.
The apparent resistivity comprehensive profile of
the transient electromagnetic method is shown in
Figure 4. The chromatographic result reflects the
apparent resistivity of the strata, the darker the color,
the higher the resistivity. It can be seen that in measur-
ing line between 135∼260 m the apparent resistivity
is higher, it can be inferred that the goafs is abnormal
with on water. The position and range reflected by the
transient electromagnetic method agree with the actual
goafs well, it is shown that the transient electromag-
netic method is suitable for detection of undulating
terrain.
3.3 The EH-4 geoelectromagnetic method
The EH-4 geoelectromagnetic method belongs to the
magnetotelluric sounding system combined part of
controlled source and natural source. The deep strata is
imaged through the natural background field source,
and its message source is 10∼100 kHz. The shallow
strata obtains high resolution images through a new
type portable low-power transmitter which launches
1∼100 kHz artificially electromagnetic signal to com-
pensate the shortage of natural signal.
The EH-4 geoelectromagnetic method has the fol-
lowing characteristics (Zhao 2009): (1) using the way
of artificial field source and natural field source inter-
action, the artificially field source can make up the
shortage of natural field source in some frequency
band and it is particularly useful to solve shallow geo-
logical detection; (2) the effect of high impedance
coatings is a little, it can be used in basalt covered
areas, large areas where bedrock exposed, even in some
desert coverage areas for the effectively exploration
in deep geological information; (3) the measurement
systems and launch devices are light with a fast mea-
suring speed; (4) it has high resolution, so it is possible
to detect some small geological structure.
Example: One measuring line of EH-4 geoelectro-
magnetic method was selected in Ordos mining area
which has small terrain, in this region coal 2-2 is buried
at about 80 m depth, the line crossed two pieces of
known abandoned coal mine goafs, which has the posi-
tion of about 520∼560 m and 680∼800 m of the line.
There exists no high voltage wires and buildings on
the surface.
The apparent resistivity comprehensive profile of
the EH-4 geoelectromagnetic method is shown in
Figure 5. The chromatographic result reflects the
apparent resistivity of the strata, the darker the color,

Figure 5. The apparent resistivity comprehensive profile of
the EH-4 geoelectromagnetic method.
the higher the resistivity. It can be seen that in mea-
suring line between 510∼590 m and 650∼800 m the
apparent resistivity is higher, it can be inferred that
the goafs is abnormal and with no water. The position
and range reflected by the EH-4 geoelectromagnetic
method agree with the actual goafs well, it is shown
that the EH-4 geoelectromagnetic method is suitable
for detection of small terrain.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Practice proved that it was very important to select
reasonable detection methods for the abandoned coal
mine goafs surface detection. Combined the expe-
rience of field investigation and surface detection
techniques of abandoned coal mine goafs in Ordos
mining area, the conclusions are as follows:
1) The field investigation of abandoned coal mine
goafs mainly includes the position, size of area,
spontaneous combustion, water conditions, airtight
condition, roof collapse, surface subsidence con-
ditions of the goafs, the important structures and
buildings (residential areas, highway, high-voltage
or communication towers, etc) above the goafs.
2) Generally speaking, the high density resistivity
method would be suitable for the detection of the
shallow goafs and the detection depth would be less
than 200 m; the transient electromagnetic method
would be suitable for the detection of the goafs in
medium depth and the detection depth would be less
than 600 m; the EH-4 geoelectromagnetic method
would be suitable for the detection of the goaf in
the deep depth and the detection depth would be
less than 1000 m.
3) The high density resistivity method is suitable for
the surface detection of low depth, small terrain,
30
more ground conductors or high voltage wires
distribution areas.
4) If the abandoned coal mine goafs are probably filled
with water, it will be suitable to adopt the transient
electromagnetic method or EH-4 geoelectromag-
netic method which is sensitive to low resistance.
Otherwise, if there is no water in the goafs, it will be
suitable to adopt the high density resistivity method
which is sensitive to high resistance.
5) For the areas with complex terrain or geological
conditions, and with high precision acquired, it is
suggested to adopt two or more surface comprehen-
sive detection methods to validate each other and
increase the effect of detection, besides encrypted
measuring points.
Besides the three methods mentioned above, the
shallow seismic detection techniques, the ground-
penetrating radar techniques, Rayleigh wave explo-
ration techniques, radioactive soil measuring radon
techniques, 3d laser scanning techniques and the
controlled source detection techniques have already
applied to the abandoned coal mine goafs surface
detection. In the areas which are unsuitable for surface
detection, the undermine detection should be carried
out as far as possible, especially the advanced detection
in the head of exploration. The abandoned coal mine
goafs detection is a complicated and huge project. With
the development of geophysical detection techniques,
more and more new techniques should be applied to
the goafs detection, to improve the detection precision
and put an end to great disaster accidents, and then to
ensure production safety and provide technical support
and guarantee.
REFERENCES
Li, W., Mou, Y. & Zhang, J.Y. at al. 2011. Optimization of
Surface Detection Techniques and Method of Mine Goaf.
Coal Science and Techniques, Vol. 39(1): 102–106.
Liu, J.H., Wang, Z.W. & Zhu, S. 2005. The geophysical
exploration about exhausted area and sinking area in coal
mine. Journal of China Coal Society, Vol. 30(6): 715–719.
Lv, H.J., Liu, S.H. & Liu, B.G. 2005. Application of resis-
tivity tomography survey method in detecting ground
subsidence. Progress in Geophysics, Vol.20(2): 381–386.
Zhang, K.Y., Han, Z.H. & Zhou, T. 2007. Application of Tran-
sient Electromagnetic Method in Coal Mine Gob. Chinese
Journal of Engineering Geophysics, Vol.4(4): 341–344.
Zhao, G.R. 2009. Mine Goaf Survey Techniques Based on
EH4Electromagnetic Image System. Coal Science and
Techniques, Vol. 37(11): 110–116.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Optical fiber sensing technology in deformation monitoring shaft of

Jinchuan Mine

Z.H. Liu
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
School of Energy Sources and Safety, Anhui University of Science & Technology, huainan, Anhui, China

G.Gao & F.G. Xu

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

Z.J. Chen
Jinchuan Group Limited, Jinchang, Gansu, China

ABSTRACT: It is of great significance that in order to take timely measures to prevent from mine disasters
and reduce economical losses establishes automatic real-time monitoring system. Laboratory experiments have
studied the different optical fiber sensors embedded mode, bonding materials and construction technology to
the monitoring effect of structural deformation. These provide experience and theoretical basis for fiber-optic
monitoring of the shaft project. Combined with 14 row wind-well reinforcement engineering of Jinchuan Mine
No.2, fiber-optic grating sensor monitoring system is designed and laid. The results showed that: BOTDR optical
fiber sensing technology with the advantages of real-time, remote, automated monitoring of rock deformation,
can visually display different locations deformation distribution characteristics in the shaft wall rock, for health
conditions of the shaft provide accurate monitoring data, in order to provides the basis for predicting the damage
to the shaft and timely reinforcement scheme. The technology has not only broad application prospects in the
state’s long-term monitoring of rock deformation of the mine project, but also provides a reference to similar
shaft deformation monitoring.

1 INSTRUCTIONS 2 LABORATORY EXPERIMENT

In of the 20th 90s century optical fiber sensing tech- 2.1 Experimental design
nology as a new type of sensor monitoring technology
In order to grasp the fiber optic sensor measure-
has developed (Sui 2008). Currently, the technol-
ment accuracy and crack level, the experiment adopts
ogy has been successfully applied in civil, hydraulic
concrete beams without web reinforcement, and Load-
engineering and other aspects, and made a series
ing is the four-point bending tests, shown in figure
of achievements at home and abroad (Ohno 2001,
1.9 fiber is laid In the concrete beam, which are
Bao 2001, Ren 2008 & Yue 2009). The fiber grating
connected by ends, through the optical fiber strain ana-
sensor monitoring technology has become the most
lyzer, the fiber strain buried in the concrete beam can
promising technologies.
Distributed optical fiber monitoring deformation
applications in the shaft is also unusual, and the optical
fiber sensing technology in the shaft deformation mon-
itoring is still in the exploration Stage. Combined with
the Shaft deformation monitoring of Jinchuan II Mine
carefully studies optimization of optical cross-section
size, cutting slot parameter, bonding material and con-
struction technology, which provide a theoretical basis
to the shaft of optical monitoring deformation and
accumulated some experience to ensure the reliability
of buried fiber optic implementation. Figure 1. Loading schematic diagram of concrete beams.

31
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of optical fiber embedded. Figure 3. Beams deformation breach after the 15th load.

be measured, shown in figure 2. Adding short beam on

the concrete beam, using jack on the short beam apply
load to the concrete beam through the pad, through the
force sensor achieves step-by-step loading. Dial indi-
cator is used to measure the deflection, which is laid
under the center surface of the beam across. Ultimately
monitored deflection by dial indicator transforms the
strain to verify measurement accuracy of the optical
monitoring strain. Through step by step loading exper-
iment, force sensor can record the load value and the
dial indicator record the beam deflection every adding
of a load. Test equipment: AQ8603 distributed optical
Figure 4. The load – deflection curves of beams middle in
fiber strain measurement, fiber grating signal ana- the lower part.
lyzer, dial indicator, load indicator and pressure sensor
voltage.
indicator. According to data recorded by dial indi-
2.2 Analysis of experimental results cator, load-deflection curve in beam cross can be
obtained (figure 4). The curve fits the experimental
1. Resistance crack degree of optical fiber sensors curves of reinforced concrete beam.
There was not the phenomenon of fiber adhe-
sive material falling when beam was loading in According to the principle of concrete structural
the process; when the beam had loaded into 13th design, simple beam in the two symmetrical loading
class, the beam can be observed 10mm small cracks effect is produced by bending and shear. The beam can
in the side lower edge. When loaded into 15th class, be regarded as homogeneous elastic body before the
the beam suddenly occurs shear failure, as shown beam is damaged. According to the material formula
in Figure 3. Damage cross-section appeared in the of the curved shear zone, the Equation of normal stress
beam up and down force points, At the same time M and shear stress V can be required.
the beam deflection monitored is 4.91mm. It can
be observed that fiber was not pulled off from the
beam crack. From the Monitoring results of dis-
tributed optical fiber strain measurement, we can
also find out that fiber was not broken, but there
was the exposed fiber in a long crack. This showed Through the bend-shear section analysis stress of
that there was slippage of fiber in the binder. The reinforced concrete beam can obtain the principal
fiber without breaking can continue to monitor the tensile stress and compressive stress:
structural deformation when the engineering struc-
tures incurred damage in the actual deformation
monitoring project. This is of practical significance
in engineering deformation monitoring.
2. Deformation data analysis of concrete beam.
Test loads step by step until the beam fracture fail. According to the above formula, we can calculate
Read strain after each load level is stable, and mea- the strain where buried fiber optic sensors, and dial
sure the deflection of the beam midpoint by dial indicator measure the location.

32
Figure 5. Optical fiber strain compared with the theoretical.
In order to verify the measurement accuracy of
fiber optic sensor, the strain of the fiber middle point
is removed from paragraph 2. From the strain data
(Figure 5) we can see fiber strain values measured
correspondingly increase with the increase of load. the
increase of fiber strain is linear before the 13th class
loading, and this is consistent with the measured data
of dial indicator, when loaded into the 13th, the con-
crete beams appears tiny crack on the lower edge of
concrete Beam, and at the same time a correspond-
ing mutations strain value of fiber appear. There is
only a little difference between the theoretical strain
of concrete beams and fiber strain and the value mea-
sured strain. The main reason is that the production of
concrete beams and fiber laid can not be completely
ideal, but from the general trend, the measured strain
value of fiber is a better response of deformation pro-
cess to the concrete beam from the load to the final
destruction.
3 ENGINEERING APPLICATION
3.1 Monitoring scheme design
According to the shaft reinforcement design, the total
of grouting holes is 9. hole diameter is 320 mm, hole
depth 150 m∼160 m, rope diameter 45 mm, three wire
rope placed in each hole, firstly degrease rust before
wire rope put into the hole. According to the situa-
tion and the need of shaft monitoring displacement, 9
distributed optical fiber sensors installed in holes, the
fiber length in the hole is designed 150∼160 m. The
design of optical fiber monitoring holes is shown in
figure 6.
Considering that the optical fiber laid in the con-
struction of bored would be broken easily. Two
types of fiber in each hole are laid: the single-
mode fiber and Keira strain of high strength fiber.
Two single-mode strain optical fibers are arranged
in the hole, as well as one Kayla strain of high
strength fiber. Each single-mode fiber length is
170 m, the total length of single-mode fiber strain
is 170 m × 9 × 2 = 3060 m.The total length of Keira
high-strength fiber is 170 × 9 = 1530 m.
The optical protection in the orifice adopt pene-
tration PVC pipe. the PVC pipe is buried with sand to
33
Figure 6. Schematic diagram of the shaft fiber monitoring.
prevent the construction from damaging the fiber. PVC
pipe is dugged out from the sand before composed of
the test network. the splice of distributed optical fiber
and optical cable is installed at junction box used to
protect the joints, in all drilling grouting monitoring
network formed after the fusion, distributed fiber mea-
surement head pull into the control room of ventilation
shaft.
3.2 Field implementation
Because the construction site is complicated and the
fiber optic sensors is easily damaged by the steel wire.
In order to ensure as much as possible to install suc-
cessfully fiber optic sensors, we adopt three ways of
Laying fiber: firstly a single-mode fiber is placed in the
borehole before the steel wire rope, the second method
is steel wire rope and single-mode fiber installed to the
borehole together. The third method is firstly steel wire
rope put into the hole and then the fiber put into the
Borehole.
After comparing the three methods, the first two
methods are failed and only the third method is suc-
cessful. In order to ensure successful installation of
the fiber, two single-mode optical fiber were installed
in each borehole.9 holes were Installed, drilling fiber
installation amount and the distance of the fiber sensor
to the shaft wall is shown in table 1.
3.3 Prediction result of slide
The optical fibers had be implanted in the surround-
ing rock of shaft and the initial strain monitoring is
shown in figure 11. Strain data from the monitoring
can show that fibers are with the initial strain because
of the solidification and weight of cement in the holes.
It is relatively stable that the impact of weight and
solidification of cement on the fiber strain, the strain
range of 1000 µε∼1600 µε is shown in figure 10; In
the near direction of the ore body 4 holes were drilled
Table 1. Optical fiber sensors construction data of the shaft.
Borehole number 1 2
Fiber number 1 3
The distance to the wall /m 2.0 3.0
Figure 7. Optical fiber strain distribution of grouting boreholes.
to 150∼160 m mud Complete leakage. This illustrates
the range of rock over 150m where had a goaf. Com-
bined with monitoring data we can also see that fiber
strain is relatively large in boreholes range 130∼145 m
and fiber strain was relatively stabilized in the range
of 145∼150 m, this indicated that the solidification
of cement mortar caused the small strain of fiber in
the range 130 m∼145 m. The test data shows that the
current shaft was stabilizable and long-term regular
monitoring is needed.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The fiber optic sensors in concrete beam loading test
were proved that fiber optic sensors have a certain
resistance to fracture. The strain of fiber optic sensors
measured and the result of dial indicator measuring is
obtained consistently, the experimental result can meet
the monitoring accuracy. According to Reinforcement
project of the shaft surrounding we designed and
Installed the optical fiber monitoring system, and the
results of initial test showed that the current Shaft rock
was stabilizable and long-term regular monitoring is
needed.
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
3 4 3 2 3 3 3
3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of
China (51074003); Anhui Provincial University Nat-
ural Science Research Key Program (KJ2011A080).
REFERENCES
Bao, X.Y., Demerchant, M., Brown, A., et al. 2001. Tensile
and compressive strain measurement in the lab and field
with the distributed brillouin scattering sensor. Journal of
Lightwave Technology 19(11): 1 698–1704.
Ohno, H., Naruse, H., Kihara, M., et al. 2001. Industrial appli-
cation of the BOTDR optical fiber strain sensor. Optical
Fiber Technology 7(1): 45–64.
Ren, L. 2008. The application of fiber bragg grating tech-
nology in structure health monitoring. Dalian: Dalian
University of Technology, doctoral dissertation.
Sui, H.B., Shi, B., Zhang, D., et al. 2008. Review on fiber
optic sensor-based monitoring techniques for geologi-
cal and geotechnical engineering. Journal of Engineering
Geology 16(01): 135–142.
Yue, L.N., Huang, J., Jiang, D.S. 2009. Application of optical
Fiber sensing technology in strengthening monitoring of
Wuhan Second Yangtze river bridge. Journal of Wuhan
University of Technology 31(2): 10–12.
34
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Application of high-density resistivity method in investigation of

mountainous highway tunnel

P. Wang & P.P. Liu

Pan-China Construction Group Co., Ltd., Beijing, China

L. Zhang
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: With the rapid development of China’s highway construction extending to the mountainous areas,
highway construction is faced with more and more tunnel projects. How to identify the geological structure,
lithology, bad geological phenomenon and other geologic factors of the mountainous tunnel site is of importance
for design and construction of tunnel projects. This paper takes the New Pine Ridge Tunnel Project in State Road
108 as an example, high-density resistivity method and traditional exploration technologies were adopted in the
proposed tunnel site to solve the tunnel investigation difficulties in complex mountainous areas.

1 INTRODUCTION
In recent years, with the rapid development of highway
construction, high-grade highways keep extending
into mountainous areas. To meet the requirements of
planning and design of highway construction, tunnels
are playing an increasingly important role in highway
construction, especially in the construction of high-
ways in mountainous areas. Mountainous highway
tunnel investigation is always difficult and important
in geotechnical investigation field. How to evaluate
the geological environment and conditions of moun-
tainous highway tunnel projects reasonably is quite
difficult for geotechnical workers (Chen et al. 2004).
Mountainous terrain has very complex geologi-
cal conditions and poor site conditions. Affected by
the site conditions and environment, it is very hard
to identify clearly the geological conditions of the
proposed tunnel site by solely relying on traditional
survey methods (Shi et al. 2005, Zhu et al. 2004). This
paper adopted high-density resistivity method com-
bined with engineering geological mapping, drilling
and other exploration methods, which can signifi-
cantly improve the investigation accuracy, reduce the
blindness of survey works, greatly improve efficiency
and save construction cost.
2 PROJECT OVERVIEW
Phase II New Pine Ridge Tunnel of the State Road
108 is located at the junction of Mentougou District
and Fangshan District in the southwest of Beijing. It is
a double-hole one-way tunnel, with 45 m of designed
line spacing between the two holes, 12.273 m of width
of tunnel clearance and 8.850 m of height. The length
of the tunnel’s left line is 1302 m and that of the right
one is 1294 m and they are medium length tunnels. The
two tunnels have 4 pedestrian walkways and a vehicle
passage in between.
The proposed tunnel site involves high mountains
and dense forests, so fieldwork is extremely difficult.
It is necessary to combine with the on-site conditions,
make full use of all kinds of methods’ characteristics,
rationally deploy the workloads of drilling, geophys-
ical exploration and engineering geological mapping
and implement various methods simultaneously to sig-
nificantly improve efficiency. In this proposed tunnel
exploration project, field drilling works need about 2
months while geophysical exploration field test needs
about 10 days.
3 WORKING PRINCIPLE OF HIGH-DENSITY
RESISTIVITY METHOD
High-density resistivity method refers to DC high-
density resistivity method. Same as that of traditional
resistivity methods, the basic principle of the method
is based on the conductivity difference among dif-
ferent rock-soil bodies, and to infer and explain the
occurrence status of underground geologic bodies by
observing and studying the underground electric dis-
tribution and characteristics of artificial field to solve
geological problems. Analytical method is commonly
adopted to work out the simple electric field distri-
bution of electric conditions, which is to solve the
following equation according to the given boundary
conditions:
Where, x0 , y0 , z0 are the source point coordinates
and x, y, z are the field point coordinates. When

35
x0 = x, y0 = y, z0 = z where only non-source space is
considered, the above equation becomes the Laplace
equation:
When earth-electricity model is evenly semi-spatial or
horizontal layered homogeneous medium, the analytic
solution of the above Laplace equation can be obtained
with boundary conditions of the field. However, vari-
ous numerical simulation methods need to be adopted
for the study of electric field distribution of complex
earth-electricity models.
4 APPLICATION OF HIGH-DENSITY
RESISTIVITY METHOD
4.1 Selection of Instrument and Arrangement of
Workload
This project adopted SuperSting R8/IP AGI high-
density electrical apparatus produced by AGI Com-
pany in the United States. This instrument is equipped
with a host controller, 60 sets (80 sets) of electrode,
and two-dimensional and three-dimensional resistivity
inversion analysis software and uses electrode chang-
ing switch and host controller of high-density resistiv-
ity method to realize data collection. The interpretation
of the actually measured data is conducted by using
the high-density resistivity method’s inversion analy-
sis software—Earth Imager 2D which has a variety
of functions including data acquisition, storage, file
playback and calls, as well as forward and backward
computation, terrain correction, noise suppression and
so on.
According to survey requirements, the on-site test-
ing chose to deploy 2 vertical profile lines in the
direction along the tunnel centerline, 4 horizontal pro-
file lines along the axis of the walkways and the vehicle
passage, and 4 survey lines to each vertical tunnel cen-
terline at the entrance of the tunnels. A total of 986
electrodes were laid and there were 25 final detection
profiles lines (The Geophysical Exploration Report
2011).
4.2 Data Analysis and Processing
1) During the detection, adopt generally 2 methods
simultaneously to detect each profile line so that
the results thus obtained can verify each other.
2) In accordance with the specific conditions on site,
set the initial parameters, and use Earth Imager 2D
software for inversion analysis.
3) In data analysis, adopt the approach of data iter-
ative computation. Usually the iteration shall not
exceed 8 times and the mean square deviation shall
be controlled at about 5%.
4) Use data relevance and error of fitting to observe
the data variance and correlation coefficient, and
eliminate some data with significant errors by using
error histogram so as to suppress noise.
36
5) Carry out iterative computation again after the
removal of data with significant errors until the
mean square deviation of the data inversion is about
5%. Diagrammatize the data on electrical conduc-
tivity to obtain stratum electromagnetic graphs of
the test subjects.
6) Use the known geological bodies or geological
structures to verify the results of the analysis, and
conduct forward analysis on the known bodies at
the same time to verify the consistency between
the results obtained from forward and backward
computation to get ideal analysis conclusions.
5 RESULTS OF GEOPHYSICAL
EXPLORATION
5.1 Results of Geophysical Exploration and
Graphic Analysis
This paper used the right vertical line of the tunnel as
an example for analysis on the investigation results. As
the tunnel is quite long, and goes through the original
State Road 108 many times, coupled by the complex
terrain, the detection profile line was arranged in three
sections. Along the Hebei Town—Nan Village direc-
tion, the survey lines were numbered as 3, 2 and 1.
The total length of the lines is 1400 m, and the polar
distance of three survey lines are all 12 m.
1) Figure 1 shows the inversion results of No. 3 sec-
tional survey line along right line.. The survey line
YZ3 is located at the starting point of the right line
(HebeiTown—NanVillage direction), with a length
of 124 m and maximum detection depth of up to
238 m of elevation, meeting the detection require-
ments. The resistivity range is 282 ∼ 60501 · M.
The Quaternary topsoil is very little with a cover
thickness of about 2 to 5 m, the rest locations are
bare rocks, or the gravel backfill of the original
State Road 108.
As can be seen from the figure, the region the tun-
nel goes through has a very obvious low resistance
anomalous body and high resistance anomalous
body, in which the former is supposedly caused by
the water contained in the crushed stone layer on
the ground surface, while the latter is located about
15 m beneath the surface with resistivity of more
than 20000  · M and presumed to be a broken rock
or crack rock karst formation.
2) Figure 2 shows the inversion results of No. 2 sec-
tional survey line along right line. The survey
line YZ2 is located in the middle of the right
line, with a length of 860 m and maximum detec-
tion depth of up to 157 m of elevation, meeting
the detection requirements. The resistivity range
is 108∼218415 · M, where the surface has little
Quaternary topsoil and the rocks are exposed.
In the figure, a high resistance anomalous body
exists at a distance of 180 m and 280 m of eleva-
tion, whose resistivity is more than 100000  · M.
The high resistance body is a closed body, so it is
Figure 1. Inversed surveying results of No. 3 sectional survey line along right line.

Figure 2. Inversed surveying results of No. 2 sectional survey line along right line.

Figure 3. Inversed surveying results of No. 1 sectional survey line along right line.

inferred that it may be a karst crack rock forma-
tion here. From the surface, it can be seen that at
300 m is a valley area whose left side is the catch-
ment area of the valley, which came into being
from long-term rainfall washing and accumulation.
That’s why it displays low resistivity. At a distance
of 320 m, the resistivity of the left and right sides
of the formation is remarkably different, so it can
be inferred that here exists a structural body. Within
the range of a distance of about 400 m and elevation
of 250∼330 m exists a high resistance U-shaped
body with resistivity of over 100000 · M, and it
is thus inferred that it may be a karst crack for-
mation here. Meanwhile, the existence of immense
crushed stones has been observed on the ground
surface on site, which explains the high resistance
state and also indicates that the rock layer here is
quite broken. At the same time, a low resistance
body exists at the depth of 280 m whose resistiv-
ity is less than 700 · M, supposedly caused by the
water content in the rock. At a distance of 500 m, it
is inferred that here exists a structural body accord-
ing to the distribution of formation resistivity and
data of the engineering geological mapping. At the
distance between 400 and 700 m, the survey line
goes cross the mountain where the old Pine Ridge
Tunnel of the original State Road 108 (the old Pine
Ridge Tunnel had a full length of 300 m, built in
the 1960s) situated. It is shown that this region has
many high resistance bodies distributed in a clut-
ter, so it is inferred that the tunnel space of the old
Pine Ridge Tunnel and the surrounding loose bro-
ken rocks may be crack karst rock. At the distance
of 700 m and elevation of 290 m or so, and distance
of 800 m and elevation of 280 m, there exist high
resistance bodies, so it is inferred that the rocks here
are broken or with large porosity, or it is crack rock
karst formation here. The inversion graph indicates
that the formation below 160 m of elevation shows
low resistance state and continuity, so it is presumed
that the groundwater level of this region is below
160 m of elevation.
3) Figure 3 shows the inversion results of No. 1 sec-
tional survey line along right line. The survey line
YZ3 is located at the end of the right line, with
a length of 200 m and maximum detection depth

37
Figure 4. Inference graph of right line vertical line geological anomalous bodies.
of up to 252 m of elevation, meeting the detection
requirements. The inversion graph shows that the
resistivity change of the formation here is quite
uniform, indicating that the formation is evenly dis-
tributed from top to bottom. The range 5 m above
the surface is Quaternary topsoil while below is
rocks.
5.2 Inference of Geological Anomalous Bodies
According to the inversion results and the geological
survey, the distribution of geological anomalous bod-
ies on the right line vertical line can be preliminarily
inferred.The tunnel site may have broken belt and karst
development in some areas, as shown in Figure 4.
6 ENGINEERING GEOLOGICAL MAPPING
AND DRILLING WORKS
The field geological survey was dominated by surface
observation, where the vertical strata were observed by
insertion method, and geological boundary, tectonic
and other major phenomena were tracked along the
strike. Detailed engineering geological mapping of the
cross section was conducted along the tunnel entrance
and the hole drilling, while that of the vertical section
was conducted along tunnel axis. According to the ter-
rain and geological conditions, drilling was arranged
at the entrances of the two ends of the proposed tun-
nel and the middle part, and the hole depth was 2 m
below the design elevation of the tunnel bottom board.
In case of bad geology, the hole depth was increased
to 5 m below the design elevation of the tunnel bottom
board. On-site drilling completed a total of 7 holes with
hole depth 50.0∼70.5 m. During the drilling process,
RQD statistics, wave velocity test in borehole, mud
leakage phenomenon, drilling speed and other factors
were recorded.
4 holes were arranged along the right line and the
position of each hole is shown in Figure 4-3. The
rock conditions of each drilling positions are known
from the results of engineering geological mapping,
38
drilling, velocity test, rock laboratory test, and so on.
The rock for SD4 # drilling is broken rock, and the core
recovery beneath the hole depth of 29.30 m is quite
low with RQD only of 0∼47%. The rock for SD10 #
drilling is broken rock, the drilling is between eleva-
tions of 280.47 m and 298.97 m, with core recovery
of 15%∼67% and RQD of 0∼12 %, and the core is
broken with holes in some areas. The rock for SD7 #
and SD8 # is rather broken rock, with relatively high
core recovery of drilling hole and RQD, represented
by over 90% and 80% respectively within the range of
a cave diameter 2 times that of the distance from the
tunnel top board.
6.1 Comparative Analysis on Results of
Engineering Geological Mapping, Drilling
Exploration and Geophysical Exploration
SD4 # drilling is located at the junction of the Pine
Ridge syncline and the Donggang box-like anticline
which is a squeezed fracture zone. Geophysical results
show that there are high resistance anomalous bod-
ies nearby. SD10 # drilling encountered thick fracture
zone and holes during the drilling, and geophysical
results also indicate the existence of high resistivity
anomalous bodies nearby. As for the fault SF9 dis-
covered in the engineering geological mapping and
fault SF10 at the valley, structural bodies at the simi-
lar positions were also inferred from the geophysical
results. Surrounding rocks around SD7 # and SD8 #
drilling have better stability than that of SD4 # and
SD10 # drilling, which is reflected in both the geo-
physical and drilling results. So it can be seen that the
three methods have good consistency. Schematic dia-
gram of geological longitudinal section of the project
is shown in Figure 5.
7 CONCLUSION
1) High-density resistivity method, drilling, engi-
neering geological mapping and other means are
adopted together to complement and verify each
Figure 5. Schematic vertical section of right line engineering geology.
other. It can help people to make scientific and
rational inference on the test results after the known
geological conditions are fully understood, improve
the efficiency of exploration and facilitate the sci-
entific and rational evaluation on the geological
environment and conditions of the tunnel site.
2) Mountainous areas have complex terrain and geo-
logical conditions and poor site conditions. The
adoption of high-density resistivity method can
significantly improve efficiency, save engineering
cost, accomplish exploration tasks beyond the capa-
bility of traditional exploration means, and more
effectively indentify the geological structure, lithol-
ogy and bad geological phenomena of the project
site to provide importance references for tunnel
design and construction.
39
REFERENCES
Chen, Z., Liu, Z.J., Wang,Y.N. 2004.Application of Engineer-
ing Geophysical Exploration Methods in Deep-bedded
Tunnel Investigation. Journal of Mountain Science 22(3):
347–351.
Shi, M.S., Zhang, Y.Y. 2005. Application of the Combination
Method of Electric Sounding and Drilling in Geolog-
ical Investigation in Mountain Districts. Geology and
Prospecting 41(5): 92–95.
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Pan-China
Construction Group Co., Ltd. 2011.The Geophysical
Exploration Report on the Pine Ridge Tunnel Project in
Phase cò State Road 108 (Hebei Town-Nan Village)
Zhu, Z.Q., Dai, Y.J. 2004. Application of High Density Resis-
tivity Method to the Detecting of Karst Collapse on
the Freeway. Chinese Journal of Engineering Geophysics
1(4): 309–312.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on characteristics and change regularity of tunnel sidewall cracks

D. Wei & T.M. Wang

CSCEC Technology Center, Shanghai, China
CSCEC Wang Teimeng Concrete Research Laboratory, Shanghai, China

R.Q. Ma, G.L. Wang, C.L. Cheng & D.M. Miao

CSCEC Technology Center, Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT: Taking a high iron tunnel as the background, statistic analysis on the characteristics of tunnel
sidewall cracks show that there are three main kinds of cracks on tunnel sidewall. They respectively are vertical
contraction cracks, construction joint cracks and expansion joint cracks. And the expansion joint cracks are
the widest crack, vary most actively following the ambient temperature, and are most difficult to mend. So
“alternative bay construction method” is suitable to tunnel which is a super long concrete structure. By using
“alternative bay construction method”, the expansion joints could be canceled, only construction joints existing
in structure. And at last a whole structure without permanent seam can be achieved.

1 GENERAL SITUATIONS OF PROJECT

A cut and cover tunnel is made up of station and

intervals. The station is in the middle of the tunnel.
And the intervals which are east-west trend are on the
both sides of station. The mileage of west entrance is
K31 + 107. The mileage o f east outlet is K34 + 135.
The length of tunnel is 3028 m. The gradients of lin-
ear tunnel are 1‰, 1.2‰, 5.5‰ reducing from west
to east. The major structure form of tunnel interval is
frame of sidewall and vault. The thickness of sidewall Figure 1. Typical cross-section of interval structure.
is 1.0 m. The thickness of vault was 1.2 m. The width
of tunnel interval is 14.2 m. Typical cross-section of
interval see Figure 1.
In considering foundation, structure form, load of
the tunnel, 13 permanent expansion joints were set
along the tunnel. The locations of expansion joints
see Figure 2. In other remainder parts of the tunnel,
construction joints were set every 30∼35 m. The tun- Figure 2. Sketch drawing of locations of expansion joints.
nel was divided into 97 casting sections by expansion
joints and construction joints.
Tunnel intervals were built from west to east. In Through the statistical analysis, there are three main
construction the baseboards were built firstly, the side- kinds of cracks on tunnel sidewall:
walls and vaults were built after one or two weeks. 1) The first kind of crack is the vertical contraction
Completion time of all tunnel baseboards was Novem- crack emerging on the sidewall of each casting sec-
ber 2009, and the completion time of all tunnel tions (hereinafter referred to as vertical contraction
sidewalls and vaults was March 2010. crack), which occurred due to the various shrink-
age, such as dry shrinkage, autogenous shrinkage
and temperature shrinkage (Wang 2007). Typical
2 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS ON shape of vertical contraction crack see Figure 3.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SIDEWALL CRACK According to the forms of joints at the both ends
of casting section, casting section can be divided
After construction of the major structure, cracks and into three kinds: ① the first kind is the casting sec-
water penetration appeared on the tunnel sidewall. tion both ends of which are construction joints, the

41
 number of these casting sections is 74; ② the sec- 2) The second of crack is the crack emerging on
ond kind is the casting section one end of which construction joints (hereinafter referred to as con-
is construction joints, and another end of which struction joint crack). The modus of water stop at
is permanent expansion joint, the number of these construction joints were the buried rubber-sealing
casting sections is 16; ③ the third kind is the casting belt of steel edge and slow expansion rubber water
section both ends of which are permanent expan- stop belt. Most of construction joints cracked after
sion joints, the number of these casting sections is construction. Typical shape of construction joint
7. The mean crack width and interval on three kinds crack see Figure 4. The width of some typical
of casting section see Table 1. As shown in Table construction joint crocks see Table 2. As shown
1: ① the mean crack width and interval of vertical in Table 2, the mean width of construction joint
contraction cracks on first kind of casting section crocks is 0.76 mm, which was about twice big-
is almost same with that on second kind of casting ger than the mean width of the vertical contraction
section; ② The mean crack width of vertical con- crack.
traction cracks on first and second kind of casting 3) The third kind of crack is the crack emerging on per-
section is a bit bigger than that of on third kind of manent expansion joints (hereinafter referred to as
casting section. And the mean crack interval of ver- expansion joint crack). In design width of expan-
tical contraction cracks on first and second kind of sion joints was designed as 3 cm. The expansion
casting section is a little than that of on third kind of joint cracks in this paper refer to the cracks which
casting section. ③ There is no obvious difference on come from the further development of the origi-
mean crack width and interval among three kinds nal design width. In construction in order to form
of casting sections. So whether permanent expan- the original expansion joints, 3 cm extruded foam
sion joints are set is not the only factor to prevent board was put in the middle of two casting sections,
cracks emerging on the sidewall. and the steel bar were broken completely at expan-
sion joints. The typical shape of expansion joints
Table 1. The mean crack width and interval on the three
crack see Figure 5. The width of all expansion joint
kinds of casting section. cracks see Table 3.
As shown in Table 3: ① The width of expansion
Mean crack joint cracks is big. The maximum, minimum and
width*(mm)/ Total
mean width of expansion joints crack respectively are
mean crack mean crack
Length interval (m) in width*(mm)/ 2.8 cm, 2 mm and 1.2 cm. The mean width of expan-
Casting section (m)/ one casting mean crack sion joint cracks is roughly 39 times that of vertical
location kind section interval (m) contraction crack, and 16 times that of construction
crack; ② The width of expansion joint cracks is related
K31 + 180∼210 30/① 0.43/2.23 0.35/3.45 to the calculation spacing. The calculation spacing is
K31 + 210∼240 30/① 0.54/3.16
K31 + 240∼270 30/① 0.27/3.1
K31 + 270∼300 30/① 0.33/2.92
K31 + 300∼330 30/① 0.30/2.3
K31 + 330∼360 30/① 0.56/5.56
K32 + 168∼198 30/① 0.36/3.66
K31 + 198∼228 30/① 0.26/4.5
K31 + 228∼258 30/① 0.24/4.5
K31 + 258∼288 30/① 0.28/3
K32 + 288∼318 30/① 0.29/2.98
K31 + 150∼180 30/② 0.31/4.66 0.31/3.83
K31 + 464∼494 30/② 0.28/3.36
K31 + 524∼554 30/② 0.33/4.23
K31 + 610∼640 30/② 0.27/3.06
K31 + 107∼150 43/③ 0.28/4.88 0.27/4.73
K31 + 494∼524 30/③ 0.33/4.12
K31 + 699∼715 16/③ 0.21/5.2
Figure 3. Vertical contrac- Figure 4. Construction
*Absence of special note, crack width referring to the crack tion crack. joint crack.
width from baseboard 1.5∼2 m height.

Table 2. Width of some typical construction joint crocks.

Construction
joints Mean
crocks K31 + 180 K31 + 210 K31 + 240 K31 + 270 K31 + 300 K31 + 330 K31 + 350 K31 + 350 value

Width(mm) 0.36 0.5 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 2 1 0.76

42
longer, the width is wider. Computing model of calcu-
lation spacing see Figure 6; ③ The width of expansion
joints is related to the pouring temperature of con-
crete, the temperature is higher, the width is wider. ④
Although the width of expansion joint crack is big, it
is still within the variation range of structure length,
which is induced by the change Zhu 2003 of hydration
heat and ambient temperature. Taking 194 m as exam-
ple, the structure length will shorten for 19.4mm when
only 10 degrees cooling happen. So the expansion joint
cracks are the widest crack in structure.
3 OBSERVATION ON DEVELOPMENT OF
CRACK WIDTH
Selecting twelve typical cracks on the sidewall, among
them, each crack kind has four cracks. Gesso breads,
which would crack following the development of
cracks’ width, were glued on the sidewall over these
cracks, see Figure 7. So via the gesso bread, the devel-
opment of crack width could be observed. Most Gesso
breads were made in October 24, 2011. The daily tem-
perature from October 24, 2011 to November 3, 2011
was shown in Table 4.
The development of width of three kinds of cracks
with ambient temperature see Table 4 and Figure
8∼10.
As shown in Table 4: ① The width of all three
kinds of sidewall cracks would develop further when
environment temperature declined; ② the variation
amplitude of width of expansion joint crack is much
bigger than that of vertical contraction crack and con-
struction joint crack. The mean variation amplitude of
width of expansion joint crack is almost 70 and 30
times that of vertical contract crack and construction
joint crack; ③ The width of all three kinds of sidewall
cracks would decrease a few, when the environment

Figure 5. Expansion joints crack.

Table 3. The width of expansion joint cracks.

Distance
between Calculation
Location of adjacent spacing Crack
expansion expansion of crack width Reason of
Figure 6. Computing model of calculation spacing.
joints joints (m) width (m) (cm) Setting seam

K31 + 107 0 / west /

entrance
K31 + 150 43 194 1.5 junction of
different
foundation
K31 + 494 345 187.5 1.5 ditto
K31 + 534 30 73 1.2 ditto
K31 + 640 116 87.5 1.5 ditto
K31 + 699 59 37.5 0.9 junction of Figure 7. Gesso bread above Figure 8. 0.01 mm crack of
different crack made in 10.24. gesso bread above vertical
structure contraction in 10.26.
K31 + 715 16 236.5 1.8 ditto
K32 + 172 457 290.5 2.8/4.5 ditto
K32 + 296 124 240 2.4 ditto
K32 + 652 356 240 2.5 ditto
K32 + 777 124 328.5 0.5 ditto
K33 + 310 533 271.5 0.8 Culvert design
K33 + 320 10 11 0.2 ditto
K33 + 332 12 8.5 0.2 ditto
K33 + 337 5 401.5 1.2 ditto
K34 + 135 798 / east /
outlet Figure 9. 0.02 mm crack of Figure 10. 1.2 mm crack of
Mean value / / 1.36 / gesso bread above construc- gesso bread above expansion
tion joint in 10.26. joint in 10.26.

43
Table 4. The development of width of three kinds of cracks with environment temperature variation.

Date(month.day)/ Daily temperature(◦ C)

Gesso bread Crack
number kind 10.24/0∼6 10.25/-3∼5 10.26/-7∼-2 10.27/-6∼6 10.29/-1∼11 11.3/-2∼-3

Development 1 ① made / 0.1 0.1 0 0.08

of crack 2 ① made 0 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.02
width (mm) 3 ① made / 0 0 / 0
4 ① made / 0.01 0.01 0 0.02
5 ② made 0.01 0.08 0.08 0.04 0.08
6 ② made 0 0.01 0.02 0 0.04
7 ② made 0 0 0.01 0.01 0.08
8 ② made 0 0.08 0.08 0.01 0.08
9 ③ made 0.56 1.2 2 1.8 2.12
10 ③ made 0.8 1.2 1.8 2.0 2.2
11 ③ made 0.8 1.2 1.7 2.0 2.1
12 ③ / made 0.2 / 1.1 1.8

temperatures rose, but this phenomenon was not very
clear. So the width of the expansion joint cracks var-
ied most actively, when the environmental temperature
changed.
4 SUMMARY AND SUGGESTIONS
From analysis on above statistical data and observa-
tion, the following conclusions can be obtained: ①
Whether the expansion joints are set is not the only
factor to prevent the cracks emerging. The casting
sections, both ends of which are expansion joints,
also cracked, and there is no obvious difference in
mean crack width and interval among three kinds
of casting section; ② The expansion joint crack is
the widest crack in sidewall. Even for the shortest
casting section (8.5 m), the width of the expansion
joint crack was 2 mm. In general the width of the
expansion joint cracks would reach 1.2 cm. So water-
proof of the expansion joints are very difficult to be
guaranteed; ③ When the environmental temperature
changed, the width of the expansion joint cracks var-
ied most actively. its variation amplitude was the 30
and 70 times that of construction joint cracks and
contraction cracks ; ④ Considering the mending, the
vertical contract and construction joint cracks could
be repaired well by chemical grouting. Because the
width of expansion joint cracks were too big, chemical
grouting could not be used to mend it. Usually expand-
able plugging additives are used to seal the expansion
joint cracks. But because the width of expansion joint
cracks vary very much with the environmental tem-
perature in a year, the waterproofness is often easy to
be damaged. For example in summer, with the struc-
ture expanding, the expandable plugging additives are
squeezed out from the expansion joint cracks, but in
winter with the structure shrinking, the new gap will
emerge between the concrete and the expandable plug-
ging additives. And because the expandable plugging
additives can not expanded twice, the expansion joint
cracks will leak again after some cycle of expand with
heat and contract with cold.
So the following four lessons should be took into
account in setting expansion joints: ① Whether the
expansion joints are set, is not the only factor to prevent
the cracks emerging, comprehensive measures includ-
ing measures of material, construction and structure
must be adopted; ② Because the expansion joint cracks
are the widest crack and are most difficult to mend,
if the purpose of setting expansion joint is to release
contraction distortion to avoid cracking at these place
where form of construction, foundation and load var-
ied, setting expansion joints is inferior to not setting
expansion joints. ③ If the purpose of setting expansion
joint is to avoid cracking reduced by the differential
settlement at the place where type of construction,
foundation load varied, setting expansion joints is infe-
rior to not setting expansion joints. The differential
settlement could be solved by increasing the thickness
and reinforcement of baseboard; ④ when considering
the demand of earthquake proof, setting expansion
joints still must be cautious, the number of expansion
joints should be as less as possible. And because the
tunnel is a flat structure, effect of earthquake proof
is better as a whole tunnel than as a segmented tun-
nel; ⑤ “alternative bay construction method” is very
suitable to tunnel which is a super long concrete struc-
ture. Because by using “alternative bay construction
method” , the expansion joints could be canceled,
only construct joints existing in structure. And at last
a whole structure without permanent seam could be
achieved (Wang 2006).
REFERENCES
Wang, T.M. 2007. Control of cracking in engineering struc-
ture. Beijing: China architecture & building press.
Wang, T.M. 2006. Principle of “resist and release” for
super long mass concrete. Beijing: China architecture &
building press.
Zhu, B.F. 2003. Thermal stresses and temperature control of
mass concrete. Beijing: China electric power press.

44
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Prediction of rockburst based on microseismic monitoring technology

A.X. Wu, X.H. Liu & C.L. Wang

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: This paper introduced the composition and layout of the monitoring system in Huize Lead &
Zinc mine (HLZM). A research on the temporal and spatial distribution of seismic parameters was made on the
basis of rock mechanics, rock burst history and the data from HLZM. A method for locating the rock burst prone
areas was proposed. The time point of caution for an impending rock burst was determined according to a study
on the variation characteristics of seismic parameters in the preparation of rock burst. In the end the rock burst
prediction procedure was set up and effectively applied in HLZM.

1 INSTRUCTIONS Seismic System International (South Africa) had been

With the rapid development of digital technology,
computer technology, geophysics and seismology,
microseismic monitoring technology had been an
effective method to monitor rock burst in recent years
(Ortlepp 2005). For the rockburst prediction, many
attempts were made to quantify the mechanisms of
rockbursts using seismic parameters and rock mechan-
ics methods. Some seismological-based theories and
methods for rockburst prediction were proposed.
For example, C. Srinivasan investigated microseis-
mic emissions prior to rockbursts in Kolar gold mines
and found that the rate of change of microseismic
event count, strain energy release and predominant
signal frequency can be seen as short-term precursors
(Srinivasan 1999). A. T. lannacchione made a research
on the rockburst forecasting at Moonee Colliery, four
seismic alarm criteria were developed and used with
varying degrees of success (Iannacchione 2005). V.A.
Mansurov analyzed the variation characteristics of
seismic parameters in the strong rockburst prepara-
tion process in North Ural Bauxite Mines on the basis
of the kinetic theory of solid strength and the ‘rigid
inclusion’ model (Mansurov 2001). In china, Tang Li-
zhong investigated the seismic responses to mining in
Dongguashan Copper Mine through the analyses of the
spatio-temporal distribution of micriseismic activity
(Tang 2010). Zhao Xing-dong evaluated the possi-
bility of rock burst prediction in accordance to the
number of microseismic events within a unit time,
based on time-dependent nonlinear analysis of the
data of microseismic events monitored continuously
in Hongtoushan copper mine (Zhao 2009).
Huize Lead & Zinc mine (HLZM) is a deep kilo-
meter well in Yunnan ChiHong Zn & Ge Co., LTD. in
China with mining of the eighth orebody. The mine
activities in high underground stress usually induce
rockburst. For assuring safety and efficient mining on
underground, a digitalized 24-channel micro-seismic
monitoring system manufactured by Integrated
established so as to obtain continuously the rule of
the activity of eighth orebody ground pressure in Aug.
2007. The basic condition for rockburst monitoring in
deep mine was realized (Wang 2008).
2 SEISMIC MONITORING SYSTEM AND
ROCKBURST HISTORY
2.1 The establishment of minemicroseism
monitoring system
The mining method used in HLZM is overhand cut-
and-fill mining method. Each lift consists of twenty
slices, giving a lift height of 60 m. As each slice is
mined out, paste fill is used for backfilling stopes.
Stoping starts from two ends of the orebody and pro-
gresses from the bottom upwards in two-stage stoping.
At present, the mining activities above 1451 m level
were completed, and the mining at 1331 m level to
1451 m level was going on. Thus making sure that set
up the microseismic monitoring system at the 1331 m
level to 1451 m level. The monitoring range covers an
area of 200 m × 150 m × 120 m on the trend, strike and
vertical direction of orebody respectively. Monitoring
point’s layout see Figure 1.
The ISS system has sophisticated hardware and
powerful software features in data acquisition and
data analysis. The software system includes the run
time system (RTS), seismological processing sys-
tem (JMTS), visualization & interpretation system
(JDI). The hardware system consists of twelve sen-
sors, four quake seismometers (QS), one QS-repeater,
one underground controller, one surface monitoring
control center, and a communication cable connected
with the center. Two QS were installed in 1331 m level
and 1451 m level respectively, each QS connects four
sensors, three of them are uniaxial and the fourth one
is triaxial. Two QS was installed in 1391 m, each QS
connects two sensors, both of them are triaxial. A
research for the location precision was made by the

45
Figure 1. Monitoring points layout of micro-seismic monitoring system.

Table 1. Recent rock bursts history.

Fallen/ Local Radiated

No. Date Location (x, y, z) Ejected m3 Magnitude Energy (KJ)

1 16/09/2007 1# extracted ore drift at 1345 m level (9650, 6160, 1345) 27 0.9 56.8
2 10/10/2007 entrance of 2# panel in 1565 m level (9715, 6110, 1575) 46 0.2 6.6
3 17/10/2007 footwall of 3# panel in 1451 m level (9590, 6130, 1499) 40 0.6 18.5
4 20/11/2007 3# panel in 1499 m level (9610, 6130, 1499) 32 0.2 2.7
5 07/12/2007 7# room in 1499 m level (9640, 6140, 1499) 42 0.7 33.2
6 13/12/2007 3# room of 1# panel in 1499 m level(9620, 6200, 1499) 27 0.5 8.4

artificial fixed-point blasting. The results showed that to the acting direction of main stress; the other is the
the maximum and minimum error were 8 m and 0.3 m inclined shearing plane. Their failure characteristics
respectively in the system, which meet the require- were corresponding to those of both split-loosening
ment of monitoring in the mine and ensure the reliable type and tensile-shear shooting type rockburst;
monitoring data. • The failure characteristic of rockburst was a brittle
and unstable split failure, which occurred under the
2.2 Rockburst history condition of higher stress level;
• Within 24 hours of the production blast on the level
At present, the depth of engineering is 1060 m at 1 above.
261 m level in the eighth orebody. It is concluded that
the wall rock of this orebody between 1451 m level to
1261 m level has medium to strong trend of rock burst 3 SEISMIC PARAMETERS
according to rock mechanical test and onsite inves-
tigation. Since the monitoring system was running, The ISS system can provide useful information regard-
almost 10,000 induced seismic events with the local ing seismic parameters, their values and trends. This
magnitude of up to −2.0 have been recorded annu- includes not only location and local Richter magni-
ally. The maximum magnitude of the recorded events tude, but also other important parameters such as seis-
was ML = 0.9 and the maximum radiated energy was mic moment, seismic energy, apparent stress, apparent
33.2 KJ. The data from HLZM used in the present work volume etc. The formulae of seismic parameters used
covers 6-month period Aug. to Dec. 2007. In the study in this paper are as follows (Mendecki 1997):
period, more than 3,000 microevents are available from
the system and there were six major rockbursts occur-
ring in HLZM. These are detailed in Table 1. The
majority of the events have similarities failure mode,
location, and the location relative to mining stope, tim-
ing relative to production blasting. The characteristic
of rockburst including:
• Occurring always in ‘shoulder’ sidewall of tunnel
under the condition of high in-site stress;
• Having two failure patterns, one is tensile crack,
which is characterized by the parallel of crack plane

46
Figure 2. Apparent stress and displacement nephogram in Aug. 2007 (a) the nephogram of apparent stress logarithm; (b) the
nephogram of seismic displacement.
where µ is the shear rigidity modulus; E is the emit-
ted seismic energy; and M is the seismic moment; r
is radius of the source; E(M) is the average energy
radiated by events of the same seismic moment.
Apparent stress σA is recognized as a model inde-
pendent measure of the stress change at the seismic
source, and u is an average displacement over the
source area. The apparent volume VA for a given seis-
mic event measures the volume of rock with coseismic
inelastic strain with accuracy. Energy index, EI, of
an event is the ratio of the observed radiated seismic
energy of that event to the average energy radiated by
events of the same seismic moment, which always is
used to represent the stress in seismic source.
4 LOCATION OF HAZARDOUS ROCKBURST
According to quantitative seismology, the stress and
deformation in rock mass can express by apparent
stress σA and seismic displacement u respectively. The
spatial distribution of σA and u in different time is
appropriate to describe the strata behaviors.The micro-
seismic data stored in the database of ISS system is
easy to access for the data presentation in 3D visual-
ization mode by simple quarrying. The nephograms
of apparent stress logarithm, lgσA , and seismic dis-
placement u are plotted for HLZM to understand the
rockmass behavior from time to time in real time, and
locate the rock burst prone zone.
The side view-looking North of lg σA and u
nephograms of microseismic events occurring during
Aug. 2007 to Sep. 2007 was shown in Figure 3 and
Figure 4. It is seen that the stress and deformation of
rock massif mainly scattered in the southern of 1345 m
and 1496 m level. According to on-site mine plan, such
as Table 1, the mining of orebody at 1496 m level and
the mining preparation at 1345 m level was carrying
out in this period. The ground pressure characteristics
in these areas were as follows:
• 1496 m Level
Such as Figure 2, affected by mining activities,
there were obviously stress concentration and defor-
mation in 1496 m level in Aug. 2007. It is seen
47
Figure 2 that the scale of the stress and deforma-
tion was relatively smaller, moreover, the area of
stress concentration correlated well to the areas of
the deformation. This shows the mining scale is
small and the mining activities do not affect each
other.
As the mine grows, the gradual increase of mine
areas allowed more displacement and failure of sur-
rounding rock, such as Figure 3. In this process,
the stress was released and transferred to the deep
part of rock mass in the vicinity area. This initi-
ated the enlargement in stress concentration and
decrease in stress. Rock mass was stable and had
a less possibility for rock burst.
• 1345 m Level
As can be seen from Figure 2, which the mining
preparation in 1345 m level induced a little micro-
seism in Aug. 2007. Because the spaces formed by
mining preparation and the blasted volume were rel-
atively less, which was in accordance with lower
damage and less displacement of rockmass. Thus
the stress release of rockmass could not be attained,
and the degree of stress concentration was relatively
higher, the maximal apparent stress was 4.93 MPa.
As driving advancing, the areas of stress concen-
tration linked up, which resulted in a main shock
(rock burst) with local magnitude of ML = 0.9 in
16.09.2007.
By above research, microseismic emissions are
closely related to mining activities. The relative
change between the seismic apparent stress and the
deformation in the different space reflects the stress
and deformation rules of rock mass, which can be
used to identify the rockburst hazardous areas in the
mine.
5 TIME PREDICTION OF ROCKBURST
FORECASTING
One of the most difficult problems of rock burst fore-
casting is time prediction. However, time prediction
requires a better understanding of the processes which
take place in the rock mass. Because microseismic
emissions generated by deformation and cracking of
Figure 3. Apparent stress and displacement nephogram in Sep. 2007 (a) the nephogram of apparent stress logarithm; (b) the
nephogram of seismic displacement.

Table 2. Mining activities of the eight orebody (From

01.08.2007 to 31.09.2007).

Mining activities in Mining activities in

Level Aug. 2007 Sep. 2007

1345 m Advancing the 1# ,4# Advancing the 2# , 3#

extracted ore drift extracted ore drift
1496 m Mining rooms in Mining pillars in 2# panel
2# panel Backfilling rooms

the rock, it have been found to provide useful clues

to an impending rock burst in the mine. Through
investigating the seismic parameters regime changes
in burst prone zones, we can understand the prepara-
tion process of rock burst. Among several parameters
investigated, the three sensitive responses to mining
are found to be the change of microseismic activity,
apparent volume and energy index.
5.1 Time distribution of the microseismic activity
and apparent volume
The microseismic activity, apparent volume versus
time plot occurred from Aug. 2007 to Sep. 2007 is
shown in Figure 4. As can be seen from the Figure 4,
which the microseismic activity and apparent volume
increased slightly before 11.09.2007. Then the micro-
seismic event rate gradually increased and attained
a peak value around 15.09.2007. After 12 hours of
this peak, rock burst occurred in 16.09.2007. At the
same time, the apparent volume also showed a rapidly
increase before the rock burst.
Thus, the abrupt increase in microseismic event rate
and apparent volume were an indication of the rock
burst. Based on this criteria advance information, the
forecasting of impending rock burst can realize.
5.2 Time distribution of the energy index and
apparent volume
Figure 5 shows the plot of energy index logarithm (base
10), log10 EI, and apparent volume versus time for the
Figure 4. Time history plot of microseismic activity and
cumulative apparent volume for events recorded from
01.08.2007 to 31.09.2007.
period of 1th August to 31th September 2007. As can
be seen from the Figure 5 that log10 EI had a much
fluctuation which first increased and then decreased.
This illustrated a process of accumulation and release
of energy and there may be an impending rockburst. In
16th Sep. 2007, a rock burst with ML = 0.9 occurred.
Before this, log10 EI suddenly dropped and VA rapidly
increased.This change provided precursor information
for rock burst forecasting.
5.3 The change characteristics of seismic
parameters in the preparation of rock burst
According to rock mechanics, there are three main
stages in the failure process of brittle rock, first, the
elastic deformation stage; second, the strain harden-
ing stage; third, the strain softening stage. Such as
Figure 6, taking the above discussion into account, the
change characteristics of seismic parameters during
these processes as follows:
The elastic deformation stage (t1 -t2 ): In this stage,
the stress-strain has a linear relation, apparent volume
and energy index increase homogeneously. This leads
to less micriseismic events.

48

Figure 5. Time history plot of energy index and cumula-
tive apparent volume for events recorded from 01.08.2007 to
31.09.2007.
Figure 6. The change characteristics of seismic parameters
in the preparation of rock burst, ACT is microseismic activity;
VA is cumulative apparent volume; log10 EI is energy index
logarithm (base 10).
The seismic hardening stage (t2 -t3 ): When the
stress exceeds the yield stress, which passes to the
strain hardening stage in accordance with the continue
increasing in stress. At the same time, the apparent vol-
ume and microseismic activity has an abrupt increase
due to energy index increase slightly.
The rapid softening stage (t3 -t4 ): After exceed-
ing the ultimate stress, the stress decreases and the
strain softening is induced. In the period, an abrupt
increase in apparent volume and the rapid decrease
in energy index initiate an impending macroscopic
fracture (rockburst) in rock massif.
The strain softening process ends at the time
when the main fault (rock burst) occurred. After this
moment, (t4 ), comes the stage of recovery of the phys-
ical characteristics of the rock in the vicinity. This rock
massif then returns to its normal state.
49
Hence, the instability of rock mass grows in accord-
ing to the strain softening. The variation characteristics
of seismic parameters in this process provide precur-
sor information for impending rock burst. In general
case, the point at which the hardening process of rock
mass ends and the rapid softening process begins can
be the point of caution to Mine management for insta-
bility (TC point), such as Figure 6. That has less effect
for underground production and provides enough time
for safe evacuation of workers and equipment.
6 PREDICTION PROCEDURE OF
ROCKBURST
A prediction procedure based on spatio-temporal anal-
ysis of seismic parameters was set up. Prediction pro-
cedure includes the implementation of the following
steps:
1) Current seismic event real time recording;
2) Classification analysis of the record events by the
waveform, eliminating unwanted signal’s (blast-
ing, rock drilling, power electricity and so on)
disturbance.
3) Seismic parameter calculation, including apparent
stress σA , seismic displacement u, energy index EI
and apparent volume VA .
4) Studying the temporal and spatial distribution of
the stress and deformation by the nephograms of
lg σA and u, locating the rockburst prone area;
5) Time series analysis of apparent volume and
energy index and microseismic activity determined
whether is there precursory characteristics of rock-
burst;
6) Forecasting the location and time of impending
rockburst and alarm.
7 CONCLUSION
The spatio-temporal distribution of microseismic
emission is closely related to mining activities. The
nephograms of apparent stress, σA , and seismic dis-
placement u, in different time is appropriate to describe
the rule of stress deformation in rock massif. The loca-
tion of hazardous rock burst can be attained by this
method. The seismic parameters regime changes in
burst prone zones was be analyzed, the result show that
the rapid increase of microseismic event and apparent
volume, VA , and sharp decrease of energy index were
an indication of the impending rockburst. The point at
which the hardening process of rock mass ends and
the rapid softening process begins can be the point of
caution to Mine management for instability. Finally, a
prediction procedure was set up and applied in HLZM.
REFERENCES
Lannacchione, A.T., Esterhuizen, G.S. & Bajpayee, T.S.
2005. Characteristics of mining-induced seismicity asso-
ciated with roof falls and roof caving events. The
 40th U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanics: June 25–29,
Anchorage, AK.
Mansurov, V.A. 2001. Prediction of rockbursts by analysis
of induced seismicity data. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences 38: 893–901.
Mendecki, A.J. 1997. Seismic Monitoring in Mines. London:
Weinheim.
Ortlepp, W.D. 2005. RaSiM comes of age – a review of the
contribution to the understanding and control of mine rock
bursts. In Y. Potvin & M. Hudyma (eds), Proceedings
of the 6th International Symposium on Rockbursts and
Seismicity in Mines: 3–20. Perth.
Srinivasan, C. 1999. Precursory monitoring of impending
rockbursts in Kolar gold mines from microseismic emis-
sions at deeper levels. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36: 941–948.
50
Tang, L.Z. & Xia, K.W. 2010. Seismological method for
prediction of areal rockbursts in deep mine with seismic
source mechanism and unstable failure theory. Journal of
Central South University of Technology 5: 947–953.
Wang, C.L., Wu, A.X. & Liu, X.H. 2009. Mechanisms of
microseismic events occurred in deep heard-rock mine of
China. Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium
on Rockburst and Seismicity in Mines: 245–251. Dalian,
Liaoning.
Zhao, X.D., Zhao, W.K., Li, Y.H. & Liu, J.P. 2009. Study on
mining-induced micro seismic activity and its monitoring
method in the Hongtoushan copper mine. In C. A. Tang
(eds), Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on
Rockburst and Seismicity in Mines: 1073–1080. Dalian,
Liaoni.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Comprehensive analysis of large trapezoidal section workings’

stability in broken rock mass

Y.P. Wu & X.M. Wu

School of Energy Engineering, Xi’ an University of Science and Technology, Xi’ an, China
Key Laboratory of Western Mine & Hazard Prevention, China Ministry of Education, Xi’ an, China

Z.Z. Chen
Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group, Yinchuan, China

ABSTRACT: Ningdong coalfield locates northwest meizoseismal areas. Rock mass in the coalfield is broken,
unconsolidated and exists complicated stress zones. Thick seams distributed widely adopt mining method of high
seam full extraction. Part Structural failure and phenomenon of strength degradation are often occurred. Based
on investigations of in-situ geomechanics, lithology, mining condition and dynamic instability, key sections of
deformation and unconsolidation in typical working rock mass is detected by deep point displacement observation
method and ultrasonic detection method, and then analyzed the rules of the deformation and instability. According
to detection results and the knowledge of theoretical mechanics, multi- medium coupling support project is put
forward. Styles and quantitative parameters of rational supports are ensured and estimated for their stability and
safety.

1 GENERAL INTRODUCTIONS 2 SITE INTRODUCTION AND INSTABILITY

With the mining rate increasing in high height mine,
mining capacity, equipment and sectional area of
entries expanding, stability of the large section entries
in broken surrounding rock of thick seams is worried
by us; moreover entries’ reasonable maintenance and
support technology during mining and development
becomes a difficult problem. Because properties of
coal and rock and the objective existence of initial rock,
they make using entries affected by mining disturbed
stress, initial stress, and rock strength form rupture
zone, which results in macroscopic entries’ deforma-
tion obviously, occurrence of roof absciss layer and
surrounding replacement, and more difficulties for
supporting. In actual mining process, dynamics insta-
ble phenomena, like wall caving and roof caving in
stope have happened many times. The traditional the-
ory of continuum mechanics is difficult to explain
the phenomenon. So ultrasonic is undoubtedly the
effective way to detect rock loosen thickness of seams.
By investigation and analysis of geological con-
dition and theories of ultrasonic detection, arti-
cle applies ultrasonic detection and deep-point dis-
placement observation methods to monitor impor-
tant deformation-loosen zones in typical entries. And
results of deformation and instability is analyzed syn-
thetically by adoptions of borehole orientation, drilling
layout, and program implementation, finally multi-
medium coupling support idea is proposed, support
form and quantitative parameters are optimized, and
the stability of entries is achieved.
CHARACTERISTIC
Ningdong mining coalfield in Ningxia is one of 13
important coal production bases in China. Currently,
the safety controls of surrounding rock, when imple-
mented of the ten million tons of high – height
mechanized mine, the large section entries, and auto-
matic overdrive mining, has been urgently resolved.
Ningdong mine coalfield is in western of ordos basin
and eastern of Wuzhong seismic active zone, which
is northwest earthquake zone in china. Its folds are
more developed, rock is relatively weak, and 8th gigan-
tic earthquakes occurred in the history. Due to strong
earth quakes, inner joints and faults in rock and no
continuities structures of coal and rock have an appar-
ent influence on mass strength, deformation, support
design, construction and management. Average depth
of main coal seam, 2#, is 177 m, average thickness is
6.3 m, and average angle is 17◦ . Geological mine is rel-
atively simple, is a monoclinic structure, the average
angle is 15◦ , and mining sequence adopts retreating
method. With scale and intensity of mine increasing,
section of entries is also enlarging, the maximum of
21 m2 . Setup rooms are totally arranged along roof in
stope, which slope is 8∼15◦ and both the trapezoidal
shape. Bolt-cable-network-joint support is applied in
actual support. Floor in mine is siltstone, false roof
is about 0.3 m thick mudstone, and immediate roof is
black siltstone and fine sandstone, having 0.15 m coal
thick line in uppe figure 1 shows that lithology and
layer characteristics of 2# coal seam.

51
 In mining period, the phenomena of dynamic insta-
bility happen frequently, mainly including large scopes
of roof sinking, absciss layer caving, mining caving,
and compressed deformation of supports, which are
shown below in figure 2 (a, b, c, d).
Based on field research, the reasons include the
following ones:
① Siltstone in mine roof exists obvious horizontal
and vertical joints, and joints between the clay cement
is not fastened, so many weak planes are deformed;
② A quifer water in immediate and main flows along
the bolt and cable hole, mud siltstone clay occurred
water and its intensity is lower sharply. Bolting force
of bolt and cable decreases. Roof strength is also dete-
riorated, in the end the structure is imbalanced; ③
There is a coal line between the hardness roof and
the soft sandy mudstone in upper overburden. Because
of contemptible combined media and lower intensity,
mechanical strength is deteriorated by water, too; ④
Effect on mining disturbance is frequent, coefficient
of abutment pressure is relative large, which makes
Figure 1. Lithology of main coal seam.
Figure 2. The description of entries deformation and insta-
bility a – large scopes of roof sinking; b – absciss layer caving;
c – mining caving; d – compressed deformation of supports.
52
larger relaxation zone, the original joint crack and then
evolved into the deep extension strength to weaken
local area, and the shear stress is more concentrated.
3 IN-SITU MONITORING PROGRAM AND
ANALYSIS
3.1 Principle of ultrasonic detection method
Single-hole test and double-income transducer are
adapted to measured wave velocity of coal and rock
in drill hole to determine the extent of broken rock.
With water as the coupling agent, data are recorded
from the bottom of the hole per 0.5 m along hole depth
direction. Due to acoustic time difference and distance
between two received acoustic transducer, the dual-
income mid-point of longitudinal wave velocity Vp is
calculated, namely, the ultrasonic propagation velocity
in the coal and rock is:
Where l – distance of two received acoustic trans-
ducer, m; t1 , t2 – propagation time of two received
acoustic transducer, s.
In the calculation from elastic-plastic wave theory,
the wave velocity of stress wave is:
Where E – elastic modulus, GPa ; ρ – density of coal
and rock, kg/m3 ; µ – poisson ratio.
Compared the theoretical wave velocities with the
in – situ ones, rupture position of surrounding rock
is judged in addition, brink and thickness of ruptured
zone are gotten.
3.2 Monitoring program design and the amount of
roof deep statistical separation point
Instability of surrounding rock in entries strength-
ened by “bolt – network – cable – channel” mode is
equally sudden and random, which gives reliability
and availability requirement of in-situ monitoring sys-
tem, including reasonable test site, test the safety, the
representativeness of the test environment, monitor-
ing equipment performance and adaptability, etc. All
above is mentioned, the test location is chosen at main
haulage entry far away from the mine at 25 m∼125 m.
Roof separation indicator is used to monitor dis-
placement of separation in the deep roof during mining
of the separation, and settled from the coal wall at 25 m
arranged at 9 points, set every 10 meters as a mea-
suring point and installed a monitor. Bolters is used
to drill to a predetermined depth, which is 6 m and
up along the entries’ centerline and perpendicular to
the mine roof. The diameter of boreholes is arranged
from 27 to 28 mm, besides it is adopted continuous
monitoring for 6 months, and 10 days one monitor-
ing data for total value. With the mine advancing, dual
monitoring stations are built up away from coal wall
25 m∼125 m; specially the interval distance of them
is 40 m. Firstly I # station is 35 m from the coal wall,
280 m from initial one and two test holes, interval dis-
tance is 5 m, are lay out. Another II # station is 75 m
from the coal wall, 320 m from initial one and two test
holes, distance with the mine floor is 5 m, are lay out.
55 mm-diameter drilling plagioclase is 5000 mm and
the direction of bore holes and the mine roof are sim-
ilar in order to make coupling process with the water
more convenient and reduce the monitoring error. The
in-situ monitoring program design in Figure 3.
Figure 4 shows that with mine advancing steadily,
maximum cumulative amount of separation and defor-
mation in 1# reached 90 mm. The seventh monitoring,
70 days, separation value soars to 75 mm suddenly and
Figure 3. Situation of in – situ design.
Figure 4. Statistics of roof movement.
Figure 5. Results of loose circle separation test a – the relationship between hole depth and wave velocity; b – the image
in 1.5 m.
53
remains to 150 days; then values of 2 #, 3 #, 4 #, and
5 # are not changed significantly and the curve shows
a linear growth trend; values of 6 #, 7 #,and 8 # are
129 mm, 219 mm, and 145 mm, which measured 7 #
exists bigger variations in them.
By the elastic-plastic theoretical formula, the prop-
agation velocity for ultrasonic wave of coal is 1.53 ×
103 m/s, because of inherent defects in construction
of coal and rock and heterogeneous characteristics,
monitoring results by the ultrasonic wave is only
approximated, when the received acoustic wave veloc-
ity is less than 800 m/s, the coal appears broken or large
cracks as for judging scale of loose circle in coal.
Due to differences of sound propagation velocity
various media, the positions of abnormal velocity in
monitoring borehole can be determined the crushing
range of coal and rock.
By instrument settings, including mid-point filter
and read the two-income sound, size of the acoustic is
measured. Here 1#, for nearest to the working face and
most severe disturbance, makes as the representative
for all. Reading the longitudinal wave velocity of two-
collection, VP, and zones for loose circle of regional
boundaries when velocity is decreasing. Draw curve
about hole depth (L)-coal wave velocity (Vp). Fig-
ure. 5 (a) shows velocity was significantly lower than
800 m/s at 1.5 m, when the sound image is transferred
here (figure 5 (b) ), and relocated the starting, it is seen
the wave is undulating and smooth, and can determine
the the boundary for the loose at 1.5 m. In addition,
values of 2 # and 4 # hole are close to 1.5 m.
4 MECHANISM FOR ENTRY INSTABILITY
AND CONTROL
4.1 Theory of caving and instability in the mine roof
Under the influence of the mining disturbance, a large
number of micro – cracks in crushing rocks start initi-
ation, expansion and connection, and it is resulted that
macroscopic mechanical properties of media is deteri-
orated or fallen. Damages and determinations involve
with mutual coupling in a variety of scales from micro
to macro levels each other.
From the mechanical point of view, internal tension
and shear stress in bending on Roof rock movement
Figure 6. Structural model of surrounding rock in entry.
exceed the ultimate strength, the mine roof is caused
fracture or collapse; Moreover with deformation of
rocks and weight of broken rocks, it may also occur
action of breaking down. The size of broken rock
loose circle has a relationship with the original thick-
ness and initial stress p0 , rock strength Rc , sup-
port resistance Pi and entry span D. So function is
Lp = f(P0 , Rc , D, Pi ), which is comprehensive per-
formance of degree of support difficulty.
In structure of the mine roof support, a thick
structural model, “composite compression beam”, is
formed at the certain broken area from the bolt force to
entries or sidewall, which is concerned as a secondary
inner bearing structure in the whole structure. Rocks in
inner-bearing structure are the main target for support
and carried a little part of strata stress, whose thickness
and height determines the difficulty of support; cable,
the reinforcement, has a high preload force, large bolt
deep and wide range of mechanical characteristics.
Small structures are together with stable and effective
elastic rock region deep to form a “big inner-bearing
structure”; external-bearing structure in elastic zone
and plastic zone is located surrounding rock near to the
peak stress to form the main coal-bearing rock assem-
blage structure for most stress, figure 6 (a, b) indicates
that where R0 is radius of entry, Rs is radius of he bro-
ken area, Ri is radius of inner bearing structure, Rbi is
radius of plastic zone, Rp is radius of external-bearing
structure. For “bolt-network-cable-channel” support-
ing, leading reason for stability of small structure is
largely regarding with end bound shear strength and
connection with the plastic zone, moreover cable has a
complementary enforcement. When bolt support force
of cable is less than the minimum support force, the
mine roof can occur caving. Furthermore, stiffness and
elongation differences between bolts and cables, which
makes cable subsidences’ ungeneral conditions with
the roof ones. They are not coordinated load bearing
strata support resulted in initial stress more focus on
the cables so that the boltage bond failure occurred and
cable is pulled out, leading to inner-bearing structure
instability. Because cable pierces impermeable layer
into the sandstone aquifer, making the water along the
cable channel into the support structure within the area,
54
resulting in weakening of the area and volume of rock
swelling, until the structure is destroyed.
4.2 Regulatory of mult-media coupling control
4.2.1 Theory of mult-media coupling control
Mult-media coupling control is based on “big, small
structures” of inner-bearing system, surrounding rock
control is offered by physical, mechanical and defor-
mation characteristics of entries in complex broken
environment. The key is to form complex support
system different from single material or structure
for support using the performance support material
itself with a different support structure of the cou-
pling between the media and supporting materials
and the different coupling between the mechanical,
including bolt-rock interaction, bolt-rock coupling,
cable-surrounding rock coupling, slip-rock interac-
tion, network channel-bolt, bolt coupling, and achieve
effective control for stability in large section of broken
rock entries.
4.2.2 Control principles and strengthening rules
Because of a large deformation existing in large sec-
tion tunnel and unreasonable control, it is caused
seriously by localized caving instability. In this case,
it is necessary to adopt combined support with bolt,
cable, and metal or wood frame for static loading
in broken mine roof. Combined support with bolt-
network-cable-channel or beam makes lower parts of
loose rock firmly suspense in the upper ones, and
reduce the suppress and shear to the coal wall to pre-
vent shear deterioration; through deformation capacity
matching the bolt-cable-network, including geometry
and material specifications, Bolt, stiffness, elongation,
initial bolt match, and adjusting cable support inten-
sity achieve synchronized during the entire period in
the same direction. In order to the destrctution of com-
bined support with bolt-cable due to more than the
limit, second supplement support is applied. So that
pressure around loose Rock not only makes support-
ing interaction best, but also achieve complementary
optimal efficiency from the second support bolt-the
role of bolt.
Figure 7. Engineering control measures.
5 ENGINEERING PRACTICES AND CONTROL
MEASURES
According to bolt loose circle and multi-media cou-
pling control theory prevention for the larger regional
roof caving and deformation of the broken surround-
ing rock at the intersection of entries, phenomenon of
instability can be effectively solved. Specific control
measures are as follows:
1) On the face machine lane intersection, a larger area
caving at mine roof adopts cable – joist support-
ing. Length of joist is 3400 mm and 14 # channel
processed, the cable three  20 hole is lay out with
installing  15.24 cable that is 8300 mm, and cable
distance is in the row of 1500 × 2000 mm, each
cable installed six  23 × 700 mm resin cartridge;
on more serious region, 3.2 m of type beams are
set up, whose row spacing is 0 m and pillar spac-
ing is 5 m. What’s more, the single prop is near the
mine roof is 0.35 m away from roof, and near the
mine floor is 0.35 m away from floor. When broken
roof sinks seriously, it is necessary to reduce the
shelf spacing and timely support a “four – post of
a beam” for roof maintenance.
2) A beam three-column roof and well shape wood
enhancing supports are set up to serious sinking
and broken mine roof on tailentry. Shed spacing
is 1.0 m arranged along the inclination direction,
and beam length is 3.2 m and specifications for
hydraulic prop is DZ-3.15, DZ-3.50 and DZ-3.80,
whose two legs are in ends, another one is located
Intermediately (figure 7 (a)); from all above men-
tions, if roof subsidence still could not control
a lot, 150 × 150 × 1200 mm cricket should have
set up well-shap enhancing support. Simultane-
ously at 200 mm from the mine roof and floor,
extra bolts and cables is required with specifica-
tions for the 15.24 × 8000 mm strand rope, also
cable row spacing is 3.0 m and dual ones each
row, with the original cable-white lay out, each
cable uses eight specifications for 23 × 700 mm
resin cartridge, and the length of 14 # channel is
400 mm; at 400 mm from the mine roof and floor,
55
 20 × 2300 mm steel bolts is applied and dual
 23 × 700 mm resin cartridge; near to the mine
roof and floor a  20 × 2300 mm steel bolt, formed
streaky arrangement, also each using 23 × 700 mm
resin cartridge (figure 7 (b)).
There are metal meshes and steel supports parame-
ters: steel-plastic meshes are lay out in both coal wall,
the upper height is 2.5 m, and lower one is 2.0 m.
 6.5 mm round steel is used in mine comprised a
5400 × 900 mm metal mesh and 150 × 150 mm for
each holes, the adjacent metal roof is lay out 50 mm
crimp, a steel bolt, and steel channels processed by
1800 mm.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Effective prevention and analysis of composite com-
pression beam is leading priority to ensure bolts
security in broken rock and the large section entries.
Loose circle support theory and multi-media coupling
control thoughts are covered the mechanical traits and
instability mechanism. Based on comparable methods
between in – situ monitoring and test results, quanti-
tative parameters of entry support are optimized and
control measures are provided. All above will pro-
vide basis for technique protections and theoretical
guidance for on-site safe mining.
REFERENCES
Feng, X.T., Zhou, H., Li, S.J., et al. 2008. System of intel-
ligent evaluation and prediction in space-time for safety
of rock engineering under hazardous environment. Chi-
nese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 27(9):
1741–1756.
Lai, X.P., Ren, F.H., Wu, Y.P., et al. 2009. Comprehen-
sive assessment on dynamic roof instability under frac-
tured rock mass conditions in the excavation disturbed
zone. International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and
Materials 16(1): 12–18.
Lai, X.P., Wu, Y.P., Cao, J.T., et al. 2010. Experiment on
rock-mass deformation of large scale 3D – simulation
 in complex environment. Journal of China Coal Society
35(1): 31–36.
Lai, X.P., Zhou, G. H., Zhang, J. H., et al. 2008. Compre-
hensive assessment of collapse instability of fractured
rock-mass mediums based on in-situ monitoring. Journal
of China Coal Society 33(3): 246–250.
Liu, K.Z., Wu,Y.P., Wu, X.M, et al. 2011. The monitoring and
analysis of coal pillar abutment pressure in big inclined
and thick coal seam. Journal of Xi’an University of Science
and Technology 31(2): 142–145.
Ren, W.Z., Bai, S.W., Sun, G.F., et al. 2005. Research on
deformation and subsidence characters of groud and sur-
rounding rock induced by underground mining under thick
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covering terrain by model test. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 24(21): 3935–3941.
Wang, X.J., Qian, X.S., Ma, L.Q., et al. 2009. Research
on large mining height technique for thick coal seams.
Journal of Mining & Safety Engineering 26(2): 212–216.
Wu, Y.P., Wu, X.M., Yan, Y.S., et al. 2010. Construction
on 3D-simulation monitoring system upon deformation
of soft rock. Journal of Xi’an University of Science and
Technology 30(4): 381–387.
Wu, X.M., Wu, Y.P., Zhang, J.H. 2010. Local instability
mechanism and countermeasures for inclined-shaft with
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38(6): 48–53.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical simulation of controlled perimeter blasting and field test

on the fracture zones in Guanjiao tunnel

Y.Q. Yu
School of Civil Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, China

Y.B. Lu
Technology Center of China Railway Tunnel Group Co., Ltd, Luoyang, China

Y.P. Lu
Mine Construction 1st of Agency Zhong Ping Energy Chemical Group, Pingdingshan, China

ABSTRACT: Draw support from finite element analysis software ANSYS/LS-DYNA, by using the method
of numerical simulation, numerical simulation of smooth blasting and directional splitting controlled blasting,
researching the change of effective stress on blast hole attachment and vertical direction of blast-hole under
the blasting load. On this basis, processing the field test, the test result indicates that the directional splitting
controlled blasting improving outline quality, protecting surrounding rock, and reducing the effect which rock
blasting causes to the stability of surrounding rock, which is consistent with the results of numerical simulation.
The research results are important to the stability of surrounding rock and the security standard to shattered fault
zones.

1 INTRODUCTION through the development of the region folds, faults are

Tunnel is an important structure hidden in underground
and underwater or mountain internal (He et al. 2002).
At present, large cross-section of railway tunnel exca-
vation is still using drilling blasting excavation method
in our country, the long-term blasting practice shows
that (Yuan et al. 2007) rock blasting excavation in
achieving the purpose of breaking rock, meanwhile,
producing
blasting vibration, flying stone, air blast and dust
and so on, which caused a serious threat to the sur-
rounding rock stability. Especially in complex fault
fracture zone tunnel blasting excavation, blasting
vibration affecting the stability of the important factors
can’t be ignored. According to the special geological
conditions of tunnel, In order to accurately control
fractured zones tunnel surrounding blasting quality,
we should search for a new blasting method to improve
the blasting effects.
2 PROJECT PROFILE
Qinghai-Tibet railway Guanjiao tunnel located in
Tianjun County in Qinghai province. The tunnel length
is 32605 meters, which is the world’s first long tun-
nel at high altitude, and the longest railway tunnel in
china. Designed for two-lane single-hole, two parallel
single tunnel, namely¢ñlines and¢òline, the line spac-
ing of 40 meters are located on a straight line. Tunnel
well developed. The rock seriously affected by the tec-
tonic, joints and fissures are more development, so the
rock mass is broken. Through comprehensive analysis
the hydrogeology and the engineering geological con-
ditions of the tunnel area, which predicting that may
exist the main geological problems are high stress,
instability and sudden gushing of water in tunnel
construction.
3 ESTABLISH THE FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
3.1 Finite element model
Because of the blasting vibration effect is a non-linear
process, combining the special geological conditions
of Guanjiao tunnel, this paper using the finite element
analysis software ANSYS/LS-DYNA (Bai et al. 2005,
Shang et al. 2005), In the process of tunneling blast-
ing excavation, numerical simulation of the change of
effective stress on blast hole attachment and vertical
direction of blast-hole under the blasting loads.
Ordinary smooth blasting geometric model mainly
includes explosives, air and rock. With the differ-
ence is that the slotted tube directional splitting
controlled blasting geometric model consists of explo-
sives, air, PVC pipes and rock. The finite element
simulation adopts SOLID164 entity unit, explosives
and air adopting Euler molding, unit practical multi-
material using ALE algorithm, and the rock employing
Lagrange grid modeling, in addition, between the

57
Lagrange unit and Euler unit adopting LS-DYNA pro- in order to simplify the calculation, only molding one
vided *CONSTRAINED_LAGRANGE_IN_SOLID half of the establishment.
coupling (Shi et al. 2005, Ding et al. 1999, Zhao
et al. 2003). As is the bar propellant, in the centerline
detonator conditions, when the end effect is not consid- 3.2 Selection of material parameters
ered, the model can be simplified for plane symmetry Explosives in the model applying *MAT_HIGH_
problem. EXPLOSIVE_BURN, combining the state equation
This text applying three-dimensional simulation JWL to simulating the relationship of pressure and
model for calculating, the dimensions of the model volume during the explosive explosion, explosives
are: 140 cm × 135 cm × 1 cm, the model layout of two parameters using the emulsion explosive of rock
blast hole spacing 45 cm, adopting decouple charge
structures, designing the hole diameter is 4.0 cm, car-
tridge diameter is 2.5 cm, the inner diameter of the
PVC pipe is 2.5 cm, outer diameter is 2.9 cm, estab-
lished geometric model as shown in figure 1, 2. As
the models have the characteristics of axial symmetry,

Figure 3. Local meshing divide diagram of ordinary

Smooth blasting.

Figure 1. Geometric model of normal smooth blasting.

Figure 4. local meshing divide diagram of slotted tube

directional splitting controlled blasting.

Figure 2. Geometric model of slotted tube directional Figure 5. Stress wave states of t = 20µs (Ordinary smooth
breaking blasting. blasting).

58
2 state parameters, density is 1.10 g/cm3 , explo-
sion velocity is 4600 m/s, PCJ pressure is 5.82 GPa.
The rock adopting kinematic hardening material
model (*MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC), consider-
ing the effect of strain rate, with failure strain.
The air material model usually using empty mate-
rial model(NULL), and utilizing linear polyno-
mial equation of state to simulate. PVC material
model adopting ideal elastic-plastic material
Figure 6. Stress wave states of t = 135µs (Ordinary smooth
blasting).
Figure 7. Stress wave states of t = 25µs (Slotted tube
controlled blasting).
Figure 8. Stress wave states of t = 135µs (Slotted tube
controlled blasting).
Figure 9. Each unit effective stress contrast diagram of vertical blast hole attachment direction.
59
constitutive model(*MAT_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_
PLASTICITY), density is 1.43 g/cm3 , elastic modu-
lus are 3.0 GPa and Poisson’s ratio is 0.36. Local mesh
diagrams are shown in Figures 3, 4.
Through LS-DYNA to describe the propagation
process of stress wave in the rock medium dur-
ing the blasting process, as shown in the following
figures 5,6,7,8. In order to accurately image display
the influence of stress wave on the surrounding rock
properties in the blasting process. When t = 135µs,
selecting nine representative unit in the model to
describe the stress - time history curve of each unit.
Specific for the blast holes connection is defined as
the Y-axis direction, the direction perpendicular to
the connecting hole is defined as the X-axis. Isomet-
ric selecting four representative units on the Y axis
(A,B,C,D), meanwhile, choosing five representative
units along the X axis(a, b, c, d, e). By these repre-
sentative unit to record each unit stress history, when
stress waves expand to midpoint.
3.3 Comparison of simulation results
In order to more intuitive shows the relationship
between each different unit peak stress and differ-
ent coordinate situated, starting from the coordinate
origin, fitting the effective peak stress of different
units and the corresponding coordinates along the
X axis(vertical blast hole attachment direction), the
curve as the following figure 9 shows. The fitting
curve of different units effective peak stress and the
corresponding coordinates along the Y axis (blast hole
attachment direction) as figure 10.
As can be seen from Figure 9, in perpendicular to the
blast hole attachment direction, compared with ordi-
nary smooth blasting, when add the PVC pipes, the
effective stress decreased greatly, the damage of sur-
rounding rock and the blasting vibration are reduced
obviously. In addition, adopting slotted tube direc-
tional splitting controlled blasting also can help to
reducing the amount of holes charge and the number
of peripheral blast holes, at the same time, improving
the energy efficiency of explosives.
Secondly, as figure 10 shown, when add the PVC
tubes, the effective stress increased obviously near the
cut joints, which shows that the energy generated in
Figure 10. Each unit effective stress contrast diagram of blast hole attachment direction.

Figure 11. Blast holes layout schematic diagram.

Table 1. Blasting excavation parameters of IV-grade surrounding rock short-step.

Hole Cartridge Stick count Weight Total Detonator

depth specifications per hole per hole weight section
Name (m) (mm/each) (volumes) (kg) (kg) number Remark

Empty hole 1
cut hole 6 2.5 32 L = 200 8 1.6 9.6 1,3 High-explosive charge
Tunneling hole 22 2.0 32 L = 200 6 1.2 26.4 5,7,9
Inner hole 32 2.0 32 L = 200 6 1.2 38.4 11
Two sets hole 6 2.0 32 L = 200 8 1.6 9.6 13
Surrounding hole 49 2.0 25 L = 200 4 0.6 29.4 13 Spaced loading /2
Bottom eye 14 2.0 32 L = 200 8 1.6 22.4 15
Total 130 135.8

the cut seam and produced significant fusion effect. In hole connection. Simultaneously, the existence of the
other words, increased the explosive force of the blast initial crack orientation greatly reduce the randomness
hole attachment direction, to the benefit of produce ini- of crack initiation direction, contribute to decreas-
tial fissure and oriented crack in the direction of blast ing the concavo-convexo degrees of section around

60
the contour, improving the forming quality of con-
trolled perimeter blasting, reducing the surrounding
rock instability phenomena caused by blasting effec-
tively, also lay the foundation for the crack propagation
and breakthrough.
4 FIELD TEST
4.1 Ordinary smooth blasting field test
Combining with the above theory analysis and calcula-
tions, the holes layout diagram of IV-grade surround-
ing rock short-step blasting excavation method, as
shown in figure 11, the blasting excavation parameters
as shown in tab. 1.
4.2 Slotted tube directional splitting controlled
blasting field test
Based on the theoretical study and numerical sim-
ulation, combine with the field actual situation,
IV-grade surrounding rock applying short-step blast-
ing excavation method, divided in two parts followed
by excavation of the upper and lower, considering the
Figure 12. Basic size schematic diagram of the tube orien-
tation.
Figure 13. Blast holes layout schematic diagram.
61
difficulty to obtain material, in order to reduce test-
ing costs and promote test results easier, according
to the above theory and the actual situation, slotted
tube adopting resistance to flame retardant and anti-
static hard PVC pipe. Moreover, consider the charge of
surrounding hole is less, so the length of slotted tube
is set 500 millimetres, inner diameter is 28 millime-
tres, outer diameter is 32 millimetres, wall thickness
is 4 millimetres, set two symmetric carved in the PVC
pipe, length is 400millimetres and width is 4 mil-
limetres, basic size schematic diagram of the tube
orientation as fig. 12.
4.3 Comparative analysis of blasting
From the contrast figures we can see that compared
with ordinary smooth blasting, when using the slot-
ted tube directional splitting controlled blasting, the
wall layer holes defect of surrounding rock retained
intact, holes mark rate can achieve 80% and the wall
is smooth, effective control the phenomenon of over
excavation.
5 CONCLUSION
1. When using the slotted tube directional splitting
controlled blasting, the wall layer holes defect of
surrounding rock retained intact, holes mark rate
can achieve 80% and the wall is smooth, effective
control the phenomenon of over excavation, mold-
ing quality greatly enhanced, lining cost savings
and reducing the project cost.
2. In the field experiments, by contrasting the ordinary
smooth blasting with peripheral holes blasting tech-
Table 2. Blasting excavation parameters of IV-grade surrounding rock short-step.

Hole Cartridge Stick count Weight Total Detonator

depth specifications per hole per hole weight section
Name (m) (mm/each) (volumes) (kg) (kg) number Remark

Empty hole 1
cut hole 6 2.5 32 L = 200 8 1.6 9.6 1,3 High-explosive charge
Tunneling hole 22 2.0 32 L = 200 6 1.2 26.4 5,7,9
Inner hole 32 2.0 32 L = 200 6 1.2 38.4 11
Two sets hole 6 2.0 32 L = 200 8 1.6 9.6 13
Surrounding hole 39 2.0 25 L = 200 3 0.45 17.6 13 Spaced loading /2
Bottom eye 14 2.0 32 L = 200 8 1.6 22.4 15
Total 120 124

Figure 14. Design sketch of normal smooth blasting.

Figure 15. Design sketch of the slotted tube directed fracture blasting method.

nique, it is not hard to find that by using peripheral
holes blasting technique can improve the cross-
section quality, the random radial crack around the
hole reduced Significantly, this shows the energy
gathered at seam, making the effective stress around
the seam increased, and having priority to format
crack. In the meantime, the blasting vibration effect
reduced obviously, it suggests the effective stress of
outside blast-hole attachment obviously reduced,
which is consistent with the results of numerical
simulation.
3. Due to the surrounding holes employing small
diameter air interval charge, and the explosives
uniform distribution along the boreholes, there-
fore, the damage degree to retain surrounding rock
lower than ordinary smooth blasting obviously,
also, reducing the effects of blasting vibration to
the second lining and nearby tunnel.

62
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He, Y.N., Liu, Z.Q. 2002. Tunnel. Xuzhou: china University
of Mining and Technology Press.
Shi, D.Y., Li, Y.C., Zhang, S.M. 2005. Based on ANSYS/
LS-DYNA 8.1 for explicit dynamic analysis. Beijing:
Tsinghua University Press.

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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Analysis of excavation damaged zone of auxiliary tunnel based on field

wave velocity test at the Jinping hydropower station

J.W. Zhou, X.G. Yang & H.T. Li

State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

H. W. Zhou & W. Hu
College of Water Resource & Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

ABSTRACT: The Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) distribution characteristics of tunnel surrounding rock
mass at the Jinping Hydropower Station were researched in this paper. For the tunnel in deep depth the surrounding
rock mass was influenced by the high in-situ stress obviously. In the excavation process, high stress would
concentrated in the surrounding rock mass because of the stress redistribution. Rock-burst, breakage or EDZ
would exist in the high stress condition, which would cause disadvantage to the tunnel excavation process.
Combined with the rock damage mechanics analysis and field wave velocity test results of the auxiliary tunnel
at the Jinping Hydropower Station, the EDZ distribution characteristics of tunnel surrounding rock mass were
analyzed. The damage variable was computed based on the wave velocity test result. Compute results showed
that, the EDZ of tunnel was mostly influenced by the magnitude of in-situ stress and the strength of rock mass.
Some useful conclusions about the depth of EDZ, damage of rock mass and other EDZ characteristics of tunnel
are presented in this paper.

1 INTRODUCTION damage variable, relation of wave velocity and EDZ

In the construction process of an underground space, it
is very important to understand the rock mass behav-
iors after an excavation (Golshani et al. 2007). The
mechanical characteristics of rock mass near a tun-
nel are changed after an excavation due to the stress
redistribution (Cai & Kaiser 2005), and may lead to
the development of a plastic zone around the open-
ing, termed as the excavation damaged zone (EDZ).
The characteristics of an EDZ vary with the geological
conditions, excavation method, and opening geometry.
An EDZ can be defined as a rock zone where the
mechanical characteristics have been changed because
of the excavation (Kwon et al. 2009). In order to
evaluate the characteristics of an EDZ around tunnel,
appropriate methods should be chosen for the EDZ
evaluation (Martino & Chandler 2004, Wassermann
et al. 2010). Various methods such as displacement
measurement, seismic refraction, microseismic and
ultrasonic event monitoring have been used to measure
the EDZ in rocks. And in these evaluation methods,
wave velocity test is a simple and economical method
(Schuster et al. 2001, Malmgren et al. 2007).
In addition, the theory and numerical simulation
analysis for EDZ has attracted lots of researches’atten-
tion. And several theoretical model and numerical
method are presented for the EDZ evaluation (Sheng
et al. 2002, Zhou et al. 2010). In this paper, the EDZ
analysis is based on the field wave velocity test at
the Jinping Hydropower Station, the depth of EDZ,
are analyzed.
2 ENGINEERING BACKGROUND
2.1 Project overview
The Jinping Hydropower Station is located at the
Yalong River, Liangshan city, Sichuan province,
Southwest China. There have two level Hydropower
station in this region, the Jinping level I and
Jinping level II. The power installation of Jinping level
II Hydropower Station is 4800 MW, it’s the largest
Hydropower Station at the Yalong River.
Figure 1 shows the location of the Jinping
Hydropower Station at the Yalong River.
As shown in Figure 1, there have four diversion
tunnels and two auxiliary tunnels between the Jinping
level I and Jinping level II Hydropower Station.
The two auxiliary tunnels which connect the east
and west of the Yalong River are the important project
for the construction of the Hydropower Stations. And
as an auxiliary hole for tunnel construction of the Jin-
ping Hydropower Station, they also play a leading role
of the exploration holes.
2.2 Auxiliary tunnel
The auxiliary tunnels crossing the Jinping Mountain
along the east-west are formed by two single-lane

65
 Figure 2. Engineering geological condition of the auxiliary
tunnel A (part).

Figure 1. Location of the Jinping Hydropower station.

Table 1. Mechanical characteristics of the auxiliary tunnel

rock masses.

Elastic modulus (GPa)

Density Strength
Rock type (kN/m3 ) (MPa) Horizontal Vertical

Marble 27.5 75–100 18–25 25–35

Sandstone 27.4 104–152 30–40 30–40
Greenschist 26.2 40–50 15–21 20–25
Limestone 27.0 65–80 15–35 25–30
Slate 26.2 30–45 9–13 8–10
Breccia 26.3 35–50 9–16 9–15
Brecciated 26.6 40–56 11–17 9–16
marble

tunnels (auxiliary tunnel A and auxiliary tunnel B).

And the auxiliary tunnels are paralleled to the diver-
sion tunnels. The length of each auxiliary tunnel is
about 17.5 km, the depth is about 1500–2000 m and
the maximum value is 2375 m, the center distance of
these two tunnels is 35 m. The section size of tunnel A
is width of 5.5 m and height of 5.7 m, and tunnel B is
width of 6.0 m and height of 6.25 m.
2.3 Engineering geological condition
The surrounding rock masses of auxiliary tunnel are
composed by Triassic system stratum. The main types
of rock masses are marble, sandstone, greenschist,
limestone, slate, breccia and brecciated marble. The
integrity of greenschist, slate, breccia and brecciated
marble are bad, and the integrity of marble, sandstone,
and limestone are good.
Table 1 shows the mechanical characteristics of
auxiliary tunnel rock masses.
As shown in Table 1, the strength of tunnel rock
masses is higher. Combined with the good integrity
of rock masses and the high in-situ stress, exca-
vation damaged zone of tunnel will happen in the
construction process.
Figure 3. Pie phenomenon of rock core under high in-situ
stress.
Figure 2 shows the engineering geological condi-
tion of the auxiliary tunnel A.
As shown in Figure 2, the inclination of every rock
mass is about 65◦ –75◦ , and the auxiliary tunnel is
influenced by the fault very obviously.
2.4 In-situ stress condition
Because the Jinping Hydropower Station located at
the deep river valley the in-situ stress is very high.
The in-situ stress is influenced by the tectonic stress
and valley incised very obviously, and the high in-situ
stress phenomenon are existed in the rock masses.
Figure 3 shows the pie phenomenon of rock core
under high in-situ stress. Figure 3(a) is the rock core
sample at auxiliary tunnel A; Figure 3(b) is the rock
core sample at auxiliary tunnel B.
As shown in Figure 3, the typical high in-situ stress
phenomenon of rock mass is existed in the most of
tunnel.

66
Figure 4. First principle stress along with the horizontal
depth.

Figure 4 shows the first principle stress along with

the horizontal depth of auxiliary tunnel A.
As shown in Figure 4, the in-situ stress is increased
with the vertical depth.
The first principle stress at the east of auxiliary tun-
nel is about 11.11–41.92 MPa, the inclination is about
24◦ –59◦ , and at the west of auxiliary tunnel is about
28.14–44.18 MPa, the inclination is about 51◦ –70◦ .
The excavation stability of the tunnel rock mass are
influenced by the high in-situ stress. And the rock-
burst and excavation damaged zone are the two failure
phenomenon of auxiliary tunnel.

3 FIELD WAVE VELOCITY TEST

3.1 Field test position

Figure 5. Field wave velocity test position at the auxiliary
Field wave velocity tests are carried out at the con- tunnel.
nection tunnel between auxiliary tunnel A and tunnel
B. There are two test tunnels for the p-wave velocity
test of rock mass, tunnel 5 and tunnel 6. The size of
tunnel 5 is in width of 8.0 m and in height of 5.5 m; the
tunnel 6 is in width of 6.7 m and in height of 6.3 m.
Figure 5 shows the field wave velocity test position
at the auxiliary tunnel.
As shown in Figure 5, the test position is at the
center of the connection tunnel between two auxiliary
tunnels.
There are about 19 boreholes in each test section of
connection tunnel, and each borehole is about in depth
of 25 m and in diameter of 76 mm.
Figure 6 shows the wave velocity test boreholes in
tunnel section.
As shown in Figure 6, these test boreholes for wave
velocity test can reflected the damage situation of sur-
rounding rock mass, because of the lager amounts of
boreholes.

3.2 Field test method and equipment

The RS-ST01C wave velocity test equipment is
adopted for the field wave velocity test. The precision
of this equipment is 0.1 µs.
The single borehole wave velocity test method
is adopted, and there have one emission and two
receivers. The excavation damaged zone is computed
based on the wave velocity test results of rock mass. Figure 6. Test boreholes in each tunnel section.

67
 Figure 8. Wave velocity test results of different tunnel
section.

Table 2. Average wave velocity and integrity ration of tunnel

surrounding rock mass.

EDZ Original rock

Average Integrity Average Integrity

Borehole velocity ratio velocity ratio

Figure 7. Wave velocity test results of different borehole at 5-1-1 5040 0.48 5794 0.63
tunnel 5. 5-1-2 3652 0.25 5540 0.58
5-2-1 4203 0.33 5866 0.65
5-2-2 4326 0.35 5641 0.60
5-3-1 3943 0.29 6326 0.75
3.3 Wave velocity test results
5-3-2 5049 0.48 5946 0.66
Figure 7 shows the wave velocity test results of 5-4-1 4523 0.38 5942 0.66
different borehole at the tunnel 5. 5-4-2 4003 0.30 6380 0.76
As shown in Figure 7, the wave velocity of different 5-5-2 4893 0.45 6401 0.77
5-6-1 4147 0.32 6556 0.81
borehole is not the same, because of the different stress
5-6-2 4593 0.40 5990 0.67
condition, rock quality and test error. 5-7-1 4313 0.35 6127 0.70
The average wave velocity of borehole 5-1-1 is 5-7-2 4144 0.32 6200 0.72
about 4656–6824 m/s, borehole 5-1-2 is about 2300– 5-8-1 4741 0.42 6704 0.84
6685 m/s. The boreholes 5-2-1 and 5-2-2 are about 5-8-2 4312 0.35 6432 0.78
3614–6512 m/s. The wave velocity of rock mass is not 5-9-1 4095 0.31 6268 0.74
the same in different borehole of same tunnel and in 5-9-2 5187 0.50 6515 0.80
different tunnel. Figure 8 shows the wave velocity in
different tunnel 5 and 6. *The unit of average wave velocity is m/s.
As shown in Figure 8, the wave velocity of tunnel 5
is less than tunnel 6, and the damage depth of tunnel where, kv is the integrity ratio; Vp is the p-wave veloc-
5 is larger than tunnel 6. ity of rock mass; Vpr is the p-wave velocity of intact
Then the integrity ratio of rock mass is computed rock, is about 7300 m/s (average result from the indoor
base on the wave velocity test results, test results).
If kv > 0.55, the integrity of rock mass is good; and
if kv < 0.55, the integrity of rock mass is bad. Table 2
shows the average wave velocity and integrity ratio of
rock mass in different borehole and in different zone.

68

Figure 9. Stress and wave velocity distribution characteris-
tics of tunnel surrounding rock mass. (Barton 2007)
As shown in Table 2, in the excavation damaged
zone, most of the average wave velocity of rock mass
is about 4000–4500 m/s, the integrity ratio are all less
than 0.55, the integrity of rock mass is bad. And in the
original rock mass zone, most of the average wave
velocity of rock mass is about 5800–6400 m/s, the
integrity ratio are all larger than 0.55, the integrity
of rock mass is good. So, in the excavation damaged
zone, the stability of rock mass is poor, and should
pay more attention for the supporting method in the
excavation process.
4 EXCAVATION DAMAGED ZONE
4.1 Mechanical characteristics of EDZ
In the excavation process of tunnel, the stress around
the tunnel is varied with the depth because of the redis-
tribution of stress. The stress redistribution will lead
the failure of rock mass, and an EDZ is formed. In the
EDZ, the wave velocity of rock mass will decrease,
and the depth and rock quality of EDZ can be evaluated
through the wave velocity test results.
Figure 9 shows the stress distribution and wave
velocity characteristics of tunnel surrounding rock
mass.
As shown in Figure 9, the wave velocity of rock
mass is decreased, and will increase with the distance
form the tunnel center, and then the wave velocity will
keep in a certain value scope.
Figure 10(a) shows the rock core sample in the EDZ;
and Figure 10(b) shows the rock core sample in the
original rock mass zone.
69
Figure 10. Rock core samples in the EDZ and original rock
mass zone.
As shown in Figure 10, the failure of rock mass is
happened in the EDZ, and the rock mass in the original
zone is intact, there is no failure phenomenon. The
decrease of wave velocity is related with the failure of
rock mass. In the EDZ, the failure of rock mass will
lead the decrease of wave velocity.
4.2 Damage variable computing based on wave
velocity test result
In the excavation damaged zone, the wave velocity
of rock will decreased, the decrease of wave velocity
will resulted in the decrease of elastic modulus. The
damage variable is a certain value for the evaluation of
rock mass quality, and the damage variable is related
with the wave velocity, its can be simplify computed
as follow,
where, D is the damage variable; Vp is the wave veloc-
ity test result in EDZ; Vpo is the average value of
wave velocity test results in original rock mass zone,
parts of the average wave velocity value are show in
Table 2.
Figure 11 shows the damage variable compute
results based on the wave velocity test results.
As shown in Figure 11, the damage degree and dam-
age depth of the tunnel 5 is larger than the tunnel 6.
The EDZ depth of borehole 5-7-1 is about 1.75 m and
borehole 5-9-1 is about 2.92 m. The EDZ depth of
borehole 6-8-2 is about 1.92 m. The largest damage
variable of the tunnel 5 is about 0.6 and the tunnel 6 is
about 0.45.
Figure 11. Damage variable compute results based on the
wave velocity test results.
4.3 Characteristics of EDZ
Based on the damage variable compute results of each
borehole, the damage depth of the tunnel 5 is range
from 1.4 m to 3.9 m, and the tunnel 6 is range from
1.0 m to 1.8 m. The damage degree at the both side
of tunnel is large than the top and the bottom of the
tunnel.
Figure 12 shows the excavation damaged zone
distributed characteristics of the tunnel.
As shown in Figure 12, the shape of the EDZ is
different in different section; it’s influenced by the
direction and value of in-situ stress, rock mass quality,
and the joint distribution characteristics.
In the construction process of tunnel under high
in-situ stress condition, the shape and depth of EDZ
can be used for the design of support method, and the
suitable support depth can be affected for the stability
of surrounding rock mass and save investment. Take
the tunnel 5 and tunnel 6 as an example, the support
depth of tunnel 5 should larger than 4.0 m, and the
support depth of tunnel 6 should larger 2.5 m.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper concentrates on the excavation damaged
zone of auxiliary tunnel based on wave velocity test
results at the Jinping Hydropower Station. The p-wave
velocity test method is adopted for the EDZ evaluation
of tunnel under high in-situ stress. The wave veloc-
ity and characteristics of EDZ is influenced by the
engineering geological condition, such as the depth
of tunnel, rock mass quality, joint distribution, test
method, shape of tunnel, etc. But the EDZ is related
70
Figure 12. Excavation damaged zone distributed character-
istics of the tunnel.
with the wave velocity, so the evaluation of EDZ can
based on the field wave velocity test.
For these two auxiliary tunnels at the Jinping
Hydropower Station, the wave velocity test results
are analyses, and the EDZ are evaluated base on the
upper results. The wave velocity and integrity ration
in the EDZ will decrease, and influenced by the depth
very obviously. Then a simplify damage variable com-
pute method based on the wave velocity test results is
adopted to compute the EDZ and damage value. The
damage depth of tunnel 5 is about 1.4–3.9 m, and tun-
nel 6 is about 1.0–1.8 m. The failure of rock mass will
happened in the EDZ, but not in the original rock mass
zone. In the construction process of tunnel under high
in-situ stress condition, the shape and depth of EDZ
can be used for the design of support method.
This paper is only discussing the excavation dam-
aged zone based on the field wave velocity test results.
The wave velocity test is a common rock mass quality
evaluation method for rock mechanics, the relationship
between the wave velocity and mechanical character-
istics is very complicated, so the research of some
rock mechanics problem based field wave velocity test
results are very meaningful.
ACKNOWLEGEMENTS
The support of the Chinese National Natural Science
Foundation (No. 40972190) and the Sichuan Univer-
sity Youth Foundation (No. 2008047) are gratefully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Barton, N. 2007. Rock quality, Seismic velocity, Attenuation
and Anisotropy. London: Taylor & Francis.
Cai, M., Kaiser, P.K., 2005. Assessment of excavation dam-
aged zone using a micromechanics model. Tunnelling and
Underground Space Technology 20: 301–310.
Golshani, A., Oda, M., Okui, Y., Takemura, T., Munkhto-
goo, E. 2007. Numerical simulation of the excavation
damaged zone around an opening in brittle rock. Inter-
national Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences
44: 835–845.
Kwon, S., Lee, C.S., Cho, S.J., Jeon, S.W., Cho, W.J. 2009.
An investigation of the excavation damaged zone at the
KAERI underground research tunnel. Tunnelling and
Underground Space Technology 24: 1–13.
Malmgren, L., Saiang, D., Töyrä, J., Bodare, A. 2007. The
excavation disturbed zone (EDZ) at Kiirunavaara mine,
Sweden—by seismic measurements. Journal of Applied
Geophysics 61: 1–15.
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Martino, J.B., Chandler, N.A. 2004. Excavation-induced
damage studies at the Underground Research Labora-
tory. International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining
Sciences 41: 1413–1426.
Wassermann, J., Sabroux, J.C., Pontrreau, S., Bondiguel,
S., Guillon, S., Richon, P., Pili, E. 2010. Characteriza-
tion and monitoring of the excavation damaged zone in
fractured gneisses of the Roselend tunnel, French Alps.
Tectonophysics doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2010.10.013.
Schuster, K., Alheid, H.J., Boddener, D. 2001. Seismic inves-
tigation of the excavation damaged zone in Opalinus Clay.
Engineering Geology 61: 189–197.
Sheng, Q., Yue, Z.Q., Lee, C.F., Tham, L.G., Zhou, H. 2002.
Estimating the excavation disturbed zone in the permanent
shiplock slopes of the Three Gorges Project, China. Inter-
national Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences
39: 165–184.
Zhou, J.W., Xu, W.Y., Yang, X.G. 2010. A microcrack dam-
age model for brittle rocks under uniaxial compression.
Mechanics Research Communications 37: 399–405.
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Rock constitutive relations
and property testing
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Microstructure characteristic and mechanical behavior of mudstone

under water environment

J. Chen, X.T. Feng, Q. Jiang, S.J. Li & H. Gao

State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: Under water environment, the mudstone has poor properties, such as hydrophilicity, expansibil-
ity and disintegration, which are of great challenges in the supporting design and excavation of underground
openings. This paper aims at the study of water-weakening mechanism of the mudstone by several experimental
methods. (1) Powder X-ray diffraction was conducted to obtain the mineral composition. (2) The uniaxial com-
pression of mudstones in five conditions with water contents respectively nearly 0 (dry state), 1.04%, 1.32%,
1.75%, 1.88% (saturated state) were discussed. (3) The changes of microstructure in different water contents
were studied by scanning electron microscope. The results show that the mudstone mainly contains chlorite,
quartz, illite and calcite with the contents about 25%, 20%, 25%, 17% respectively, mixed up with small amount
of feldspar, dolomite and hematite account for 5%, 5%, 3% respectively. With the increase of water contents,
the water film between mineral particles becomes thicker and the mudstone starts to expand which lead to the
uneven inner-stress. Meanwhile, part of colloidal substance is dissolved and the joints become loose. All of these
lead to form a lot of micro-pores that damage the internal structure system. As a result, the peak strength and
the mechanical parameters gradually decline with water contents increase until to a stable state.

1 INTRODUCTION (1) Powder X-ray diffraction was conducted to obtain

Research on water-rock interaction is one of the most
important issues in the geotechnical engineering field.
The essential reason effects rock mass instability and
failure is related to the changes of physics, chem-
istry and mechanics caused by seepage pressure and
hydrodynamic process, among which chemical actions
redistribute elements between rock mass and water,
and lead to change in rocks’ microstructure, resulting
in variations on the macro mechanical properties. In
general, the soft rocks have a certain bearing capacity
and always integrated in natural state.After a short time
reacting with water, they become expansive, softened,
and disintegrative. And then their strength decrease,
which are of great challenges in the supporting design
and excavation of underground openings.
Early in 1950s, Badger (1956) had summarized
two disintegration mechanism of shale: air breakage
and the dispersion of colloid material. From then on,
many researchers paid much attention to water-soft
rocks interaction (Zhu, 1996; Liu, 2000; Zhou, 2003,
2005; Yang, 2006; Huang, 2007; Li, 2007). Whereas,
most of them mainly focused on study the change of
microstructure, instead of studying water-weakening
mechanism of the soft rocks. Since the water can
change the microstructure and macro strength of soft
rocks, the water-soft rocks interaction needs more
in-depth investigation and discussion.
This paper aims at the study of water-weakening
mechanism of the mudstone by several experiments.
the mineral composition. (2) The uniaxial compression
of mudstones in five conditions with water con-
tents respectively nearly 0 (dry state), 1.04%, 1.32%,
1.75%, 1.88% (saturated state) were discussed. (3)
The changes of microstructure in different water con-
tents were studied by scanning electron microscope.
This paper has exposed comprehensively the evolu-
tional regularities of dynamic mechanics of mudstone
in the course of water-softening, which will play a great
role for understanding water-mudstone interaction and
contribute a lot to engineering construction.
2 MINERAL COMPOSITION
OF THE MUDSTONE
In general, mineral composition has a huge impact on
the variation of microstructure, so it is crucial to exam-
ine the mineral composition. The test was performed
on powder X-ray diffraction of State Key Laboratory
Geological Processes and Mineral Resources of China
University of Geosciences. Three samples were chose
and conducted. Table 1 shows the mineral composi-
tion and percentage of the mudstone. The results show
that the mudstone is homogeneous. It mainly contains
chlorite, illite, quartz and calcite with the contents
about 25%, 20%, 25%, 17% respectively, mixed up
with small amount of feldspar, dolomite and hematite
account for 5%, 5%, 3% respectively.

75
Table 1. The mineral composition and percentage of the
mudstone.
6 13
Sample number % %
Chlorite 24 25
Illite 21 19
Quartz 26 26
Calcite 16 17
Feldspar 5 5
Dolomite 5 4
Hematite 3 4
The expansion essence of soft rocks is caused by
hydrophilicity of clay minerals. In addition, it has
direct relationship between the soft rock swell and
the contents of clay minerals. The current research
results indicate that when montmorillonite content is
up to 7% or illite content reaches above 20%, the
soft rock has obvious swell-shrink characteristic (Sun,
2005). From Table 1, we can see that illite content is
about 20%, which indicate that the mudstone has high
expansibility.
3 THE MECHANICAL CHARACTERISTIC
VARIATION REGULARITIES OF THE
MUDSTONE IN WATER
3.1 Sample preparation
The typical properties of expansion and disintegra-
tion caused by water-mudstone interaction result in
the reduction of rock strength, therefore various states
of the mudstones were considered. Before conducting
the uniaxial compression test, 15 cylindrical sam-
ples with a standard size of 50 mm in diameter and
100 mm in height were prepared, they were divided
into five groups, for five water contents respectively
nearly 0 (dry state), 1.04%, 1.32%, 1.75%, 1.88%
(saturated state) were discussed. The water content
nearly 0 was in dry state, while 1.04% was almost
in natural condition, 1.32% and 1.75% were both in
dipping state and the water content 1.88% was close
to saturated state. The test was carried out on RMT-
150C electro-hydraulic servo test system, which was
developed by Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences. Figure 1 shows the
mudstone specimen installation method. The lateral
strain is obtained by two lateral sensors that are fixed in
the middle of the sample. The axial strain is measured
by the axial sensor.
3.2 The variation of mechanical characteristic
of the mudstone
Water has a great influence on mechanical proper-
ties of the mudstone, the complete stress-strain curves
of the uniaxial compression test are drawn in Fig-
ure 2. The results show that when mudstone is in dry
28
%
25
20
25
17
5
Figure 1. Mudstone specimen installed on RMT.
5
3
Figure 2. Stress-strain curves of the mudstone with different
water contents.
Figure 3. The relationship between peak strength and water
content.
state, the stress is higher, as soon as it encountered
water, the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) will
reduce significantly. With the increase of water con-
tents, the crack compression stages gradually extend,
which imply the porosities increase, these characters
correspond to the variation regularities of microstruc-
ture in different water contents. The peak strength and
residual strength have obvious stress drop in lower
water content, when the mudstone approaches to sat-
urated state, the peak strength nearly equals to the
residual strength, which reveals that with the water
contents goes up, the strengths gradually weaken.
3.3 The variation of strength and elastic
modulus of the mudstone in water
As shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4, the peak strength
and elastic modulus decrease with water contents
increasing, which are approximately according with
the rule of a negative exponential function. With-
out water erosion, the strength of the mudstone is
48.88 MPa with elastic modulus is 25.3 GPa. While
under water condition, they decline rapidly, especially
in saturated state, the strength and elastic modulus
decline to a stable state with the values are 8.9 MPa and
76
Figure 4. The relationship between elastic modulus and
water content.

1.22 GPa respectively. The UCS and elastic modulus

can be fitted by the equations as follows:
The fitting equation between water content and
uniaxial compressive strength:

The fitting equation between water content and

elastic modulus:

It can be seen from Figure 3 and Figure 4 that

two equations can describe the changes of the peak
strength and the elastic modulus in diverse water con-
tents preferably with the correlation coefficients 0.989
and 0.982 respectively. If only we know the water con-
tent of rock mass, the strength and the elastic modulus
will be calculated by using the equations. This type
of the equation has been used to express the relation-
ship between water content and UCS and that between
tensile strength and elastic modulus (Bela, 2003).

4 THE MICROSTRUCTURE VARIATION

REGULARITIES OF THE MUDSTONE
IN WATER

4.1 Microstructure variation of the mudstone

It is widely accepted that the addition of water alters
the physical structure. With the purpose of realizing
the mechanism of physics and mechanical of the mud-
stone in the process of water saturating, the changes
of microstructure in various water contents (nearly
0, 1.04%, 1.32%, 1.88%) were studied. The test was
conducted on scanning electron microscope of State
Key Laboratory Geological Processes and Mineral
Resources of China University of Geosciences.
The results were shown in Figure 5, the samples are
all magnified 5000 times but the pictures still not clear,
that because before observed, the specimens were not
sprayed, for in the process of spraying, the samples
would be dried which would affect superficial mor-
phology. When the water content nearly 0, there are
no particles and noticeable micro-pores on the surface
of the mudstone, it takes on intact and dense struc-
ture with tightly connect and directional arrangement,
it mainly presents face-face contact. When the mud- Figure 5. Micro-structure of the mudstone in different water
stone meets water, micro-pores appears and distributes content observed by SEM.

77
uneven, the colloidal substances between particles are
dissolved and the edges are not obvious as before.
With the increase of water contents, the pre-existing
fissures enlarge and newborn cracks generate. At the
same time, some of the particles in different sizes
break away from the surface, and part of colloidal sub-
stances are diluted, softened and then dissolved even
further. The porosities of the mudstone increase, the
mudstone presents point-face contact. When the mud-
stone approaches to saturated state, the particles gather
to be cluster, the junction become relaxant with loose
and porous structure which appears point-point con-
tact. As stated previously, the water-saturated process
is a transition from the dense block structure to loose
and porous, it is a conversion from face-face contact
to point-point contact.
4.2 Mechanism analysis of water-weakening
mudstone
For the sake of revealing the mechanism from macro-
scopic and microscopic aspects comprehensively, the
mechanism analysis will be put forward. As the pow-
der X-ray diffraction results show that the mudstone
contains expansive clay minerals illite with content
about 20%, which results in obvious swell-shrink char-
acteristic. Because of high water absorption capacity
of clay minerals, the mechanical properties will be
influenced in water circumstance. Figure 2 indicates
that the strength will reduce significantly when mud-
stone encounters water. From the above experimental
curves, we can see that the crack compression stages
gradually extend with the increase of water contents,
these mean the porosities increase. So it is necessary to
know how the porosity changes from the microscopic
aspect. When the water content nearly to 0, particles
in the mudstone connect tightly with intact struc-
ture and directional arrangement, the structure mainly
presents face-face contact, the strength is higher. Once
the mudstone encounters water, water enters into the
interior of mudstone along the original micro-pores
and fissures, the clay mineral particles absorb a large
amount of water, the water film between mineral par-
ticles becomes thicker and the mudstone expands,
which results in uneven inner-stress, then newborn
cracks generate to destroy the intrinsic structural sys-
tem, and the strength reduces apparently accordingly.
With the water content increasing, part of colloidal
substances are diluted, softened and then dissolved,
the pre-existing fissures enlarge and more newborn
cracks generate, some of the particles break away, the
integrity of structural will be collapsed, the porosities
of the mudstone increase and the strength decreases
continuously. When the mudstone approaches to sat-
urated state, the junction between particles become
relaxant completely, the structure presents looseness
and porousness, and the strength decreases to a sta-
ble state finally. From the analysis above, the mineral
composition and the content affect the variation of
microstructure, which make a great difference on
strength ultimately.
78
5 CONCLUSIONS
The soft rocks have a certain bearing capacity and
always integrated in natural state, however after a
short time reacting with water, they are easily become
expansive, softened and disintegrative and then behave
decrease in strength, which are of great challenges
in the supporting design and excavation of under-
ground openings. Taking the mudstone as an instance,
the water-weakening mechanism of the mudstone is
discussed by several experiments.
According to powder X-ray diffraction, the results
show that the mudstone mainly contains chlorite,
quartz, illite and calcite with the total content about
87%, mixed up with small amount of feldspar,
dolomite and hematite.
The water-saturated processing is a transition from
the compact block structure to loose and porous struc-
ture. It is a conversion from face-face contact to
point-point contact.
The porosities increase with the increase of water
contents, which have much to do with the varia-
tion regularities of microstructure in different water
contents.
The uniaxial compressive strength and elastic mod-
ulus decrease with water contents increase, which meet
the rule of a negative exponential function.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work is financially supported by the CAS Knowl-
edge Innovation Project under Grant no. KZCX2-EW-
110, National Basic Research Project under Grant
no. 2010CB732006 and National Natu-ral Science
Foundation of China under Grant no. 40902090.
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Badger, C.W., Cummings, A.D., Whitmore, R.L. 1956. The
disintegration of shale. Journal of the Institute of Fuel,
29:417–423.
Bela K., Balazs V. 2003. Test results and empirical formulas
of rock mechanical parameters of rhyolitic tuff samples
from Eger’s cellars. Acta geologica Hungarica, 46(3),
pp:301–312.
Den Brok, S.W.J., Spiers, C.J. 1991. Experimental evi-
dence for water weakening of quartzite by microcracking
plus solution-precipitation creep. Journal of Geological
Society, 148(3):541–548.
HUANG, H.W., CHEN, P. 2007. Research on micro-
mechanism of softening and argillitization of mud-
stone. Journal of Tongji University (Natural Science),
35(7):866–870.
Li, H.Z., Liao, H.J., Kong, L.W., et al. 2007. Experimental
study on stress-strain relationship of expansive mud-stone.
Rock and Soil Mechanics, 28(1):107–110.
Li, H.Z. , Liao, H.J. 2007. Experimental Study on Non
linear Strength Deformation Characteristic of Expansive
Mudstone. Chinese Journal of Underground Space and
Engineering, 3(1):19–22. (in Chinese)
LIU, C.W. & LU, S.L. 2000. Research on mechanism of mud-
stone degradation and softening in water. Rock and Soil
Mechanics, 21(1):28–31.
Sun, X.M., Wu, X., He, M.C., et al. 2005. Differentiation
and grade criterion of strong swelling soft rock, Chinese
Journal of Underground Space and Engineering, 24(1):
128–132.
Teng, H.W., Ren, S., Jiang, D.Y., et al. 2010. Experimental
study of mechanical properities of water-saturated weaken
shale in GongHe tunnel, Chinese Journal of Underground
Space and Engineering, 29 supp(1):2657–2662.
Yang, C.H., Mao, H.J., Wang, X.C., et al. 2006. Study on
variation of microstructure and mechanical properties of
water-weakening slates. Rock and Soil Mechanics, 27(12):
2090–2097.
Zhu, X.J. 1996. Water-weakening properties of soften rocks.
Technology of Mineral Science, (3–4): 46-50.
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Zhou, C.Y. , Deng, Y.M., Tan, X.S., et al. 2003. Research on
the variation regularities of microstructures in the testing
of interaction between soft rocks and water. Acta Sci-
entiarum Naturalium Universitatis Sunyatseni: Natural
Science, 42(4):98–102.
Zhou, C.Y., Tan, X.S., Deng, Y.M., et al. 2005. Research
on softening micro-mechanism of special softrocks. Chi-
nese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 24(3):
394-400.
Zhou, C.Y., Deng, Y.M., Tan, X.S., et al. 2005. Experimen-
tal research on the softening of mechanical properties of
saturated soft rocks and application. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 24 (1):33–38.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Coupling between inherent and induced anisotropies in sedimentary rocks

L. Chen & Y.M. Liu

Beijing Research Institute of Geology Uranium, Beijing, China

J.F. Shao
Laboratory of Mechanics of Lille, France

ABSTRACT: This work is devoted to the description of plastic deformation and induced damage in cohesive
geomaterials with inherent anisotropy. Due to oriented microcracks, the damage leads to an induced anisotropy
in materials. The emphasis is put on the coupling between the inherent and induced anisotropies. The model
is formulated based on a discrete thermodynamic approach. Macroscopic plastic deformation and material
damage are considered as the result of frictional sliding along weakness planes randomly distributed in spatial
orientations. Local plastic flow rule and damage evolution law are formulated for each family of weakness
planes. The mechanical properties in each orientation depend on the inherent anisotropic structure. The coupling
between the inherent and induced anisotropies is thus properly described using the fabric tensor and discrete
approach. A series of numerical simulations are performed in order to verify the predictive performance of the
proposed model. Comparisons between numerical results and test data show the present model is able to describe
the main mechanical behaviors of anisotropic geomaterials, by taking into account the coupling between the
inherent and induced anisotropies.

1 INSTRUCTION along the surfaces of WSP and propagation of WSP

Numerous experimental studies have confirmed that
plastic deformation and induced damage by microc-
rack growth are two essential mechanisms of inelastic
behaviors and failure in rock materials. A number of
constitutive models have been so far developed for
modeling of anisotropic plastic deformation and dam-
age in geomaterials like concrete and rocks. However,
most of them are formulated for initially isotropic
materials and only induced anisotropy was taken into
account.
Many geomaterials, such as sedimentary rocks,
exhibit significant initial or inherent anisotropy. Defor-
mation behavior and failure mode of these materials
are strongly dependent on the loading orientation with
respect to their microstructure. Further these materi-
als are also sensitive to nucleation and propagation of
oriented microcracks. There is thus coupling between
induced and inherent anisotropy, which will control
failure mechanisms in these rocks. However, few atten-
tions have been paid on this point. The main difficult
is the description of the induced anisotropy and the
coupling with the inherent directional properties.
Inspired by multi layer models in soil mechanics, an
original model is proposed in this work by developing
a discrete approach for plastic and damage modeling in
initially anisotropic rocks. The macroscopic mechan-
ical responses are assumed to be inherently related
to local deformation behaviors in a finite number of
weakness sliding planes (WSPs). In each family of
WSPs defined by its normal vector, plastic sliding
(damage) are taken into account. The frictional plas-
tic sliding is described by Mohr-Coulomb type model,
which is coupled with a damage model predicting evo-
lution of crack density (extent of weakness planes).
The initial anisotropy of material is represented by a
second order fabric tensor so that the plastic defor-
mations are obtained through volumetric averaging
procedure. The induced anisotropy is described by non
uniform damage values in different families of WSPs.
The proposed model is applied to typical sedimen-
tary rocks, hard clay rocks in this work. Comparisons
between experimental data and numerical predictions
are presented and show good efficiency of the model.
2 CONSTITUTIVE ELASTOPLASTIC
DAMAGE FORMULATIONS
The formulation of proposed model is based on the
discrete thermodynamic approach proposed by Zhu
et al. (2008). According to this approach, it is assumed
that the material contains a random distribution of
weakness sliding planes (WSPs) subject to sliding and
propagation under applied loading, and the total plas-
tic deformation Ep is contributed by frictional sidings
along all considered weakness planes, as presented by
the following expression:

81
εp (n) represents the local strain tensor related to the
family of defeats with unit normal vector n. This inte-
gration can be replaced by the summation over the
chosen discrete orientations. The total plastic strain is
accordingly obtained by the following discrete form:
In the expression, wig is the weight coefficient of
each weakness plane considered and N represents the
number of WSP families.
According to the classic thermodynamic theory,
in order to determine the plastic flow and damage
evolution of each orientation, the definition of the plas-
tic surface, plastic potential function and the damage
evolution law are necessary. For this purpose, the fol-
lowing normal and tangent projections of stress tensor
of the total stress tensor
on each family of WSPs are
firstly defined:
Using these stress invariants, it is possible to define
the plastic yield function f p,i and potential gp,i as
well as the damage criterion f ω,i of anisotropic mate-
rial. In the following, specific functions for stratified
sedimentary rocks are proposed.
2.1 Plastic modeling
A Coulomb-type plastic yield criterion is adopted
for plastic sliding in the WSP families, as shown
following:
The plastic hardening and softening is described by
the function of tangent friction coefficient αi (γ p,i ).
Based on experimental studies for most cohesive-
frictional sedimentary geomaterials, it is appropriate
to define the function αi (γ p,i ) as an increasing func-
tion of the internal hardening variable γpi and at the
same time a decreasing function of the damage vari-
able ωi to describe the material softening behaviors.
The following mixed form is used in this study:
The parameter b1 controls the hardening process.
γ p,i denotes the hardening variable associated with the
family of defeats with the normal vector ni . Inspired by
the isotropic plasticity theory (Shao 2006), we propose
the following form for the hardening variable:
82
The influence of inherent structural anisotropy on
the plastic flow is reflected by the directional param-
eters m and c, which represent the tangent of friction
angle and the cohesion, respectively.
In our work, an exponential form of the fabric tensor
proposed by Lee et al. (2007) is adopted for describing
the spatial distribution of directional strength parame-
ters m and c. Compared with the others functions, the
parameters involved can be easily determined, which
obviously, is of great interest to numerical modeling.
It is assumed that the spatial distribution of m and c
can be defined in terms of the following functions:
In which, ’s are the second order tensors which
describe the bias in the spatial distribution of strength
parameters, whereas a1,2
m
and a1,2
c
are coefficients that
are independent of direction. It should be noted that
’s are symmetric traceless tensors whose principal
directions coincide with the material axes (S1 , S2 , S3 ).
Based on the experimental evidence, a non-
associated plastic flow rule is adopted here to repro-
duce the transition from compaction to dilatancy, as
shown in the following:
where β0 defines the transition point from volumet-
ric compaction to dilatancy; It is evident that gp,i is
function of mi and then the plastic flow rule has also
a directional dependence.
2.2 Damage modeling
The following function is proposed as the damage
criterion:
where ωc is the critical value of damage. It is assumed
that the initiation and propagation of damage is only
related with the plastic deformation. Yω is the dam-
p,i
age driving (thermodynamic) force and Y0 represents
the initial threshold for the onset of damage evolu-
tion. The parameter Bω controls damage evolution
rate. The driving force Yω can be deduced based on
p,i
thermodynamic theory:
3 NUMERICAL APPLICATIONS
In order to examine the performance of the proposed
model, the experimental data of a typical anisotropic
rock with a set of parallel weak sliding planes is sim-
ulated in this section. The rock studied is Tournemire
Figure 1. Illustration of the angle βi .

shale which is taken from the Tournemire site in the

Massif Central of France. The experimental tests have
been carried and reported by Niandou et al. (1997).

3.1 Determination of the directional parameters

For the identification of plastic behavior, the spatial
distribution of directional parameters m and c which
represent the influence of inherent anisotropy on the
plastic flow are firstly determined.
For the transversely isotropic material, the equa-
tions (7) and (8) can be simplified to:

Figure 2. Influence of c0 on the resistance strength.

Table 1. The value of the parameters.

where m,c0 = 22 = 33 = −11 /2. β represents
m,c m,c m,c i
Class Notations and values
the angle between the normal vector N of the bedding
plane and theith material orientation ni , as presented
Plastic parameters m = 0.41, c0 = −0.5,
in Figure 1. a1c = 22.03213, a2c = −5.16213,
According to the method proposed by Raleigh et b1 = 5.0E − 3, β0 = 0.4
Paterson (1965), by drawing the failure surface under
Damage characterization Yd0 = 0.0, Bd = 1.0, ωc = 0.8
different loading orientations, the value of m and c can
be determined. In our study, two orientations θ = 45◦
and 0◦ are studied. As a consequence, two couples of
m and c are obtained: strength in function of loading direction. According
to the experimental data, c0 = −0.5 is adopted in the
simulation. Then, a1c and a2c can be determined by the
following expression (Lee 2008):

For θ = 45◦ , considering the failure is mainly related

to the sliding along the bedding plane, the m and c
obtained can be considered as the values of the bed-
ding plane (WSP family with βi = 0◦ ). In the same
manner, for θ = 0◦ , m and c obtained can be adopted
as the values of WSP family with βi = α where α rep- where λ = 1 − 3 cos2 θ ∗ (θ ∗ = 55◦ ).
resents the failure angle. Since la variation of m is The values used in the simulation are collected in
slight, we take m as a constant in numerical simula- Table 1. The elastic parameters determined by Niandou
tions. (c0 , c55 ) = (7.9, 16.91) is obtained from the data (1997) are adopted directly in numerical studies.
reported by Niandou et al. (1997).
Based on a parametric study, as presented in Fig-
3.2 Numerical simulation and comparison
ure 2, it is noticed that the parameter c0 has no
influence on the minimum and maximum value of The predicted curve of uniaxial strength with the incli-
strength, but it controls the distribution of resistance nation of bedding planes as well as its comparison with

83
Figure 3. Variation of uniaxial compressive strength with
samples orientation.
Figure 4. Stress-strain curves of the triaxial test.
the experimental results is presented in Figure 3. A
good accordance between the numerical predictions
and experimental results is observed.
◦
The smallest
value is located at around θ = 60 , which is consistent
with the experimental data.
In Figure 4, numerical results for triaxial com-
pression tests under different confining pressures are
presented. We can notice the principal mechanical
characteristics of the material, like the influences of
loading orientation and confining pressure on the
strength are well reproduced by the proposed model.
As mentioned in the beginning, the coupling
between inherent and induced anisotropies is the
main objective of our study. By recalling the plastic
yield function (4), the term (1 − ωi ) can be consid-
ered as a coefficient of induced damage on inherent
strength parameters m and c. In this sense, the variable
84
Figure 5. Variation of the variable (1 − ωi )ci during loading
process.
(1 − ωi )ci can be considered as the results of coupling
between inherent and induced anisotropies.
The distribution of this variable during the load-
ing process for θ = 0◦ is presented in Figure 5(a). In
this figure, the black line named as “elastic phase”
represents the spatial distribution of material strength
in the initial anisotropic state with induced damage
(ωr = 0). Note that in an isotropic material, a circular
form of distribution should be obtained. The deviation
from the circular form corresponds to the consequence
of the inherent anisotropy of material. With the aug-
mentation of the deviatoric stress level, the plastic
sliding and damage occur along a number of preferred
families of weakness planes. As a consequence, the
material strength is degraded due to the damage evo-
lution and the damage density is dependent on the
orientation of weakness planes. Therefore, the initial
anisotropic distribution of material strength is mod-
ified by the induced anisotropic damage. As shown
in this figure, at the state of peak stress, the value
of effective cohesion (1 − ωr )cr is reduced in some
families of weakness planes which are mostly loaded.
This is consistent with the experimental observation
showing the coalescence of microcracks in some pref-
erential orientations (Niandou 1997). After the peak
stress, the induced damage evolution is clearly local-
ized due to the coalescence of microcracks. This the
degradation of the material strength is increasing only
on one preferential family of weakness planes, lead-
ing to the formation of macroscopic failure plane
in this orientation.
◦
For instance, for the loading ori-
entation of θ◦ = 0 , the failure plane is identified by
β=α ∼ = 54 , corresponding to the largest reduction
of material strength.
The evolution of ◦
material strength for the loading
orientation θ = 45 is presented in Figure 5 (b). Again,
the macroscopic failure occurs in a preferential ori-
entation. It is very interesting to note that the failure
plane is identified by a very small value of the angle β.
This means that the failure plane is nearly parallel to
the bedding planes. Therefore, the material failure is
generated by the sliding along the bedding planes. This
is consistent with most experimental observations in
sedimentary anisotropic rocks.
4 CONCLUSION
A new constitutive model is proposed for plastic
damage modeling in anisotropic geomaterials. The
emphasis is put on the coupling between the inherent
and induced anisotropies. A discrete plastic dam-
age approach is proposed. The macroscopic plastic
deformation is generated by frictional sliding along a
number of weakness planes while the material damage
is related to the growth of such planes. The local plastic
frictional sliding is described by a Mohr-Coulomb type
criterion and the damage evolution is coupled with the
plastic sliding. In order to describe the influence of
the inherent anisotropy on the plastic deformation and
damage evolution, two second order fabric tensors are
introduced and used to define the spatial distribution
of material failure parameters. Therefore, the initial
anisotropy is coupled with the induced one which is
related to damage density distribution in each family
of weakness planes. The procedure for the determina-
tion of model’s parameters is presented. The proposed
model is applied to the description of mechanical
85
responses of a typical sedimentary rock. There is a
good overall agreement between the numerical predic-
tions and experimental data. It is clearly shown that the
spatial distribution of mechanical properties related to
the initial anisotropy is significantly modified by the
induced damage. The degradation of mechanical prop-
erties occurs in some preferential families of weakness
planes. The macroscopic failure is directly related to
the damage evolution in such referential families of
weakness planes. Depending on the loading orienta-
tion with respect to the bedding planes, two distinct
failure modes can be identified: failure by the slid-
ing of bedding planes and failure by the formation of
localized damage and shear bands. Sensitivity stud-
ies have also shown the important influences of fabric
parameters on the mechanical responses of anisotropic
materials.
REFERENCES
Lee, Y.K. & Pietruszczak, S. 2008. Application of critical
plane approach to the prediction of strength anisotropy
in transversely isotropic rock masses. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences, 45:
513–523.
Shao, J.F., Jia, Y., Kondo, D. & Chiareli, A.S. 2006. A cou-
pled elastoplastic damage model for semi-brittle material
and extension to unsaturated conditions. Mechanics of
Materials, 38: 218–232.
Niandou, H., Shao, J.F., Henry, J.P. & Fourmaintraux, D. 1997.
Laboratory investigation of the mechanical behaviour of
Tournemire shale. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci, 34: 3–16.
Raleigh, C.B. & Paterson, M.S. 1965. Experimental deforma-
tion of serpentine and its tectonic implications. J. Geophys.
Res, 70(16): 3965–3985.
Zhu, Q.Z., Shao, J.F., & Kondo, D. 2008. A discrete ther-
modynamic approach for modeling anisotropic coupled
plasticity-damage behaviour in geomaterials. Comptes
rendus mecanique, 336: 376–383.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experimental study on the adsorption content of coal

L.H. Cheng, S.G. Li & H.F. Lin

School of Energy Engineering, Xi’an University of Science & Technology, Xi’an, China
Key Laboratory of Western Mine Exploitation and Hazard Prevention of the Ministry of Education, Xi’an , China

T.J. Zhang
College of Science, Xi’an University of Science & Technology, Xi’an, China

ABSTRACT: In order to study the effect of temperature and particle size on the adsorption content of coal,
the tests have been completed under different temperature and particle size conditions for the same coal sample
using the WY-98B adsorption constant determining device. The tests show that in the same condition of particle
size and pressure, the adsorption content and the Langmuir adsorption constant a decrease as the temperature
increases. In the constant temperature condition, the adsorption content of the coal is increases as the particle
size decreases or the pressure increases, but the adsorption content tends to stable as the pressure reaches to
some value.

1 INTRODUCTION Table 1. The characteristic parameters of the sample.

The coal seam gas formed in coal-forming process Parameters Ash constituent/% Water content/% R0 /%
exists in the coal seams. The coal seam gas is both
a harmful gas which could cause mine disaster and Value 17.36 1.71 2.1
a clean energy source (Li 2000, Sun 2005). Statis-
tics (Cui 2009) in recent years shows that casualties
caused by the gas accidents (gas explosion, coal and of the adsorbed gas is about 95% and the adsorbed
gas outburst, etc.) are the most serious. Therefore, in gas and free state gas is in a dynamic balance (Wang
terms of a particular coal, the experimental study on 2011).
the adsorption content of coal is essential whether the In terms of the calculation of gas adsorption con-
coal mine gas accident prevention or the use of clean tent, Langmuir equation has a larger influence and has
energy exploitation. been widely used, as in

2 ADSORPTION CHARACTERISTIC OF COAL

Coal is a complex porous medium, and its pore diam-
eter is less than 50 nm (Zhang et al. 2002). So the
coal has a large internal surface area and has strong
adsorption capacity of gas. Coal is a complex porous
medium, and its pore diameter is less than 50nm. So
the coal has a large internal surface area and has strong
adsorption capacity of gas. Numerous studies (Zhou
et al. 1999, Wu 2009) show that the gas adsorption in
coal is physical adsorption, and its essence is the exis-
tence of remaining free field of coal surface molecules.
When the gas molecules are adsorbed in Vander Waals’
force, adsorption heat is released to form a relatively
stable structure. When the gas molecules regain some
energy, they will break away from the Vander Waals’
force and come back to the free state.
In general, the coal seam gas mainly exists in
the form of adsorbed and free state within the limits
of the current mining depth, in which the proportion
where V = adsorption content under some pres-
sure P, ml/g; Vm = maximum adsorption content,
ml/g; b = adsorption constant; P = adsorption pres-
sure, MPa.
3 INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND
PRESSURE ON COAL ADSORPTION
3.1 Experiment process
The adsorption isotherm test of coal sample was car-
ried on with WY-98B adsorption constant tester. The
characteristic parameters of the sample are listed in
Table 1. Experimental temperature was 20◦ , 30◦ , 40◦ ,
50◦ , and experimental gas is methane gas. The experi-
mental adsorption isotherm of coal sample was shown
in Figure 1.

87
Figure 1. The experimental adsorption isotherm of coal Figure 2. Langmuir constant a in different temperature.
sample.

Table 2. Langmuir constant in different temperature.

Temperature 20◦ C 30◦ C 40◦ C 50◦ C

a 30.1 23.4 17.1 14.1

b 0.52 0.61 0.56 0.58

3.2 Experiment analysis

It can be seen from Figure1 that .the influence of pres-
sure on the coal gas adsorption is quite big. In the Figure 3. Langmuir constant b in different temperature.
low-pressure adsorption stage, the adsorption rapidly
increased with the pressure increasing, but up to a cer-
tain extent, the gas adsorption was stable. While at the
same pressure, the adsorption content decreased with
temperature increasing.
According to the adsorption theory, when the gas
pressure increases, the adsorption content increases
in the low-pressure adsorption stage because the
increasing frequency that gas molecules hit the sur-
face of the pores makes the density of gas molecules
on the surface of coal pore increased. When the
adsorption reaches saturation, the adsorption is no
longer increased with the pressure. Increasing In the
same pressure, when the temperature increases, the
molecules kinetic energy increases, which makes gas Figure 4. The adsorption isotherm test in different particle
molecules free of shackles of the Vander Waals’ force. size.
So gas molecules on the surface of coal pore will be
reduced, resulting in adsorption capacity decreased.
particle size of 0.096∼0.109 mm, 0.109∼0.12 mm,
0.12∼0.15 mm, 0.15∼0.2 mm. The results are shown
3.3 The effect of temperature and pressure on the in Figure 4.
Langmuir equation adsorption constant It can be seen from Figure 4 that the gas adsorption
The test results show that the temperature variations content increases with coal particle size decreasing.
have an great impact on adsorption constants a, b, in According to the adsorption theory, to some extent,
which adsorption constant a showed decreasing trend the specific surface of the coal sample increases with
as temperature increased, and the adsorption constant particle size decreasing.
b was in consistent with the adsorption temperature.

4 THE EFFECT OF PARTICLE SIZE ON
COAL ADSORPTION
In order to observe the affection of particle size
on gas absorption, the coal sample was made in
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. The temperature variation has an great effect
on adsorption content. he adsorption content
decreased as temperature increasing in the same
pressure.

88
2. The pressure variation has an great effect on adsorp-
tion content. The adsorption content increased as
pressure increasing in the same temperature, but
the gas adsorption content tends to stable as the
pressure reaches to some extent.
3. The temperature variation has an great effect on
adsorption constants a, b, in which adsorption con-
stant a showed decreasing trend as temperature
increased.
4. The particle size variation has an great effect on
adsorption content in the same temperature, and the
gas adsorption content increases with coal particle
size decreasing.
REFERENCES
Cui, Z.H. 2009. Statistics on the Data of Coal Mine Gas Acci-
dents in our Country betweenYear 2001∼2008 and Causal
Analysis. Sci-Tech Information Development & Economy
21: 139–141.
89
Li, S.G. 2000. Movement of the Surrounding Rock and Gas
Delivery in Fully-Mechanized Top Coal Caving. Xuzhou:
China University of Mining and Technology Press.
Sun, M.Y. 2005. Some issues on the exploitation and utiliza-
tion of coal-bed methane resources. China Coal 3.
Wang, J.C. 2011. Key theoretical issue need to be solved
and research status of coal and gas co-mining. Coal
Engineering 1: 1∼3.
Wu, S.Y. 2009. Methane-Coalbed Coupling Movement
Theory and Its Application. Beijing: Science Press.
Zhang, X.M., Zhuang, J. & Zhang S.A. 2002. Coalbed
Methane Geology and Resource Evaluation in China.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experimental study on the reticular cutting rock fragmentation

with the teeth of single cone bit

R. Deng, Q. Hu & Y.B. Xu

School of Mechatronic Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China

ABSTRACT: In this paper, based on the plentiful combination experiments of the reticular cutting with
the teeth of single cone bit on the rock, the teeth’s instantaneous cutting forces were recorded. After processing
the experimental rock with measurement system of the bottom pattern, the rock fragmentation average depth, the
area and the volume were obtained. According to the cutting force and the rock fragmentation volume, it can
be studied on the relations between the two targets and every kind of experiment parameters after calculating
the breaking volume per unit length and the specific volumetric fracture work of rock. Based on the obtained
he effect of parameters on rock fragmentation such as the tooth shape, the rock character, the cutting depth, the
grooving spacing and overlapping angle, the best cutting parameters of different teeth can be found and the tooth
shape can be judged of. According to the experiment results, in this article the instructive opinion and suggestion
is proposed about the cutting structure on single cone bit, which provides the reliable basis to the reasonable use
of drill bit to enhancing the drill speed.

1 INSTRUCTION 2 EXPERIMENTAL METHOD ON RETICULAR

Theory and experimental researches show that the
effect of the tooth shape and cutting parameters on its
cutting performance is very important.After observing
the cutting track of a single cone bit at the bot-
tom hole, it is found that the overlapping angles of
every tooth cutting track are different at the different
bottom positions, and single cone bit with different
structures can also break up the rock to form the dif-
ferent bottom hole. Therefore, there is a necessity to
research the effect of parameters on rock fragmenta-
tion such as tooth shape, rock quality, cutting depth,
grooving spacing and overlapping angle through
experiments.
When designing the cutting structure of single cone
bit, people always hope to gain the symmetrical rock
fragmentation and the fine cover effect of cutting
at the bottom hole. In this article, through plenti-
ful combination experiments of the reticular cutting
with single cone bit teeth on the rock, it is to obtain
the effect of parameters on rock fragmentation such
as the tooth shape, the rock character, the cutting
depth, the grooving spacing and overlapping angle,
and then to find the best cutting parameters of dif-
ferent teeth, which is helpful for us to research the
rock fragmentation mechanism deeply, and can pro-
vide the reliable basis for reasonably using drill bit
and designing the cutting structure in order to raise the
drilling rate.
CUTTING ROCK FRAGMENTATION WITH
THE TEETH OF SINGLE CONE BIT
The reticular cutting rock fragmentation in this article
refers to carry on the straightly overlapping cutting to
break up the rock in the plane rock sample by the same
spacing using the teeth. After the investigation, it is the
choice to reform a planer into the rock cutting testing
machine. The cutting tool of the planer is replaced by
the cutting pole independently designed and processed,
whose top attachment is similar to the original one,
bottom besetted with the teeth to experiment, and mid-
dle installed with the three-direction load sensor. The
planer work table was reformed to fix the rock sample
holder. The reticular cutting (straightly overlapping)
function is realized by changing the angle of rock sam-
ple holder. At last, this reformed rock cutting testing
machine, the data acquisition system of cutting force
and the measurement system of the bottom pattern
together established a set of experiment equipment.
The straightly one-direction cutting track of teeth by
certain spacing in the plane rock sample is called
the grooving. The reticular cutting is obtained when
the tooth having a certain overlapping angle with the
grooving straightly and one-directionally cuts in the
above rock sample by the same spacing. Then the two
rock samples will be obtained and separately called the
straightly cutting rock sample and the reticular cutting
rock sample.

91
3 EXPERIMENTAL SCHEME
In order to deeply research the effect of the different
cutting parameters on rock fragmentation, the combi-
nation experiments of the multi parameters are carried
on in this article, namely: three kind of tooth shape
(chisel insert, wedge insert and conical insert), two
kind of typical rocks (the sandstone from the second
section of Chongqing and Xujiahe formation), and the
different experiment parameters (three kind of cutting
depths, three kind of grooving spacing and five kind of
overlapping angles). Thereinto the grooving spacing is
decided according to the rock fragmentation reality by
each kind of tooth shape and cutting depth.
Test number: 234 = 2 (rock) × 3 (tooth shape) × 3
(cutting depth) × 3 (grooving spacing) × 4 (overlap-
ping angle: 15◦ , 30◦ , 45◦ & 90◦ ) + 2 (rock) × 3 (tooth
shape) × 3 (cutting depth) × 1 (grooving spacing) × 1
(overlapping angle: 0◦ ).
Where, rock: the outcrop of the sandstone from the
second section of Chongqing and Xujiahe formation
is gathered separately on behalf of soft and hard sand-
stones. The rock sample size is 260 mm × 260 mm ×
260 mm, and its six planes are carried on an experiment
respectively.
Tooth shapes: chisel insert, wedge insert and conical
insert.
Cutting conditions: The normal temperature, the
atmospheric pressure, no refrigerant.
Tooth cutting velocity: v = 30.8 m/min.
Cutting parameter: cutting depth is 1 mm, 2 mm &
3 mm, overlapping angle is 0◦ , 15◦ , 30◦ , 45◦ & 90◦ , and
the grooving spacing is decided by actual condition.
4 DEAL WITH EXPERIMENTAL DATA
Through the cutting experiments, two kinds of data
can be obtained. One is cutting force including axial
force, radial force and tangential force, the other is
the bottom pattern data including the rock fragmenta-
tion volume, the area and the average depth. Compared
with the axial force and the tangential force, the radial
force is very small and can be ignored. At the same
time, the change of the area and the average depth is
consistent with the one of the rock fragmentation vol-
ume. Therefore the axial force and the tangential force
are analyzed importantly, as well as the two impor-
tant targets reflecting the rock fragmentation effect
and efficiency: the breaking volume per unit length
and the specific volumetric fracture work of rock.
4.1 Deal with the cutting force data
In the course of recording cutting force, the data of
the straightly cutting and the reticular cutting were
recorded separately. That is to say before rotating the
rock sample the cutting force was treated as the data of
the straightly cutting and recorded to Fa1 (axial force),
Fr1 (radial force) and Ft1 (tangential force), and after
rotating the rock sample the cutting force was treated
92
as the data of the reticular cutting and recorded to
Fa2 (axial force), Fr2 (radial force) and Ft2 (tangen-
tial force). In each group of the recorded cutting force
data, after abandoning the data of the first and the
last grooving, the normal data were extracted from the
remaining each grooving data between the teeth cut-
ting in the rock and leaving off, and then treated with
Microsoft Excel. At last the average, the extremum and
the variance of axial, radial and tangential force can be
obtained under the circumstance of each combination
experiment. Based on the average statistics, the data of
axial force and tangential force were obtained under
the circumstance of each combination experiment.
4.2 Deal with the data of the breaking volume per
unit length and the specific volumetric fracture
work of rock
The breaking volume per unit length reflects the rock
fragmentation efficiency by teeth and furthermore the
bigger one reflects the greater efficiency. However, the
drilling rate is independent of the one. The specific
volumetric fracture work of rock reflects the power
consumption of teeth and furthermore the smaller one
reflects the better rock fragmentation effect of teeth.
Because the cutting depth is lesser relative to cutting
distance, only the work done by tangential force in the
cutting distance was considered when calculating the
specific volumetric fracture work of rock, and the work
done by axial and radial force was ignored.
5 ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENT RESULTS
5.1 The influence of cutting force by Tooth shape,
cutting depth, grooving spacing and
overlapping Angle
After the cutting force data obtained in all kinds of
combination experiment were treated with Microsoft
Excel, the figures shown in Figures 1–8 reflect the
relationship between cutting fore (axial and tangen-
tial force) and each cutting parameter (cutting depth,
grooving spacing and overlapping angle).
Thus, tooth shapes cutting soft sandstone are listed
in order of the influence to axial force (Fa1, Fa2): the
biggest one is wedge insert, the second one is chisel
insert, and the minimum one is conical insert, but to
tangential force (Ft1, Ft2): chisel insert, wedge insert
and conical insert. However tooth shapes cutting hard
sandstone are listed in order of the influence to cutting
force (Fa1, Fa2, Ft1 and Ft2): conical insert, wedge
insert and chisel insert.
In the same condition, that is the same tooth shape,
cutting depth, grooving spacing and overlapping angle,
the cutting force (Fa1, Ft1) in hard sandstone is bigger
than the one in soft sandstone under the condition of
straightly cutting. But the influence of rock character
is small under the condition of reticular cutting. Gener-
ally speaking, when cutting in soft and hard sandstone
under the condition of straightly cutting and reticular
Figure 1. Axial force Fa1 of the straightly cutting by three Figure 5. Tangential force Ft1 of the straightly cutting by
kinds of teeth in soft sandstone. three kinds of teeth in soft sandstone.

Figure 2. Axial force Fa1 of the straightly cutting by three Figure 6. Tangential force Ft1 of the straightly cutting by
kinds of teeth in hard sandstone. three kinds of teeth in hard sandstone.

Figure 3. Axial force Fa2 of the reticular cutting by three Figure 7. Tangential force Ft2 of the reticular cutting by
kinds of teeth in soft sandstone. three kinds of teeth in soft sandstone.

Figure 4. Axial force Fa2 of the reticular cutting by three Figure 8. Tangential force Ft2 of the reticular cutting by
kinds of teeth in hard sandstone. three kinds of teeth in hard sandstone.

cutting, axial force and tangential force increase with rock sample, such as the inhomogeneity, anisotropic
cutting depth increases and with grooving spacing rock and large difference of hardness, and etc.
increases. But there are exceptions in the experiment, The influence of overlapping angle to cutting force
which may be caused by the different properties in each is mainly embodied in whether there is overlapping.

93
Figure 9. The breaking volume per unit length cutting soft
sandstone.
Figure 10. The breaking volume per unit length cutting hard
sandstone.
If there is no overlapping, that is the straightly cut-
ting, the axial force and the tangential force is bigger
respectively than the two forces under the reticular cut-
ting. However, if there is overlapping, the influence of
overlapping angle to cutting force is small, and the
cutting force is big when overlapping angle is 90◦ .
5.2 The influence of the breaking volume per unit
length by Tooth shape, cutting depth, grooving
spacing and overlapping Angle
The contrast relationship of the breaking volume per
unit length is shown in Figures 9–10. When cutting
soft sandstone, the breaking volume per unit length by
wedge insert is close to the one by conical insert, and
the one by chisel insert is the biggest. When cutting
hard sandstone, tooth shapes are listed in order of the
breaking volume per unit length: chisel insert, wedge
insert and conical insert.
In the same condition, that is the same tooth shape,
cutting depth, grooving spacing and overlapping angle,
the breaking volume per unit length cutting hard sand-
stone is bigger than the one cutting soft sandstone. It
is shown in Figure 11.
Cutting depth and grooving spacing are the major
factors affecting the breaking volume per unit length. It
increases with cutting depth increases. It can increase
to the biggest at a certain grooving spacing.
When the overlapping angle is 0◦ , the influence of
the breaking volume per unit length is not very obvi-
ous. Overall, the influence is larger at 90◦ or 45◦ and
is the smallest at 0◦ .
94
Figure 11. The contrast of the breaking volume per unit
length between soft sandstone and hard one.
Figure 12. The specific volumetric fracture work of rock.
Figure 13. The contrast between soft and hard sandstone.
5.3 The influence of the specific volumetric fracture
work of rock by tooth shape, cutting depth,
grooving spacing and overlapping angle
The contrast relationship of the specific volumetric
fracture work of rock is shown in Figure 12 under the
condition of the reticular cutting. When cutting soft
sandstone, tooth shapes are listed in order of the influ-
ence to the specific volumetric fracture work of rock:
the biggest one is wedge insert, the second one is con-
ical insert and the minimum one is chisel insert. When
cutting hard sandstone, tooth shapes are listed in order:
conical insert, wedge insert and chisel insert.
It is shown in Figure 13. In the same condition,
that is the same tooth shape, cutting depth, grooving
spacing and overlapping angle, the specific volumet-
ric fracture work of rock cutting hard sandstone is
close to the one cutting soft sandstone. Why close?
With the increase of sandstone hardness, the rock
fragmentation volume also increases because of the
cutting force increase and the influence of rock brittle
fragmentation.
 Generally speaking, if the grooving spacing is too Table 1. The reasonable grooving spacing cutting soft
small, the specific volumetric fracture work of rock sandstone.
will increase because of the rock repeat fragmentation
Cutting Grooving Grooving
to reduce the efficiency. However, if it is too large, the Tooth depth, space, space/
specific volumetric fracture work of rock will be the shape mm mm tooth diameter
largest because of the weaken influence of adjacent
grooving causing the largest teeth cutting resistance. Chisel insert 1 14 1
When the overlapping angle is not 0◦ , the influence 2 18 1.29
of the specific volumetric fracture work of rock is not 3 22 1.57
very obvious. Overall, the influence is smaller at 90◦ Wedge insert 1 10 0.71
or 45◦ and is the largest at 0◦ . 2 14 1
3 18 1.29
Conical insert 1 7.33 0.46
5.4 The best cutting parameters 2 10 0.63
3 14 0.88
Evaluation principles of cutting parameters are as
follows. The breaking volume per unit length is con-
sidered firstly. The larger it is, the better the rock
fragmentation effect is. If the breaking volume per Table 2. The reasonable grooving spacing cutting hard
sandstone.
unit length is close, the specific volumetric fracture
work of rock is considered secondly. The smaller it Cutting Grooving Grooving
is, namely the lower the power consumption is, and Tooth depth, space, space/
the better the rock fragmentation effect is. If the two shape mm mm tooth diameter
cutting parameters above are close, the axial force is
considered at last. The smaller it is, the better the rock Chisel insert 1 10 0.71
fragmentation effect is. 2 16 1.14
During the teeth cutting, not only the frontal rock 3 20 1.43
but also the rock on both sides of the teeth has been Wedge insert 1 10 0.71
crashed because the rock on both sides of the teeth has 2 14 1
been caved to both sides for the teeth extrusion. So, if 3 18 1.43
the grooving spacing is too small, cutting section area Conical insert 1 7.33 0.46
is reduced, which causes the rock repeat fragmentation, 2 10 0.63
the reduced efficiency and the increase of the specific 3 16 1
volumetric fracture work of rock. However, if it is too
large, the influence of adjacent grooving is weakened
and the rock on both sides of the teeth may not be caved,
According to the same evaluation principle, tooth
which causes the reduced efficiency, the largest teeth
shapes are listed in order: chisel insert, wedge insert
cutting resistance and the largest specific volumetric
and conical insert. Moreover, rock character in order:
fracture work of rock.
hard sandstone, soft sandstone, and cutting depth in
The cutting sectional area is different by the differ-
order: 3 mm, 2 mm and 1 mm.
ent teeth shape. The wider the tooth is, the bigger the
The best combination cutting parameter is as fol-
grooving spacing may be.
lows separately cutting the soft and hard sandstone.
The grooving spacing can increase with the rock
To the soft sandstone: chisel insert, cutting depth
hardness increases. This is mainly because the propor-
is 3 mm, grooving spacing is 22 mm, and overlapping
tion increase of the lateral rock caved to the total rock
angle is 45◦ .
fragmentation volume is increased with rock hardness
To the hard sandstone: chisel insert, cutting depth
increases to increase the rock brittleness.
is 3 mm, grooving spacing is 20 mm, and overlapping
The grooving spacing can increase with the cutting
angle is 90◦ .
depth in order to obtain the larger rock fragmentation
volume and the smaller specific volumetric fracture
work of rock.
So, the grooving spacing is not an indepen- 6 CONCLUSIONS
dent variable. Reasonable spacing is also influenced
by tooth shape, rock properties and cutting depth. The experiment studies show the rock fragmentation is
There is a reasonable spacing in each combination easy under the condition of the reticular cutting which
experiment. makes use of the characteristics formed free surface.
The reasonable grooving spacing shown in Tables So the rock fragmentation effect of the reticular cutting
1–2 has been obtained by the evaluation principles of is better than the one of the one-direction cutting and
cutting parameters according to the breaking volume of the mainly pressing, which proves the single cone
per unit length and the specific volumetric fracture bit not only has the advantages of three cone bit and
work of rock. Thereinto, the overlapping angle has PDC bit, but also makes up the disadvantages of two
been not considered because of its small influence. from cutting mechanism.

95
 The experiment studies show chisel insert arranged
in a single cone bit is superior to conical insert both
cutting soft sandstone and cutting hard sandstone.
The well rock fragmentation effect can be obtained
by increasing WOB, equivalent to increasing the
cutting depth.
There is a separate reasonable spacing in different
combination experiment.
The influence of overlapping angle to the rock
fragmentation effect is small.
The rock fragmentation effect cutting hard sand-
stone is better than the one cutting soft sandstone when
the influence of the ambient pressure is small.
96
REFERENCES
Huang, Z.Q., Tan, L., Jin, X., Li, Q. & Wei, Z.Q. 2007.
Simulation study on rock fragmentation mechanism of
percussion-rotary drill bit based on LS-DYNA. Natural
Gas Industry 27(4): 76–78.
Yang,Y.X., Zhang, W.W., Li, B., Liu,Y. & Lin, M. 2001. Effect
evaluation on insert penetration to rock and optimization
of insert shape. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 20(1): 110–113.
Yu, K.A., Deng, R., Ma, D.K. & Yang, S.L. 1995. Rock
disintegrating track of spherical mono-cone bit. China
Petroleum Machinery 23(4): 1–7.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

The macro-mesoscopic property and particle-number influences of rock

uniaxial compression numerical simulation based on parallel-bond model

X. Du, Y.W. Zeng, Y. Li & Y. Cao

School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: The parallel-bond model and sphere particles were adopted to simulate uniaxial compression
tests of sandstone. The numerical models with different particle number represent different particle scale. The
relationships of macro-mesoscopic property were revealed by single numerical test analysis. The contrastive
analysis of different particle number model shows that the peak strength and its corresponding strain increased
with the particle number. Meanwhile, the study and calculation of macro and mesoscopic index revealed that
the macro indexes of different particle number models were influenced by the distribution of parallel-bonds.
And the macro indexes have an approximate liner relationship with the functions of the parallel-bonds’ average
radius and particle number. The results show that, for a specific discrete element model, the developing process
of mesoscopic indexes could determine the macro model’s stage, and the macro mechanical indexes could
approximate expressed linearly by mesoscopic geometric indexes.

1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS (REV) (Fu 2005) technique (Tomofumi 2007). And

There exist lots of numerical simulating methods
which are mainly divided into two main groups, the
FEM (finite-element methods) and the DEM (dis-
crete element methods). The particle flow approach,
as one branch of the DEM, can treat fracture initi-
ation and growth directly at mesoscopic levels, with
simple assumptions on constitutive behaviors of rock
matrixes and fractures. The most well-known codes
for particle mechanics approach are the particle flow
codes (PFC2D and PFC3D) (Itasca Consulting Group
2003, Potyondy 2004).
Many rock mechanics problems such as triaxial test-
ing of rocks with complete stress–strain curves (Xia
2010), the grain elongation on the behaviour of biax-
ial compression (Cécile 2010), the rock fracture under
direct shear test (Cho 2008), have been solved at lab-
oratory scales using the PFC codes. PFC codes has
been applied to imitate large scale rock engineering
problems also, such as tunnel/cavern excavation and
evaluation of EDZ, tunnel face stability, rock slope
stability analysis and so on (Wang 2003).
However, there are still several very important
contentious issues in the particle mechanical mod-
els including how to decide microscopic parameters
that cannot be measured directly during the mechan-
ical experiments; how to decide the most appropriate
particle size for reliable simulations; weather there
are relationships between mechanical behavior and
mesoscopic indexes.
Recently, Tomofumi Koyama and Lanru Jing stud-
ied the issues of model and particle size dependency
of particle mechanics models for intact rock behav-
iors using a stochastic representative element volume
there are also some precision experiments had been
done to explore the effects of particle scale on mechan-
ical properties such as packing density, stiffness and
strength and so on (David 2008). But little studies
had been done on the relationships of macro and
mesoscopic properties.
In our study the parallel-bond model and sphere
particles were adopted to simulate uniaxial compres-
sion tests of sandstone. The numerical models with
different particle number represent different particle
scale. The relationships of macro-mesoscopic prop-
erty were revealed by single numerical test analysis.
The research revealed that, for a specific discrete ele-
ment model, the developing process of mesoscopic
indexes could determine the macro model’s stage,
and the macro mechanical indexes could approximate
expressed linearly by mesoscopic geometric indexes.
2 NUMERICAL TEST OF UNIAXIAL
COMPRESSION
2.1 The parameters of numerical model
The numerical model is a cylinder, the diameter and
height is 50 and 100 mm, same as a real sandstone
specimen. The numerical test selected particle flow
codes (PFC3D) to simulate based on discrete element
method. In our study, the numerical model is com-
posited by sphere particles and parallel-bonds. The
parallel-bonds can transmit force and moment, which
consistent with the rock’s cementation (Itasca Con-
sulting Group 2003). The parallel-bonds need specify
5 parameters: normal & shear stiffness, normal &

97
Figure 1. Models with different unmber of particles
Figure 2. Models with strain were 0.03 and their force chain
shear strength, and bond disk radius. The force and
moment act on the two bonded particles and can be
related to maximum normal and shear stresses acting
within the bond material at the bond periphery. If either
of these maximum stresses exceeds its corresponding
bond strength, the parallel bond breaks, and the friction
coefficient should specified for the particles which
parallel-bonds were broken. For the purpose to anal-
ysis the influence factor of model’s particle number,
the above parameters should specified equally among
the different particle number model. The parallel-
bonds’ parameters were specified as: pb_kn = 5 E11,
pb_ks = 5 E11, pb_n = 1 E8, pb_s = 1 E8, pb_r = 1.0,
fric = 0.15. And the particle stiffness was specified as:
kn = 1 E10, ks = 1 E10.
2.2 Numerical model preparation
In order to perpetrate numerical models those who
just have single variable. The specified cylinders were
filled with different number particles, but the poros-
ity and initial stress should be unity. In our study, the
particle number was 2500, 5000, 10000, 20000, 30000
and 40000 (figure 1). Firstly, by multiplying the radii
of particles, the porosity is adjusted to 0.2 and then the
initial stress is adjusted to 1e3Pa.
It should be noticed that, firstly, the servo con-
trolling process of initial stress changed the radii of
particles and the specified porosity was changed. As
the stiffness of particles is relative huge, very smart
radii changing would cause a huge stress changing,
the radii changing of servo controlling process could
be neglected. Secondly, in the models preparation
process, the contact model of particles was linear
98
contact model and the friction coefficient was 0.2.
While the preparation process completed, the contact
model was changed to parallel-bond model, so as to
avoid the inter-lock force appeared in the preparation
process.
2.3 Numerical test
The loading process was controlled by the movement
of the top and bottom walls. During the loading pro-
cess, the position and stress of walls were monitored.
The particle assembly’s kinetic energy, bond energy,
friction energy and parallel-bond stage were also mon-
itored.To avoid the particles escape from the models by
the wall’s excessive acceleration, the acceleration from
static to specified velocity was divided into 50 sub-
steps. The specified loading velocity is 1 m/s, and the
calculation time step is 10 E-8 s. The loading process
stopped when the axial strain reach 0.03 (figure 2).
The model’s peak stress and corresponding strain were
recorded.
3 ANALYSIS OF NUMERICAL TEST
RESULTS
3.1 Particle assembly’s mesoscopic indexes and
macro mechanical behavior
The numerical simulation based on discrete element
method could monitor the movement stage of particles
and physical properties which real experiment cannot
survey, such as bonds damage process, energy change
of particles and bonds. These physical properties
are mesoscopic level, weather these properties have
Figure 3. Stress-strain curves of models (a), curves of stress-strain and broken number of bonds (b), and curves of stress-strain
and particles’ kinetic energy (c)
interior relationship with macro mechanical behavior
or not has no clarify conclusion.
Here, the model with 10 000 particles was set as
example (figure 3(b, c)). The stress-strain curves (fig-
ure 3(a)) shows that at preliminary stage the model
reflected an elastic characteristic, and then it reached
the peak stress. After peak stress, the model stress
decreased sharply. Finally the model exhibited resid-
ual stress stage. The stress-strain curve is similar to
ordinary rocks.
From the mesoscopic level, in the situation of par-
ticles stiffness have been specified unity, the macro
mechanical behavior of models were mainly influ-
enced by the parallel-bonds’ stage and the particles’
moment status. The analysis of monitored mesoscopic
indexes (figure 3(b)) shows that while the damage of
parallel-bonds growth from slowly to sharply (first
point of inflection), the model just at its ultimate bear-
ing status. The parallel-bonds begin to break sharply
indicates the model would begin to crack. While the
parallel-bonds broken growth from sharply to stabil-
ity (second point of inflection), the model comes to
residual stress stage.
Further, from bounds’ normal and shear broken
curves, by the growth of strain, the bounds’ normal
broken number bigger than shear broken. When the
bonds broken curve goes to second point of inflexion,
the normal broken number is approximate 3 times as
shear broken. This indicates that the model crack is
mainly caused by the tension force. Simultaneously, it
should be noticed that the first inflexion point of bonds
broken curve corresponds to the peak value of bonds
strain energy. In another word, when a large number
of parallel-bonds began broken, the strain energy that
stored in parallel-bonds reach its peak value, then the
energy would release. This develop process is well
matched with the stress-strain curve.
From the view of particles moment (figure 3(c)), the
curves of stress-strain and particles assembly kinetic
energy show that, the horizon increasing stage of
kinetic energy curve corresponds the elastic stage of
the model; the first inflexion point of kinetic energy
corresponds the peak stress stage of the model, and
the model at its limiting equilibration status. By the
sharply increasing of particles’ kinetic energy, large
number particles begin to move separately, and the
99
models begin to damage. While the particles kinetic
energy reaches its peak stage, the stress-strain curves
transition from peak stress to residual stress. As the
stress diminished to the residual level, the particles
kinetic energy also fell down and tended to be constant.
By the above analysis for relationships of meso-
scopic indexes and macro mechanical behaviors,
which from the views of parallel-bonds and parti-
cles moment shows that for a specific numerical test,
the mesoscopic indexes have interior relationship with
macro mechanical behaviors. Monitoring the meso-
scopic indexes could estimate the development of
macro mechanical behavior.
3.2 The particle number factor of macro
mechanical behavior
3.2.1 The numerical test results of different particle
number models
As described above, the particle number may influence
the numerical test results. In order to analyze the rela-
tionship of models’ macro mechanical behavior and
particle number, the six models those who have differ-
ent particle number were specified with unity contact
model and parameters (specified in section 2.1). The
stress-strain curves of six models shown in figure 3(a).
Macro mechanical and mesoscopic indexes listed in
table 1.
The figure 3(a) shows that, by the increasing of
particle number the models peak stress increased and
the corresponding strain also increased. By observ-
ing the stress-strain curves, the phenomenon that with
the increasing of particle number the Young modulus
decreased could be found.
3.2.2 The relationship between macro mechanical
behavior and particles number
The numerical test results indicate that the models
macro mechanical behavior change obviously by the
variation of particle number. In the situation of unity
mechanical parameters and contact model, the differ-
ence of macro mechanical behavior is caused by par-
ticle number variation undoubtedly. As the stiffness of
particles is unity and the particles are un-deformable,
the hypothesis of contacts (parallel-bonds) was the
main controller of the particles’ interactions can be
Table 1. Macro mechanical and mesoscopic indexes.
Peak stress/ Strain/ Yong moduls/
Particle number E6 Pa E-2 E9 Pa
2 500 68.23 1.363 5.006
5 000 72.96 1.465 4.980
10 000 80.82 1.641 4.925
20 000 82.38 1.870 4.405
30 000 84.39 2.099 4.020
40 000 84.65 2.200 3.848
Figure 4. Curves of peak stress and parallel-bond number
(a), Curves of peak stress and bend strength (b).
draw. Although the mechanical parameters of parallel-
bonds were unity, as the particle number varied, the
scale of particles also varied. So the parallel-bond
number and scale varied as they related with particles’
number and scale. To clarify whether the parallel-
bonds effect on the macro mechanical behavior or not,
the parallel-bonds’ physical parameters of six mod-
els were calculated by statistics method. In our study,
the number of parallel-bonds, total area of parallel-
bonds and total bend strength were calculated. The
mesoscopic indexes and macro mechanical indexes are
shown in figure 4.
The peak stress and parallel-bonds curves (figure
4(a)) show that, as the particle number increased, the
peak stress and parallel-bonds increased. The parallel-
bonds number increased approximate linearly and
peak stress were nonlinearly. The peak stress increased
more sharply at preliminary stage, and then the accel-
eration decreased step by step. It should be noticed that
the particle number and peak stress are always posi-
tively related. The peak stress and total bend strength
curves (figure 4(b)) shows that, as the particles num-
ber increased, the peak stress increased and total bend
strength decreased.
The above phenomenon can be explained by the
distribution of parallel-bonds. When the particle num-
ber is relatively low, the particles scale and bonds
disk radius is relatively big, however, the number
of parallel-bonds are relatively low. Although the
total bending & twist strength value is high, the
parallel-bonds are unevenly distributed and some
bonds vacancy regions exist in the models. The bonds
vacancy regions are the defects of models, the peak
100
Total area of Total bend
Paraller-bonds bonds disks/ strength/
number E-2 m2 E-7 m4
4510 6.56 1.550
12233 11.20 1.701
24685 14.72 1.409
38161 14.13 0.846
56975 15.89 0.729
75621 17.21 0.651
stress was restricted by these defects. And as the bonds
unevenly distributed, the brittleness is more obviously.
On the other hand, when the particle number is rela-
tively high, the particle scale and bonds disk radius
is relatively small; however, the number of parallel-
bonds is relatively high. Although the totals bend and
twist strength is relatively low, the limited strength
could be distributed evenly. So, the material defects
were decreased, the peak stress can be enhanced and
the brittleness was decreased.
The above analysis of the macro mechanical behav-
ior and parallel-bonds are still qualitative. In order
to analyze the relationship of macro and mesoscopic
indexes quantitatively, the peak stress and their corre-
sponding strain, Yong models were recorded. Com-
pared whit parallel-bonds number, total bonds disk
radius and total bend strength (similar to twist) curves,
the similar curves were drawn in figure 5 separately
after facility data interpolation.
It can be found that the parallel-bonds curve is sim-
ilar to the strain’s (figure 5(a)), total bonds disk radius
curve is similar to the peak stress’s (figure 5(b)), and
the total bend and twist strength curve is similar to
Yong modulus’s (figure 5(c)). The liner correlations
were calculated and the result is 0.971, 0.962, and
0.988. Obviously, the three data groups were highly
correlated. It can be inferred that, macro mechani-
cal behavior has liner relationship with mesoscopic
parallel-bonds approximately. The macro mechani-
cal behavior could be representing by parallel-bonds
indexes linearly.
In fact, the mesoscopic indexes of parallel-bonds
such as total area of bonds and bend & twist strength,
which are the functions of bonds disks’ average radius.
The total area of bonds is a quadratic function of bond
disk radius, bend & twist strength is a quartic func-
tion of bond disk radius, and total radius of bonds
disks is the product of bonds disks’ average radius
and parallel-bond number. Then the liner, quadratic
and quartic values of bonds disks’ average radius were
calculated. And the values were multiply by corre-
sponding parallel-bond number. The data results are
listed in table 2.
Separate the macro mechanical indexes and val-
ues of average radius into three groups, the groups as
follow: models peak stress and liner value of radius,
strain and quadratic value of radius,Yong modulus and
Figure 5. Curves of parallel-bond number and strain (a), curves of peak stress and total bonds area (b), and curves of bend
strength and Yong modulus.

Table 2. Function values of bonds disks’ average radius and Table 3. Verification model’s macro mechanical properties.
parallel-bond number.
Particle Peak stress/ Strain/ Yong modules/
Particle T-b-rad/ A-r2 × p_number/ A-r4 × p_number/ number E6 pa E-2 E9Pa
number m E-2 E-8
2 500 34.35 0.301 11.45
2 500 9.68 2.08 9.56 5 000 38.43 0.320 12.01
5 000 2.08 3.53 10.20 10 000 41.56 0.399 10.42
10 000 3.39 4.65 8.76 20 000 43.35 0.460 9.40
20 000 4.13 4.46 5.22 30 000 44.09 0.510 8.65
30 000 5.35 5.03 4.44 40 000 44.13 0.524 8.42
40 000 6.41 5.43 3.89

*T-b-rad: total bonds radius; A-r2, A-r4: quadratic and quartic

values of bonds disks’ average radius; p_number: parallel-
bond number.
quartic value of radius.Then the liner correlations were
calculated and the result is 0.988, 0.973, and 0.971.
The result indicates that, in fact, the macro mechani-
cal influence of particle number and scale is actually
caused by bonds radius and number. The relation-
ship of macro mechanical behavior and parallel-bonds
could reduce to parallel-bonds geometry properties.
3.2.3 Verification of the relationship between
parallel-bonds geometry and macro
mechanical properties
To verify the relationship of bonds and macro mechani-
cal is valid for other parameters. The calculation phys-
ical parameters of six models were re-specified as:
pb_kn = 1 E12, pb_ks = 1 E12, pb_n = 5 E7, pb_s = 5
E7, pb_r = 1.0, fric = 0.15. As the calculation process
just changed the physical parameters, the geometry
properties were still the same. So the bonds geometry
properties not changed. The models peak stress and
the corresponding strain were recorded (table 3).
The liner correlations of the data were calculated as
the above grouping law. The result is 0.981, 0.975, and
0.978. From this verify calculation, it can be verified
that, the macro mechanical indexes has liner relation-
ship with the functions of average bonds radius and
bonds number approximately with different physical
parameters.
4 CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Conclusion
The parallel-bond model and sphere particles were
adopted to simulate uniaxial compression tests of
sandstone. The numerical simulation shows that for a
specific numerical test, the mesoscopic indexes have
interior relationship with macro mechanical behaviors.
Monitoring the mesoscopic indexes could estimate the
development of macro mechanical behavior.
The numerical test of different particle number
models shows that as the particle number increased, the
peak stress and parallel-bonds increased and the Yong
modulus decreased. The reason of this phenomenon is
the distribution of parallel-bonds. The more evenly the
bonds distributed the higher peak stress was. And their
brittleness would be reduced.
Further, the grouping analysis revealed that, the
macro mechanical influences of particle number and
scale is actually caused by bonds radius and number.
The relationship of macro mechanical behaviors and
parallel-bonds could reduce to parallel-bonds geom-
etry properties. The studies partly revealed the rela-
tionships between macro mechanical behaviors and
mesoscopic indexes based on discrete element method
(DEM).
4.2 Discussion
The macro mechanical behaviors of models were
caused by all mesoscopic parameters. To reveal the

101
relationship of macro mechanical behavior and meso-
scopic parameters entirely needs considerate every
mesoscopic parameter. As the interactions of different
mesoscopic parameters are complex, the main influ-
ence factor of mechanical behavior should be selected
and researched.
In our study, the parallel-bonds were selected as
the main influence factor and neglected the friction
contact model which working after the parallel-bonds
broken. And the relationships of macro mechanical
behavior and mesoscopic indexes are just satisfy the
numerical test of stone uniaxial compression which
using parallel-bonds. The others numerical test should
researched specially.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The financial is supported by “the Fundamental
Research Funds for the Central Universities” (No.
20102100101000093) and Natural Science Founda-
tion of Hubei Province of China (Key program No.
2010CDA057).
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experiment study of the thermal deformation of in-situ gas coal

Z.J. Feng & Y.S. Zhao

Institute of Mining Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China

Z.J. Wan
School of Mining Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China

ABSTRACT: Thermal deformation in coal bed will occur in such engineering as underground coal gasification
and heat-injection extraction of coal bed gas.The thermal deformation will influence strata and surface movement.
In order to investigate the characteristics of in-situ coal bed thermal deformation, we utilized “600◦ C20 MN servo-
controlled triaxial rock mechanics testing machine” developed by the authors to carry out an in-situ simulating
experiment on gas coal under the axial pressure of 12.5 MPa and confining pressure of 15 MPa which can
simulate the burial depth of 500 m. The gas coal sample with 200 mm in diameter and 400 mm long was heated
up to 600◦ C and the deformation was simultaneously measured by raster ruler. Thermal expansion is the main
deformation at temperature below 250◦ C though the gas begins to emit from gas coal at around 150◦ C and it
indicates that the gas release has little effect on the coal structure. Thermal expansion starts to decline due to the
increase of released gas production at 200◦ C and is transformed into compression deformation at 250◦ C. The
serious compression deformation is induced by the sharp increase of gas production after 250◦ C. The volumetric
deformation sums to 0.6546 at the temperature up to 600◦ C. The thermal deformation of gas coal could be
divided into three phases with temperature rising: thermal expansion at the temperature ranging from 20◦ C to
250◦ C, slow compression at the temperature between 250◦ C and 450◦ C and serious compression above 450◦ C.
Pyrolysis gas release dominantly influences the deformation of gas coal at high temperature.

1 INTRODUCTION
Coal is a particular organic rock being much sensitive
to temperature and pressure. The physical-mechanical
behaviors of coal bed influenced by coupling of tem-
perature and pressure is different from that at con-
ventional testing condition (Guo 2007) in such engi-
neering as underground coal gasification (UCG) and
coal-bed methane heat-injection extraction (CMHE)
(Feng 2009). Coal bed deformation is close relative to
the channels formation, distribution and propagation
in the UCG, and affects greatly the formation of high
temperature vapor channels in the CMHE. Therefore,
the investigation of thermal deformation coupling with
temperature and pressure has great significance on the
analysis of the channel and roof stability and surface
subsidence in the UCG, and the formation of heat flow
channel in the CMHE.
There are few researches into thermal deformation
of coal coupling with temperature and pressure all over
the world. R.M.Bustin (Bustin 1986) made a trial on
four samples in order to reveal the optical fabric. For
the purpose of investigation of coal tectonic deforma-
tion mechanism, Zhou (Zhou 1993 & 1994) carried out
a HTHP experiment on the coal sample with the max-
imum reflectance of vitrinite of 0.67%, 3.41%, 4.90%
at the temperature range from 350◦ C to 700◦ C and
the ambient pressure range from 400 MPa to 600 MPa
along with the strain ratio range from 3.63 × 10−6 to
2.59 × 10−5 s−1 .The results were that the plastic defor-
mation gradually got loss with the coal rank rising and
the gas release induced the decrease of coal strength
and had significant influence on the mechanical behav-
ior. Jiang (Jiang 1997 & 1998) has investigated the
mid-rank bituminous coal and anthracite at the same
conditions as Zhou (Zhou 1993 & 1994). The results
indicated the key factors influencing the coal defor-
mation were temperature, pressure and the structure
of coal. The temperature had dominant effect on the
deformation for the mid-rank coal and the small defor-
mation phase of high-ranking coal. The pressure is
the dominate factor for the large deformation phase of
high-ranking coal. They also revealed that the gas pro-
duction and release had significant influence on the
coal deformation behavior. Liu (Liu 2005) has stud-
ied the deformation of high-coalification bituminous
coal and low-coalification anthracite at the tempera-
ture range from 200◦ C to 500◦ C and corresponding
ambient pressure range from 200 MPa to 500 MPa.
They indicated that the coal strength changed sig-
nificantly at different temperature and pressure. The
temperature had higher influence on the strength than
pressure and the transition temperature-pressure con-
ditions from brittle to ductile deformation are 200◦ C,
200 MPa and 300◦ C, 300 MPa.

103
 The HTHP experiments of coal have concentrated
on the tectonic deformation of coal with small size
of 25 mm in diameter and 50 mm long. However,
the objective in the UCG and CMHE is coal mass
and small size coal sample will not reflect the actual
information of pores and cracks which are subjected
to crustal stress. Both engineerings characterize low
stress but high temperature. The coal bed is heated at a
slow ratio in the front of combustion face in the UCG.
It also happens in the CMHE. So the heating ratio
must be considered. In order to investigate the thermal
deformation of coal bed in the mentioned above engi-
neerings, we utilized “600◦ C20 MN servo-controlled
triaxial rock mechanics testing machine” developed by
the authors to carried out an in-situ simulating exper-
iment of thermal deformation on gas coal (200 mm
in diameter and 400 mm long) at the axial pressure
of 12.5 MPa and confining pressure of 15 MPa can
simulate the burial depth of 500 m.
2 EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS AND
PROCEDURE
2.1 Experimental apparatus
The experiment was performed on 600◦ C20 MN
servo-controlled rock mechanics triaxial testing
machine (Zhao 2008) developed by authors in China
University of Mining &Technology. The testing
machine includes three parts: host loading system,
auxiliary system for sample assembly and measure-
ment system. The host loading system can control and
measure the temperature and pressure on samples and
the deformation of samples. The sample was assem-
bled before testing on the auxiliary system, which is
connected with host loading system by guide rail, but
the two systems are independent. The maximum axial
and lateral loads are 10 MN respectively, which can
simulate a depth of about 10 km in the crust, and the
maximum axial pressure on sample is 318 MPa while
the lateral pressure is 250 MPa. The size of samples is
200 mm in diameter and 400 mm long, approximately
64 times that of standard sample in volume. The max-
imum temperature of the testing machine is not less
than 600◦ C. Thermocouples are applied to measuring
the temperature. The whole stiffness of the equipment
is not less than 14.8 × 1010 N/m.
The displacement of axial and lateral pistons could
be precisely measured by the raster sensor with
0.005mm precision (Figure 1). The deformation of
the tested sample can be calculated according to the
displacement of pistons. The measured displacement
includes two parts: the sample and sodium chlo-
ride solid deformation. The deformation induced by
sodium chloride solid may be eliminated by the method
introduced by Wan (Wan 2008).
2.2 Sample
Gas coal from Xinglongzhuang mine, Shandong
China, was selected for the experiment. It was first
104
Figure 1. Raster ruler.
tailored into cylindrical roughcast by stone processing
machine and then lathed carefully into the test-required
sample of 200 mm in diameter and 400 mm long.
The sample integrality is good with some obviously
observed fractures. The local loss due to the large
size could be mended by mining backfilled materials
and the mixture of pyrophyllite powder and sodium
silicate.
2.3 Procedures
The sample was first assembled into the high tem-
perature and high pressure (abbreviated HTHP later)
vessel on the auxiliary system platform according
to installing regulations. Then the HTHP vessel was
pushed on the host system platform, and the pres-
sures of the axial and lateral pressures of 12.5 MPa and
15 MPa respectively were applied to sample. The pres-
sure of 12.5M Pa is equal to the vertical ground stress
of 500 m, and the corresponding horizontal stress is
15 MPa with a measured coefficient of horizontal pres-
sure of 1.5. Lastly the temperature was manually raised
from room temperature (almost 20◦ C) to 600◦ C at
the average rate of 10◦ C/h. The rock deformation and
increasing temperature were automatically acquired by
the controlling computer.
The pyrolysis gas would be sustainingly released in
the whole increasing temperature process, especially
in some high temperature points. Thus, the tempera-
tures such as 300◦ C and 600◦ C will be maintained for
a long time until the gas almost stops being releasing
in order to investigate the effect of gas release on the
deformation of sample.
3 THERMAL DEFORMATION FEATURES OF
GAS COAL
The whole deformation could be divided into three
phrases: thermal expansion induced deformation,
gradually compressed deformation and drastically
compression (Figure 2) at the temperature up to 600◦ C
and the ground stress of 500 m.
Figure 2. Thermal deformation of gas coal at temperature
up to 600◦ C.

3.1 Slow thermal expansion at 20◦ C–250◦ C

The constituent minerals of gas coal would be ther-
mally expanded at the temperature from 20◦ C to
250◦ C and the whole sample deformation in this phase
exhibits thermal expansion (Figure 3a). The axial, lat-
eral and volumetric thermal expansion are all small
at 20◦ C–50◦ C, and it was followed by the obvious
axial expansion of 0.5‰ at above 50◦ C. But the lat-
eral expansion is still small and the whole deformation
represented thermal expansion. The very slow increase
was at 150◦ C–200◦ C and the value of the volumetric
deformation at 200◦ C is −0.65‰. Here the negative
sign means the expansion and the positive value rep-
resents compression. The thermal expansion reaches
the maximum at 200◦ C, and then it decreases above
200◦ C. The axial strain varies from negative value to
zero at about 220◦ C and 250◦ C for the lateral strain.
Thus, the temperature range from 200◦ C to 250◦ C
is the transition temperature from thermal expan-
sion to compression. We define the temperature range
of 200◦ C–250◦ C as the critical temperature of ther-
mal deformation transition from thermal expansion
to compression. Considering the deformation value,
the deformation of gas coal is low and mainly repre-
sents thermal expansion below the deformation critical
temperature. So the temperature range from room tem-
perature (about 20◦ C) to 250◦ C could be named as
thermal expansion phrase.

3.2 Fast compression at 250◦ C–300◦ C

The axial, lateral and volumetric compression all
quickly increase above 250◦ C. The volumetric strain
of 7‰ at 280 is around 7 times of that at 255◦ C seen
from Figure 3b. The pyrolysis gas release which will
significantly influence the coal structure is the main
reason of the fast increase. The effect of gas release
on the deformation will be discussed in detailed at
discussion part. The deformation increase is slow at
280◦ C–300◦ C.
Figure 3. Thermal deformation of gas coal at different
temperature scopes.
3.3 Creep at 300◦ C
The pyrolysis gas sustainingly releases at 300◦ C. The
volumetric strain quickly increases to 0.12 which is
about seventeen times of the initial value 7‰ within

105

Figure 3. (Continued)
the initial five hours seen from Figure 3c. It indicates
the coal bulk has been seriously compressed. But the
creep rate gradually decreases, and this phase is initial
creep. Then the deformation goes into constant rate
creep with creep time increasing. The axial creep strain
106
increases to 0.075 after 40 h from 0.06 after 5 h with
an average creep rate of 4.3 × 10−4 /h.
3.4 Slow compression at 300◦ C–450◦ C
The increase of compressed deformation of the gas
coal becomes slow above 300◦ C, as shown in Fig-
ure 3d. The axial strain only increases to 0.08 at
450◦ C from 0.075 at 300◦ C. And the lateral strain
almost maintains 0.05. The slow increase in this phase
only occurs above 420◦ C, but no increase occurs at
300–420◦ C.
3.5 Serious compression at 450◦ C–600◦ C
The compressed deformation increases drastically at
the temperature above 450◦ C (Figure 3e). The axial
strain linearly increases to 0.105 at 570◦ C from 0.08
at 450◦ C, then drastically to 0.15 at 600◦ C. It is
corresponding to the lateral and volumetric strain.
3.6 Creep at 600◦ C
The serious increase is from 0.15 to 0.3 within the
initial two hours at 600◦ C. It is induced by a good
deal of pyrolysis gas. The whole axial deformation
increment at 600 is equivalent to that below 600◦ C.
The conclusion that the thermal deformation could
be divided into three phases: thermal expansion at
20◦ C–250◦ C, slow compression at 250◦ C–450◦ C and
serious compression at 450◦ C–600◦ C in-situ stress and
at temperature up to 600◦ C, is drawn from all above
analysis.
4 DISCUSSION
4.1 Influence of pyrolysis on the deformation
Coal is an organic rock easily pyrolysed at high tem-
perature. The pyrolysis gas release certainly changes
the coal structure and it will represent obvious com-
pressed deformation at triaxial stresses. Figure 4 shows
the influence of the pyrolysis gas release on the bulk
strain at various temperatures. The data in the bulk
strain curve represent the bulk strain at typical tem-
perature points such as 50◦ C, 100◦ C, 150◦ C, et.al.
The automatically acquired deformation data is very
numerous and here only a few of data corresponding
to typical temperature points are selected. The data in
the pyrolysis gas release curve mean the released gas
production at various temperature scopes. For exam-
ple, the first data represents the gas production at the
temperature range from 130◦ C, where the gas starts
to be released, to 150◦ C. And to the second data rep-
resents the gas production at temperature range from
150◦ C to 200◦ C. The abscissa is the average temper-
ature at different temperature ranges such as 140◦ C,
175◦ C, et al. But the production at 300◦ C and 600◦ C
represent the gas production at that temperature point,
respectively. Shown in the Figure 4.

Figure 4. Relationship between volumetric strain and gas
production at various temperatures.
Table 1. Volumetric strain and gas production during creep
at 300◦ C and 600◦ C.
Bulk creep strain
T/◦ C Beginning Ending Increment Production/L
300 0.0074 0.1675 0.1601 99.2
600 0.3105 0.6546 0.3441 586
The bulk strain is negative value which repre-
sents thermal expansion though the gas is sustaining
released at temperature from 130◦ C to 250◦ C. It
indicates that there is little influence of pyrolysis
gas release on thermal deformation. A good deal of
released gas significantly influences the thermal defor-
mation above 250◦ C. Especially at 250◦ C–300◦ C, the
thermal deformation is transformed into compression
from thermal expansion due to plentiful released gas.
The total gas production amounts to 99.2L in the pro-
cess of creep at 300◦ C (Table 1). And the bulk strain
increases to 0.1675 at the end of creep from 0.0074
in the beginning. The net increase is 0.1601. In addi-
tion, the pyrolysis gas is released only in the initial
25 h of creep and there is no gas after 25 h. The bulk
creep strain is around 0.16 which accounts for 95.5
percent of the total creep strain in the first 25 h (Fig-
ure 3c). The bulk strain nearly keeps unchanged due to
the gas production decrease at 300◦ C–350◦ C and the
little increase at 350◦ C–400◦ C. The bulk strain signif-
icantly increases at 450◦ C owing to plenty of gas being
releasing. The bulk strain sustainingly increases with
temperature rising above 450◦ C. At 550◦ C–600◦ C,
although the gas production decreases, the strain still
has a big increment that it is 47.6 percent from 0.21 at
550◦ C to 0.31 at 600◦ C. It indicates that the significant
deformation will occur at high temperature no matter
how the gas production is. The mechanism is that the
gas coal is colloidal at 500◦ C–550◦ C (Zhong 1989)
and it will obviously represent plastic flow. Plenty of
gas also is released from the coal at 600◦ C. Table.1
shows the gas production and the bulk strain in the
process of creep at 600◦ C. The total gas production is
107
586L and the net increment of bulk strain is 0.3441. All
above analysis indicates that the pyrolysis gas release
has dominated influence on the deformation of gas
coal at high temperature.
4.2 Difference of thermal deformation at various
coal rank
The thermal deformation of gas coal could be divided
into three phases: thermal expansion, slow compres-
sion and serious compression at the temperature up
to 600◦ C. And it is found that the temperature range
from 200◦ C to 250◦ C is the critical temperature that
the deformation is transformed into compression from
thermal expansion. It is corresponding to the result of
anthracite (Feng 2010). Both deformations represent
periodicity. The deformation transition of anthracite
from thermal expansion to compression is completed
at a narrow temperature range around 200◦ C. The
similar transition temperature could be interpreted by
plenty of pyrolysis gas above 200◦ C. The gas coal
belongs to low coal rank, but high for anthracite. So we
confirm that the deformation transition temperature of
various coal ranks is 200◦ C to 250◦ C.
The deformation of gas coal is more intense than
that of anthracite. The bulk strain of gas coal is 0.31
at the temperature up to 600◦ C and it is 0.18 at
450◦ C. However, the bulk strain of anthracite at 600◦ C
and 450◦ C are only 0.07 and 0.017 respectively. It
is inferred that the deformation intensity decreases
from gas coal to anthracite. The reason is that the
higher the coal rank, the lower the alkyl (Zhong 1989).
Thus the released gas is little and it induces the wild
deformation.
4.3 Application
The heat-injection extraction of coal-bed gas is a way
to extract the coal-bed gas though injecting heated flow
into coal bed or direct heating coal bed. Both extracting
methods will result in the thermal deformation of coal
bed and surrounding rock. Based on the results of gas
coal thermal deformation, the coal bed would repre-
sent thermal expansion below the temperature range
from 200◦ C to 250◦ C. The thermal deformation of
floor cannot spread into the deeper formation and it
only spreads upwards in the vertical section. Thus, it
is possible that the formation over the coal bed will be
lifted. The roof, considered traditionally as beam in the
mining pressure theory, will be deviously deformed
upwards. And it will be turned into bending down-
wards by overburden when the temperature reduces to
room temperature after the coal-bed gas release. So the
roof will experience two disturbances. It has signifi-
cant diversity from the conventional mining pressure
theory. In addition, the coal bed is thermally expanded
near the high temperature zone, and the pores and
cracks in coal bed far away from the high temperature
zone will be closed by thermal expansion. The closure
of pores and cracks influences the release of gas from
coal bed. The reasonable distance among each injec-
tion well therefore should be determined based on the
heat injection temperature and the influencing cope of
thermal expansion.
5 CONCLUSIONS
We utilized “600◦ C20 MN servo-controlled triaxial
rock mechanics testing machine” developed by the
authors to carry out an in-situ simulating experi-
ment on gas coal at the axial pressure of 12.5 MPa
and confining pressure of 15 MPa which can simu-
late the burial depth of 500 m. The gas coal sample
with 200 mm in diameter and 400 mm long was heated
up to 600◦ C. It is found that the thermal deforma-
tion of gas coal can be divided into three phases:
thermal expansion at 20◦ C–250◦ C, slow compres-
sion at 250◦ C–450◦ C and serious compression at
450◦ C–600◦ C. The thermal expansion reaches max-
imum value at 200◦ C and then decreases to zero at
250◦ C. It is turned into compression above 250◦ C.
The temperature range from 200◦ C to 250◦ C there-
fore is the critical temperature of thermal deformation
transition from thermal expansion to compression.
The pyrolysis gas release has significant influence
on the thermal deformation.The serious thermal defor-
mation will occur at the temperature range where the
serious pyrolysis gas release occurs. Compared with
anthracite, the gas coal is more seriously deformed. It
is referred from the deformation characteristics of gas
coal and anthracite that the transition temperature of
thermal deformation from thermal expansion to com-
pression is at 200◦ C–250◦ C for each coal rank. And
the deformation intensity decreases in turn with coal
rank rising.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research was supported by NSFC (Grant
Nos.50874077 and 51074164) and Shan’xi province
innovation program for undergraduate education
(Grant No.800104-02100223).
108
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anisostropy under differential stress and high confining
pressure and temperature: preliminary observations. Inter
Jour Coal Geol. 6(4): 343–351.
Feng, Z.C. Zhao, Y.S. & Lv, Z.X. 2009. Method of extract-
ing and mining coalbed gas by heating coalbed. China:
200810079794.X.
Feng, Z.J., Wan, Z.J. & Zhao, Y.S. 2010. Experimental inves-
tigation on deformation characteristics of anthracite under
thermo-mechanical coupling conditions. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering. 29(8): 1624–1630.
Guo, W.B. & Li, X.S. 2007. Research status of deep coal and
rock mass mechanic properties under high temperature
and high confining pressur. Journal of Henan Polytechnic
University (Natural Science). 26(1): 16–20.
Jiang, B., Qin, Y. & Jin, F.L. 1997. Coal deformation test
under high temperature and confining pressure. Journal
of China Coal Society. 22(1): 80–85.
Jiang, B., Qin, Y. & Jin, F.L. 1998. Deformation characteris-
tic of super-microstructures of coal under the condition
of high temperature and confining pressure. Scientia
Geologica Sinica. 33(1): 17–24.
Liu, J.L., Yang, G. & Ma, R. 2005. Macro and microscopic
mechanical behaviour of flow of coal samples experimen-
tally deformed at high temperature and pressure. Chinese
Science Bulletin. 50(Supp.1): 56–63.
Wan, Z.J., Zhao, Y.S. & Dong, F.K. 2008. Experimental study
of mechnical characteristics of granite under high tem-
peratures and triaxial stresses. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering. 27(1): 72–77.
Zhao, Y.S., Wan, Z.J. & Zhang, Y. 2008. Research and devel-
opment of 20 MN servo-controlled rock triaxial testing
system with high temperature and high pressure. Chinese
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering. 27(1): 1–8.
Zhong, Y.Y., Guan, M.B. & Cui, K.R. 1989. Coal chem-
istry. Beijing: China Universtiy of Mining and Technology
Press.
Zhou, J.X., Wang, G.L. & Shao, Z.J. 1993. Coal deformation
experiment under high temperature and confining pres-
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Microcosmic structure analysis by SEM and creep test on undersea

tunnel tuff

S.B. Gu, C.Q. Wang, S.T. Gu & F.H. Yu

College of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao,
China

S.B. Gu
Yangcheng coal mine of Ji’ning, Ji’ning, China

ABSTRACT: To study the property of tuff, microcosmic structure characteristics of tuff was analyzed by
SEM, also uniaxial compression test and creep test were made . The results indicated: microstructure of tuff
was compact slices fusion structure; Immediate deformation of creep was over 80% of total deformation, and
stress threshold existed in rock creep; As load increasing, rock creep become stable in a short period. Attenuation
creep appeared under multitude stress levels, but deformation rate decreased with time and would be convergent
at last.

1 INTRODUCTION

Rock creep refers to the characteristics of rock that

the strain increases with time under constant external
force. Rock creep is one of the important causes lead-
ing to large deformation, instability in underground
engineering, rock foundation and slope engineering.
It is very important to describe and reveal mechani-
cal characteristics and behavior of rock mass relating
with time reasonably, and its aging deformation rule
and destruction features.
Some researches on rock creep have been made
such as creep test process (Wang 2009), test method
(Xiong & Zhou 2009), engineering creep property of
different lithology (Li & Li 2004, Xu et al 2005, Xi
et al 2008, Fan & Gao 2007, Wang et al 2008, He et al
Figure 1. Microstructure of tuff with magnification ratio of
2007), creep characteristics of rock structure surface, 500.
creep constitutive relation, mechanical model (Xu et al
2003, Cui et al 2007, Shen & Zhang 2008).
Qingdao Kiaochow bay in Shandong Province, the
To analyze the microcosmic structure characteris-
magnification ratio are 500 and 3,000 respectively.
tics of tuff in Qingdao Kiaochow bay, stereoscan test
From figure 1 and figure 2, we can see that
will be made in this paper. Creep properties of the
breezing diorite will also be analyzed through the 1) when the magnification ratio is 500, the particles
interior creep tests to master the creep deformation of tuff is closely ingratiated.
law of the lithology. The study will provide theoreti- 2) when the magnification ratio is 3000, large particles
cal base for surrounding rock deformation control of and slices were closely integrated.
engineering construction.
Therefore, the tuff should be a kind of rock with
higher strength.
2 MICROSCOPIC CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE TUFF
3 UNIAXIAL COMPRESSION TEST
JSM – 6510LV discretion vacuum stereoscan is
adopted in this paper to scan the microstructure of RLJW – 2000 type rock servo creep test machine
tuff in different enlargement factor. Figure 1 and controlled by microcomputer was adopted in the exper-
Figure 2 were microstructure of tuff samples from iment, rock samples were shown as Figure 3. The

109
 Figure 4. Curve of uniaxial compressive stress and strain of
No.1.
Figure 2. Microstructure of tuff with magnification ratio of
3,000.

Figure 5. Curve of uniaxial compressive stress and strain of

No. 2.

Figure 3. Sample of tuff.

specimens are cylinder with 50 mm diameter and

100 mm height. The error of irregularity degree in the
two ends was not more than 0.05 mm, and the diame-
ter error along the specimen height was not more than
0.3 mm. Five specimens were made, No. 1, No. 2 and
No. 3 were used for conventional uniaxial compres-
sion test, No. 4 and No. 5 were used for compressed
creep experiment.
Test curves of specimen No.1, No.2 and No.3 were
shown in figures 4 to 6. The result of uniaxial test was Figure 6. Curve of uniaxial compressive stress and strain of
shown in Table 1 and Table 2. No.3.
Therefore, the uniaxial compressive strength of tuff
was 44.53 Mpa and the elastic modulus was 43.91 Gpa, was 50 N/S, and sampling interval time was 1minute.
which provide basic data for creep test. Loading level was determined by the percentage of
average strength in routine test. The loading stress
level was shown in table 3. Figure 7 is a photo of rock
4 CREEP TEST damage after creep test.
4.1 Loading plan
4.2 Results analysis of creep experiment
Grading methods were used for loading in creep tests.
The time of every loading class was 4 h, force control Figure 8 and Figure 9 were creep experiment results
method was used in loading process, the loading rate of No.4 and No.5, the instantaneous axial strain under

110
Table 1. Results of tuff in uniaxial compression strength
test.

Limit stress Average limit stress

Number Mpa Mpa

1 46.48
2 43.35 44.53
3 43.76

Table 2. Elastic modulus calculation of tuff.

Parameters No. 1 No. 2 No. 3

Beginning stress/Mpa 20.562 22.696 21.856

End stress/Mpa 28.765 29.218 30.253
Beginning axial strain(1/%) 0.506 0.585 0.620
End axial strain(1/%) 0.702 0.723 0.815
Elastic modulus/Gpa 41.85 47.26 42.62
Figure 8. Creep curve of specimen No.4.
Average/Gpa 43.91

Table 3. Loading Plan of uniaxial creep experiments.

Loading level
Loading grade %

1 40
2 50
3 60
4 70
5 80
6 90

Figure 9. Creep curve of specimen No. 5.

of the total deformation. A stress threshold existed

obviously in rock creep.
3. Attenuation creep characteristics can be seen under
most stress level. The deformation rate decreased
over time and finally is convergent.
4. Typical brittle damage characteristics can be seen
in the process of creep damage of tuff. After speci-
mens were destructed, There were obvious fractures
Figure 7. Creep damage of rock sample. and broken chunks.

all stress levels can be seen from the two diagrams,

results are:
1. The axial strain increased as stress level increased.
The creep phenomenon could be ignored under low
stress. The time that creep becomes stable will be
longer with axial stress gradually increased.
2. In addition to the highest level, creep deformation
was very small under each level of load, instan-
taneous deformation accounted for 80% or more
5 CONCLUSIONS
Based on scanning electron microscopy test, uniax-
ial compressive test and creep test, the following
conclusions were gotten:
1. Tuff was a kind of relatively hard rock with dense
granules, chip structure and more closely cementa-
tion fusion structure.

111
2. Attenuation creep characteristics exists in tuff.
Deformation rate decreased with time, and finally
it will be convergent.
3. The way of tuff damage is a kind of typical brittle
damage.
REFERENCES
Cui, X.H et al. 2007. Experimental study on rheological
regularity and constitutive relationship of rock under dis-
turbing loads. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 26(9):1875–1881.
Fan, Q.Z. & Gao, Y.F. 2007. Study on creep properties and
nonlinear creep model of soft rock. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 26(2):391–396.
He, R.P et al. 2007. Study on compressive creep test on
diabasic dike at dam site of Dagangshan hydropower sta-
tion. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
26(12):2495–2503.
Li, H.M. & Li, Z.H. 2004.Testing study on creep character-
istics of marble. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 23(22):3745–3749.
112
Wang, Z.J. et al. 2008. Experimental study on rheological
behaviors of Wanzhou red sandstone in Three Gorges
Reservoir area. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 27(4):840–847.
Wang, Z.Y. & Ai, C.Z. 2009. Complete process of rock creep
in different stress states. Journal of china coal society
34(2):169–174.
Xi, B.P. et al. 2008. Study of coupled thermo-mechanical
creep properties of bedded rock salt. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 27(1):90–96.
Xiong, S.H. & Zhou, H.M. 2009. Study of methodology of
plate-loading creep test of rock mass. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 28(10):2121–2127.
Xu, P. et al. 2003. Testing study on creep behavior of rock
mass at Xiluodu dam site. Rock and Soil Mechanics
24(Supp.1):220–226.
Xu, W.Y. et al. 2005. Investigation on triaxial rheolog-
ical mechanical properties of green schist specimen
(I):experimental results. Rock and Soil Mechanics 26(4):
531–537.
Xu, W.Y. et al. 2005. Investigation on triaxial rheological
mechanical properties of green schist specimen(II):model
analysis. Rock and Soil Mechanics 26(5):693–698.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

The method for overcoming salt formations creep by using the relationship
of drilling fluids density and chloride ion content

B. Hou , M. Chen & Y. Jin

Key Laboratory for Petroleum Engineering of the Ministry of Education, China University of Petroleum Beijing,
Beijing, China

X.M. Liu
Sinopec Northwest Oilfield Branch Company Engineering Technology Research Institute, Wulumuqi, China

G.P. Chen
Shengli Offshore Drilling Company, Dongying, China

ABSTRACT: Through fitting strain-time curve is based on creep test, constitutive equation of salt formations
creep can be derived. Meanwhile, the relational equation about borehole closure rate and drilling fluids density
can be established. After salt dissolved capacity test under different temperature, the relational model between salt
dissolved rate and chloride ion content can be built by nonlinear regression method. The curve drawing including
drilling fluids density,temperature and chloride ion content can be obtained by using the relating model of salt
dissolved rate and borehole closure rate. This method can be used to dissolve the creep salt formations through
reasonably using chloride ion content and undersaturated saltwater drilling fluids (low-density), meanwhile
reducing drilling fluids density and ensuring the lowest formation fractured pressure. This study can prevent
effectively borehole closure and avoid the complicated problems in salt formations drilling process.

1 INTRODUCTION most important problems are that some low-pressure

Hydrocarbons are very often associated with salt struc-
tures. The oil and gas industry is often required to
drill along and through long salt sections to reach
and recover hydrocarbons (Cristescu 1993, Munson
1997, Infante & Cheneyert 1989). The unique physical
properties of salt require special techniques to avoid
creep deformation in salt formations and ensure bore-
hole stability. The presence of troubles during drilling
the salt formation, such as deep buried depth,extreme
thickness,discontinuous stratum and creep deforma-
tion, needs drilling fluids high-density to control these
troubles(Horseman & Hanin, Hunsche 1984,)[4–6] .
However, some low-pressure formations are mingled
with salt formations. It is very easy to lead to lost
circulation since bearing capacity is limited in low-
pressure formations. Therefore the drilling fluids den-
sity applied can not too high. It is greatly difficult
for saturated saltwater drilling fluids (high-density) to
overcome creep deformation.
Kuche depression is located in the North part of
Tarim basin. There are lots of salt and gypsum forma-
tions in tertiary period of Kuche depression. With the
development of petroleum industry, the need for reach-
ing hydrocarbon reserves beneath salt structures has
increased. Many operational problems such as reduc-
tion in borehole diameter and sticking of bit have
happened as drilling through those salt layers. The
formations are mingled with salt formations in Kuche
depression. It is very easy to lead to lost circulation
since bearing capacity is limited in low-pressure for-
mations. The purpose of this study is to prevent the
creep of salt bed through the relation between drilling
fluid density and chloride ion content. This method can
be used to dissolve the creep salt formations through
using reasonably chloride ion content and undersat-
urated saltwater drilling fluids (low-density), mean-
while reducing drilling fluids density and ensuring the
lowest formation fractured pressure.
2 THE MODEL OF CLOSURE RATE AND
DRILLING FLUIDS DENSITY
If the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling fluid used in
drilling a well is less than the stress of salt layer, salt
will creep into the well bore during drilling through
salt formations. The closure rate of salt increases
when increasing temperature and increasing differen-
tial pressure between stress of salt layer and drilling
fluid column hydrostatic pressure.
2.1 Creep test
The experiments are performed in the Terratek device.
All of 8 samples come from 3750 m of salt layer. The

113
 Table 2. Creep rate.

Number Program Strain rate

1 1-1 2.40969E-10
1-2 2.48357E-09
1-3 2.49557E-08
2 2-1 2.46111e-09
2-2 2.58536E-08
2-3 2.90923E-07
3 3-1 1.91000E-08
3-2 2.13001E-07
3-3 2.29160E-06
4 4-1 1.16611E-07
4-2 1.30601E-06
4-3 7.43104E-06
Figure 1. Strain time curve.

absolute temperature, n is the stress exponent, σ is

Table 1. The experimental ways of multi-temperature and
multi-loading. the differential stress, A and B are the pre-exponential
coefficients (MPa−n s−1 ).
Effective Differential The strain rate is calculated by analyzing strain-
Confining Stress time curve (see Table 2). The parameters are obtained
Pressure σ3 σ1 − σ3 Temperature through nonlinear regression.
Test Program MPa MPa ◦
C A = 35.275; B = 0.603; Q = 19887

1 1-1 40 8 60
1-2 12 60
1-3 16 60 2.3 Design of drilling fluids density
2 2-1 50 8 90 The in-situ stress of salt layer is homogeneous
2-2 12 90
2-3 16 90
(P0 = σH ), Pi is mud column pressure, a is Wellbore
3 3-1 60 8 120 radius. Assuming that the the rock salt is isotropic and
3-2 12 120 in plane straincondition; generalized creep rate ε•ij and
3-3 16 120 deviatoric stress Sij have the same principal direction.
4 4-1 70 8 150 On the basis of the upper Hypothesis, the mechanical
4-2 12 150 equation of creep are given as
4-3 16 150

parameters for effective confining pressure and dif-

ferential stress are applied in the test according to this
depth. The cylindrical sample is a length of 50 mm and
diameter of 25 mm. The 4 samples are tested by creep
test with the experimental ways of multi-temperature
and multi-loading (see table 1). Figure 1 shows strain
time curve of one of the core samples.

2.2 Constitutive characteristics of rock salt

Experiments at high temperature and lower pressure
were carried out to obtain a constitutive relation for
the steady-state flow of rock salt. At steady-state, both
sets of experiments fit an exponential creep relation of
the form:
In order to maintain borehole closure rate, the
mechanical model of drilling fluids density will be

where ε̇ is the stationary creep rate(1/s), Q is the appar-

ent activation energy for flow (J mole-1), R is the
universal gas constant (8.32 J · mol−1 K−1 ), T is the

114
where n is borehole closure rate (1/h), r is the distance
form formation to hole axis, σH , σh is the maximum
and minimum stress,

3 THE MODEL OF SALT DISSOLVED RATE

AND CHLORIDE ION CONTENT

The soluble salt (Nacl,CaSO4 ) in salt layer can be

dissolved by water base drilling fluid before Salt con-
centration does not reach saturation. In the process
of dissolution, Salt concentration in solution increase Figure 2. The curve of salt dissolved quality and time
and dissolved rate will decrease as dissolved time is (30◦ )C.
extending. According to test of dissolved time and salt
dissolved quality, the equation of dissolved time and
salt dissolved quality in a moment is given by

where wdissolve is quality of dissolved salt.

Substituting Eq. (7) into Eq. (8), we can obtain the
salt dissolved rate:

Salt dissolved rate has relationship with contact

area of solution. Usually, the contact area between salt
block and solution is larger, the dissolved rate is faster.
Therefore, in order to clear up the influence of them, it
can be described by the dissolved rate of unit surface
area in salt block. Figure 3. Salt dissolved rate and chloride ion content
(30◦ )C.

4 DRAWING OF DRILLING FLUIDS DENSITY

where vlinear−dissolvee is the salt dissolved rate of unit AND CHLORIDE ION CONTENT
surface area; A is the contact area between salt block
and solution. ρsalt is the density of salt block. 4.1 Model of closure rate and salt dissolved rate
When the salt is dissolving, chloride ion is increased
and chloride ion content is measured in corresponding The definition of borehole closure rate is
time. The drawing of curves of chloride ion content
and dissolved rate can be made by using Eq.(9).
Considering effect factor of temperature and vis-
cosity of solution in the test and considering solid
drilling fluid in the field, the dissolved salt capacity where Dbit is bit diameter, cm; CAL is borehole
test is effected by viscosity in real drilling fluid. After diameter, cm; t is time, h;
salt dissolved capacity test under different temperature Radical thickness of salt flowing in the borehole
(30◦ , 50◦ , 70◦ , 90◦ ), the curve of salt dissolved qual- from the salt layer per hour is given by
ity and time can be obtained (see Figure 2). The curve
drawing including salt dissolved rate and chloride ion
content can be calculated (see Figure.3).
From analyzing the above data, the relational model The salt flowing in the borehole from the salt layer
between salt dissolved rate and chloride ion content per hour should be dissolved by undersaturated saltwa-
can be built by nonlinear regression method. ter drilling fluids for protecting the drilling safe. So salt
dissolved rate and borehole closure rate of compound
salt layer can be expressed as follows:

115

Figure 4. The drawing including drilling fluids density,
temperature and chloride ion.
With
The curve drawing including drilling fluids den-
sity,temperature and chloride ion content are illustrate
in Figure.4 by Eq.(6),(10)and(14).
4.2 Application in field
In order to validate the design of drilling fluids den-
sity and chloride ion content, considering the DX well
in Kuche depression. The depth is 4122 m and the
temperature of salt layer is 111.29◦ .
On the basis of the drilling record in the upper part
of the salt layer, lost circulation will be happened when
drilling fluids density over than 2.17 g/cm3 . Lost cir-
culation can be controlled until density decrease to
2.15 g/cm3 . So drilling fluids density should less than
2.15 g/cm3 in salt layer in order to make safe drilling.
Drilling fluids density should be 2.21∼2.30 g/cm3
to avoid creep deformation in salt formation totally
depend on the effect of density, which is greater than
2.15 g/cm3 . This problem can be solved by chang-
ing chloride ion content of undersaturated saltwater
drilling fluids. Through the drawing including drilling
fluids density,temperature and chloride ion content, we
can know that chloride ion content is 13∼14 104 mg/l
116
at 111.29◦ when drilling fluids density is 2.15 g/cm3 .
This method can prevent effectively borehole closure
due to creep formation in salt layer.
5 CONCLUSION
Through creep test and salt dissolved capacity test
under different temperature, the relational equation
about borehole closure rate and drilling fluids den-
sity can be established, at the same time the relational
model between salt dissolved rate and chloride ion
content can be built.The curve drawing including
drilling fluids density,temperature and chloride ion
content can be obtained by using the relating model
of salt dissolved rate and borehole closure rate.This
method can be used to dissolve creep salt forma-
tions by using reasonably chloride ion content and
undersaturated saltwater drilling fluids (low-density),
meanwhile reducing drilling fluids density and ensur-
ing the lowest formation fractured pressure. Through
the field experiment, the method of adjusting drilling
fluids density and chloride ion content can be applied
in the course of drilling to avoid creep formation in
salt layer.
REFERENCES
Cristescu, N. 1993. A general constitutive equation for tran-
sient and stationary creep of rock salt. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science, 30(2):
125–140.
Horseman, S.T. & Hanin, J. 1990. Triaxial-compression
tests on rocksalt at temperatures from 50◦ to 200◦ and
strain rates from 10-4 to 10-9 s-1. Am.Geophys. Union,
Geophys. Monogr., 56: 103–110.
Hunsche, U. 1984. Result and interpretation of creep experi-
ments on rock salt.The first Conference on the Mechanical
Behavior of salt: 159–167.
Infante, E.F. & Cheneyert, M.E. 1989. Stability of boreholes
drilled through salt formations displaying plastic behavior.
SPE15513: 1–11.
Munson, D.E. 1997. Constitutive model of creep in rock
salt applied to underground room closure. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science, 34(2):
233–147.
Yang, C.H., Daemen. J.J.K., & Yin, J.H. 1999. Experimental
investigation of creep behavior of salt rock. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science, 36(2):
233–242. (in Chinese)
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Analysis of empirical estimation of rock mass modulus and its application

J.J. Jiao, S.C. Wu, H.L. Han, X.W. Du & L.C. Niu
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
State Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The deformation modulus is an important parameter in stability theory analysis and engineering
design. Based on data from a large number of in situ measurements in mainland and Taiwan of China, Hoek
and Diederichs proposed a new function on the method of modulus empirical estimation. This paper introduces
the new relationship and how to determine Geological Strength Index (GSI) and Disturbance (D) factor. Then,
the proposed method is applied to the practical project on deformation calculation of tunnel surrounding rocks.
In order to prove the advantage of the new method, rock mass modulus is calculated by different empirical
calculation methods, whose results are then used in numerical simulation in MIDAS/GTS. The rationality of
Hoek-Diederichs method is further verified by comparing with field monitoring results. The new empirical
estimation method of rock mass modulus is not popular at present in China, so the application is analyzed for
the spreading in similar projects.

1 INTRODUCTION Table 1. Some equations for estimation of rock mass

The deformation modulus is an important parameter in
stability analysis theory and engineering design. When
deformation is chosen as the control standard, defor-
mation modulus decides the accuracy of the results.
Field tests are not economical for the time consuming
and expensive in the early stages of engineering con-
struction. Based on previous research results, Hoek
and Diederichs proposed a new empirical formula
for estimating value of deformation modulus of rock
mass. This new method considered the properties of
the intact rock and the effects of disturbance due to
blast damage or stress relaxation at the same time on
the basis of a large number of in situ measurements
data from China and Taiwan. Hoek also proposed a
deformation equation during discussing generalized
Hoek-Brown failure criterion-2002. Combining with
a tunneling project, rock mass modulus are calcu-
lated by different empirical calculation method in the
same cross-section and geological conditions, and the
results are used for the simulation of rock deforma-
tion in MIDAS/GTS. Comparing the simulation and
field monitoring results, it is proved that the Hoek-
Diederichs empirical estimation method of rock mass
modulus is convenient and rational. There are few
scholars study this estimation method of formulation
modulus at present in China. The Hoek-Diederichs
empirical method in detailed is discussed in this paper
to facilitate further promotion in similar projects.
2 METHOD OF EMPIRICAL ESTIMATION OF
ROCK MASSES DEFORMATION MODULUS
The determination of deformation modulus plays a key
role in the surrounding rock deformation analysis of
modulus.
Equations Proposers
Erm = Ei (0.5(1 − cos(πRMR/100))) Mitri et al. 2004
Erm = 0.1(RMR/10) 3
Read et al. 1999
√
Erm = 7(±3) Q , Diederiches and
Q = 10((RMR − 44)/21) Kaiser 1999
1/3
Erm = 10Qc , Qc = Qσci /100 Barton. 2002
tunnel. However, field tests to determine this parame-
ter directly are not economical and the reliability of the
results of these tests is sometimes questionable. Many
scholars have proposed various methods to estimate
the deformation modulus and some of equations are
listed in Table 1.
Besides of the above, some other scholars also
proposed equations based on classification schemes
including Rock Mass Rating (RMR) and the Tun-
neling Quality Index (Q). All of the equations
can’t meet requirements for their poorly defined
asymptotes.
Hoek-Brown failure criterion is developed by
E. Hoek and E.T. Brown and it is recognized by
most scholars in the world. The concept of Geolog-
ical Strength Index (GSI) was introduced in 1995
(Hoek 1994, Hoek et al. 1995) and the GSI classi-
fication form is also established, in the which the
types of rock have been developed from the first
four to six (Hoek et al. 1998, Marinos et al. 2006).
In the generalized Hoek-Brown failure criterion-
2002, a new parameter D (Hoek et al. 2002) is
introduced to deal with blast damage. At the same

117
time, the rock mass modulus of deformation is
given by:
where σci is the uniaxial compressive strength of
the intact rock material; GSI is short for Geological
Strength Index; D is Disturbance factor, which varies
from 0 for undisturbed in situ rock masses to 1 for very
disturbed rock masses.
This method considered Geological Strength Index
and Disturbance factor, but its asymptote is still unsat-
isfied. On the basis of existing research results, Hoek
and Diederichs, make full use of the data from China
and Taiwan, proposed a new method for estimation of
rock masses deformation modulus (Hoek et al. 2006).
The S shaped function they used makes up for the
defect of asymptotes to some extent.
The general form of the function is:
where the constants a and b in the equation will be
then replaced by expressions incorporating GSI and
the disturbance factor D which are adjusted to give
the equivalent average curve and the upper and lower
bounds into which >90% of the data points fitted. And
then we get:
The constant 100,000 is not directly related to the
physical properties of the rock mass. The Equation 2 is
called the Simplified Hoek and Diederichs equation.
Hoek and Diederichs introduced and modified
the modulus ratio MR proposed by Deere (Deere
1968) after detailed analysis. And then established the
relationship between rock mass modulus and intact
modulus:
where Ei is intact modulus and can be get by
Equation 5:
In general, it is not easy to get the accurate measure
value of intact modulus. Even it is got, its reliability
is suspect. Because stress relaxation will cause sam-
ple damage or micro-cracking, which can reduce the
the elastic modulus up to 50% compared to undam-
aged sample (Martin et al. 1994). But the influence is
smaller to uniaxial compressive strength of the intact
118
rock than that of to intact modulus. Consequently, the
uniaxial compressive strength can be tested first in the
laboratory, and then used to calculate the deforma-
tion modulus with Equation (4) and (5), which avoid
the error of directly field test. The deformation mod-
ulus that we got from the way that mentioned will be
more reliable and the theoretical basis of Hoek and
Diederichs method is more reasonable.
3 THE SELECTION OF PARAMETERS
It is clear that there are four main parameters, including
Geological Strength Index (GSI), Disturbance factor
(D), the uniaxial compressive strength of the intact
rock σci and modulus ratio MR, in the equations of
Hoek and Diederichs method when estimate the defor-
mation modulus. As long as the four parameters are
determined, the deformation modulus can be work out
easily.
GSI is introduced by Hoek and developed by many
other scholars all around the world. The heart of
the GSI classification is careful engineering geology
description of the rock mass. In fact, this classification
is essentially qualitative. This index is the combination
of assessment of the lithology, structure and condition
of discontinuity surfaces in the rock mass. Consid-
ering the field geological conditions and engineering
experience, the value of GSI can be obtained in the
Geological Strength Index table (Marinos et al. 2000).
There is still no direct way and enough experi-
ence to choose disturbance factor till now. Hoek and
Diederichs presents some case histories to illustrate
how the disturbance factor is incorporated into each
analysis. The Chinese scholar Sun jin-shan et al. (Sun
et al. 2008) proposed a new exact method to deter-
mine the D value based on the elastic wave test theory,
which made certain progress for the determination of
disturbance factor. It has been found that the fact D
has significant influence on the estimated deforma-
tion modulus of rock mass. So the way to determine
disturbance factor is still worthy of studying.
Due to measured values of Ei are seldom avail-
able, it is a better way to get it through more reliable
parameter σci using formula (5). The uniaxial com-
pressive strength of the intact rock can be obtained
from laboratory test or by looking up the field esti-
mates of uniaxial compressive strength of intact rock
table. Modulus ratio MR can also find in the table of
guidelines for the selection of modulus ratio according
to rock classification.
4 ENGINEERING APPLICATION
4.1 Engineering background and the
determination of parameters
Meiyao mountain tunnel is a detached type double hole
tunnel which is under construction in Zhangjiakou
City. The maximum depth of this mountain is 153 m.
Table 2. Rock mass deformation modulus computed by
different methods.
Simplified Hoek-
Computing E.Hoek Hoek- Diederichs
method (2002) Diederichs (2006)
Deformation 4171.02 1542.00 5823.64
modulus (MPa)
The surrounding rock of tunnel is mainly limestone
and no groundwater is found.
The cross section YK39+980 is selected as the
study object. Three different calculation methods are
adopted to calculate the surrounding rock deforma-
tion, including the equation mentioned in Hoek-Brown
failure criterion (2002), Simplified Hoek-Diederichs
equation and Hoek-Diederichs equation.
The main parameters related in the methods are σci ,
mi , GSI, D and MR. These parameters can be looked
up in the related tables motioned above.
Combining geological conditions of surrounding
rocks, the range of the parameters must be determined
first. The surrounding rock mainly consists of lime-
stone and specimen requires more than one blow of a
geological hammer to fracture it. Following the table
of field estimates of uniaxial compressive strength of
intact rock, the surrounding rock grade is R4, and
the range of uniaxial compressive strength is from
50∼100 MPa. In the same way, mi , is determined by
7∼11 as described in the table of values of the con-
stant mi , for intact rock. The surface conditions are
fair, smooth and moderately weathered. So we quote
the rang of GSI 40∼50. Comparing to the exam-
ples and experience Hoek provided, the Disturbance
factor is preliminary selected by 0.5. Correspond-
ing to the lithology, MR is 800∼1000, according
to the guidelines for the selection of modulus ratio
values.
According to the geological conditions and rock
conditions, referring to the relevant data and engi-
neering experience, the parameters that need in the
formulas for deformation modulus are summarized
as follows: σci = 55MPa; mi = 10; GSI = 45; D = 0.5;
MR = 1000.
According to the mentioned formulas above, rock
deformation modulus are calculated with three dif-
ferent ways respectively. The results are shown in
Table 2.
It turns out that there is big difference calculated
by different deformation modulus calculation meth-
ods. Chinese scholar Lu shuqiang (Lu 2009) pointed
out that the rock mass deformation modulus is smaller
based on Rock Mass Rating (RMR) and Tunneling
Quality Index (Q). According to results given in the
Table 2, the deformation modulus is little bigger than
other methods. The calculation result of simplified
Hoek-Diederichs is too small. However, it is not the
mistake of the formula, but the problem of the scope
of application.The simplified formula is more fit to the
119
Figure 1. Tunneling numerical analysis model.
condition for D = 0. In the formula, the intact proper-
ties of the rock are not considered. Only when reliable
property data for the intact rock is not available, can
the formula be used.
In order to evaluate the results above, it is necessary
to carry out the numerical simulation and compare the
calculating formulation result to the field monitoring
value.
4.2 Numerical simulation and comparison
to field monitoring
MIDAS/GTS is a effective numerical simulation soft-
ware for tunneling. The cross section YK39 + 980 is
selected as the study object and two-dimension plane
strain model is developed on it (Tunnel excavation sec-
tion distance is more than 80 m, so we consider no
influence on each other for the two excavated section
and only analysis one section.).The three deformation
modulus will be input to the software and carry on the
deformation analysis.
The boundary of the calculation model is 50 m away
from the tunnel on the left, right and bottom respec-
tively. Horizontal and vertical displacement restraints
are applied on the left and right. Depth of tunnel in the
sectionYK39 + 980 is 80 m, and the top surface is sim-
plified as free surface for its flat topography. Primary
support concrete is simulated by beam element and
anchor is simulated by truss element. The tunnel con-
struction method is stage construction and constitutive
model is Hoek-Brown failure criterion. The model is
built just like Figure 1.
Other simulation parameters are shown in Table 3.
Stage construction method is simulated by activat-
ing and passivating the using elements. The elements
are passivated when excavating and activated when
supporting. The three deformation moduli are input
separately and the different deformation values are
shown in Table 4.
It is clear that the Simplified Hoek-Diederichs
method have a abnormal error. The reason is not the
mistake of the method itself, but the limit of applicable 5 CONCLUSIONS
conditions. The simplified formula is not suit for the
disturbance surrounding rock. The relative errors of E. 1. This Hoek-Brown failure criterion and Hoek-
Hoek (2002) and Hoek-Diederichs (2006) are accept- Diederichs formula considered the properties of the
able. The deformation values of E.Hoek (2002) is a intact rock and the effects of disturbance due to
little big, which will be too cautious when conducting blast damage or stress relaxation at the same time,
tunnel construction. The result of Hoek-Diederichs is the result is more reliable. Hoek-Diederichs equa-
a little smaller than the measured value, but the mean tion can avoid field measurement of intact modulus
error is small. Comparing the deformation between directly and determine the deformation modulus
simulation and measured value, we can know that the via choosing the suitable value of σci and MR,
Hoek-Diederichs method is rational when predicting which is more reasonable.
the deformation of surrounding rocks.
Based on the deformation modulus of Hoek-
Diederichs, the displacement of surrounding rocks are
shown in Figure 2 and 3.
Field measured value of surrounding convergence is
3.62 mm and the maximum vaults subsidence value is
4.55 mm. The relative error is 17.1% and 13.2%. It can
be seen that Hoek-Diederichs formula is rational for
estimating deformation modulus of rock mass and the
calculated displacement value is corresponding with
engineering practice.
The data in Figure 2 and 3 show the displacement
in different positions. The maximum displacement in
horizontal direction appears in the side wall, whose
constringency value is 3.00 mm. Vaults subsidence
value is steady at 3.95 mm. The contrast curve of field
monitoring data and numerical simulation can be seen
in Figure 4 and 5. Figure 2. Nephogram of horizontal displacement in sur-
rounding rocks.

Table 3. Major parameters for numerical simulation.

Deformation Volume
modulus Poisson’s density
Material Erm/MPa ratio µ γ/kN·m3

Surrounding Deferent results 0.22 27

rock mentioned above
Primary support 7667 0.2 23
concrete
Final lining 23000 0.2 22
concrete
Steel arch 210000 0.3 77
centering
Anchor 210000 0.3 77 Figure 3. Nephogram of vertical displacement in surround-
ing rocks.

Table 4. The comparison between simulation and field monitoring results in different conditions.

Relative errors /%
Surrounding Vaults subsidence
Calculation methods convergence/mm value/mm Surrounding convergence Vaults subsidence

E.Hoek(2002) 4.12 5.49 13.8 20.66

Simplified Hoek-Diederichs 10.58 14.60 192.3 220.9
(The big errors show the inapplicability)
Hoek-Diederichs(2006) 3.00 3.95 17.1 13.2
Measured value(mm) 3.62 4.55 — —

120

Figure 4. Variation curves of field monitoring results and
numerical simulation at vault.
Figure 5. Variation curves of field monitoring results and
numerical simulation of horizontal convergence.
2. The simplified Hoek-Diederichs formula is more
fit to the condition for D = 0 when estimating the
deformation of rock mass. In the formula, the intact
properties of the rock are not considered. Only
when reliable property data for the intact rock is not
available, can the formula be used. E. Hoek(2002)
and Hoek-Diederichs(2006) are all acceptable for
the calculation of deformation modulus. The defor-
mation values of E. Hoek(2002) is a little big, which
will be too cautious when conducting tunnel con-
struction. The results of Hoek-Diederichs is a little
small than the measured value, but the mean error
is also small. Hoek-Diederichs method is rational
when predicting the deformation of surrounding
rocks.
3. The Hoek-Diederichs equation has its advantages
for estimating the deformation modulus, but the
selection of the related parameters is strongly
depending on the experience of the engineers. So
how to make the parameter more accurate maybe is
the direction for the method.
121
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by the National
High Technology Research and Development Program
863(2009AA11Z105).
REFERENCES
Barton, N. 2002. Some new Q value correlations to assist in
site characterization and tunnel design. Int J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci., 39: 185–216.
Deere, D.U. 1968. Chapter 1: geological considerations. In:
Stagg K G, Zienkiewicz O C, editors. Rock mechanics in
engineering practice. London: Wiley, 1968. p. 1–20.
Diederichs, M.S. & Kaiser, P.K. 1999. Stability of large
excavations in laminated hard rock masses: the vous-
soir analogue revisited. Int. J Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 36:
97–117.
Hoek, E. 1994. Strength of rock and rock masses. ISRM News
Journal, 2(2), 4–16.
Hoek, E., Kaiser, P.K. & Bawden, W. F. 1995. Support
of underground excavations in hard rock. Rotterdam:
Balkema.
Hoek, E., Marinos, P. & Benissi, M. 1998. Applicability of the
Geological Strength Index (GSI) classification for very
weak and sheared rock masses, The case of the Athens
Schist Formation. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and
the Environment, 57(2): 151–160.
Hoek, E., Carranza-Torres, C. & Corkum, B. 2002. Hoek-
Brown failure criterion-2002 edition. // Proceedings of
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Hoek, E. & Diederichs, M.S. 2006. Empirical estimation of
rock mass modulus. International Int. J Rock Mech. Min.
Sci., 43(2): 203–215.
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of modulus of deformation of rock masses based on
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Marinos, P., Hoek, E. & Marinos, V. 2006. Variability of
the engineering properties of rock masses quantified by
the geological strength index: the case of ophiolites with
special emphasis on tunneling. Bulletin of Engineering
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Martin, D.M. & Stimpson, B. 1994. The effect of sample
disturbance on laboratory properties of Lac du Bonnet
granite. Can Geotechn J, 31(5): 692–702.
Marinos, P. & Hoek, E. 2000. GSI: a geologically friendly tool
for rock mass strength estimation. // Proceedings of Geo-
engineering 2000 conference, Melbourne, 1422–1442.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experimental study on mechanical mechanism of reinforced cracked

rock mass

A.B. Jin, F.G. Deng & S.X. Ming

School of the Civil and Environmental Engineering, USTB, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The cracked rock mass was often formed under high stress in a certain area of underground
engineering, which has the property of high strength of rock but lower strength of rock mass, and can keep stable
under effective support. The mechanical characteristics of entire rock and cracked rock supported by grouting,
bolting and grouting were studied in lab. And the strength recovery message of supported cracked rock was
gained with this method. It can review and validate the transformation rule of the cracked rock supported by
different method, and estimate the different reinforcing effect. The study results can provide a reliable, convenient
and economical method for reinforcing cracked rock and a basis for stability analysis of underground cracked
rock mass.

1 INSTRUCTION Therefore, modification effect of various reinforce-

Under high stress, the underground engineering deep
rock is always damaged to form a wide range of
cracked rock mass (HAN, 2008). The cracked rock
mass has a certain carrying capacity, and it will tend
to be stable by effective supporting (He 1991, Dong,
1994). As far as the underground engineering cracked
surrounding rocks are concerned, how to form effec-
tive support structure and the cracked rock mass can
be effectively constrained is important for the sta-
bility of roadway and supporting structures (HAN,
2005). Currently, the reinforcement method that is
used to constrain the cracked rock mass are mainly
comprised of anchor, grouting, shotcrete, and the com-
bination of these methods (ZHAO, 2006). Generally,
As far as the cracked rocks are concerned, the cracked
surface can be filled and re-cemented together by
using the slurry, so the mechanical properties can be
improved after its being broken, the strength of the
cracked rock mass can be improved, and this process
is called grouting (HU, 2004, Zhou, 1993, WANG,
2007, Zhang, 1998). The method of anchor and group-
ing can be combined, and then the separate applica-
ble scope of anchor and grouting can be expanded
(Liu, 2002).
The original rock samples have been used. Through
laboratory simulation experiments, the intact rock
samples, and the samples reinforced by various meth-
ods after being crushed, have been analyzed. Com-
pared the strength of the cracked samples that have
been reinforced with the intact samples, strength
recovery information of rock mass can be acquired.
ment methods can be evaluated quantitatively.
2 EXPERIMENT DESIGN
2.1 Laboratory equipment and instruments
a. YED-200 electronic pressure test machine.
b. Resistance strain meter.
c. Micrometer dial.
2.2 Specimen collection
The original rock specimens was taken from Zhangji-
awa iron mine of Luzhong mining industry, sampling
sites are distributed at −200 m, −175 m, −181 m
sublevel and entrance. Uniaxial compression test is
carried out firstly, and then according to the rein-
forcing scheme, the samples that were destroyed are
divided into two groups.
2.3 Test procedure
The experiment is carried out in two steps. The first
step is the conventional experiments, the strength,
axial deformation and stress-strain curves of the intact
original rock samples are mainly measured in order to
achieve a variety of rock mechanics parameters. The
second step is reinforcing the broken samples, then the
uniaxial compression test is adopted to measure the
strength and axial deformation of the cracked samples
that have been reinforced, the strength recovery rate
and the integrity indicators of the cracked rock mass

123
can be gotten by analyzing the results of these tests.
The effect of various reinforcement methods has been
quantitatively comparatively analyzed. The specific
experimental procedures are as follows:
a. The standard test pieces are made in Rock Mechan-
ics Laboratory.
b. YED-200 electronic pressure test machine is
adopted to measure the uniaxial compressive
strength and axial deformation of the standard test
pieces.
c. After the experiment, the cracked test pieces are
grouped, and modification of test pieces are pre-
pared by different reinforced methods.
d. The uniaxial compressive test is done to the rein-
forced cracked test pieces by the YED-200 elec-
tronic pressure test machine, compared with the
uniaxial compressive strength of the intact samples,
so the strength recovery can be calculated.

2.4 Reinforcement of the broken specimen

The first group is the cemented experimental samples.
Firstly, the cracked samples are reset, then, the frac-
ture surfaces of the samples are filled with the bonded
liquid, and all the cracks are fully penetrated into until
the bonded liquid is not absorbed, ultimately, after the
bonded liquid has been dry, the whole sample has been Figure 1. Broken specimens used in experiments.
made.
The second group is the joint reinforcement sam-
ples of cementation and anchors. The cementation
methods of this group are same as the first group.
After the cracked samples are well cemented, three
1.5 mm-diameter holes are drilled in the direction
perpendicular to the failure surface, 1.2 mm-diameter
metal bolts are through the holes, and then the holes
are filled with the bonded liquid, finally, one end of
the metal bolts is tightly fastened with the nut when
the bonded liquid is solidified.
Destructive samples are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 2. the stress-strain curve of compression test of the
3 SEPARATE CEMENT-REINFORCED separate cement-reinforced samples.
SAMPLES

3.1 Deformation and failure 3.2 Reinforcement mechanism analysis

The stress-strain curve of samples shows elasto-
plasticity, there are no obvious yield deformations
before the samples are destroyed. As the peak strength
has reached, the samples break suddenly, and the stress
suddenly diminishes. The lateral deformations of sam-
ples are very small before and after being destroyed,
a more complete appearance can be still maintained.
It can be shown that the integrity and stiffness of the
cracked samples that have been reinforced are high, the
peak strength is also very large, it can reach 40∼50%
of the intact specimens, but its deformations is smaller.
The deformation of the cemented samples is same as
the intact, and it has obvious features of brittle fail-
ure. The deformation and failure of compression test
of the separate cement-reinforced samples are shown
in Figure 2.
Analyzing the stress-strain curve obtained from com-
pression test of the separate cement-reinforced sam-
ples, the deformation and failure of the samples appear
elasto-plasticity, and it has deformation characteris-
tic of the brittle rock. It is shown that cementation
reinforcement has a better modification effects, the
chemical cementing materials that are emptied into
the cracked rock mass have a higher bond strength.
After the crack is fully filled with the bonded liquid, the
weak planes are bonded together, and the cracked rocks
become intact rock, the bearing strength is formerly
provided by friction between the two surfaces, but now
it is provided by both bond strength and friction, so the
spread of the cracks and sliding rupture of the rocks are
effectively constrained, therefore, the cohesion, tensile
strength, shear strength of the rocks are strengthened,

124

Figure 3. Stress-strain curve of uniaxial compression test
of the joint reinforcement samples.
the integrity and anti-destruction capability have been
restored.
4 UNIAXIAL COMPRESSION TEST OF THE
JOINT REINFORCEMENT SAMPLES OF
CEMENTATION AND ANCHORS
4.1 Failure process
During the compression process of the joint reinforce-
ment samples of cementation and anchors, there is
large deformation and a smaller range of fluctuations
in the early stages of loading. After the large deforma-
tion phase, the elastic deformation phase is coming,
the stress-strain curve is a steeper line segment, it
is significantly reduced of the deformation modulus.
When the curve is close to the peak, sliding rupture
appears on the original fracture plane of the samples,
lateral deformation obviously increases, the end of
some anchors are sunk, there are a amount of new
cracks in the direction perpendicular to the anchors.
After the peak, the deformation increases gradually,
but the strain decreases gradually, plastic characteris-
tics are shown, radial deformation is larger than axial
deformation, the stress decreased slowly, while the
strain continues to increase, it is shown in Figure 3.
4.2 Reinforcing Mechanism Analysis
It can be concluded that the effect of the joint rein-
forcement of cementation and anchors is evident from
the results of compression test. The strength, stiffness
and integrity of the samples are improved by cemen-
tation, which makes the cemented force should be
overcome before the samples is broken. The impor-
tant role of cementation is integrity of the samples are
improved, high bearing strength and brittle character-
istics are shown. As the sample is a whole one, the
sample is mainly destroyed on the surface by stress. In
the last stage, the anchors play a major role, the slid-
ing and movement of the fractured rock of samples are
limited, the development of cracks are controlled, the
stress state of the fractured rock samples is changed
under the action of the extrusion, and the stability and
residual strength of samples is improved.
Before the samples are broken, the deformation
modulus increases with the increase of strain and stress
until the samples is broken. The deformation modulus
125
is increased monotonically with the increase of the
stress, it is shown that the strength and stability of
the samples are improved rapidly on the condition of
cementation. After the samples are broken, the defor-
mation modulus decreases rapidly with the decrease of
stress, which indicates supporting capacity is rapidly
weaken and the stability sharply declines.
As a result of the anchor system, non-deformability
is strengthened, the lateral deformation is effectively
constrained, the lateral deformation is still small in
the whole failure process, the original shape can be
maintained after they are broken, it is fully proofed that
the stability of the rock samples is greatly recovered
by the joint reinforcement samples of cementation and
anchors.
5 COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS AND
EVALUATION OF EXPERIMENTAL
RESULTS
From the bearing strength and deformation character-
istics of the samples, cementation is better than ferrule
to recover the strength of the samples. Positive correla-
tion is shown between stress and strain to the separate
cement-reinforced samples, whether axial or radial,
the total deformation is smaller until the samples are
broken, it is shown that the stiffness of the cracked rock
mass can be improved, the brittle features can also be
recovered, but the capacity of bearing large deforma-
tion is decreased, once it is destroyed, it means carrying
capacity is lost. By the joint reinforcement of cemen-
tation and anchors, the strength and non-deformability
of the cemented samples are improved obviously, duc-
tility and plasticity of materials is increased, when
exceeding the peak strength and being destroyed, there
is a strong bearing capacity, it is the big difference with
the separate cement samples.
From the stress-strain curves, it can be concluded
that the deformation curves of the separate cement
samples can’t be gotten after the peak strength, and
brittle failure is shown, which means that the integrity
of the samples is good and stiffness is strong, and
the bearing strength of the cracked samples can be
substantially improved. And the strength can be recov-
ered from zero to 50% of the original rock strength,
but when reaching the peak strength, the samples will
be suddenly be destroyed, and the bearing strength
will be decreased rapidly, almost with no residual
strength, which is bad for large deformation roadway.
The deformation characteristics of samples are obvi-
ously changed by using anchors, and residual strength
is improved after being destroyed, thus, the sliding
and movement of the inner cracks are restricted, and
the shearing strength and tensile strength are also
improved.
6 CONCLUSION
Comprehensive analysis results of the experiment
show that the modification effect of the samples
reinforced by cementation and anchors is better, not
only the peak strength is improved, but also the residual
strength is higher. The cementation and anchors rein-
forcement method is adapted to use in the big deforma-
tion roadway, and the supporting reinforcement is not
easy to fail. The cracked rock mass is a complex and
polytropical geologic body, and the engineering con-
ditions are multifarious, the strength of the cracked
rock mass is determined by various factors. The main
methods of maintaining and strengthening the cracked
rock mass are comprehensive treatment according to
the specific project conditions, occurrence conditions
and combining of all kinds of influence factor.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Project (122024) Supported by FOK YING TONG
EDUCATION FOUNDATION
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Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 12(2): 138–15.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on variation of pore water pressure in dredger fill by vacuum

preloading

Y.Y. Li, Q. Wang, X.L. Peng & H.G. Wang

College of Construction Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, China

Y.B. Xia, Y.J. Chen & J. Liu

CCCC Water Transportation Consultants Co., Ltd., Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: An analysis on the variation law of pore water pressure in dredger fill improved by vacuum
preloading using different vertical drains (sand drain and prefabricated drain) is made in this paper. The results
show that the dissipation rate of the pore water pressure increased with a decrease in the spacing between the
drain and the measuring point in the soil. The pore water pressure dissipated fastest when the spacing between
two drains was 0.4 cm and the prefabricated vertical drain with an equivalent diameter of less than 75 microns
was used. Moreover, the variation trend of the pore pressure and the vacuum degree was approximate, but the
decrement of the pore water pressure was higher than the increment of the vacuum degree.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 TEST METHOD

With the fast development of coastal cities, prob- Six tests are installed in the laboratory model test, as
lems of urban land shortage have been increasingly can be seen in Figure 1. The depth of mud in each
emerging. Land reclamation has been one of the most test is 1.1 meters. Figure 2 shows three kinds of ver-
important components of coastal construction engi- tical drains used for draining: prefabricated drain A
neering. Using mud which is currently from port with an equivalent diameter of less than 75 micron,
construction engineering and waterway dredging as prefabricated drain B with an equivalent diameter of
a reclamation material to make land is considered to 85–100 micron and sand drain with a diameter of 10
be an effective way of exploring and utilizing land of centimeters. The parameters of each test are given in
coastal cities. However, this process of reclamation is Table1.
expensive and time consuming, including construct- The dredger fill used in the laboratory model test
ing a containment dyke, dredging the material from was derived from a bog in Dayaowan port of Dalian
the base of the channel and pumping it into the con- city, China. This area was formed by backfilling
tained area where it is last for one to two years for seafloor sediment. The thickness of soft soil in this area
self-consolidation. is about 10 meters. The physical parameters of each
The dredger fill used is always soft soil and is char-
acterized by extremely high level moisture content,
high compressibility, low intensity, etc. It needs a rel-
atively long time to be consolidated and is not easy to
satisfy the requirement of engineering construction. In
recent years, vacuum preloading method is often used
to accelerate the rate of consolidation.
The mechanism of vacuum preloading is to accel-
erate the rate of consolidation by using the action
of the air pressure in combination with a pore water
drainage system. The condition of pore water pres-
sure in soil is a basic factor of soil mechanics. The
process of foundation soil’s consolidation essentially
is a process in which the effective stress is increased
with the dissipation of the pore water pressure. So it
is necessary to make a study on the variation law of
pore water pressure in dredger fill in the process of
consolidation. Figure 1. Laboratory model test.

127
soil layer in this area are given in Table 2. As shown
in Table 2, the flowing mud in the surface is in a plas-
tic flow state and is saturated. The average moisture
content is 107.4%, the average void ratio is 2.957, the
average clay content is 60.5% and the average organic
matter content is 4.68%. The engineering properties of
the soil are high clay content, high moisture content,
high organic content, high compressibility, high void
ratio and low permeability.
3 VARIATION OF PORE WATER PRESSURE IN
EACH TEST
The initial value of pore water pressure in each test was
measured in February 8, 2010. The data used in this
paper was measured from February 8, 2010 to May 25,
2010. The curves of variation of pore water pressure
with time in each test are shown in Figures 3 to 8.

Figure 3. Variation of pore water pressure in test 1.

Figure 2. Vertical drains.

Table 1. The laboratory model test installation.

Model Area Depth of Spacing

test (m2 ) mud (m) Vertical drains (m)

Test 1 1.2 × 1.2 1.10 Sand drain 0.4

Test 2 1.6 × 1.4 Prefabricated 0.4
drain A
Test 3 1.6 × 1.4 Prefabricated 0.8
drain A
Test 4 1.6 × 1.4 Prefabricated 0.4
drain B
Test 5 1.6 × 1.4 Prefabricated 0.8
drain B
Test 6 1.8 × 1.0 Sand drain 0.8
Figure 4. Variation of pore water pressure in test 2.

Table 2. Physical parameters of the dredger fill.

Water Density saturation Void Plastic Liquid Clay Organic Horizontal Vertical
Soil content ρ Sr ratio index index content content permeability permeability
layer (%) (g/cm3 ) (%) e Ip Il (%) (%) (1e-6 cm/s) (1e-6 cm/s)

1-1Flowing 107.4 1.45 100 2.96 22 3.79 52.4 4.68 0.078 0.043
mud
1-2 Mud 68.3 1.61 99.8 1.88 18.8 2.59 40.1 4.21 0.052 0.029
2Mucky 47.4 1.76 99.9 1.30 20.3 1.33 5.66 0.046 0.021
soil
3Mucky silty 43.8 1.79 99.7 1.20 14 1.73 39.3 6.05 0.068 0.031
clay

128
Figure 5. Variation of pore water pressure in test 3.
Figure 6. Variation of pore water pressure in test 4.
Figure 7. Variation of pore water pressure in test 5.
According to the curves, we know that:
1. In the process of vacuum pumping, the vacuum
degree in the soil was accumulated. The pore water
pressure in different positions of each test was
negative and its value was gradually decreased.
2. The dissipation rate of pore water pressure in dif-
ferent positions behaved as follows: the shorter the
distance between the drain and the measuring point
in the soil is, the faster it is. At the beginning, the
pore water pressure in the drains decreased rapidly
129
Figure 8. Variation of pore water pressure in test 6.
Figure 9. Variation of pore water pressure in the drains.
and it tended to be a stable level after a few days.The
cause of this phenomenon is that: the drains were
directly connected with the drainage pipe and when
the process of vacuum pumping began, the pore
water pressure in the drains was directly affected.
By contrast, the pore water pressure in the soil
nearby the drains and in the middle of two drains
decreased more slowly.
3. Generally, the pore water pressure in dredger fill
changed slowly. It indicates that the soil in this area
has high clay content and the pore water in the soil
is hard to be drained. The dissipation of pore water
pressure still continued with vacuum pumping. And
the consolidation of the soil needed a long time.
4 PORE WATER PRESSURE IN THE DRAINS
Figure 9 shows the variation of pore water pressure in
the drains in each test. As can be seen in Figure 9, the
variation of pore water pressure in different drains was
basically consistent. When vacuum pumping began,
the pore water pressure decreased rapidly. The curves
had a flexion in February 22th, and then it tended to
moderate. The data shows that the maximum of dissi-
pation value was slightly higher than the pump inlet
pressure. It should be pointed out that the pore water
pressure in test 1 fluctuated drastically in April 21th,
Figure 10. Variation of pore water pressure 10 cm from the Figure 11. Variation of pore water pressure 20 cm from
drains. drainage plate.

which may be due to air leakage. By contrast, the dis-

sipation extent of pore water pressure in test 2 was the
biggest, while it was the smallest in test 6.

5 PORE WATER PRESSURE IN THE SOIL

5.1 Pore water pressure in the soil 10 cm from the

drains.
The pore pressure transducers used to measure pore
water pressure were installed in the soil 10 cm from
the drains in tests 1, 2 and 4. As can be seen in Fig-
ure 10, the pore water pressure in the soil in test 1
decreased more rapidly. It reached its maximum on
Figure 12. Variation of vacuum degree with time in the
February 21th and the value was about minus 33 kPa, drains.
and then it tended to be a stable level. However, in tests
2 and 4, it decreased more slowly and needed a longer
time to moderate. In terms of the dissipation value, the 0.8 m and the difference also lies in drains. Figure 10
maximum in test 4 was minus 45 kPa which was the and Figure 11 indicate that the dissipation rate of pore
biggest in these three tests. Moreover, the maximum water pressure in tests 1, 2 and 4 was higher than that
in test 2 was bigger than that in test 1. Considering in tests 3, 5 and 6. And the dissipation value in tests 1,
the spacing between two drains in three tests was the 2 and 4 was significantly higher than that in other tests.
same, that is to say, 0.4 m, the factor that caused differ- What’s more, the pore water pressure tended to be a
ent results lies in drains: sand drains with a diameter of stable level in tests 1, 2 and 4, while it still dissipated
10 cm, prefabricated drains with an equivalent diame- in tests 3, 5 and 6. The main cause is that the spacing
ter of less than 75 micron and prefabricated drains with between two drains in tests 1, 2 and 4 was 0.4 m and
an equivalent diameter of 80–100 micron were used in it was 0.8 m in other tests. Obviously, the former is
tests 1, 2 and 4, respectively. The results showed that easier for draining.
the sand drains used in test 1 could make the pore water
pressure dissipated more quickly than other drains, but
the maximum of its dissipation value was smaller than
that in test 4. 6 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PORE WATER
PRESSURE AND VACUUM DEGREE

Figure 12 and Figure 13 show the variation of vac-

5.2 Pore water pressure in the soil 20 cm from the
drains
There were pore pressure transducers installed in the
soil 20 cm from the drains in tests 3, 5 and 6. From
Figure 11, we know that whether from the perspective
of the dissipation rate or the biggest dissipation value,
the dissipation result in the soil of test 3 was the best
in these three tests and it was the worst in test 6. The
spacing between two drains in these three tests was
uum degree in different positions in each test. When
the vacuum pumping began, the vacuum degree in the
inlet of the drains increased rapidly with the increase
of the pump inlet pressure because the drains were
directly connected with the drainage pipe. However,
considering that the dredger fill had a property of high
water content and it was saturated or supersaturated,
the vacuum degree was zero before the water in the
soil is discharged. So at the beginning, the vacuum

130

Figure 13. Variation of vacuum degree with time in the soil.
degree in the soil was zero. After a few days, the vac-
uum degree in the soil was generally accumulated and
then it reached a stable level, about 20 kPa. It is note-
worthy that the vacuum degree in the soil in tests 3,
5 and 6 was still zero after long time water pumping.
The reason is that the spacing between two drains was
0.8 m, a distance which was not favorable for draining.
The soil was still saturated and the vacuum degree was
still zero.
From the above, we know that the pore water
pressure in the soil decreased slowly on the whole.
Meanwhile, the vacuum degree in the soil increased
slowly. Until May 25, the pore water pressure in the
soil decreased by 30 kPa while the vacuum degree
increased by 20 kPa in average. Conclusively, the vari-
ation trend of the pore pressure and the vacuum degree
in the soil was approximate, but the decrement of the
pore water pressure was higher than the increment of
the vacuum degree.
7 CONCLUSIONS
1. The dredger fill in Dayaowan port of Dalian city,
China was formed by backfilling seafloor sediment.
It is characterized by high clay content, high water
content, high organic content, high compressibility,
high void ratio, low intensity and low permeability.
So it is difficult to drain under vacuum preloading
and the process of consolidation is long.
2. The pore water pressure in the soil and the drains
was dissipated under vacuum preloading. It indi-
cates that the dissipation speed of the pore water
pressure increased with a decrease in the spac-
ing between the drain and the measuring point in
the soil. The pore water pressure dissipated fastest
when the spacing was 0.4 cm and the prefabricated
vertical drain with an equivalent pore size of 75
micron were used. And in this condition, the effect
of consolidation of the soil was optimal.
131
3. The variation of the pore water pressure in the soil
has a relationship with the vacuum degree. When
the vacuum degree transferred along the vertical
drainage pipe and diffused into the soil, the pore
water pressure changed accordingly. The variation
trend of the pore pressure and the vacuum degree
was approximate, but the decrement of the pore
water pressure was higher than the increment of
the vacuum degree.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The study was supported by the National Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China (40372122, 40672180) and
the International Cooperation Project of the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (40911120044).
The authors would like to thank the Water Trans-
portation Consultants Cooperation for supplying the
data.
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water pressure dissipation testing of marine clay under
reclamation fills. Geotech Geol Eng 24: 29–43.
Hammer, T.A. 2001. Effect of silica fume on the plas-
tic shrinkage and pore water pressure of high-strength
concretes. Material and Structures 34: 273–278.
Kim, J.M. 2000. Generalized poroelastic analytical solutions
for pore water pressure change and land subsidence due
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Damage experiment of projectile penetration into high-strength concrete

M.Q. Lin & Y.Y. Xia

School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China

Z. X. Xiao & X. B. Guo

School of Environment and Resource, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan, China

ABSTRACT: Based on the damage experiment of projectile penetration into high-strength concrete target by
using one-stage light gas gun, the macro-damage relationship between penetration angle of target and hit velocity
of projectile is obtained as the penetration angle at 0◦ , 10◦ , 20◦ . Meanwhile, the damage morphology of target
in pre and post experiment is characterized by the CT technique. The results showed that, as the angle changes
from 0◦ to 20◦ , the penetration depth and diameter have a decreasing trend under the same hit velocity; as the hit
velocity increasing, the penetration depth and diameter have an increasing trend on the same penetration angle.
CT images can not only reflect internal structure of target, but also reflect internal damage after penetration. It is
further proved that the CT technology is reliable on studying the penetration destruction and damage morphology
of target.

1 INTRODUCTION hit velocity of projectile have been analyzed. And the

internal structure of targets before penetration, failure
With the development of protection engineering, most situation and damaged of targets after penetration have
strategic objectives have strong protection fortifica- been characterized by CT technology.
tion. More attention was paid on the experiments of
projectile penetration into target. The macro-damage
and the penetration process have been studied at home 2 EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
and abroad and obtained large number of achievements
(Xu 2002, Vladimir 1995, Wesley 2004, Khode-rahmi 2.1 Penetration experiment
2006, Zhou 2006). However, the penetrated fragile
medium, like concrete, can produce the macro-damage One-stage light gas gun of 57 mm barrel diameter at
and micro-damage that can not be observed by the high pressure physics laboratory of Southwest Jiao
naked eye, may change the internal structure and Tong University is used as loading device. The hit
reduce its strength. Therefore, study on the internal velocity of projectile is measured by magnetic probe.
damage of concrete target under the penetration effect Projectile is made by 45 steel, its strength is more
is important. Generally, conventional concrete and than 355 MPa after the heat treatment, head is oval
reinforced concrete are used as the material of the (CRH = 3), length is 120 mm, diameter is 20 mm and
target on studying the damage morphology under pen- weight is about 0.250 g. Projectile is placed in the sabot
etration, but the high-strength concrete is seldom used. to ensure the effect of launching center and closing up
Elastic wave Computerized Tomography (abbrevi- the air, see Figure 1. The high-pressure gas is released
ate CT) technology is based on the good correlation to promote the sabot and projectile on high speed in
between velocity of elastic wave and physical parame-
ters of test sections (Wang 2003).The two-dimensional
or three-dimensional images of the internal features
are generated to do quality test without damaging the
“monitoring object” (Lin 2010). This technology has
been widely used in engineering geological explo-
ration, dam quality testing, foundation detection, etc.
The advantages of CT are more direct and reliable,
which make it has broad application prospects in the
nondestructive testing (Song 2003).
Experiments of projectile penetration into the high-
strength concrete targets have been done by using the
one-stage light gas gun. The macro-damage relation-
ships between the penetration angle of target and the Figure 1. Projectile and sabot.

133
Figure 2. The sketch map of experimental system.

Figure 4. Layout of measuring points.

Figure 3. The acoustic test system. Table 1. The data of experiment results.

vacuum barrel. Once projectile hit the target, the sabot Hit Penetration Penetration Penetration
will break, the projectile goes on penetrating the target Velocity angle diameter depth
◦
until the penetration process is completed. Test system No m/s mm mm
is shown in Figure 2.
1-1 224 0 243 59
Target is made by high-strength concrete, whose
1-2 216 0 213 53
compressive strength is 76.6 MPa. The penetration 2-1 231 10 234 55
angle of target is set to three different angles of 0◦ , 2-2 213 10 201 52
10◦ and 20◦ , and each tape of angle have two targets. 3-1 242 20 194 48
The penetration surface of target face down, and each 3-2 181 20 152 42
target is numbered and confined by the curved steel
in experiment. The projectile and sabot is shown in
Figure 2. shown in Figure 4. Finally, The elastic wave CT images
are generated by collecting all the paths of acous-
2.2 Acoustic testing and CT image tic signals (Ri∼Sj, as shown in Figure 4, i = 0∼12,
j = 0∼10), recording the acoustic travel time, estab-
The targets are done the acoustic test and CT images in lishing the coordinate system of each point, importing
pre and post experiments by the use of the RSM-SY5 the data of coordinate system and the acoustic travel
intelligent acoustic instrument and the SK-30 KHz time into the software of RSM-CT2008.
transducer according to the basic principles of CT
image (Wang 2003, Moysan 1999). The SK-30KHz
transducer have the minimum sampling interval at
3 RESULTS
0.1 µs and 12-bit A/D conversion. RSM-CT2008 is
adapted to elastic wave CT image. The acoustic test
3.1 Macroscopic observation and analysis
system is shown in Figure 3.
The breaking and damage are formed a certain depth Projectiles and targets are observed after experiment,
in and near the center of penetration surface after pen- and it is found that only the funnel shaped macro dam-
etration. The longitudinal profile through the axis is age is showed on the surface of target, the back and
chosen as surface that goes through the acoustic ray side of target have no change due to the lower velocity
from all directions, which are tested the same loca- of projectile and higher strength of target, the energy
tion pre and post penetration, keeping the same steps. of shock wave produced by penetration of projectile
The method of two sides of transmission is adopted can not reach the condition extensive damage of tar-
according to the actual size of the target. Each point is get. Each numbered target is measured the diameter,
arranged on two sides of surface from bottom to top, as shown in Table 1.
the launch points Ri on the left, and the receive points The relationship between penetration depth, crater
Sj on the right, each point space is 60 mm. The dam- diameter and hit velocity can be obtained by the linear
age on the penetration surface and the back of target analysis from Table 1, as shown in Figure 5, Figure 6.
is the focus of this study, so the spacing of each point As the angle changes from 0◦ to 20◦ , the penetration
near the penetration surface and the back should be depth and diameter have a decreasing trend under the
encrypted appropriately (space about 30 mm) in order same hit velocity; when the penetration angle of tar-
to reducing the imaging artifacts caused by the poor get is constant, the penetration depth and diameter on
orthogonally on the upper and lower sections of the two penetration surface have an increasing trend by the hit
sides of transmission. The arrangement of test points is increasing velocity.

134
Figure 5. The penetration depth versus hit velocity.
Figure 6. The formed pit diameter versus hit velocity.
Comparing the Figure 5 with Figure 6, as the angle
is 0◦ , 10◦ and 20◦ , the slope of the penetration depth to
hit velocity is 0.75 × 10−3 , 0.16 × 10−3 , 0.09 × 10−3 ,
Similarly, the slope of penetration diameter to hit
velocity is 3.7 × 10−3 , 1.8 × 10−3 , 0.7 × 10−3 . It is
showed that, as the penetration angle is 0◦ , 10◦ and
20◦ , the hit velocity additional 1m/s, the increment
of penetration depth and diameter are decreasing, the
change of penetration diameter is longer than that of
penetration depth.
3.2 Analysis of the CT image
The acoustic velocity in target can reflect the internal
quality of concrete, and the color regions distributed
of CT images pre and after penetration show the qual-
ity changed of the profile over the target axis (Lin
2010). According to the sound test and CT imaging
preliminary before penetration, it is known that the
range of acoustic velocity of target is above 4000 m/s.
In order to reflecting the change of damage area
of target after penetration, the velocity range of CT
image is divided into 3 sections, which are less than
4000 m/s, 4000 m/s–4500 m/s, more than 4500 m/s.
135
Figure 7. CT images of No 1-2 pre and after penetration.
Namely, the acoustic velocity on CT image less than
4000 m/s is indicated the damage area of the target
after penetration, as shown in Figure 7.
In Figure 7(a), except the area of acoustic veloc-
ity more than 4500 m/s exist on the lower left and
right corners of image profile, other acoustic velocity
is 4000 m/s–4500 m/s, which indicate that the overall
quality of target is good, the higher velocity area asso-
ciates with many process, like vibration pudding and
homogeneous degree at the time of pouring concrete.
In Figure 7(b), The funnel-shaped areas of acoustic
velocity less 4000 m/s exist on the upper central of the
image profile (near the penetration area), which indi-
cate that the structure of this area have changed after
penetration. Comparing Figure 7(a) with the macro-
damage of the target, the funnel-shaped area is the
damaged area of target after penetration. The loca-
tion of penetration depth is indicated by the dotted
line according to Figure 7(b). From the position of
dotted line, the damage area showed from CT images
after experiment including macro-damage area of the
target surface and the internal micro-damage area by
projectile’s penetration.
According to Figure 8, the damage area appears on
surface of No.1-1, 1-2 and 3-2 of targets, and it appears
not only on penetration surface, but also on the back
of No.2-1, 2-2, 3-1of targets. It is indicated that the
distance of penetration surface center to the back of
Figure 8. The CT images of target after penetration.
penetration angle more than 0◦ is shorter than the dis-
tance when its penetration angle only 0◦ . So the shock
wave produced in the penetration surface can reach the
back of target more easily, and produce the effect of
stretch reflex. Then certain degree of damage gener-
ated on the back of target because the tensile strength is
much lower than the compressive strength of concrete.
Obviously shown in Figure 8(c), (d), (e), the damage
area on the back greatly relatives with the increase of
hit velocity. Owing to the hit velocity of No.3-2 target
is 181 m/s, which is too low to generate the damage on
back, the damage area only appears on its penetration
surface.
In order to reducing boundary effect, target is con-
fined by curved steel in the target room during the
136
experiment. However, No.2-1, No.3-1 and No.2-2 of
target have different degrees of damage area on the
side of the target body in Figure 8, there may have the
following two reasons. The first reason is that owing to
the penetration angle greater than 0◦ , the asymmetric
resistance effect is produced during the movement of
the projectile penetration into the target, which leads
to the yaw on trajectory deviation of the projectile. In
the process of jaw, the compression effect occurred
between the side of target and curved steel, and gener-
ates the crack that lead to the acoustic velocity is less
than 4000 m/s on the side of target. The second one
is the reading errors is generated by the wave atten-
uation caused by the energy loss, owing to the linear
contact between the plane transducer and the side of
target at the time of acoustic tests, which cause part of
the acoustic velocity decreases of the regional on the
side of target.
4 CONCLUSIONS
According to the experiment of projectile penetration
into the high-strength concrete, penetration angle, hit
velocity and damage morphology exist the following
relationships, as the angle change from 0◦ to 20◦ , the
penetration depth and diameter have a decreasing trend
under the same hit velocity as target penetration angle
constant, the penetration depth and diameter have an
increasing trend by the increasing hit velocity.
The damage of projectile penetration includes
macro-damage areas on surface and micro-damage
areas of the concrete, the CT images are used to
imaging the elastic wave velocity distribution of the
targets, which can reflect the damage distribution of
target after penetration directly. The experiments are
indicated that the area of acoustic velocity reduction
associated not only with hit velocity of projectile,
penetration angle of target, but also with the vertical
distance from the point of projectile hit on target to the
back of target. It is further proved that it is reliable to
using CT technology to study the penetration breaking
and damage morphology of target.
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Zhou, N., Ren, H.Q., Shen, Z.W., et al. 2006. Experimental on
the projectile penetration concrete targets and reinforced
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Visco-elastical constitutive model identification of rock mass

B.G. Liu
Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: It was studied to determine the optimum model from various visco-elastical constitutive models.
The rock mass was taken as a complex system and deformation of the rock mass with time gained from field
measurement in construction as the output response of the system. Based on the general principle of equivalent
mathematical model of complex system, and by using least square method, non-linear optimum technique and
fitness test, the paper presented a method to determine the optimum model under specific conditions from
a general formula of visco-elastical constitutive models. The obtained model was then used to predict the
deformation of rock mass with time and the newly measured field data used to test and modify the model, thus
to reach the purpose of theoretical analysis combining closely with guiding actual engineering. An example was
given to validate the effectiveness and feasibility of this method.

1 INTRODUCTION for identification of visco-elastic constitutive model

First presented by Kirstan at the seminar on geotech-
nical investigation & survey held in Johannesburg in
1976 and then developed by many other researchers
such as Gioda, Sakurai, Maierand Cividini, back anal-
ysis of displacement, a method to inversely compute
the physical mechanics parameter of rock mass on the
basis of given model according to in-situ measured
displacement, was firstly used in the inverse problem
study of rock mechanics. It has aroused wide attention
because the parameter determined by back analysis,
which is taken as the input parameter from direct anal-
ysis against the same model, has greatly improved
reliability of the results. With distinct development in
computing technique and application in engineering,
it is now playing a quite important role in structural
control and prediction in geotechnical engineering.
Constitutive model of rock mass, as another impor-
tant factor making the theoretical analysis results of
rock mechanics less reliable, can not give out satisfy-
ing solution from simple direct analysis and computa-
tion even with years of efforts due to the complexity
of medium of rock mass. So people give different
constitutive models respecting different conditions of
experimentation and assumption. Model identification
is to select the optimum one from the gathering of
numerous models. As a new subject in inverse problem
study of rock mechanics, it was presented at the same
time during the 1970∼80’s when people worked hard
at parameter back analysis, but got far less attention
till the 1990’s when some domestic researchers began
to set foot in this field and got some achievements.
Identification of constitutive model of rock mass
is a preceding subject in study of rock mechanics
with large room for development. It is in the light of
the existed results that this paper presents a method
of rock mass starting with the general principle of
equivalent mathematical model of complex system.
2 IDENTIFICATION OF VISCO-ELASTIC
CONSTITUTIVE MODEL OF ROCK MASS
UNDER COMPLEX STRESS
In the background of underground rock mass works
such as tunnel driving and opening excavation, iden-
tification of visco-elastic constitutive model of rock
mass can be expressed as follows: Try fixing on a phys-
ical property model and its mathematical expression
for a rock mass system according to the deforma-
tion (the output response of the system) at some spots
within a time slice measured during excavation (the
known input of the system) of a opening with special
section figure in the rock mass of a known initial earth
stress field. It will be discussed in the following five
aspects.
2.1 Generic and general mathematical expression
of the system model
Real rock mass is a kind of discontinuous, nonho-
mogeneous and anisotropic rheologic medium. It is
owing to this authenticity that it’s very hard to be
expressed by means of mathematics. Even if it can
de expressed, there must be a lot of uncertain parame-
ters which make it impossible for quantitative analysis
and computation. On certain premises (Suppose the
rock mass is macroscopically compact and continu-
ous, and not including large structural surface, etc.),
the rock mass can be treated as homogenous, contin-
uous and isotropic medium, and conduct quantitative

139
analysis and computation in combination with work
experiences so as to guide project engineering and
construction. This is so-called combination of theory
and experience, quantitative analysis and qualitative
application. There are already a lot of models on this
assumptive promise for description of visco-elastic
mechanical action of rock mass such as Maxwell,
Kelvin, Kelvin-Voigt, Burgers, generalized Maxwell
and generalized Kelvin, etc. However, whatever the
Figure 1. Theoretical computation model.
model is, its constitutive equation at single dimension
can be treated as a special case of the following partial In which σr and τrθ are maximum release loads at the
differential equation: pre-excavating opening periphery balanced with the
initial earth stresses but in opposite direction, whose
relationship with the initial earth stresses is:

That is, equation (1) can be taken as the general

formula of visco-elastic constitutive equation for rock
mass at single dimension.
From one dimensional to three dimensional, fol-
lowing the way in elastoplastic theory, decompose the
stress into spheric stress tensor and deviatoric stress If C(x) is load release coefficient, it can be
tensor, then the general formula of visco-elastic con- expressed as follows according to relevant informa-
stitutive equation under complex stress will be as tion:
follows:

in which x refers to the distance between computation

section and excavation surface while D is the diameter
of the opening.
in which Sij refers to deviatoric stress while eij refers If the map function from a random shaped opening
to deviatoric strain and K refers to volume strain. and its external area within plane Z in Fig. 1 to the unit
circle and its external area within the mathematical
plane ζ is z = ω(ζ), then the displacement of a random
2.2 Systematic observation equation point in the opening surrounding rock can be work out
A visco-elastic constitutive equation for rock mass is as follows by using complex variable method in elastic
an internal state equation describing the functional mechanics:
relationship of the stress and strain state of a ran-
dom point in the system with time. The known input
and output information of the system is only the mea-
sured value of the external controllable and observable
part of the system, through which the internal state With
equation of the system is identified. Obviously the
observation equation is not fixed but different accord-
ing to the character of the rock mass project. In the
following we’ll take a random section shaped opening
excavated in a half infinite rock mass as an example
for discussion.
Suppose the initial earth stresses at opening exca- then formula (6) can be simplified as:
vation depth are σx0 , σy0 and τxy
0
, then the displacement
of the opening surrounding rock caused by excava-
tion can be taken as the solution of the computation
model Figure 1 shows, in which loads from the open-

ing periphery σr and τrθ are the variable release loads Taking Laplace transform on the two sides of for-
simplified from three dimensional problem to two mula (7) and applying visco-elasticity correspondence
dimensional one considering the spatial effect of the principle to computation, we can get the following
excavation surface. formula:

140
According to the basic theory of visco-elasticity, the
relationship of the Laplace transform of visco-elastic
shear modulus and that of P(D) and Q(D) in the
constitutive equation formula (2) should be:
Substitute formula (9) for (8) and do Laplace inverse
transform, we can get
in which
and p = (p0 , p1 , . . . , pn , q0 , q1 , · · · , qm )T which rep-
resents the undetermined model parameter. Then for-
mula (11) is the general form of the observation
equation of the system.
It is obvious that J(t, p) is the creep law of the system.
Substitute P(s) and Q(s) in, we get
and if q0 + q1 s + q2 s2 + · · · + qm sm = 0 has m differ-
ent real roots, then
where: A1∼2i+1 is the factor with relation to model
parameters pi and qi .
2.3 Formulation of actually observed
displacement
Assume the moment when the observation section of
the opening is excavated to be the starting point (t = 0),
then the displacement of opening surrounding rock
with time can be composed of the following three
parts: the elastic displacement caused at the moment
when the section is excavated; the elastic or elastic-
plastic displacement caused by the gradual releasing of
the release load along with the leaving of the observa-
tion section from new excavated section; and the pure
visco-elastic displacement caused as time goes by in
case that the release load has reached maximum and
kept unchanged (about 3 times of opening diameter
141
away from the excavated section). Since the obser-
vation section is always behind the excavated section
in a certain distance which is supposed more than 3
times of opening diameter, the actually measurable dis-
placement is not the entirety of displacement but only
the third part of the above-mentioned. If the time for
setting observation section is t0 , then what measured
afterwards in t1 ∼ tM is the increment value sequence
of entire displacement in respect to that at t0 .
Owing to various factors in observation, this obser-
vation sequence is short of regularity with fluctuation.
To improve its regularity thus to increase the reliabil-
ity of identification, we can do polynomial minimum
square approximation to the observation sequence.
Supposing the polynomial to be in the following form:
then it is not difficult to compute the optimum
orderingn and the corresponding αi (i = 1, 2, . . . , n)
by setting up the objective function according to the
principle of minimum square and thereby obtain the
improved observation value sequence:
2.4 Model parameter estimation
Above we have discussed the nature of the obser-
vation equation of system and the actually observed
displacement including undetermined model (known
as the undetermined model parameter p and the
undetermined model structure parameter–the partial
differential equation ordering (m, n). It can be seen
that what expressed in formula (11) is the entirety
of displacement from t = 0 which is not equal to the
actually observed value–a displacement increment, so
it can not be directly used to set up the objective
function for estimation of model parameter. There-
fore it is necessary to educe from the observation
equation (11) an increment of displacement which is
homologous with actually observed value. As above
mentioned, the displacement of opening surrounding
rock shall experience three phases from time point
of view, but though time has passed in the first two
phases, the displacement is mainly caused by the grad-
ual releasing of the release load with time. Since the
deformation of the surrounding rock has become elas-
tic, the elastic displacement caused when the release
load keeps stable and unchanged should be the same
as that caused when balance achieved between instan-
taneous actions σ r and τ rθ . If it is uer (which can be got
from formula (6)), the displacement increment at ti
will be:
 If observation is conducted against N points for M
time steps, then the objective function on the basis of
minimum square means can be expressed as:
It is difficult to solve formula (13) since it contains
undetermined model parameter and model structural
parameter. Now supposing m and n were already
known (for the specific way to solve see next chap-
ter), then formula (13) is only the function of model
parameter p which is embodied in J1 and J2 . Since J1
and J2 are also complicated, it is still difficult to solve
directly. Now we adopt two steps of minimum square
means to solve respectively.
Step 1: linear minimum square
Supposing J1 and J2 in formula (13) are to be estimate
and computing their value at the moment t using the
observation values for N points at t, then the objective
function can be simplified as:
in which f1kRe Re
, f2k respectively the short form for
Re[f1k (ς)], Re[f2k (ς)] And thereby gains the opti-
mum estimation of J1 at moment t as:
in which
Step 2: non-linear minimum square
It can be gained from step 1 the optimum estimations
of J1 at different time in the period of t0 ∼tM which are
in fact the estimations of creep compliances of the sys-
tem at different time, and thereby gains the objective
function of parameter p as:
The undetermined variable in formula (16) is not
parameter p but Ai (i = 1∼2m + 1). However, so long
as Ai is computed out, the model parameter p can be
determined unique because every model parameter can
be expressed with simple operations with different Ai .
142
Since formula (16) is a non-linear function of Ai , the
problem is about non-linear minimum square means
which can be not difficult to solve by gaining a group
of Ai using gradient method or direct search in order
that Q(p) gets minimum. No details will be given here
for the process of computation.
2.5 Determination of model structural parameter
Above we have supposed that model structural param-
eters m and n were known when we try computing out
model parameter p from formula (13) while in fact the
right sequence of computation should be to determine
m and n first and thereby compute p. However the
determination of optimum m and n depends upon p,
the way to determine the optimum m and n is not the
same as that to determine p. There is no fixed algo-
rithm which can directly give the optimum m and n but
only make it progressively tend to optimum on an opti-
mum path for m and n. That is to say, for determination
of optimum m and n there must be two conditions: an
optimum path and an optimum discrimination rule. In
this paper, there is only one path for valuing of m and
n, i.e. unidirectional scale up of positive integer with
step length of 1.As to the optimum discrimination rule,
there are various ways among which we have adopted a
comparatively simple one namely inspection of fitting
degree. The principle is: each value of m and n for each
step has an error of fitting Q(p, m, n) which decreases
with the increase of m and n before they get optimum;
and when Q(p, m, n) no longer clearly decreases with
the increase of m and n but even scales up, the value
of m and n for the preceding step will be determined
as optimum. The whole process for identification is
shown in Figure. 2.
Figure 2. Flow chart for model identification.
3 AN EXAMPLE
A hydraulic power station project planed to excavate
a test hole with a radius of 1.0 m. Earlier engi-
neering geology investigation had regarded the sur-
rounding rock mass as hopefully uniform isotropic
visco-elastic and the results of test on rock mass
mechanical property and measurement of initial earth
stress are: E = 3.30 GPa, µ = 0.25, σx0 = 2.50 MPa
σy0 = 5.00 MPa τxy0
= 0. Taking the moment at which
the certain section was excavated as the starting point
of time, observe the variation of displacement of
different points in the surrounding rock of the sec-
tion with time. Fig. 3 shows the distribution of the
multiple-point-displacement meter on the section.And
the results of observation for more than 3 months are
shown in Table 1.
Table 1 lists the initial actual measured displace-
ment. Taking the affection ofaddress some random
factors into account, the error of test results is esti-
mated ±0.02 mm. In order to eliminate abnormal data
and error affection, sq fitting, after which the data
were taken as the input data of the identified model for
iterative computation. The results are shown in Table 2.
It can be seen from Table 2 that the correct ordering
of the model should be 2 and the corresponding model
parameters are shown in the Table from which we have
identified the model as follows:
Applying the visco-elastic constitutive equation
(17) into further analysis against the visco-elastic dis-
placement of the surrounding rock of the opening, we
have got the comparison of the analysis results with
actual measured value of measuring points 4 and 5 on
lines L1, L2 and L3 as what shown in Table 3.
It can be seen from Table 3 that the two are
very close, which indicates that the model gained
from identification can do very well in describing the
visco-elastic deformation of the surrounding rock.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Identification of constitutive model of rock mass

is another inverse problem in rock mechanics after
parameter back-analysis and is more difficult than
Figure 3. Distribution of measuring lines on observation parameter back-analysis. Therefore there is compara-
section. tively less research on it. Only preliminary discussions

Table 1. Actual measured displacement of measuring points.

(Unit: mm)

L1 L2 L3
Time
(day) 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3

0 0.475 0.376 0.253 1.251 1.083 0.897 2.367 2.177 1.989

10 0.483 0.382 0.258 1.259 1.090 0.903 2.376 2.186 1.995
20 0.488 0.387 0.262 1.266 1.096 0.908 2.384 2.192 2.001
30 0.492 0.390 0.265 1.273 1.101 0.912 2.391 2.197 2.005
40 0.495 0.393 0.267 1.280 1.106 0.915 2.395 2.201 2.008
50 0.497 0.394 0.267 1.285 1.109 0.917 2.398 2.204 2.011
60 0.498 0.395 0.268 1.290 1.113 0.920 2.401 2.206 2.013
70 0.499 0.396 0.269 1.293 1.115 0.921 2.403 2.207 2.015
80 0.500 0.396 0.269 1.296 1.116 0.922 2.404 2.207 2.016
90 0.501 0.397 0.270 1.298 1.117 0.922 2.405 2.208 2.017

Table 2. Results of iterative computation against the identified model.

Model parameters pi , qi (×10−3 )

Ordering Fitting errors
m p0 p1 p2 p3 q0 q1 q2 Q(x̂) × 10−6

1 1.80 1.95 0.992 1 1.690

2 0.00489 −0.206 1.95 5.01 −0.142 1 0.503
3 −0.000388 0.021 −0.357 1.95 −0.398 1.62 −0.221 0.504

143
Table 3. The comparison of actual measured value with analysis results.

Actual measured value Analysis results

L1 L2 L3 L1 L2 L3

Time (day) 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 5

0 0.052 0.038 0.307 0.187 1.036 0.536 0.046 0.035 0.305 0.183 1.029 0.532
50 0.053 0.039 0.308 0.188 1.038 0.538 0.049 0.038 0.307 0.186 1.035 0.537
90 0.054 0.039 0.309 0.188 1.039 0.539 0.052 0.040 0.309 0.189 1.040 0.543

about the simplest conditions have been made in this
paper. As for rock mass system with various struc-
tures or lithologic characters, how to identify and
thereby obtain the equivalent mathematical model of
the system is still worth further study.
REFERENCES
Cividini, A., Maier, G. & Nappi, A. 1983. Parameter esti-
mation of a static geotechnical model using a Bayes’
approach. Int. J, Rock Mech, Min sci 30(5), 215–226.
Gioda, G. & Jurina, L. 1981. Numerical identification of soil-
structure interaction Pressure. Int. J. numer anal methods
goemech 5, 33–56.
Gioda, G. & Maier, G. 1980. Direct search solution of
an inverse problem in elasto-plasticity: identification of
cohesion, friction angle and in situ stress by pressure
tunnel test Int. J. numec methods eng, 15, 1823–1848.
Gioda G. & Sakurai S. 1987. Back analysis procedures for the
interpretation of field measurements in geo mechanics.
Int. J. for Num. & Anal. Meth. in Geo mech 555–583
Jurina L., Maier G. & Podolak K. 1977 On model identifi-
cation problems in rock mechanics. Proc. Symp. on the
Geotechnics of structurally Complex Formations, Capri.
Maier, G., Giannessi, F. & Nappi, A. 1982. Indirect identifi-
cation of yield limits by mathematical programming Eng
Struct, 4, 86–98.
Sakurai, S. & Takeuchi, K. 1983. Back Analysis of Measured
Displacements of Tunnels Rock Mech. & Rock Engng 16,
173–180.
Xue, L. 1994. Identification theorem for visco-elastic
mechanical model of rock mass and its application.
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Journal of rock mechanics and engineering

144
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on failure process and fracture modes of a rock bridge under stress by
laser real time holographic interferometry

D.M. Liu
School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China

S.J. Miao
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Why and how the rock bridges were fractured is always interested. The experimental results
of laser real time holographic interferometry for the deforming and fracturing process of a rock bridge in the
granite specimen under the compressive and shear stress are obtained. Based on the interpretation of laser real
time holographic interference active fringes patterns and its distortion, the process of deformation and failure
of the rock bridge and its fracture mechanisms are continuously shown and visually revealed. The rock bridge
cracks with the diverse fracture modes during its failure process under the different stresses, the deforming and
fracturing mechanisms from dynamic fracture process of rock bridge is more in accord with practice.

1 INTRODUCTION real-time, continuous, non-destructive, full field, and

Rock differs from most other engineering materials in
that it contains fractures of one type or another which
render its structure discontinuities (Brady & Brown
2004). Rock mass consist essentially of intact rock
and discontinuities. Properties of rock discontinuities
govern the overall behavior of the rock masses. Failure
of engineering rock mass usually contains both the dis-
continuities such as joints developing and rock bridges
fracturing. Generally, the breakage and failure of rock
bridges is extremely easy to cause the instability of
rock mass and further inducing geological hazards.
Consequently, rock bridges failure and its fracture
mechanism have been closely focusing by academia
and engineering community of rock mechanics for a
long time (Lajtai 1969, Einstein et a1. 1983). Many
researchers had studied on the model tests, theoreti-
cal and numerical analysis of failure process of rock
bridges, the representation of these researching results
are listed such as Shen et a1. 1995, Wong & Chau
1998, Zhu et al. 1998, Du & Chen 2002, Li et al.
2005, Liu & Xia 2006, etc al. Due to the complex-
ity of geological environment and limitations of the
test methods, the failure process of rock bridges and
its fracturing mechanism is still not very clear up till
now. If failure process of rock bridges was observed
and studied in the real-time and continuous way, it is
expected to provide a new effective researching path
and some awareness. We had used laser real-time holo-
graphic interferometry to measure the deformation
and failure of loading rock specimens in laboratory,
the testing results provides an exact prove that laser
real-time holographic interferometry, as one of the
modern optical methods, does is of advantages with
high precision. laser real-time holographic interferom-
etry can visually display the cracking and coalescing
process of rock containing the intermittent cracks and
the deforming and fracturing behaviors of rocks in the
meso-scope scale sensitivity (Liu et al. 2006, Liu &
Zhou 2008, Cai & Liu 2009).
In this paper, the laser real-time holographic inter-
ferometry is applied to the experimental observation
for the whole process of deformation and failure of a
rock bridge, which is equivalent for a non-penetrative
crack in the middle area of the rock specimen sub-
jected to the compressive and shear loading. After
the experiment of laser real time holographic inter-
ferometry for the process of the rock bridge in the
environment of the compressive and shear stress, laser
real time holographic interference active fringes pat-
terns for the deforming and fracturing process of the
rock bridge are obtained. On the basis of the deform-
ing and fracturing phenomenon revealed by laser real
time holographic interference active fringes patterns
and its distortion, the process of deformation and fail-
ure of the rock bridge and its fracture modes are
studied in the meso-scope scale level, and the mecha-
nism of the deformation and failure of the rock bridge
are acquired. Authors hope to provide theory founda-
tion for researching the instability and destruction of
engineering rock mass and its security warning.
2 EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS
In the experiment of laser real-time holographic inter-
ferometry for rock bridges failure, granite specimens

145
are chosen as the tested rock specimen, the size of gran-
ite specimens is about 20 mm × 40 mm × 50 mm, and
the surface size of the granites specimen for observa-
tions is 40 mm × 50 mm. The end effect of the rock
specimens are decreased with end friction reducer
before testing. Loading mode of granite specimens is
coupling compressive and shear loading as shown in
Cai & Liu (2009).
According to the principles of laser real time holo-
graphic interferometry and rock mechanics, the design
for the loading system of rock mechanics and laser
real-time holographic interference optical system was
finished. In the experimental system, He-Ne laser is
used as the light source. The layout of the optical and
loading system and the experimental scenes and pro-
cedures were listed in the literature Liu & Zhou (2008),
Cai & Liu (2009). To keep the granite specimens stable
for the experimental measurement of laser real-time
holographic interferometry, a little initial compressive
and shear force should be supplied to the specimen on
the free rolling rigid briquette in loading frames with
vertical and horizontal jack. The experimental results
were recorded in the series of AVI images with the
active interferential fringes and loading values on the
rock specimen.

3 PROCESS OF A ROCK BRIDGE FAILURE

3.1 Focusing on a rock bridge in granite specimen

When a researcher from rock mechanics watch the
statue for macro failure of the rock bridge in the middle
area of a granite specimen under the compressive and
shear loading shown in Figure 1, he or she will spon-
taneously think of the kinking crack plane extended in
the horizontal direction controlling the failure of the
granite specimen. Then he or she will certainly try to
make sure how this process happens in the specimen,
where is the key section which deformation and failure
governing the overall destruction of the specimen, and
are there any differences between the block referred
by the white arrow and the surrounding blocks in the
Figure 1. It is very difficulty to obtain the precise
answers for these questions in the conventional study
of rock mechanics. In this study, authors try to seek
out the exact answers for these questions.
Through the experimental measurements and obser-
vations of laser real time holographic interferome-
try for the failure process of the granite specimen,
there is a key block referred by the white arrow in
Figure 1 controlling the damage and failure of the gran-
ite specimen, here the key block can be equivalent to a
rock bridge i.e. the deformation and failure of the rock
bridge under the compressive and shear loading is link-
ing the key mechanism of the granite specimen failure.
Laser real time holographic interference active fringes
patterns of the process of deformation and failure
for loaded rock specimen clearly show the deforming
and penetrating process of the rock bridge as seen in
Figure 2. Figure 2 contains static images catching from
Figure 1. A statue of the macro failure of the rock bridge
in the middle area of a granite specimen under compressive
and shear loading.
an AVI video in laser real time holographic interfer-
ence active fringes patterns. In Figure 2, the white
arrow refers to the direction of active fringes move-
ments, a white circle indicates the location of the rock
bridge. There are a series of active fringes in the inter-
ferograms of the granite specimen’ surface in Figure
2. Between the distributing character on these holo-
graphic interference active fringes patterns and the
deformation and failure of the granite specimen exists
the intrinsic relations, which will be established on the
basis of the effective interpretation of the holographic
interference active fringes.
3.2 Interpretation of the active fringes patterns
The identification and interpretation of holographic
interference fringes is how to acquire the knowledge of
the deformation and fracture of the objective specimen
based on the holographic interference fringes patterns.
It is an important content of the processing of the
experimental results from laser real time holographic
interferometry. Obviously, the effective interpretation
of the holographic interference active fringes for rock
specimens is also the key to getting and explaining the
information on the process of the deformation and fail-
ure of rock. According to the principle of holographic
interferometry and the basis of orientation and its

146
interpretation on laser holographic interference active
fringes patterns (Briers 1976), combining the intrinsic
properties of the deformation and failure of rock, the
real-time holographic interference fringes active pat-
terns obtained during the process of deformation and
failure of rock under loading can be interpreted (Cai &
Liu 2009). The interpretation of the active fringes
is mainly described as below. The quantities of rock
deformed are directly related to the shape, space and
order of interference active fringe. Each interferential
fringe represents an equal-displacement line of rock
deformed. The deformation value at every point of the
rock which are in the same order number of the fringe is
equal. Strip of the fringes in the shear and compressive
loading direction represents the in plane vertical and
horizontal deformation respectively. The fringes with
closed shape moving out of plane seeming spring out
indicates the out of plane displacement in rock which
reveals rock appearing dilatancy.The dense fringes and
more fringes appeared in unit time indicate large defor-
mation value, instead, small deformation value. The
fringes in inflective strip or distortion fringes indicate
the existence of micro cracks and the complex local
stress environment. Interference fringes more dense,
surface deformation larger; instead, surface deforma-
tion smaller. Accordingly, the answers will be given
accurately in meso-scope scale level for the process
of forming macro fracture image of the rock bridge as
shown in Figure 1.

3.3 Process of a rock bridge failure

In Figure 2a, strip of holographic interference active
fringes appear in three directions as shown in the three
regions respectively A, B and C, which show the exis-
tence of three localized deforming regions on the
surface of granite specimen correspond to the blocks
A, B and C. The blocks A, B and C intersect together in
the area of a white circle where located at the section of
a non-penetrating crack i.e. the block of a rock bridge
located. Holographic interference active fringes move
dominant in plane, which indicate in plane deforming
and does not appear obvious dilatancy in the gran-
ite specimen, at this moment, the stress state is that
the compressive stress σi equals to 0.75σu and shear
stress τi equals to 0.36τu . The rock bridge will propa-
gate cracking. The junction of blocks A and B show a
crack.
Keeping the compressive stress constant, increasing
shear stress from 0.36τu to 0.55τu , the correspond-
ing holographic interferometry active fringes patterns
appear changes from Figure 2a→Figure 2b→Figure
2c→Figure 2d. In Figures 2b, c, d, three regions of
localized deformation on the granite specimen’surface
corresponding to the blocks A, B and C are formed
very obviously. Stripe of fringes on block A gradu-
ally become perpendicular to the applied shear stress
direction, which indicates the shear deformation along Figure 2. Static images of real time holographic interfer-
the horizontal direction. Stripe of fringes on the block ence active fringes patterns for the deforming and fracturing
C is gradually perpendicular to the applied compres- process of a rock bridge in the middle area of a granite
sive stress direction, which indicates the compressive specimen under compressive and shear loading.

147
deformation along the vertical direction. The active
fringes with the circles shape move out of plane seem-
ing spring out near rock bridge on the block B, then
continuous moving in plane along the inclined arrow
direction and the fringes space larger, which show
smaller dilational deformation on the rock bridge play-
ing a controlling role on the deformation of the area B.
Furthermore, the dilational deformation induces the
deformation of the junction between blocks A and B.
In Figures 2b, c and d, as a result of dilatancy on the
rock bridge, strip of the holographic interferometry
active fringes located at the junction became close to
the horizontal direction, and it intersect the strip of
fringes on area A in the angle approximate 90◦ and
simultaneously stretch to the rock bridge. The active
fringes located at the junction are very dense and move
out of plane, particularly obvious visible in Figure 2d,
which display both out of plane displacement and shear
deformation on the crack surface. The crack is devel-
oping and its cracking mode is mixed I and II. The
growth of the crack overlays a driving force for the
deformation and fracture of the rock bridge near the
crack tip. At this time, the rock bridge endures the ten-
sile and shear stress, the local tensile crack of the rock
bridge induces mixed local tensile and shear fracture.
Keeping shear stress τi equal to 0.55τu , increasing
compressive stress σi from 0.75σu to 0.88σu , then to
1.0σu , the corresponding holographic interferometry
active fringes patterns display changes from Figure 2
(d) → 2 (e) → 2 (f) → 2 (g). Stripe of the fringes
on the area A is nearly same as the previous stress
state. It seems the changes of the far-field compres-
sive stress do not affects the deforming field on the
area A. Stripe of the fringes on the area C is nearly
parallel to the horizontal direction, the fringes space
become more dense with the increment of compres-
sive stress, which the larger compressive deformation
are formed on the area C under these stress stages. The
fringes on the area B is in intensive distortion and local
moving out of plane, which indicates the area B not
only enduring the obvious compressive deformation
and localized dilatancy but also localized cracking.
The effusive circle fringes out of plane in the injection
of the areas A and B shows the existence of the obvi-
ous compressive deformation and local out of plane
displacement, which indicates the crack section com-
pressed and localized tear cracking. During this stress
stage, the rock bridge experiences the effects of both
area B and area C and bears larger compressive stress
until the change of the stress state.
Keeping the compressive stress constant, increas-
ing shear stress from 0.55τu to 0.64τu , then to
0.73τu , and to 1.0τu until rock failure, the corre-
sponding holographic interferometry active fringes
patterns change from Figure 2g→Figure 2h→Figure
2i→Figure 2j→the macro-scope destruction state of
the granite specimen shown in Figure 1. The holo-
graphic interferometry active fringes patterns on the
specimen’ surface is divided into two zones which
consisting of the upper and lower zones in the bound-
ary of the central crack section and the rock bridge
148
region. Stripes of the fringes are nearly vertical to
the shear loading direction, just lower stripes slightly
inclined. The fringes spaces on the specimen’ sur-
face are intensive dense, especially on the rock bridge
undistinguishable as shown in Figure 2h. In Figure 2i,
the holographic interferometry active fringes patterns
only emerges from the specimen’ surface left below
zone, and it nearly disappears on the other zone. In Fig-
ure 2j, there are nothing besides the sparking speckles
on the specimen’ surface. These optical phenomena on
the specimen’ surface reveals granite specimen in the
state of the larger deformation and critical failure. This
process shows that the specimen occur the dilational
deformation and the shear deformation along the crack
surface. The extension of mode II fracture along the
crack surface is blocked at the rock bridge and also
drives the rock bridge site to further form the shear
dilation fracture, which display in Figure 1. In Figure 1,
the lower picture for the local amplification of the rock
bridge shows two intersection cracks with black lines,
and this is the development of the two intersection
cracks penetrating the rock bridge and inducing its
final destruction. In Figures 2h, j, there is a visible strip
with sparking speckles from the centre of specimen’
surface extending to right below, where corresponds
to the location of the downward crack marked by the
black line in Figure 1. The rock bridge cracks and is
penetrated through the lower site. The limited failure of
the rock bridge results from the inclined upward crack
marked by the black line in Figures 1 growing and coa-
lescing. Fracture mode of the rock bridge derives from
the tensile cracking and further inducing mixed tensile
and shear fracture.
4 FRACTURE MODES OF THE ROCK
BRIDGE
Based on the above analysis for the process of the
deformation and failure of the rock bridge referred
to a white arrow marked in Figure 1 under the com-
pressive and shear loading, the fracture mode of the
rock bridge are summarized as the following.
Under the environment of far field compressive
and shear loading, the surrounding of the rock bridge
appears the localized zonal deformations. With the
increase of compressive and shear stress, the dilation
deformation of the rock bridge will intensively induce
the localized deformation in its near block, which lead
localized mode I cracking to form a crack and to fur-
ther produce mixed I and II mode cracking. The tip
zone of the extending crack is blocked at the loca-
tion of the rock bridge, simultaneously the developing
crack also drives the deformation and fracture of the
rock bridge. Under the high far-field compressive and
shear stress especially the domination of shear stress,
the mode II development of the crack body drives the
dilatancy distortion of the rock bridge, the crack body
bifurcates at the rock bridge site, then develops along
the inclined downward direction in fracture mode II
and finally penetrates through the rock bridge. As the
far field shear loads increase, the horizontal crack con-
tinuously grows in fracture mode II and again drives
the dilatancy distortion of the rock bridge, as a result,
the local tensile cracking conduces the crack devel-
oping along the inclined upward direction in mixed I
and II modes and cuts through the rock bridge, finally
leading to the overall instability and failure of the gran-
ite specimen. Mechanism on the rock bridge fracture is
essentially due to the mixed fracture of the local tensile
and shear induced by the local tensile cracking. During
the deformation and failure of rock specimen under the
compressive and shear loading, the rock bridge more
than once experiences the diverse cracking modes in
the different stress stages, and the accumulations of
the effects of the deformation and fracture of the rock
bridge lead to the final failure of the granite specimen.
Actually, the failure of rock bridge block shown in Fig-
ure 1 necessarily results from the effects of tensile and
shear and torsion failure together.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The experimental measurements of laser real-time
holographic interferometry for rock and the above
analysis have given a powerful proof for its unique
advantages. It can visually and precisely answer the
problems on the localized deformation and fracture
of rock bridges in meso-scope scale level, which is
difficulty for the conventional method.
Under the compression and shear loading, the holo-
graphic interference active fringes patterns for the
process of the deformation and failure of the rock
bridge in the granite specimen exposures that the
fracture behavior of the rock bridge located at non
penetrating crack section plays a dominative role in
the whole process of the deformation and failure of
the granite specimen. The surrounding of the rock
bridge appears the localized zonal deformations. The
dilational deformation of the rock bridge intensively
induces the localized deformation in its near block,
which lead localized mode I cracking to form a crack
and to further produce mixed I and II mode crack-
ing, The cracking tip zone is blocked at the location
of the rock bridge, simultaneously the cracking also
drives the deformation and fracture of the rock bridge.
Macro fracture of the rock bridge surely results from
the accumulation of the effects of the several deform-
ing and the diverse fracturing modes on the rock bridge
in meso-scope scale level. Authors think rock bridges
crack with the diverse fracture modes in its failure pro-
cess subjected to different stresses, it is more in accord
with practice for using the ideal of dynamic fracture
process to study the deformation and fracturing mech-
anism of rock bridges. This research is of the important
significance for deeply understanding the process of
rock bridges failure and its mechanism. The practical
effects of laser real-time holographic interferometry
149
on rock fracture mechanics in meso-scope scale level
are more than once verified.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The financial supports provided by the National Natu-
ral Science Foundation of China (50164004) and Zhe-
jiang Sci-Tech University (0714060Y) are gratefully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Brady, B.H.G. & Brown, E.T. 2004. Rock Mechanics
for underground mining. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic
Publishers.
Briers J.D. 1976. Review the interpretation of holographic
interferograms. Optical and Quantum Electronics 8(6):
469–501.
Cai, M.F. & Liu, D.M. 2009. Study of failure mecha-
nisms of rock under compressive–shear loading using
real-time laser holography. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences 46(1): 59–68.
Du, J.C. & Chen, Z.Y. 2002. A simplified discontinuity
propagation model and its application in mechanics of
rock mass. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
24(4): 421–426.
Einstein, H.H., Veneziano, D., Baecher, G.B. & O’Reilly
K.J. 1983. The effect of discontinuity persistence on rock
slope stability. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics Abstracts 20(5):
227–236.
Lajtai, E.Z. 1969. Strength of discontinuous rocks in direct
shear. Geotechnique 19(2): 218–233.
Li, L.Y., Xu, F.G., Gao, F., Wang, L. & Che, F.X. 2005. Frac-
ture mechanics analysis of rock bridge failure mechanism.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
24(23): 4328–4334.
Liu, D.M., Cai, M.F., Zhou,Y.B. & Chen, Z.Y. 2006. Dynamic
monitoring on developing process of rock cracks. Chi-
nese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 25(3):
467–472.
Liu, D.M. & Zhou, Y.B. 2008. Application of laser real-time
HI to investigation of mesomechanical behaviors of rock.
Proceedings of the International Young Scholars’ Sympo-
sium on Rock Mechanics–Boundaries of Rock Mechanics
Recent Advances and Challenges for the 21st Century :
105–108 Leiden: Taylor & Francis/Balkema.
Liu, Y.M. & Xia, C.C. 2006. Study on models and strength
behavior of rock mass containing discontinuous joints in
direct shear. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineer-
ing 28(10): 1242–1247.
Shen, B., Stephansson, O., Einstein, H.H. & Ghahreman, B.
1995. Coalescence of fractures under shear stresses in
experirnents. Journal of Geophysical Research 100(B4):
5975–5990.
Wong, R.H.C. & Chau, K.T. 1998. Crack coalescence in a
rock-like material containing two cracks. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 35(2):
147–164.
Zhu, W.S., Chen W.Z., Shen, J. 1998. Simulation experiment
and fracture mechanism study on propagation of eche-
lon pattern cracks. Acta Mechanica Solida Sinica 19(4):
355–360.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on deterioration law of rock strength parameters based

on PFC simulation method

Y. Liu, M.F. Cai, Z.J. Yang, W.C. Wu & X. Chen

School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Based on the traditional strength theory of rock, PFC is used to simulate the uniaxial and triaxial
rock mechanical tests and to analyze the change law of C and ϕ. It is sure that cracks development influences on
rock strength. By PFC simulation method, rock micro-cracking is monitored with the inter-monitoring function
of PFC. Shear cracks, tensile cracks and frictional energy are monitored. Based on the monitoring results, two
equivalent plastic strain indexes are optimized, as 0.015 and 0.037 respectively. Making the optimized CWFS
constitutive model inserting into the FLAC simulation, comparing the stress-strain curves of triaxial compression
obtained by numerical modeling and by laboratory test, it is proved that the optimized values of the two equivalent
plastic strain indexes are reliable and reasonable. The study provides a basis for the engineering application.

1 INTRODUCTION

Study on damage of rock mass is similar to other

materials, the basic problem is damage process and
it is the basis of rock mass stability analysis. It is well
known that idealized curve of rock deformation can be
some stages: initial compaction, elastic deformation,
yield process, peak damage and residual strength, they
correspond to deformation process and failure mech-
anism. The rock damage process indicates the failure
mechanism and is the internal cause of rock construc-
tive. So, we can only know the internal reason, the rock
constructive equation with rock nature characteristics
can be established.
And then, it is important value that the damage pro-
cess and failure mechanism of rock are studied from
rock micro-side. So, the PFC (particle flow code) is Figure 1. The relation curve between cohesion and friction
used to simulate rock damage process from micro-side and equivalent plastic strain.
and by the simulated results, the mechanical behavior
and failure mechanism of rock are analyzed. Based
on stress-strain curve of rock simulated by PFC, the simultaneously. By many rock simulated tests, there is
parameters of CWFS (Cohesion weaken and Friction a deteriorated district around surrounding rock mass.
strengthen) model are optimized. At the deteriorated district, the mechanical parameters
have obviously changed compared with unexcavated.
In order to show the deteriorated characteristics of rock
parameters, the PFC method is used to simulate the
2 THE CWFS MODE OF ROCK
rock mechanic test and to optimize the CWFS model
(Jiang 2008).
Currently, the strength theories mainly used to simu-
The CWFS model (Martin 1993) mainly shows
late rock failure process are Mohr-Coulomb, Drucker-
the relation between cohesion and friction and plas-
Prager, Hoek-Brown. Those constructive models make
tic strain, in that the cohesion weakening and friction
C and φ to fixed value.
strengthen, shown in Figure 1. In the CWFS model,
It is no effective using Mohr-Coulomb, Drucker-
the C and φ are variables of plastic strain, shown
Prager, Hoek-Brown to simulate rock damage studied
in equation (1), equivalent plastic strain shown in
by Hajiabdolmajid, Kaiser P K and Martin C D. So,
equation (2).
the CWFS model is defined on the basis of Mohr-
Coulomb strength theory. The study shows that: under
loading, the parameters (C and φ) of rock effected

151
Figure 2. Cracks development effects on rock strength by
PFC method.
where: τ ∗ shear strength of rock; σn normal stress at
failure surface of rock; c cohesion of rock; εp equiv-
alent plastic strain; f(σ, εp ) yield function; f(c, εp ) –
equivalent plastic function of cohesion; f(σn , εp ) tan ϕ
equivalent plastic function of friction. Figure 3. The developed law of cracks under loading force.
(a) the initial cracks between particles; (b) the formed
macro-cracks (red is shear cracks, black is tensile cracks);
(c) the actual macro-crack of rock mechanical test.

where: dε1 , dε2 , dε3 – three main increments of plastic

p p p

strain.

3 THE CRACKS DEVELOP AND STRENGTH

DETERIORATION OF ROCK

The PFC theory is used to analyze the effect of cracks

development on rock strength. The effect on rock
strength is shown in Figure 2.
From Figure 2, it shows that: as the load increase,
the bonds between rock particles continue to fail-
ure for the loading force. And then, the micro-cracks
are formed. Under the continued loading, the micro-
cracks gradually developed and continuous expand,
so macro-cracks are formed. The damaged process is
defined rock brittle failure.
In order to study on cohesion weakening and fric-
tion strengthen, PFC is used to simulate rock mechan-
ical tests. In the simulation process, crack and AE
monitoring functions of PFC are used to monitor ten-
sile cracks and shear cracks inducing by loading force.
Based on the monitoring cracks, the dynamic changed
law of cohesion and friction can be analyzed.
Based on rock mechanical test, the uniaxial test and
triaxial test is shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4, respec-
tively. The figures show that tensile cracks and shear
cracks still change under continuous loading.
In mining engineering, surrounding rock mass often
accompanied by some lower strength rock. So, the
strength parameters of rock mass are gradual dete-
riorated in the rock excavation process. In order to
make the CWFS model use in actual engineering, its
parameters should be optimized.
Figure 4. The evolution of micro-cracks distribution
between particles under triaxial loading. (a) 40% loading;
(b) 60% loading; (c) 80% loading; (d) 100%loading; (e) the
actual macro-crack of rock mechanical test.
cohesive force change process in loading process
by damage control test. Wong obtained the relation
between stress and plastic strain by uniaxial com-
paction test (Wong 1996). Martin studied on Lac du
Bonnet granite using damage control test, εc and
p
εf are obtained (Martin 1997). Hajiabdolmajid ana-
p
lyzed two plastic strain index based on many tests,
εc = 0.002; εf = 0.005, and they are empirical values
p p
(Hajiabdolmajid 2001 & Hajiabdolmajid 2002).
On the basis of Griffith shear criteria (Griffiths
1999), the relation between cohesion and friction can
be shown in equation (3) with Mohr-Coulomb criteria.
In the uniaxial compress test process, the equation
(3) can be shown in equation (4):

4 PARAMETERS OPTIMIZATION OF CWFS Because of the initial value of cohesion force is 0,

AND SIMULATION VALIDATION the initial crack strength can be shown in equation (5).

4.1 Parameters optimization

The initial cohesive force and frictional force of CWFS Rock mechanical tests and simulation method are
model can be obtained difficultly. Martin study on used to optimize the parameters of CWFS in order to

152
 Table 1. The optimized results of CWFS parameters.

One Two Three

1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 Mean

C0 21.2 23 24 23.3 25 20 23 21.5 24 22.8

Cr 5 3 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 4.3
ϕ0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
ϕr 46 48 46 45 44 50 48 50 40 46.3
εc 0.016 0.01 0 0.02 0 0 0 0 0 0.015
p

εf 0.042 0.03 0 0.04 0 0 0 0 0 0.037

p

Figure 5. The curves of rigid uniaxial test and PFC

simulation.

Figure 6. The curve of cracks and frictional energy.

obtain the more reliable values: initial cohesive force,

residual cohesive force, residual friction value and
its corresponding equivalent plastic strain index. The
curves of rock rigid test and PFC simulation are shown
in Figure 5. Rock cracks, tensile cracks, shear cracks
and frictional energy are shown in Figure 6 (only one
rock mechanical test).
Figure 5 and Figure 6 show that: when triaxial strain
is between 0.016 and 0.002, tensile cracks increase
and cohesive force begin to active. Based on damage
control theory, the obtained initial cohesive force is
21.2 Mpa, εc = 0.016.
p

The curves of shear cracks and frictional energy

show that: when triaxial strain is between 0.044 and
0.048, total cracks and energy tend towards stability,
and then the rock is to residual stage. So, the residual
cohesive force is 5 Mpa, εf = 0.0042.
p

By three group rock sample, the obtained model

parameters are shown in Table 1.
The parameters values are that: c0 = 22.8 MPa; Figure 7. The simulated curves by optimized CWFS model.
cr = 4.3 MPa; φ0 = 0; φr = 46.3◦ ; εc = 0.015; εf =
p p

0.037.
4.2 Simulation validation
In order to validate the optimized parameters, espe-
cially two equivalent plastic strain index, FLAC2D is
used to simulate uniaxial and triaxial test of rock with
optimized CWFS model. Different values of equiva-
lent plastic strain are studied, and make a comparative
analysis of the simulated results.
The simulated results with different equivalent
plastic strains are shown in Figure 7.
The strain-stress curves show that: for different
plastic strain parameters, the characteristics of rock
material are same, but its peak strength and residual
strength is different. The Figure 7 shows that, if εf /εc
p p
is bigger, the rock is more easy to peak strength and
not easier to show plastic characteristics. If εf /εc is
p p

153
between 2 and 2.5, the simulated curves (3 and 4) are
more consistent to tested curves of rock rigid test. So,
εc = 0.015 and εf = 0.037 are reliable.
p p
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. Based on the traditional strength theory of rock, the
change law of two equivalent plastic strain index
of CWFS model is analyzed, and PFC is used to
simulate the uniaxial and triaxial rock mechanical
tests and to analyze the change law of C and φ.
It is sure that cracks development influences on
rock strength (cohesion weakening and friction
strengthen).
2. In the simulated process of rock uniaxial and
triaxial test by PFC method, rock micro-cracks
are monitoring with its inter-monitoring function.
Shear cracks, tensile cracks and frictional energy
are monitored. Based on the monitoring results, two
equivalent plastic strain indexes are optimized, as
0.015 and 0.037 respectively.
3. Making the optimized CWFS constitutive model
inserting into the FLAC simulation, comparing
the stress-strain curves of triaxial compression
obtained by numerical modeling and by labora-
tory test, it is proved that the optimized values
(0.015 and 0.037) of the two equivalent plastic
strain indexes are reliable and reasonable. The study
provides a basis for the engineering application.
154
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The project is supported by the National High Tech-
nology Research and Development Program of China
(863 Program) (No. 2008AA062104) and the State
Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation
of China (No. 51034001).
REFERENCES
Griffiths, D.V. & Lane, P.A. 1999. Slope stability analysis by
finite elements. Geotechnique 49(3): 387–403.
Hajiabdolmajid. 2001. Mobilization of strength in brittle
failure of rock. Queen’s University, Kingston, Canda.
Hajiabdomajid, V., Kaiser, P. K., & Martin, C. D. 2002. Mod-
eling brittle failure of rock. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 39(5): 731–741.
Jiang, Q., Feng, X.T., & Chen, G.Q. 2008. Study on consti-
tutive model of hard rock considering surrounding rock
deterioration under high geostresses. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 27(1):144–152.
Martin, C.D. 1993. The strength of Massive Lac du Bon-
net Granite around Underground Openings. University of
Manitoba.
Martin C.D. 1997. Seventeenth Canadian Geotechnical Col-
loquium: The effect of cohesion loss and stress path on
brittle rock strength. Canadian Geotechnical Journal,
34(5): 698–725.
Wong, R.H.C, Chan, K.T. & Wang, P. 1996. Microcracking
and grain size effect in Yuen Long Marbles. Interna-
tional Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences,
Pergamon Press, 33(5): 479–485.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Fracture analysis of jointed rock mass based on nonlinear FEM

and physical experiment

Y.R. Liu, Z.X. Cui & Q. Yang

A.A. State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

L. Zhang
Department of Electronics and Information Engineering, Handan Polytechnic College, Handan, China

ABSTRACT: The mechanical properties of jointed rock mass are very complex because of the existence of
joints and fractures. Traditional fracture analysis focuses on the propagation of the fracture and proposed some
propagation criterions based on the fracture mechanics and damage mechanics. However, as the current analysis
is limited in planar problem, their propagation criterions cannot be easily applied in practice. Based on nonlinear
finite element method, this paper presents a new theory that the occurrence of the unbalanced force (derived
from the Deformation Reinforcement Theory) could be the criterion of the initiation of the fracture, and the
distribution area and propagation of the unbalanced force could be the indication of the fracture propagation
direction. Numerical simulation on jointed rock mass specimens has been conducted, and compared with physical
experiments. The result shows that it is an effective way to use unbalanced force to analyze the fracture initiation
and propagation of the jointed rock mass.

1 INTRODUCTION Criterions for the initiation and propagation of

The rock is heterogeneous and anisotropic brittle mate-
rial. Its fracturing process has close ties with the
deformation and failure. Currently there are two meth-
ods in the fracture analysis on jointed rock mass:
fracture mechanics and continuum damage mechanics
(Yang 1995, Geersa et al. 2000). Fracture mechan-
ics and damage mechanics were combined by some
researchers (Blackburn 2000, Van Vroonhovena et al.
1999). The numerical tools include Finite Element
Method (FEM) (Tang 1999,Tang et al. 2003), extended
FEM (Dumstorffz et al. 2007, Fang et al. 2007), Ele-
ment Free Method (Kou et al. 2000, Huang et al. 2006),
Boundary Element Method (Xiao et al. 2003), Discrete
Element Method (Hou et al. 2007), Numerical Mani-
fold Method (Wang et al. 1997), Lattice model (Yang
et al. 2000) and etc.
Several models have been proposed in the frac-
ture simulation: The Damage Mechanics Model (Wu
1988), Brittle Elastic Fracture Damage Constitutive
Model (Zhu et al. 1999), Equivelent Continuum Model
(Zhu et al. 1992), Element Aggregation Model (Qin
et al. 2001), Damage Fracture Mechanics Model (Zhou
et al. 1991), The Crack Model (Huang et al. 1997)
and etc. Models to simulate the fracture propagation
include Smeared Fracture Model (Hillerborg et al.
1976) and Discrete Fracture Model (Bazant 1982). In
the first model, the fracture was simulated by parallel
and serried elements. In the second one, separating the
grid is required in simulating the fracture (Blackburn
2000, Bouchard et al. 2003).
the fracture include: maximum tensile stress criterion
(Erdogan 1963), Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) criterion
(Yang 1995), maximum energy release rate criterion
(Hussain et al. 1993, Palaniswamy 1978), minimum
strain energy density criterion (Sih 1974, Cotterell
et al. 1980, Theocaris et al. 1982).
The above solutions are effective in the planar anal-
ysis. However, the choosing of criterion is difficult
when extended to 3-dimensional structure. Besides,
the numerical methods are mainly based on linear plas-
tic, while the actual rock is nonlinear material. This
paper presents the unbalanced force theory (derived
from nonlinear FEM (Yang Q et al. 2008)). That the
occurrence of unbalanced force could be the criterion
of the initiation of fracture, and the distribution area
could be the indication of the fracture propagation
direction. Numerical simulation and physical exper-
iments on pre-fracture plaster specimens proved this
theroy.
2 FRACTURE ANALYSIS BASED
ON NONLINEAR FEM
2.1 The unbalanced force theory
The rock is nonlinear material, and the current numeri-
cal analysis is mainly based on elasto-plasticity. Under
given load, if the structure could not maintain sta-
ble, there is no solution that could simultaneously
satisfy equilibrium condition, the displacement and

155
stress fields and constitutive equations (including
yield conditions).
Considering the arbitrary kinematical and equi-
librium stress-field, σ1 , and kinematical and stable
stress-field, σ, their difference is the plastic-stress
increment field σ p :
The plastic-stress increment field σ p leads to the
plastic strain increment field εp << C : σ p , while
C is the fourth order compliance tensors. Then Q is
the equivalent nodal force to plastic-stress increment
field σ p which is called unbalanced forces:
Define a Euclidean space about stress field, and an
arbitrary stress field is a point in the Euclidean space.
Suppose a structure whose volume is V, if metric tensor
is C/2, plastic complementary energy can be defined as
This equation shows that E is also the norm of
plastic stress increment field σ p . If E = 0 then σ p
is always zero and the structure is stable. If E > 0 the
structure is unstable.
2.2 Fracture analysis on jointed rock mass
The structure is unstable if there is unbalanced force
in some area under the given loads. So the unbalanced
force can be used to evaluate the fracturing of rock.
The unbalanced forces are self-balanced. The area
where unbalanced forces occur is the location where
the fracture initiates. The development of the unbal-
anced force is the process of the propagation of the
fracture.
2.3 Criterion of the fracture propagation
In the traditional theory of elasto-plastic fracture
mechanics, the fracture criterion is G = Gc . The rela-
tionship between SIF and energy release rate is as
follows (Bazant,1982):
where KI, KII and KIII are Stress Intensity Factor for
mode-I, mode-II and mode-III respectively.
G = Gc could be rewritten as K = Kc, where Kc is
the limit of SIF.
It is difficult to calculate SIF in the FEM analysis.
Suppose FEM is used to analyze the structure shown in
Figure 1. When the loads σ < σc , K < Kc , the fracture
does not extend. When σ = σc , K = Kc , the fracture is
in the critical state. When σ > σc , K > Kc , the frac-
ture extends. At this time, external forces F ∗ were
156
Figure 1. Typical loading conditions of fracture.
required in order to restrict the propagation of fracture.
That means if SIF incurred by F ∗ meets the condition
K∗ < Kc − K, rewritten as K∗ + Kc < K, the fracture
will not extend. F ∗ represents the unbalanced force
derived from the elasto-plastic FEM calculation.
In traditional FEM, the unbalanced force is sure to
incur, if Q represents the unbalanced force, and F is
external loads, this equation can be rewritten
where K−Q and KF are SIF under −Q and F
respectively.
That is, the composition of SIF incurred by external
loads and the force opposite to the unbalanced force
is equal to the permitted SIF. In elasto-plastic FEM
calculation, if the unbalanced force is close to 0 the
fracture will not propagate or in the critical state. While
if the unbalanced force cannot be iterated to 0, the
fracture will extend. As there is actually no additional
unbalanced force in physical structure, the structure
will fail in the area where unbalanced force occurs. So
the unbalanced force can be used to determine where
and how the fracture extends.
3 NONLINEAR FEM AND PHYSICAL
EXPERIMENT ON PRECRACK PLASTER
SPECIMENS
3.1 Physical specimen and numerical model
Physical specimen with precracks (shown in Figure 2)
was made of plaster of 15 mm × 15 mm × 15 mm. The
precracks (2 mm in width) were incised by ultrasound
drill. α represents the angle between the precrack and
the pressure-bearing surface. Its value is 0◦ , 30◦ , 60◦ ,
90◦ respectively. The length of precracks was fixed as
12 mm.
The finite element numerical meshes were gen-
erated according to the physical specimens (shown
in Figure 3). Drucker-Prager yield Criterion was
adopted in elasto-plastic FEM calculation with modu-
lus E = 5 GPa, Poisson’s ratio µ = 0.35, Bulk density
γ = 2 × 103 N/m3 , Internal friction coefficient f = 0.1,
cohesion c = 0.2 MPa.

Figure 2. Plaster specimen with Precracks
Figure 3. Finite element model of the precracks.
The bottom boundary inherited normal constraint
and Failure of loaded was simulated with nonlinear
FEM procedure.
3.2 The initiation of the fracture
Physical experiment results for the initiation of the
fracture are shown in figure 4 and unbalanced force
results are illustrated in figure 5. The unbalanced force
firstly occurred in the tips of the precracks, its direc-
tion was not along the precrack direction, but almost
perpendicular to the precrack.
157
Figure 4. Physical experiment results for the initiation of
the fracture.
Figure 5. Unbalanced force vector results for the initiation
of the fracture.
Compared Figure 4 with Figure 5, the nonlinear
FEM results coincides with the physical experiment
results in analyzing the initiation of the fracture.
3.3 The propagation of the fracture
Physical experiment results for the propagation of
the fracture are shown in Figure 6 (α = 0◦ ), Figure 8
(α = 30◦ ) and Figure 10 (α = 60◦ ). Unbalanced force
results are illustrated in Figure 7 (α = 0◦ ), Figure 9
(α = 30◦ ) and Figure 11 (α = 60◦ ). As the external
Figure 6. Physical experiment results for the propagation of
Figure 8. Physical experiment results for the propagation of
the fracture (α = 0◦ , loads increased).
the fracture(α = 30◦ , loads increased).

Figure 7. Unbalanced force vector results for the propaga- Figure 9. Unbalanced force vector results for the propaga-
tion of the fracture (α = 0◦ , loads increased). tion of the fracture (α = 30◦ , loads increased).

158

Figure 10. Physical experiment results for the propagation
of the fracture (α = 60◦ , loads increased).
Figure 11. Unbalanced force vector results for the propaga-
tion of the fracture (α = 60◦ , loads increased).
159
loads increased, the crack began to extend, and its
direction gradually tended to the direction of principal
compressive stress, at the same time, the unbalanced
force increased, the precracks themselves tended to
failure because of the shear stress.
By comparison, the nonlinear FEM results coincide
with the physical experiment results in analyzing the
propagation of the fracture.
4 CONCLUSION
This paper presents a new theory for fracture analysis
based on the unbalanced force derived from nonlinear
FEM. The area of the structure where the unbalanced
force occurred is the location where the fracture may
initiate. The distribution area and propagation of the
unbalanced force could be the indication of the fracture
propagation direction. This theory could be imple-
mented in the analysis of practical fracture initiation
and propagation based on 3-D nonlinear finite ele-
ment analysis which had been widely used in rock soil
engineering.
The composition of SIF incurred by external loads
and unbalanced force is equal to the permitted SIF
when small area of the structure yielded and the frac-
ture began to extend. Compared with SIF incurred by
external loads, the unbalanced force is the force cal-
culated by FEM which is beyond the yield surface, as
a result the theory could also be applied to large yield
area.
By comparing the results of the numerical calcu-
lation and physical experiment, this theory could be
effective in fracture analysis of jointed rock mass.
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Bazant, Z.P. 1982. Crack band model for fracture of geomate-
rial. In: Eisenstein Z, ed. Proc 4th Int Conf on Numerical
Methods in Geomechanics, Edmonton: Univ of Alberta 3:
1137–1152.
Blackburn, W.S. 2000. A remeshing algorithm for three-
dimensional crack growth and intersection with surfaces
or cracks in non-coplanar planes. Eng Anal Bound Elem
24: 343–350.
Bouchard, P.O., Bay. F., Chastel,Y. 2003. Numerical modeling
of crack propagation: automatic remeshing and compari-
son of different criteria. Comput Method Appl Mech Eng
192: 3887–3908.
Chen,Y.Q., Zheng, X.P.,Yao, Z.H. 2003. Explanation of strain
softening and numerical modeling to the failure process of
laminated composite material. Chin J Comput Phys 20(1):
14–20.
Cotterell, B., Rice, J.R. 1980. Slightly curved or kinked
cracks. Int J Fract 16(1): 155–169.
Dumstorffz, P., Meschke, G. 2007. Crack propagation criteria
in the framework of X-FEM-based structural analyses. Int
J Numer Anal Meth Geomech 31: 239–259.
Erdogan, F., Sih, G.C. 1963. On the crack extension in plates
under plane loading and transverse shear. ASME J Basic
Eng 85(4): 519–527.
Fang, X.J., Jin, F., Wang. J.T. 2007. Simulation of mixed-
mode fracture of concrete using extended finite element
method. Eng Mech 24(Supp I): 46–52.
Geersa, M.G.D, De Borst, R., Peerlings, R.H.J. 2000 Dam-
age and crack modeling in single-edge and double-edge
notched concrete beams. Eng Fract Mech 65: 247–261.
Hillerborg, A., Modéer, M., Peterson, P.E. 1976. Analysis of
crack propagation and crack growth in concrete by means
of fracture mechanics and finite elements. Cem Concr Res
6: 773–782.
Hou, Y.L., Zhou, Y.D., Zhang, C.H. 2007. Tensile shear
mixed mode fracture analysis of concrete rock material
by distinct lement method. Chin J Comput Mech 24(6):
773–778, 784.
Huang, W.X., Wang, D.X., Xu, Q.C. 1997. The cracking of
high arch dam and the dam body optimization. Journal of
Hydroelectric Engineering (11):26–30.
Huang, Y.S., Zhou, W.Y., Hu, Y.J. 2006. Crack propaga-
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J ydraul Eng 37(1): 63–69.
Hussain, M.A., Pu, S.L., Underwood, J. 1993. Strain energy
release rate for a crack under combined mode I and mode
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STP 560, 2–28, Philadelphia, PA.American Society for
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elastic-plastic boundary as the core region in fracture
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FRACTURE DAMAGE CONSTITUTIVE MODEL OF
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neering 18(3):245–249.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on the constitutive relation of mudstone by nonlinear large

deformation measurement of borehole

Y.H. Lu, M. Chen, Y. Jin, J.B. Yuan, F. Zhang & L.C. Jia
State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Previously, the researches on the mechanical properties of mudstone mainly focus on the situation
of relatively small strain rate, which are appropriate for shallow formation borehole deformation; however, the
deep mudstone borehole failure is highly nonlinear. The true triaxial borehole nonlinear deformation mechanical
test system was developed for deficiency of laboratory test equipment simulation of borehole nonlinear defor-
mation under real stress state, borehole deformation experiments have been carried out under different stress
states to get stress-strain curves of borehole deformation. According to these borehole wall stress-strain curves,
the theoretical results and experimental results were compared by using constitutive model of mudstone based on
large deformation theory, and the results showed well fitting. Experimental study and establishment of mudstone
constitutive relation have some significance for the control theory of mudstone borehole nonlinear damage.

1 INTRODUCTION relationship between equivalent stress and equiva-

Wellbore stability technology is an important part
of drilling in petroleum engineering. It is definitely
related to the constitutive relation of rock deformation
whether calculation of formation stress or determin-
ing the safe mud window. The research on constitutive
theory of rock dates from the application of Hooke’s
law and the study of strength criterion. Coulomb
(1773) proposed rock shear failure criterion by rock-
soil mechanics experiments, however, this criterion
does not take into account the intermediate princi-
pal stress, the meridional plane is hexagon, the yield
surface is not smooth, which is very difficult in the
calculation process. Later, Drucker and Prager (1952)
promoted the Mises perfect plasticity model that pre-
sented yield conditions of material under the impact
of hydrostatic pressure. Lade model reflected the
impact of hydrostatic pressure and the proportional
loading under the yield condition, which is applica-
ble to the friction materials with cohesion (1977),
Tang (2000) give the plastic potential functions in the
process of proportional loading, established the con-
stitutive relation of plasticity total theory. Chen (1986)
attained the elastic-plastic single-parameter rate-type
property equation based on the thermodynamic prin-
ciple. Cheneter and Thomtson (1990) described the
deformation characterization of mudstone with water;
however, the hydrostatic pressure of the nonlinear
term in the constitutive equations does not affect
the volume deformation. Continuum theory was also
used for establishing rock plastic strain softening
mechanics model, such as Japanese scholar Kawamoto
(1981) proposed linear plastic strain softening model,
Zdenek & Bazant (1984) posed plastic strain soft-
ening model in index form, and also established the
lent strain. Many researchers have done a series of
simulation experiments about wellbore failure, for
instance, Addis (1983) did the simulation experiments
by using soft sandstone; Guenot (1989) did the well-
bore failure simulation experiments with limestone,
sandstone, dolomite and coal; Leaderwood (1991)
simulated borehole failure with shale under different
drilling fluid systems.
Although the majority of rock is argillutite during
drilling, and many borehole problems appear in this
type rock, the study on the nonlinear deformation of
argillutite borehole is rare. On account of sudden fail-
ure key technical problems about the nonlinear defor-
mation of argillutite borehole, a true triaxial borehole
deformation of large-scale physical simulation device
is established from the development of borehole defor-
mation measuring apparatus, the author carried out
real-time detection borehole deformation experiment
under different load stress to study the stress-strain
curves of argillutite borehole, and founded mudstone
constitutive model based on large deformation the-
ory, the theoretical results and experimental results
were in good agreement after compared. Experimental
study and establishment of mudstone constitutive have
some significance for the control theory of nonlinear
damage.
2 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF MUDSTONE
BOREHOLE NONLINEAR DEFORMATION
2.1 Preparation of test specimens
Experimental rock sample model is 300 mm ×
300 mm × 300 mm cubic block, the diameter of simu-
lated borehole is 50 mm. The materials of rock sample

161
 Figure 3. The monitoring sites of 1 #, 2 #, 3 # sensors.

Table 1. The loading scheme in the experiment.

Load I# II # III # IV #
Figure 1. The test specimen of physical simulation
experiment.
σH (σ) Load to Load to Load to Load to
failure failure failure failure
σh (σ3 ) 0 0 180 kN 450 kN
σv (σ2 ) 0 0 270 kN 720 kN

Figure 2. The borehole deformation simulation experiment

system.

are clay, quartz sand and cement, the ratios of clay,

quartz sand and cement are 5:2:3 and 3:2:5. The
specimen is shown in Figure 1.

2.2 Borehole Deformation Measuring Device

Borehole deformation simulation experiment system
consists of large-scale (aircraft) true triaxial test tur-
ret, MTS servo booster pump, borehole deformation
measuring device, regulator sources, oil and water sep-
arator, other ancillary devices. The overall structure is
shown in Figure 2.
The borehole deformation measuring device is
developed by China University of Petroleum Rock
Mechanics Laboratory. The measuring device com-
prises displacement sensor, strain measurement
system, the dynamic resistance strain gauges, data
acquisition system and computer, which can dynamic,
real-time, continuous monitor the mudstone borehole
deformation with high degree of automation, simple
operation, accurate reliable. The three monitoring sites Figure 4. The borehole deformation and stress-strain curve
on cross-section of the tested borehole are 0◦ , 90◦ and of I specimen.
225◦ (the 1 #, 2 #, 3 # sensors in Figure 3).
Experimental stress loading path:
the initial stress
2.3 Experimental results
load, σ1 , σ2 and σ3 are synchronous loaded to σh ; 
maintain σ1 and σ3 , the σ1 and σ2 are loaded to σv ;  Figures 4–7 are the borehole deformation and stress-
maintain σ2 and σ3 , load σ1 until the sample fails. The strain curves. The denudation of the borehole wall
loading scheme is shown in Table 1. finally forms a typical elliptic borehole from the

162
Figure 5. The borehole deformation and stress-strain curve
of II specimen.
experiment process, borehole collapse in the direction
of minimum stress and cracks generate in the max-
imum stress direction. The stress-strain curves of I,
III and IV specimens show a rapid rebound, whereas
the stress-strain curve of II specimen manifests rapid
back off phenomenon which is due to borehole massive
collapse, leading to the stress on the borehole wall tem-
porary relaxation, and causing the borehole rebound
on account of sudden changed stress in the maximum
stress direction.
3 NONLINEAR DEFORMATION
CONSTITUTIVE MODEL OF MUDSTONE
Assuming formation is isotropic material, when the
rock reaches the plastic yield condition, the constitu-
tive equation of large deformation can be expressed as:
where, γij is the strain deviator; sij is the stress devi-
ator; G is the shear modulus; β is the characteristic
parameter for the state of matter.
163
Figure 6. The borehole deformation and stress-strain curve
of III specimen.
As the increasing of the load, the microscopic cracks
in the rock begin to expand and form the main crack,
which leads to macroscopic fracture eventually in pro-
cess of rock deformation under load. It is very crucial
to determine the characteristic parameter for the state
of matter β, which is controlled by the inside damage
of rock and outside environment (pressure, tempera-
ture and moisture, etc.) for the description of nonlinear
deformation of mudstone.
Assuming the β meet the following relationship in
the deformation process of mudstone:
where, a is the influence factor, εc is the strain
value corresponding the rock yielding, that can be
determined from experiment.
When the (2) is substituted into the (1), then:
 Figure 8. The fitting results of I and II’s stress-strain curves.

Figure 7. The borehole deformation and stress-strain curve

of IV specimen.

Most researchers believe that the plastic parameter

of composite stress state can be determined by simple
tension-compression or torsion test, only considering
the uniaxial case:

4 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF NONLINEAR

DEFORMATION EXPERIMENTS AND
THEORETICAL CURVES OF MUDSTONE
BOREHOLE

The stress-strain curves of mudstone borehole defor-

mation are fitted by using the constitutive model
established in this article, the results are shown in
Figures 8 and 9. The figures show that the large
deformation constitutive equation can be well fitted
for mudstone borehole nonlinear deformation process
with high precision, but the rapid back off phenom-
ena can not be fitted very well which needs further Figure 9. The fitting results of III and IV’s stress-strain
study. curves.

164
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. The borehole deformation simulation experiment
device is introduced into this article. The real-time
borehole deformation simulation testing system
consists of large-sale true triaxial test frame, MTS
servo booster pump, borehole deformation mea-
suring device, regulator sources, oil and water
separator and other auxiliary devices.
2. In the experiment, the device can real-time monitor
the borehole deformation forming ellipse borehole
under differential stress, the borehole wall first
begins to peel off and collapse in the minimum
stress direction, while the cracks finally generate
in the direction of maximum stress.
3. The elastic-plastic incremental equation can
describe the large deformation of mudstone. The
nonlinear deformation curves of borehole show that
the large deformation constitutive equation can be
well fitted nonlinear deformation of mudstone with
high precision, however, the rapid back off phenom-
ena can not be fitted very well which needs further
study.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper was supported by the Program for New
Century Excellent Talents at the China University of
Petroleum, the Ministry of Education of China, 973
165
Program (2010 CBN226700), and by Program of New
Century Excellent Talents for ministry of education
(NCET-08-0840).
REFERENCES
Addis, M.A. 1983. Laboratory Studies on the Stability of
Vertical and Deviated Boreholes. SPE20406.
Chen, H.J., Tang, L.Q. 2000. Crack-tip asymptotic field in
porous materials. Beijing: Tsinghua University Press.
Chen, Z.D. 2000. Rational Mechanics. Chongqing Press.
Chen, M., Jin,Y. 2008. Rock Mechanics Related to Petroleum
Engineering. Beijing: Science Press.
Cheneter, M.E., Thomtson, T.W. 1990. Perforation stability in
low permeability gas reservoirs. SPE/DOE 5(1):63–89.
Guenot. 1989. Borehole Breakout and Stress Fields. Int. J.
Rock Mech. Sci. & Geo Mech 26(3).
Jaeger, J.C., Cook, N.G.W. 1979. Fundamentals of rock
mechanics, Third Edition Chapman and Hall London.
Lade, P.V. 1977. Elastoplastic stress-strain theory for cohe-
sion less soil with curved yield surface. Int J of Solids and
Structures 3: 1019–1035.
Ledgerwood, L.W. 1991. Bit Balling and Wellbore Instability
of Down hole Shale’s. SPE22578.
Toshikasu, K. 1981. An analysis of excavation in strain-
softening rock mass. Proceedings of the Japan Society
of Civil Engineers: 107–117.
Yang, G.T. 1980. Elasticity and Plasticity. Beijing: People’s
Education Press.
Zdenek, P., Bazant, F. 1984. Continuum theory for strain-
softening. Journal of Engineering Mechanics 110(12):
1666–1692.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experimental and fractal study on the critical loading force for rock
fragmentation by pick tine

H.S. Ma & H.G. Ji

University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

L.J. Yin
Ecole Polytechnique Federalede Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

ABSTRACT: Loading force is a crucial factor which influences the rock fragmentation by pick-shaped tooth.
Based on indentation test and fractal analysis, the loading force, energy consumption and fragmentation fractal
dimension were studied. It was found that there are three kinds of critical strength for rock fragmentation. An
index termed as critical loading force which corresponds to critical strength for rock fragmentation was proposed.
Finally, a new approach for assessment of loading force via fragmentation fractal dimension and percentage of
large chippings was presented.

1 INSTRUCTION 2 FRACTAL DIMENSION AND ROCK

Pick tine has been employed widely in mining and
underground engineering construction for plenty of
advantages, such as high fragmentation efficiency,
applicability to various rock, long service life and so
on (Wu & Li 2008). However, little research has been
conducted on fragmentation mechanism induced by
pick tine, for example, the studies on the fragmentation
process, the effect of loading force on fragmenta-
tion efficiency, specific energy dissipation, how to
optimize loading force and so on.
On the other hand, it is well accepted that the size
distribution of rock fragments is a fractal, and the
fractal dimension is an appropriate parameter which
indicated the degree of rock fragmentation (Turcotte
1986, Xie 1993, Nagahama 1993, Gao et al. 1994,
Xie et al. 2003, Carpinteri et al. 2004). Moreover,
experimental as well as theoretical investigations on
the correlation between fractal dimension and energy
dissipation were performed by Matsui et al. (1982),
Nagahama (1993), Xie et al.(2003), and Carpinteri et
al. (2004). These researches indicated that fragmenta-
tion fractal dimension increased with specific energy
increasing.
Based on the researches mentioned above, a series
of indentation tests under different levels of loading
force are conducted to investigate the effect of loading
force on rock fragmentation by pick tine, and a new
approach for assessment of loading force are proposed
in present paper.
FRAGMENTATION
As proposed by Tyler S W. & Wheatcraft, S.W. (1992),
the fragmentation fractal dimension D can be derived
from the following equation:
where M(R < r) is the cumulative mass of fragments
with size R smaller than a given comparative size r; MT
is the total mass of fragments; r is the sieve size open-
ing; rL is the maximum particle size as defined by the
largest sieve size opening; and D is the fragmentation
fractal dimension.
For a fractal distribution, a linear relationship of
M(R < r) and r can be obtained by Logarithmic trans-
formation of Equation (1). Assume m as the slope
coefficient for the linear regression line, and then D
can be given by Equation (2)
3 EXPERIMENT DESIGN AND RESULTS
3.1 Experiment design
The indentation tests for granite sample with dimen-
sion of 1000 mm × 400 mm × 200 mm are conducted,

167
Table 1. Physical and mechanical properties of rock sample. 4 DISCUSSION

Uniaxial Brittleness 4.1 Fragmentation process under increasing

Elastic Poisson compressive Tensile index loading force
module Ratio Density strength strength (σc /σt )
The fragmentation characteristic and fragmentation
GPa – g/cm3 MPa MPa – crater under different loading force are shown in
20.49 0.18 2.746 106.46 6.41 16.61 Figure 2 and
Figure 3, respectively. From these figures, it was found
that the loading force was not sufficient to fail rock
when F = 20 kN, just creating slightly white indent
Table 2. Results of indentation test under different loading on the rock sample (see Figure 2(a) and Figure 3(a)).
force. With increasing loading force (F = 40 kN), the high
Loading Fragments Fragments Total Specific
stressed zone immediately under pick tine was crushed
force Penetration weight volume work energy
by compression and the pick tine was indented into
F P M V W SE rock, producing granular fragments which were no
more than 2 mm in size (see Figure 2(b)). At the same
kN mm g mm3 J 103 kJ/m3 time, only a small crater was formed under the pick
20 0.19 0 0 2.31 +∞ tine (see Figure 3(b)). When the loading force was up
40 0.46 0.066 24.03 9.42 391.93 to 60 kN, the crushed zone was expanded continually
60 1.74 0.353 128.55 55.05 428.24 and micro-cracks driven by tensile stress initiated from
80 3.30 1.806 657.68 137.90 209.68 the crushed zone propagated to free surface to form
100 5.56 6.110 2225.05 239.01 107.42 chipping, thus the fragmentation volume increased
noticeably and the maximum chipping size could be up
to 10m m. For the case under loading force 80 kN, the
penetration depth of 3.30 mm was achieved, with much
larger chipping size (up to 16 mm) and crater formed.
When loading force was up to 100 kN, the percentage
of the chippings larger than 10mm increased signifi-
cantly, meanwhile, the fragmentation crater was large
as 3.38 times as that of F = 80 kN.

4.2 Effect of loading force on penetration

Figure 1. Pick tine and cross-section dimension.
and the physical and mechanical properties of the rock
sample are listed in Table 1. The cross-section dimen-
sion of pick tine is shown in Figure 1. The loading force
is set to 20 kN, 40 kN, 60 kN and 100 kN, respectively.
In this experiment, at least three indentation tests for
each level of loading force are carried out and then the
average value of corresponding test results is obtained
to insure the accuracy of results. After each indenta-
tion test, the fragments are collected and sieve test with
sieve mesh size of 16, 10, 5, 2, 1, 0.5, 0.25 and 0.15 mm
is performed for fractal study.
3.2 Results
The results of indentation test are shown in Table 2.
The total work W done by pick tine can be obtained
from the Equation 3, and the specific energy is derived
from the ratio of total work to fragment volume.
where Fi is loading force of ith step, pi is the
corresponding penetration.
and fragmentation volume
The relationships of penetration and loading force,
fragmentation and loading force volume induced by
pick tine are given in Figure 4, respectively. Undoubt-
edly, the higher the loading force, the deeper the
penetration, as well as the larger the fragmentation
volume. By nonlinear fitting analysis, it is found
that there is a good quadratic correlation between
penetration and loading force, while quartic correla-
tion between fragmentation volume and loading force.
The results indicate that penetration and fragmenta-
tion volume would increase remarkably as the loading
force reaches a certain value, which seems to sug-
gest that there is a critical loading force for effective
fragmentation of rock.
4.3 Effect of loading force on fragment size
and composition
Figure 5 shows the size distribution of fragments
induced by different loading force. the most notable
feature of Figure 5 is that the slope tendency of
each curve is gradually changed from downwards to
upwards with loading force increasing, which demon-
strate that both of the maximum fragment size and the
percentage of large fragments are increased with the
increasing of loading force. Therefore, specific energy
can be dramatically reduced due to lower energy con-
sumption for larger fragment, in other words, the

168
Table 3. Results of sieve test and fragmentation fractal dimension.

Ratio of cumulative mass of fragments under given sieve mesh (/mm)

Loading to the total mass of fragments (/ (%)) Fragmentation Correlation
force fractal Coefficient
F /kN. 0.15 0.25 0.5 1.0 2.0 5.0 10.0 16.0 >16.0 dimension D R2

20 – – – – – – – – – – –
40 24.242 37.878 56.060 74.242 100 100 100 100 100 2.752 0.77
60 28.019 37.075 48.962 70.661 83.301 91.888 100 100 100 2.758 0.88
80 19.099 23.860 30.412 37.572 42.702 48.072 58.553 68.278 100 2.724 0.96
100 12.608 15.940 20.057 24.764 28.494 35.507 39.036 59.285 100 2.663 0.92

Figure 2. The effect of different loading force on rock fragmentation.

Figure 3. Fragmentation crater under different loading force.

high force will cause over-fragmentation between two

adjacent tines, which lead to high specific energy.
Generally, the value of percentage at each fragment
size scale decreases with the loading force increasing
except for the case of r < 0.15 (log r = −0.82) in Figure
4. At r < 0.15, one can found that the proportion under
F = 60 kN (i.e. 28.019%) is clearly higher than that
of F = 40 kN (i.e. 24.242%), mainly due to two rea-
sons: i) the re-compaction of crushed zone under pick
tine and subsequently resulting in the extra formation
of small granular fragments under F = 60 kN; ii) poor
production of large chippings under F = 60 kN. From
this point of view, the case under F = 60 kN dose not
facilitate the rock fragmentation.

4.4 Effect of loading force on fragment size

Figure 4. Relationships of P-F and V-F.
higher fragmentation efficiency can be obtained by
larger loading force. Specifically, the fragment size
increase from 2 mm to 20 mm as loading force enhanc-
ing from 40 kN to 100 kN, moreover, the percentage
of the chippings larger than 10 mm can be up to 41.5%
under the loading force of 100 kN. It should be noted
that it is not always true that the higher of loading force,
the better for rock fragmentation. Since the chipping
is produced by two adjacent tines during mechanical
excavation and large chippings induced by extremely
and composition
Figure 5 shows the size distribution of fragments
induced by different loading force. the most notable
feature of Figure 5 is that the slope tendency of
each curve is gradually changed from downwards to
upwards with loading force increasing, which demon-
strate that both of the maximum fragment size and the
percentage of large fragments are increased with the
increasing of loading force. Therefore, specific energy
can be dramatically reduced due to lower energy con-
sumption for larger fragment, in other words, the
higher fragmentation efficiency can be obtained by

169

Figure 5. Fragment size distribution under different loading
force.
Figure 6. Relationships of SE-F and D-F.
larger loading force. Specifically, the fragment size
increase from 2 mm to 20 mm as loading force enhanc-
ing from 40 kN to 100 kN, moreover, the percentage
of the chippings larger than 10 mm can be up to 41.5%
under the loading force of 100 kN. It should be noted
that it is not always true that the higher of loading force,
the better for rock fragmentation. Since the chipping
is produced by two adjacent tines during mechanical
excavation and large chippings induced by extremely
high force will cause over-fragmentation between two
adjacent tines, which lead to high specific energy.
Generally, the value of percentage at each fragment
size scale decreases with the loading force increas-
ing except for the case of r = 0.15 (log r = −0.82) in
Figure 4. At r < 0.15, one can found that the proportion
under F = 60 kN (i.e. 28.019%) is clearly higher than
that of F = 40 kN (i.e. 24.242%), mainly due to two
reasons: i) the re-compaction of crushed zone under
pick tine and subsequently resulting in the extra for-
mation of small granular fragments under F = 60 kN;
ii) poor production of large chippings under F = 60 kN.
From this point of view, the case under F = 60 kN dose
not facilitate the rock fragmentation.
170
Figure 7. Correlation of fractal dimension D and specific
energy SE.
4.5 The effect of loading force F on specific energy
SE and fragmentation fractal dimension D
The relationships of SE-F and D-F are given in
Figure 6, respectively. Generally, the SE declines with
increment of F except F = 60 kN. This exception can
also be attributed to the two reasons for the propor-
tion exception at r < 0.15 just discussed above. Since
rock fragmentation does not occurred until the loading
force is up to 40 kN, the value of D is only available
for F = 40∼100 kN. It is indicated that the tendency
of D changed with F is greatly similar with that of
SE, which means a strong correlation exists between
SE and D, as noted by Matsui et al. (1982), Naga-
hama (1993), Xie et al. (2003), and Carpinteri et al.
(2004). By regression analysis, the relationship of SE
and D can be given by Equation 4, with the extremely
high correlation coefficient R2 = 0.9996, as shown in
Figure 7.
Normally, the index of specific energy is used for
assessment of parameters related to rock fragmenta-
tion. However, SE is not the sufficient condition for
assessment of the loading force, because two differ-
ent forces may result in the same SE according to the
results shown in Figure 6. In this paper, a new approach
can be proposed to assess the efficiency of loading
force on the basis of the conclusions discussed above.
For a specific type of rock, the same problem for SE
mentioned above can also be encountered for fractal
dimension D. A particular F corresponds to a unique
value of D, whereas the opposite is not true, as shown
in Figure 6. Thus, the efficiency of F can not be well
evaluated only by the value of D, but by the criterion
coupled the value of D with the percentage of large
chippings. The lower the value of D, the higher of the
percentage of large chippings, then the higher effi-
cient is the loading force. It should be noted that both
of the two criteria can be easily obtained from size dis-
tribution of fragments which are directly collected in
field.
4.6 Critical strength and corresponding critical
loading force for rock fragmentation
From the whole process of rock fragmentation during
loading force increasing from 0 to 100 kN, there are
three points of critical strength for rock fragmenta-
tion. First, indentation strength, that means the local
failure strength of rock must be met to make the pick
tine indent into rock. Second, operational strength,
big fragments can be produced when this strength is
achieved, otherwise only granular fragments are gen-
erated by grinding between pick tine and rock which
makes low penetration rate and extremely high specific
energy consumption. Third, efficient fragmentation
strength, at this point, big chippings account for a
large proportion of total fragments which gives signifi-
cantly high penetration rate and lowest specific energy
consumption.
Accordingly, there should be three kinds of criti-
cal loading forces for rock fragmentation by a given
pick tine. Firstly, the indentation loading force Fc1 ,
characterized by high D and only small granular frag-
ments produced. For the rock sample tested in present
research, Fc1 = 40 kN. Secondly, operational loading
force Fc2 , which is the critical point for formation of
large fragments (chipping), characterized by high D
and chipping beginning to generate. For the rock sam-
ple tested in present research, Fc2 = 60 kN. Thirdly,
effective loading force Fc 3, characterized by low D and
high proportion of large chippings. For the rock sample
tested in present research, Fc 3 = 80 kN. Unquestion-
ably, much higher efficiency can be experienced under
the case of F = 100 kN induced by single pick tine,
however, over-fragmentation can be possibly caused
by high loading force without taking tine spacing into
account, as discussed in section 4.3.
5 CONCLUSION
Experimental and fractal study on the effect of loading
force on rock fragmentation by pick tine were per-
formed in this paper, and the main conclusions can be
drawn as follows:
1. It is found that there is a good quadratic correlation
between penetration and loading force, while quar-
tic correlation between fragmentation volume and
loading force for the given granite sample and pick
tine used in this study.
2. For a specific rock, there always exists three points
of critical strength for rock fragmentation. First,
indentation strength, that means the local failure
strength of rock must be met to make the tooth
indent into rock. Second, operating strength, big
fragments can be produced when this strength is
achieved, otherwise only granular fragments are
generated by grinding between tooth and rock
which makes low penetration rate and extremely
high specific energy consumption. Third, efficient
fragmentation strength, big chippings account for a
large proportion of total fragments which gives sig-
nificantly high penetration rate and lowest specific
171
energy consumption at this point. Accordingly, for
a particular shape of pick tine, there are three kinds
of critical loading force, namely indentation load-
ing force, operational loading force and efficient
loading force, respectively. For the granite rock and
pick tine used in this research the corresponding
values can be evaluated as 40 kN, 60 kN and 80 kN
respectively.
3. It is concluded that there is good relationship
between loading force and fragmentation fractal
dimension, which indicates that fragmentation frac-
tal dimension can be applied to the assessment of
critical loading force coupled with the percentage
of large chippings, and provide some optimization
references for construction parameters.
Finally, it should be noted that the research on the
effect of loading force on rock fragmentation by two
tines should be further conducted, since the optimiza-
tion of loading force can be affected by tine spacing
as well.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Financial support from National Key Technol-
ogy R&D Program (2008BAB33B03) is gratefully
acknowledged. Many thanks also go to Prof. J.A.
WANG, Senior Engineer B.X. WANG and Senior
Engineer T. YANG, University of Science and Tech-
nology Beijing, China, for their suggestions and kindly
help in this research.
REFERENCES
Carpinteri, A., Lacidogna, G. & Pugno, N. 2004. Scaling of
energy dissipation in crushing and fragmentation: a fractal
and statistical analysis based on particle size distribution.
International Journal of Fracture, 129(2):131–139.
Gao, F., Xie, H.P. & Zhao, P. 1994. Fractal properties of
size-frequency distribution of rock fragments and the
influences of meso-structure. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering, 13(2): 240–246. In Chinese.
Matsui, T., Waza, T. & Kani, K. et al. 1982. Laboratory sim-
ulation of Planetesimal collision. Journal of Geophysical
Research, 87: 10968–10982.
Nagahama, N. 1993. Fractal fragment size distribution for
brittle rocks. International Journal Rock Mechanics Min.
Science and Geomechanical Abstracts, 30: 469–471.
Turcotte, D.L. 1986. Fractals and fragmentation. Journal of
Geophysical Research, 91(B2): 1921–1926.
Tyler, S.W. & Wheatcraft, S.W. 1992. Fractal scaling of
soil particle-size distribution analysis and limitation. Soil
Science Society of America Journal, 56(2): 47–67.
Wu, S.J. & Li, E.T. 2008. Research on rock breaking test
with pick rolling cutter for mine shaft rising boring. Coal
Engineering, (1): 70–72. In Chinese.
Xie, H.P. 1993. Fractals in rock mechanics. Rotterdam:
Balkema.
Xie, H.P., Gao, F. & Zhou, H.W. et al. 2003. Fractal frac-
ture and fragmentation in rocks. Journal of Disaster
Prevention and Mitigation Engineering, 23(4): 1–9. In
Chinese.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experimental study on permeability of Beishan granite

L.K. Ma, J. Wang & X.G. Zhao

Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, Beijing, China
CNNC Key Laboratory on Geological Disposal of High-level Radioactive Waste, Beijing, China

L.G. Tham
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

ABSTRACT: Rock engineers involved in the design and construction of nuclear waste repositories need to
know the permeability of Beishan granite under high stress. A series of permeability tests were performed on
specimens of Beishan granite at different axial stress levels and confining stresses. The results indicate that the
permeability evolution can be identified in four distinct stages during the test. The permeability decreases during
the first stage of loading due to the progressive closure of initial microcracks of rock under compressive stresses.
During the second stage, the permeability is nearly constant or slightly increases. In the third stage, there is a
significant increase of permeability in this stage in relation with the volumetric dilation. In the fourth phase, the
permeability increases to the highest value, and then presents a decreasing trend.

1 INTRODUCTION of granite was decreasing when increasing effective

1.1 Background
Nuclear power is cheap, clean and without the short-
comings of finite hydrocarbon and hydroelectric re-
sources. However, generation of nuclear power pro-
duces high level radioactive waste, which must be
isolated from the biosphere until it has decayed to a
level that poses no significant risk to human beings.
Deep geological disposal is considered to be the best
option to deal with the high level radioactive waste
(Lin 2006 & 2009). However, the design of high level
nuclear waste repository is quite challenging. The
design life of the repository should be at least for
ten thousand of years due to the long "half-time" of
radionuclide.
Rock permeability problem is of great importance
for high level waste disposal. Any underground engi-
neering projects are bearing a certain stress state,
including the triaxial stress state and sometimes the
pore pressure, meanwhile under a potential tempera-
ture of rock when heated by the radiation of nuclear
waste in future. The effects of confining pressure, pore
pressure, stress level and temperature on the perme-
ability of rocks are necessary concerns for high level
waste disposal.
In study on permeability of rocks in the lab, many
researchers have turned attention to the effect of axi-
al load and confining pressure on the permeability of
rocks. Brace had carried out experimental measure-
ment of permeability of granite under high pressure,
the confining pressure used from 25 MPa to 444 MPa,
the pore pressure being from 15 MPa to 40 MPa.
They conducted a conclusion that the per-meability
confining pressure (Brace et al. 1968). Li conducted
a series tests on Yinzhuang sandstone for measuring
permeability under different confining pressure, pore
pressure and specimen dimensions. They found that
the effect of axial stress and strain on permeability
of Yinzhuang sandstone was more obvious than the
effect of confining pressure, pore pressure and speci-
men dimensions (Li et al. 1997). Mitchell performed
experimental measurements of permeability during
triaxial compression of initially intact crystalline rocks
to determine the evolution of prefailure and postfail-
ure permeability at water pore pressures of 50 MPa
and varying effective pressures from 10 to 50 MPa
(Mitchell et al. 2008). In addition, Jiang performed
triaxial compression tests with permeability measure-
ment. They found that the permeability increased with
the growth and coalescence of microcracks and the
permeability change was related to the density and
opening of microcracks (Jiang et al. 2010).
1.2 Beishan area
The Beishan area, located in Gansu province, is a
potential site for China’s high level radioactive waste
repository. The topography of the area is characterized
by flatter Gobi and small hills with elevations above
sea level ranging between 1000 m and 2000 m. Com-
prehensive analysis of structural deformation of the
Cenozoic faults and folds indicates that the area had
undergone horizontal compression, and the direction
of principal compression stress is between 30◦ and 60◦ .
The data provided by the earthquake source mecha-
nisms show that the direction of principal compression
stress is dominated by NE.

173
 In the present study, the influence of axial stress
and confining pressure on the permeability of Beis-
han granite is investigated using MTS 815 system.
The permeability evolution of rock associated with
rock failure process is analyzed. The experimental
results provide a basis for further tests on rock samples
subjected to different confining stresses coupled with
different temperature levels.
2 LABORATORY INVESTIGATION
2.1 Rock specimen
The specimens tested are porphyritic monzonitie gran-
ite. The rock specimens were taken from the depth
from 300 m to 600 m of the borehole BS05. The spec-
imens were packed in wood boxes with foam cushion
and shipped to The University of Hong Kong for test-
ing. The diameter and the height of the specimens
are about 50 mm and 125 mm respectively. The tol-
erance of straightness and flatness of specimens meet
the specifications of ASTM D4543-85.
2.2 Testing facility
The triaxial and permeability tests were performed
using the Electro-Hydraulic Servo-controlled Rock
Mechanics Testing System (MTS 815.04). The maxi-
mum loading capacity of the system is 4600 kN, the
maximum confining pressure and pore pressure are
both equal to 140 MPa. The system is configured with
a pulse-decay transient apparatus for conducting per-
meability test of Beishan granite. Two extensometers
were attached on the middle portion of the specimen
to measure the axial and circumferential deformation
during the loading.
2.3 Testing process
To study the permeability of Beishan granite under dif-
ferent confining pressures and axial stresses, a series of
permeability tests were conducted at the Rock Engi-
neering Research Centre of The University of Hong
Kong. The tests consisted of 31 cases conducted at
the confining pressures of 2.5–15 MPa and the axial
stresses of 20 MPa to 220 MPa.
Before the test, the test specimens were jacketed
by a 0.5 mm-thick Teflon heat shrinkage tube with the
help of four aluminum wires, 2 at the top and 2 at
the bottom. The whole setup was put into the vacuum
vast to allow saturation through a hole on the setup for
about 1 day.
The test consisted of two control modes: load con-
trol mode and circumferential strain control mode.
After the application of confining pressure to the
desired value, further axial stress is increased by
load control mode. When the axial stress reaches
the desired value (120 MPa to 160 MPa), the devia-
toric (axial) stress is increased in the circumferential
strain controlled condition with the strain rate of
0.003 mm/min.
174
When the deviatoric (axial) stress reaches the
selected values (20 MPa–220 MPa), the permeabil-
ity measurement is performed. The classical transient
method is employed in this work. To do this, the pore
pressure is increased on both the top and bottom sur-
faces of the sample to a selected value (noted P1 ). Then
the pore pressure at top surface is lowered down to the
value (noted P2 ) in order to generate pressure differen-
tial (P = P1 − P2 ) between the two end surfaces. Due
to the pore pressure differential, the fluid at the bottom
of the specimen will seep toward the top of the speci-
men, passing through inside of the specimen. During
the transient seepage process, the pressure differential
will be gradually dimensioning, the declining rate of
which is depend on rock type, rock fabric, length of
specimen, cross-section area of specimen, the density
and viscosity of the seepage fluid, as well as the stress
state and the stress level etc. In the test process, data
acquisition and plotting the P-t curve are all accom-
plished automatically by the computer commands. The
permeability of the specimen can be calculated by the
formula provided by MTS system.
where V = reference volumes (cm3 ), V = 332 cm3 ;
Pi /Pf = ratio of initial pressure differential to
final pressure differential; t = the duration of the
test (sec); Ls = specimen length (cm); Ds = specimen
diameter (cm); As = cross sectional area of specimen
(cm2 ); µ = the viscosity of pore fluid (Pa·sec), 1−3
Pa·sec; β = the compressibility of pore fluid (Pa−1 ),
453−12 Pa−1 (MTS 2007).
Note that in order to keep the sample in good sat-
uration condition and also facilitate the fluid flow, the
initial pore pressure and pressure differential should
be large enough (4 MPa). On the other hand, the max-
imum pore pressure should remain lower than the
confining pressure in order to avoid hydraulic frac-
ture (Jiang et al. 2010). The simplified schematic of
transient permeability sys-tem is shown in Figure 1.
3 TEST RESULTS
In this section, the effect of confining pressure and
axial stress on the permeability of Beishan granite will
be discussed in detail.
3.1 Effect of confining pressures
The confining pressures of 2.5 MPa to 15 MPa are cho-
sen to simulate the in-situ stress state of Beishan area.
It is clear that the evolution of permeability is closely
related with the confining pressure. There is a decrease
of permeability due to progressive closure of initial
 Table 2. The experimental results from triaxial compression
with permeability measurement under different axial stresses.

Axial Stress Volumetric Strain Permeability

No MPa 10−4 mm/mm 10−15 cm−2

1 15.00 0.32 1.42

2 20.00 1.69 0.97
3 40.00 5.48 0.71
4 50.00 7.07 0.77
5 60.00 8.68 0.99
6 70.00 9.94 1.70
7 90.00 11.27 2.63
8 100.00 12.67 3.16
9 110.00 13.91 4.33
Figure 1. Schematic drawing of transient permeability sys- 10 120.00 15.31 5.46
tem. (MTS 2007). 11 125.00 17.00 13.16
12 140.00 18.92 24.99
Table 1. The experimental results from triaxial compression 13 160.00 21.61 39.74
with permeability measurement under different confining 14 180.00 24.95 54.98
pressures. 15 190.00 26.54 59.84
16 200.00 28.08 66.81
Confining Pressure Volumetric Strain Permeability 17 210.00 29.65 118.89
No MPa 10−4 mm/mm 10−15 cm−2 18 190.00 22.51 129.29
19 180.00 21.60 177.28
20 164.00 16.27 61.64
1 2.50 4.23 17.82
21 163.00 14.99 48.16
2 4.00 7.69 3.42
22 162.00 13.66 21.94
3 8.00 13.94 2.89
23 162.00 12.34 23.55
4 10.00 16.50 2.59
5 15.00 22.11 2.37
6 12.00 20.28 2.53
7 8.00 16.95 5.13
8 2.50 9.19 6.49 3.2 Effect of axial stresses
The experimental results from triaxial compression
with permeability measurement under different axial
stresses are shown in Table 2.
Based on the results shown in Table 2, I com-pared
the evolution of permeability strain and axial stress,
as shown in Fig. 3. It can be found that the evolu-
tion of permeability is closely associated with rock
failure process, and four characteristic stages can be
identified, as follows:
1. In the first stage of axial stress loading (initial
increasing loading stage), there is a decrease of
per-meability due to progressive closure of ini-
tial micro-cracks and the corresponding volumetric
strain is compressive.
Figure 2. Variation of permeability, volumetric strain and 2. During the second stage (elastic region), the per-
confining pressure in Beishan granite during a triaxial meability almost remains constant and the volu-
compression test with 20 MPa axial stress. metric strain continues to be compressive with
small-er rate. This stage corresponds to the elastic
microcracks and the corresponding volumetric strain defor-mation phase of material.
is compressive when the confining pressures increase 3. In the third phase (crack growth and coales-
from 2.5 MPa to 15 MPa. When the confining pres- cence), the initiation, growth and propagation of
sures decrease from 15 MPa to 2.5 MPa, there is an mi-crocracks occur, leading to the progressive dila-
increase of permeability in this stage in relation with tion due to the opening of microcracks. There exists
the volumetric dilation. But the value of the final per- a significant increase of permeability in this stage
meability (confining pressure: 2.5 MPa) is less than due to the volumetric dilation.
the initial permeability (confining pressure: 2.5 MPa). 4. In the fourth phase (strain softening region), the fur-
The experimental results from triaxial compression ther increase of the differential stress contri-butes
with permeability measurement under different con- to the large rock dilation following macro-cracks or
fining pressures are shown in Table 1 and Figure 2, shear bands formation. The permeability increases
respectively. to the highest value, and then presents a decreasing

175

Figure 3. Variation of permeability, axial stress and volu-
metric strain of Beishan granite during a triaxial compression
test with 10 MPa confining pressure.
trend. The decrease behavior of the rock perme-
ability may be caused by progressive closure of the
key permeability path in the rock (i.e. the largest
shear band). This means that even if the lateral
de-formation continues to increase with increas-
ing vo-lumetric strain at the post-peak deformation,
the clo-sure of the largest shear band resulted from
squeeze of other failed rock pieces will have a
negative im-pact on rock permeability. Hence, the
volumetric de-formation of rocks at the post-peak
stage is not nec-essarily related with permeability.
On the other hand, if the largest shear band shows
continuous dilation at post-peak stage, the increas-
ing permeability will be expected, and its value
gradually reaches to be constant.
4 CONCLUSIONS
It is capable to acquire the permeability characteris-
tics of Beishan granite for a complete stress-strain path
under triaxial stress state and with pore pres-sure. It
is concluded that the permeability of tested Beishan
176
granite is not a constant, but a function of different
axial stress levels and confining stresses. The per-
meability evolution can be identified in four distinct
stages during triaxial compression test with perme-
ability measurement. The maximum permeability of
Beishan granite will be present in the strain-softening
region, but not in the pre-peak region. The minimum
permeability of the tested specimen occurs at the ini-
tial increasing loading stage. More experimental data
are needed to further complete the relationships of
confinements to the permeability of Beishan granite.
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of granite under high pressure. Journal of Geophysical
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experimental study on the dielectric constant of tectonic coal

L. Meng, Y.D. Jiang, J. Zhu & Y.X. Zhao

China University of Mining & Technology & State key lab of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, Beijing, China

M.J. Liu & Y.G. Wang

Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, China

ABSTRACT: In order to study on the influence factors on the dielectric constant of tectonic coal, design and
make a test system of electrical parameters of coal samples, which can be able to conduct different frequency
measuring for electrical parameters of coal samples under circumstances of different temperature, water content
and test frequency. It is found that: ① the dielectric constant of the anthracite increases as the temperature
increases under the temperatures of 20∼120◦ C in Lab, while that of tectonic coal of other metamorphic grade
slightly decreases with the temperature increasing; ② with the soaking time increasing, the dielectric constants
of all the rank coal samples measured tremendously increase, especially for gas-fat coal; ③ the higher the test
frequency, the lower the value of dielectric constants tested; ④ there is a maximum value corresponding to the
cracking stress of coal samples for dielectric constant in all the dielectric constant strain curves and the dielectric
constant strain curves of the tectonic coal are better fitting to the corresponding stress strain curves, which is
independent on the metamorphic grade of coal. It can be concluded that the temperature and test frequency have
little effect on the dielectric constants of meager lean coal and gas-fat coal in the testing range in this paper and
moisture content and stress are the main influencing factors on the dielectric constant of meager lean coal and
gas-fat coal.

1 INTRODUCTION pressure, and so on, and study of the dielectric constant

As coal industry develops rapidly accompanied with
the boom in degree of mechanization of coal min-
ing, there is requirement that the mining geological
structure condition of the front of the tunneling face
and the coal or rock dynamic catastrophe must be
forecasted rapidly and accurately. However, conven-
tional geological forecast is far from required precision
and real-time monitoring. Geophysical methods fore-
casting the coal mining geological structure condition
of the front of the tunneling face and the coal or
rock dynamic catastrophe can overcome some tradi-
tional methods’ shortcomings, such as not to exert
great influence over normal production, to authenti-
cally achieve real-time dynamic monitoring and so
on. It is generally acknowledged that the dielectric
constant of coal/rock is important from the point of
view of propagation of electromagnetic waves, elec-
tromagnetic methods of exploration, dielectric well
logging etc.
Therefore, in order to develop the geophysical
prospecting apparatus that is suitable for geologi-
cal condition of our country and to provide essential
parameters for geophysical prospecting apparatus, it
is necessary to widely study on the electrical param-
eters of coal, especially for the dielectric constant of
coal. There are many external reasons influencing the
dielectric constant of tectonic coal, such as tempera-
ture, moisture content, test frequency, axial stress, pore
change law of coal under the influence of intrinsic fac-
tors in the lab has attracted the attention of scholars
and made remarkable achievement (Chongqing insti-
tute of coal science research institute. 1993, Lv & He
1997, 1998 &1999, Xu et al. 2000), but the dielectric
constant change law of tectonic coal under the influ-
ence of external factors, such as temperature, moisture
content, test frequency and axial stress, is less widely
reported in the literatures. So, this paper is concen-
trated on the dielectric constant of tectonic coal under
the influence of external factors.
2 CHARACTERISTICS OF TECTONIC COAL
STRUCTURE
It is generally acknowledged that the dielectric con-
stants of different metamorphic grade coals are very
different from each other, especially between medium
metamorphic grade coal and other metamorphic grade
coals, so these adoptive samples in the study include
3 kinds of metamorphic grade coals including high
metamorphic grade anthracite taken from the Jiaozuo
mining area, medium metamorphic grade meager lean
taken from the Hebi mining area and low metamorphic
grade gas-fat coal taken from the Huainan mining area.
Through analyzing the basic parameters of coal
samples and the photographs of SEM, we find that

177
the porosity factor and crack density of coal samples
exist a significant difference with change of metamor-
phic grade (Meng 2010). The change trend shows that
the medium-metamorphic grade coal has the relatively
minimum porosity factor and crack density compared
with low and high metamorphic grade coals and the
porosity factor and crack density of coal increases
whether metamorphic grade increases or decreases,
which can be seen clearly from Figure 1.
3 EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
3.1 Measurement principles of dielectric constant
The choice of measurement method of dielectric con-
stant should be based on the measuring frequency.
Capacitance method frequently is applied to the speci-
men under low measuring frequency circumstances;
when using microwave measuring frequency, there
are many methods of measurement such as reso-
nant cavity method, wave-guide method, perturbation
method, space wave method, relaxation spectrum anal-
ysis method and so on; the dielectric constant is
calculated by the square of index of refraction under
light frequency circumstances. On the basis of the
Figure 1. The relationship between porosity, crack density
and coal rank.
Figure 2. Experimental system of electrical parameters of coal samples under load and experimental specimens
178
above, it is suitable to measure dielectric constant
of coal/rock sample by using parallel plate capacitor
method, which requires both surface of sample smooth
and parallel to each other to make sample completely
contact with plate electrode. Therefore, the formulas
are shown as below within low measuring frequency
band:
In which, C is the capacitance of equivalent par-
allel plate (pF); ε , ε εr and are real permittivity
(F/m), imaginary permittivity (F/m) and complex
permittivity (F/m) respectively and ε0 is equal to
8.854 × 10−12 F/m; t and d are the sample thickness
and the diameter of plate electrode respectively.
3.2 Experimental system of electrical parameters
of coal mass and experimental specimen
Based on the previous research achievements (He
1995, Wen 2003) and the test principle of LCR meter,
we design and make an experimental system of electri-
cal parameters of coal/rock mass under load as shown
in the Figure 2, which can be able to conduct low mea-
suring frequency test for electrical parameters of coal
mass in the process of coal mass fracturing.
These experimental coal samples that this paper
uses are the tectonic coal with outburst prone, which
are made by using special mold because this kind of
coal is soft broken and can not be sampled as block
specimen, so this kind of coal samples can be desig-
nated by the name of briquette hereinafter. In addition,
polishing the two ends of these experimental coal sam-
ples (5×10 cm) can make the two ends and press
ram contact with each other, and relieve the additional
friction caused by ends of coal samples. Although
the voids volume, the deformation degree and peak
strength of undeformed coal sample and briquette exist
difference to some extend, change laws of these influ-
encing factors have better consistency, which sort out
to deal with problem that the mechanical properties
of tectonic coal can be studies under circumstances of
conventional experiment.
4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ANALYSIS
4.1 The influence of temperature on dielectric
constant of coal sample
Through determination of the dielectric constant of
coal samples under circumstances of the different
temperatures (20◦ C∼120◦ C) and the test frequency
100 KHz, the results of which can be seen in the Fig-
ure 3, we find that the dielectric constant of coal sample
taken from Jiaozuo mining area increases with the
increase of temperature, but the dielectric constant
of coal samples taken from Hebi and Huinan mining
areas respectively slightly decrease with the increase
of temperature, which means that the temperature has
little effect on the dielectric constants of medium and
low metamorphic grade in the range of temperature
between 20◦ C and 120◦ C.
Based on the interpretation of the dielectric physics,
the increase of dielectric constant of Jiaozuo coal sam-
ple is largely due to high metamorphic grade which
is close to graphite (better electric conductor), and
the decrease of dielectric constants of these Hebi and
Huainan coal samples under circumstances of dry con-
dition is because under the influence of extra electric
field, chaos motion of charged particle and uncharged
particle is polarized as regular motion, but the increase
of temperature destroy this kind of polarization, which
results in the decrease of dielectric constants.
4.2 The influence of moisture content on dielectric
constant of coal sample
The influence of moisture content on dielectric con-
stant is largely due to ion concentration and temper-
ature of aqueous solution. Aqueous solution in coal
seam contains little dissolved mineral matter and this
kind of aqueous solution that contains polar molecule
Figure 3. The dielectric constant determination results
of different mining areas coal samples with change of
temperature
179
exists in the pore and fissure of coal seam, which has a
tremendous effect upon the dielectric constant of coal
sample. In order to study on the influence of moisture
content on dielectric constant of tectonic coal, we take
soaking time as yardstick measuring moisture content
of coal sample by using water bath with thermostatic
control that uniform conditions of temperature, which
borrow ideas from (He & Lv 1999).
It is found that there is increasing tendency of
dielectric constants of coal samples of all three mining
areas with the increase of soaking time in the socking
process, but coal samples taken from different mining
areas have different change characteristics, which can
be seen in the Figure 4. Dielectric constant of the high
and low metamorphic grade increases sharply in the
first 5 hours, then increase steadily and finally keeps as
about five times greater than original value. However,
the dielectric constant of the medium metamorphic
grade coal slowly increases in the socking process,
and finally forms about 2 times than original value.
First of all, the reason for this kind of phenomenon
is that dielectric constant of some mineral composi-
tion is lower than that of moisture content belonging
to polar solution with high dielectric constant. In addi-
tion, based on the analysis of complicated fracture
characteristics of different metamorphic grade coals
combined with dielectric constant of experimental
result under moisture content condition, the bigger
porosity factor and specific surface area of coal sam-
ples, such as anthracite and gas-fat coal, can absorb
more moisture content than that of meager lean coal.
Some experimental results show that the relational
expression of ε of mineral-water system and the
volume percentage of absorbed water (sω ) can be
expressed as formulas 3, which indicates the relativity
among mineral type, porosity factor, moisture con-
tent and dielectric property. So, we can see that the
dielectric constant of coal sample will increase with
the increase of porosity factor and volume of absorbed
water of coal sample from formulas 3.
In which, p is porosity factor of mineral; ε0 is real
component of complex dielectric constant of mineral
with zero porosity in a dryness condition; εω is real
component of complex dielectric constant of water.
Figure 4. The dielectric constant determination results of
different mining areas coal samples with change of soaking
time
Figure 5. The dielectric constant determination results of
different mining areas coal samples with change of measure-
ment frequency Figure 6. The dielectric constant change curves of tectonic
coal under load taken from Jiaozuo mining area

4.3 The influence of test frequency on dielectric

constant of coal sample
The experimental results show that these dielectric
constants of all the coal samples decrease and tend
towards stability as the test frequency increases, and
dielectric constant of anthracite of high metamorphic
grade has bigger changing magnitude than that of coal
samples of medium or low metamorphic grade, which
can be seen in the Figure 5. Dielectric constant change
of anthracite of high metamorphic grade presents lin-
ear decreasing with increase of test frequency, and Figure 7. The dielectric constant change curves of tectonic
dielectric constants of the meager lean coal and gas-fat coal under load taken from Hebi mining area
coal stably decrease with increase of test frequency and
especially there are no significant changes of dielectric
constant in the test frequency 10 KHz and 100 KHz,
which means that test frequency has little effect on the
dielectric constant of bituminous coal in the range of
temperature between 1 KHz and 100 KHz.
These changes are mainly due to polarization of
polar molecule and non-polar molecule of coal under
the influence of extra electric field. The action time
of alternative electric field on coal lasts for a com-
paratively short period in the same direction under
circumstances of high test frequency, so it is hard to
change direction for polar molecule. Therefore, the
dielectric constant measured under circumstances of Figure 8. The dielectric constant change curves of tectonic
high test frequency is smaller than the value measured coal under load taken from Huainan mining area
under circumstances of low test frequency.

In addition, it is also observed that the dielectric

4.4 The influence of axial stress on dielectric constant strain curves of tectonic coal, which are inde-
constant of coal sample pendent from metamorphic grade, are better fitting
to the stress strain curves, which can be a theoretical
Figure 6∼8 represent the dielectric constant strain
principle that the complicated fracture change charac-
curves of coal mass under load. From the following
teristic of coals under load can be displayed clearly
presented figures, we can see the apparent law that
by the dielectric constant and further verifies that the
as the axial stress increases not until the instability
change law of electrical parameter can be information
and failure of coal samples, the dielectric constants of
of forecasting for the instability and failure of coal and
all the coal samples constantly increase, and after the
the coal/rock dynamic catastrophe.
instability and failure of coal samples, the dielectric
constants abruptly decrease, that is to say, there is a
maximum value corresponding to the cracking stress
of coal for dielectric constant in all dielectric con- 5 CONCLUSIONS
stant strain curves and a clear symmetry between the
dielectric constant strain curves and the stress strain In the present work dielectric constants of tectonic
curves. coals were systematically studied under the influence

180
of external factors such as temperature, moisture con-
tent, test frequency and axial stress by using laboratory
experiments combined with theoretical analysis in 3
kinds of metamorphic grade coals, such as anthracite,
meager lean coal and gas-fat coal. In order to study
on the influence factors on the dielectric constant of
tectonic coal, we designed and made a test system of
electrical parameters of coal samples, which can be
able to conduct low frequency measuring for electrical
parameters of coal samples in the process of uniax-
ial compression and under circumstances of different
temperature, moisture content and test frequency.
From the thorough analysis of test data, we found
that the dielectric constant of the anthracite increases
as the temperature increases under the temperatures
of 20∼120◦ C in Lab, while that of tectonic coal of
other metamorphic grade slightly decreases with the
temperature increasing, which are mainly due to the
influence of temperature on polarization of charged
particles in coal, as the soaking time increases, the
dielectric constants of all the rank coal samples mea-
sured tremendously increase, especially for gas-fat
coal, which are controlled by the porosity factor and
absorbed water of coal and in addition, the higher the
test frequency, the lower the value of dielectric con-
stants tested, which are mainly due to polarization of
polar molecule and non-polar molecule of coal under
the influence of extra electric field. Moreover, there
is a maximum value corresponding to the cracking
stress of coal samples for dielectric constant in all
the dielectric constant strain curves and the dielectric
constant strain curves of tectonic coal are better fit-
ting to the corresponding stress strain curves, which is
independent on the metamorphic grade of coal.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the temperature
and test frequency have little effect on the dielectric
constants of meager lean coal and gas-fat coal in the
testing range in this paper and moisture content and
stress are the main influencing factors on the dielectric
constant of meager lean coal and gas-fat coal, while
181
all the external factors have great influence on the
dielectric constant of anthracite.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to express their appreciation to HPU
and CUMTB for providing the work with advanced
research conditions. The authors are also indebted
to the support of National Basic Research Program
(973) of China (No.2010CB226801), National Nat-
ural Science Foundation of China (No.50904024,
No.50704034) and State key Laboratory of Coal
Resources and Safe Mining.
REFERENCES
Chongqing institute of coal science research institute. 1993.
The effect of geoelectricity on the coal-bed methane
seepage flow.
He, J S. & Lv, S.L. 1999. Geophysical Research on out-
burst coal mass. Beijing: China Coal Industry Publishing
House.
He, X.Q. & Liu, M.L. 1995. The EME dynamics of methane
contained rock & coal failure. Xuzhou: China University
of Mining & Technology Press. (in Chinese)
Lv, S.L. & He, J.S. 1997. The study on Dielectric Property of
Gas Projected Coal Body. World Geology 16(4): 43–46.
(In Chinese)
Lv, S.L. & He, J.S. 1998. Electrical property measurements
for the outburst coal mass. Journal of Central South
University, 29(6): 511–514. (In Chinese)
Meng, L.; Liu, M.J. & Wang, Y.G. 2010. Study on the Rules
of Electrical Resistivity Variation of Tectonic Coal in Uni-
axial compression Experiment. Journal of China Coal
Society 35(12): 2028–2032.
Wen, G.C. 2003. Study on the Mechanism of Ratio Wave
Penetrating the Outburst Dangerous Zone of Coal Seam.
China University of Mining and Technology.
Xu, L.J.; Liu, C.L. &Tan, X.S. 2000. Effect of frequency
on electric conductivity of coal in outburst zone. Min-
ing Safety & Environmental Protection 27(6): 25–27.
(In Chinese)
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Research of I type fracture parameters of rock using DSCM

Y.M. Song, Y.D. Jiang & R.Y. Shan

School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The experimental study of rock fracture plays an important role in the development of rock
fracture mechanics. Regarded as the important method of rock fracture measurement, digital speckle correlation
method has been used to the experimental study of rock fracture widely. Due to the present DSCM algorithm aims
at the uniform deformation field mostly, the deformation field of rock fracture experiments is highly non-uniform
or discontinuous. It will inevitably lead to non-uniform deformation field been floated so that the accuracy of
deformation measurement in some key parts reduced greatly. Therefore, through adopting the traditional DSCM
method, this paper solved the speckle image problem of test to obtain the surface displacement field of specimens.
Then based on Mobile Least Squares (MLS), node displacement was used to construct the approximate function
of the whole calculation displacement field. Through introducing treatment methods which consider the primary
functions of crack tip field and the domain of influence about crack problems into the crack processing, a high
accuracy DSCM method of rock fracture measurement was developed, and this method was verified through
the numerical simulation. This paper also used the DSCM method of rock fracture measurement to study the
loading experiment of three-point bending rock, obtaining the stress intensity factor of rock type I fracture.

1 INTRODUCTION algorithm is designed for uniform deformation field. It

will inevitably lead to non-uniform deformation field
The engineering application such as genesis of crush- been floated (decided by algorithm essence) so that
ing, crack caused by oil Wells, piling, underground the accuracy of deformation measurement in some key
construction, conventional explosion and the occur- parts reduced greatly.Therefore, the rock fracture mea-
rence of natural disasters such as earthquakes, land- surement DSCM algorithm must be developed to get
slides, rock bursts etc are almost relate to rock fracture high-precision rock fracture parameters.
issues under the stress (Beinert 1981). Rock fracture In the paper, firstly a suitable DSCM method of
issues are a highly nonlinear problem, and only a rock fracture measurement is developed. Then I type
few specific problem of rock fracture can be solved fracture parameters are measured by the new method.
by the current theory analysis. The development of
theoretical model and numerical calculation method
of rock fracture problem need a lot of experimen-
tal studies to perfect. Thus experimental study will 2 DSCM METHOD OF ROCK FRACTURE
play an important role for the development of fracture MEASUREMENT AND ITS NUMERICAL
mechanics. VALIDATION
A lot of experimental methods which include elec-
trical measurement, light measurement, acoustic emis- 2.1 DSCM method of rock fracture measurement
sion, thermal infrared etc. are used to research the rock
Through adopting the traditional DSCM method, this
fracture. The light measurement method which has
paper solves the speckle image of test to obtain the sur-
high sensitivity, record field information, non-contact
face displacement field of specimens. Then based on
etc, has become the most important and the most
mobile least squares (MLS), it uses node displacement
extensive application of experimental methods on rock
to construct the approximate function of the whole cal-
fracture study. Digital speckle correlation doesn’t need
culation displacement field. The constructing method
complex pretreatment work. The deformation infor-
of approximate function as follows: it constructs global
mation can be extracted from the measured surface
approximate function uh (x) of the expected function
natural or artificial formation spots through the Digi-
u(x) in the measured area . In the neighborhood x
tal image processing technology. DSCM has the better
of calculation point x, the expected function can be
adaptability for complex environment, and the mea-
approximated into:
surement scales and precision can be easily adjusted
(Berthaud 1997, Ma 2002a, Ma 2002b). The defor-
mation fields of rock fracture experiments are highly
non-uniform or discontinuous, and now mostly DSCM

183
where
x̄ = [x, y]T is space coordinate of each point in the
neighborhood x of calculation point x. pi (x̄) is the
primary function. m is the number of the pri- are the
expected coefficients. On the basis of fracture mechan-
√
ics, the stress field of the crack tip has the 1/ r
singularity commonly, but the primary function of
polynomial forms simulates this singularity hardly. So
the primary function is written as the following form:
The region of solution  is scattered by N nodes.
A weight function is defined in each node place xI .
Weight function is greater than zero only in a limited
neighborhood I around the nodes. Based on digital
speckle correlation methods, assume that it contains
N nodes in the neighborhood X of calculation point
x, the error weighted sum of squares of displacement
approximate function uh (x, x̄) in the node x̄ = xI is:
We make J take minimum, namely
The expected displacement formula can be
obtained:
where φ(x, x̄) can be expressed as
where
Nodes are detailed around the crack border and
crack tip region. And we adopt influence areas what
are consistent with node density. When the influence
domain which uses nodes as the center intersect with
crack, we can use crack problems affected domain
processing method to analyse it.
As shown in Figure 1, we construct weight function
and form function considering light diffract in point.
184
Figure 1. Rack problems affected domain processing.
We consider that light can’t pass through discontinuous
line, but may bypass the discontinuous line. Hence,
variables d(x) in weight function can be calculated
by (11):
where d0 (x) = x − xI , d1 (x) = xA − xI , d2 (x) =
x − xA xI is the coordinates of node I, xA is the
coordinates of node A.
In rock fracture measurement, the weight function
adopts the taper weight function forms:
where rI = x − xi is the distance between xi and x,
rm is the radius of influence of node i, ε is a smaller
positive value. In this paper, ε = 1.0, k is the positive
integer. In this paper, k = 4.
2.2 The numerical validation of this method
On the basis of a numerical solution of crack tip dis-
placement field obtained by the numerical method
(Abaqus software), we adopt the rock fracture mea-
sured DSCM and DSCM to calculate respectively.
Figure 2a is theoretical v field, Figure 2b is v field
calculated by DSCM, Figure 2c is v field calculated
by rock fracture measurement DSCM. As shown in
these figures, it is very close between the calculated
results obtained by rock fracture measurement DSCM
and the theoretical results, especially in larger dis-
placement value area. But the maximum displacement
value obtained by the traditional DSCM methods is
lower than the theoretical value largely, and the peak
point has been smooth. This is mainly because of errors
caused by smooth processing of the traditional DSCM
in displacement measurement.
Selecting the data of points on the diagonal we
make error analysis of the v field (Figure 3). In Fig-
ure 3, the abscissa denotes is the pixel coordinates
of x, y-coordinate is v value. From the figure, we
can see obviously that DSCM float the peak part of
deformation curve, reducing the spatial resolution of
discontinuous deformation field. And rock fracture
measurement DSCM can reflect the true peak place

Figure 2. The calculation results of speckles map in crack
tip displacement field.
Figure 3. Contrast between calculation results of the crack
tip displacement field.
deformation, improving the space and displacement
resolution of discontinuous deformation field.
As is shown in the crack tip field simulated speckle
image validation, we can see the exact location of
cracks through the rock fracture measurement DSCM
processing results obviously. And the deformation val-
ues and theoretical values are close. But the results of
the DSCM have an obvious error universally because
of average effect.
3 DSCM MEASUREMENT OF FRACTURE
PARAMETERS OF ROCK TYPE I
3.1 Fracture experiments of rock type I
The specimen material is a kind of middle par-
ticulate granodiorites and the specimen section is
185
Figure 4. Specimen size and loading schemes.
Figure 5. Experimental loading curve.
300 mm × 35 mm, high is 70 mm. Specimen size and
loading sehemes is shown in Figure 4. The natural tex-
ture of the specimen can be regarded as a measurement
speckles field.
The experiment is performed in 3-point bending
loading platform. We use white illuminant to irradiate
specimen surface, and use Basler A641f CCD cam-
era to film the surface image. Adjusting the camera
position, we make the camera target surface and the
specimen surface parallel approximatively. Adjusting
the focus, we make the image clear, and make the
specimen almost holds the whole target surface. Start-
ing from loading, we use the image collection system
of computer to record the deformation speckle image
on the surface of the specimen continuously, until the
macroscopic failure of the specimen result. The speed
of Image data acquisition is 15 frames per second.
When the experiment is completed, speckle image is
calculated relatively, and then we analyse the displace-
ment field of rock specimens of type I crack the 3-point
bending static loading fracture experiments.
3.2 Experimental results and analysis
In the whole process of loading specimens, the image
system collected 1474 speckle images. We use the
rock fracture measurement DSCM to calculate the
speckle images, obtaining the corresponding displace-
ment field on the rock specimen deformation process.
The specimen load curve is shown in Figure 5. In
this figure, for the abscissa denotes the loading time,

Figure 6. Displacement field evolution of crack
propagation.
y-coordinate denotes loading. The maximum load is
40.86 kN. We select speckle image of the two moments
on the experiments loading curves to analyse, and mark
Numbers and position in the loading curves.
Figure 6 gives the results of u field and v field on the
loading process. The unit of color standard is pixels,
Figure 6(a)and Figure 6(b) are separately u field and
vfield calculated at 333.719s after loading. Right now
the load is 15.75 kN. Figure 6(c) and Figure6(d) are
separately u field and v field calculated at 493.615s
after loading. Right now the load is 35.94 kN. As is
shown in Figure 6, because of the inhomogeneity of
rock material, u and v field of the crack tip position are
different with u and v field of homogeneous materi-
als. Displacement field of homogeneous materials has
butterfly shape obviously, but the butterfly shape in
non-uniform material is not obvious. Maybe for non-
uniform material, its butterfly shape of displacement
field need greater scale. However, due to the frac-
ture behavior of natural rock material isn’t researched
absolutely. It still needs a large number of experimen-
tal validation studies. Based on the displacement field
obtained by rock I type crack experiment, we calculate
in the rock I type fracture stress intensity factor.
According to the theory of linear-elastic fracture
mechanics, stress intensity factor of I type crack in
certain forces for displacement can be defined as:
where u(r, ϕ) is the expression of the local coordi-
nate (r, ϕ) of displacement in the X direction in the
186
Figure 7. Coordinate schematic of the crack tip.
crack tip. E is the elastic modulus of material, v is the
poisson ratio. Whenϕ = π, u(r, ϕ) is half of the crack
surface expanded displacement. The local coordinate
schematic of crack tip is shown in Figure 7. u(r, ϕ) is
(Wu 1984):
Therefore, formula (13) can be written:
where, r is the distance between crack tip points and
measuring point. In Experiments, rock elastic modulus
is E = 60 GPa, poisson ratio is v = 0.34.
After measuring the expanded displacement near
the crack tip, we can work out the stress intensity fac-
tor. When calculating specifically, we take a series of
point near the crack tip, and measure δ(r) of every
point.Then through the formula (15), computations are
denoted by KI∗ . KI∗ obtained by the straight-line extrap-
olating method when r → 0 is known as the measured
KI , by a series of calculated KI∗ . For the granite speci-
mens in this paper, the calculated stress intensity factor
of the static fracture type I crack is 5.67 kg/mm3/2 .
4 CONCLUSION
Through adopting the traditional DSCM method, this
paper solves the speckle image problem of test to
obtain the surface displacement field of specimens.
Then based on mobile least squares (MLS), it uses
node displacement to construct the approximate func-
tion of the whole calculation displacement field.
Through introducing treatment methods which con-
sider the primary functions of crack tip field and the
domain of influence about crack problems into the
crack processing, it develop a high accuracy DSCM
method of rock fracture measurement, and this method
is verified through the numerical simulation. This
paper also uses the DSCM method of rock fracture
measurement to study the loading experiment of three-
point bending rock, obtaining the stress intensity factor
of rock I type fracture.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Research on freezing ring of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) storage

based on multi-coupling theory under low-temperature

M.M. Tang, Z.Y. Wang & P.J. Duan

Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Oil and Gas Distribution Technology, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Storing liquefied natural gas in underground caverns is a forward-looking international issue.
The surrounding rocks of LNG storage undergo a thermo-hydro-mechanical multi coupling effect during the
construction and operation processes. According to the experimental mechanical parameters of some granite
specimens under low temperature, the numerical simulation was executed to study the development of freezing
ring around the storage based on the multi-field coupling theory under low-temperature. The research results
showed that the freezing ring would become thicker and thicker gradually with time and the thickness of freezing
ring would be stable after about 20 years of construction. At last, the fitting relations between the thicknesses of
freezing ring at different positions of storage cavern and the operation time were acquired.

1 INSTRUCTIONS In the paper, the simulation of multi-coupling pro-

To store liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the under-
ground caverns is not only conducive to fire preven-
tion, explosion prevention and pollution prevention,
but also good for combat readiness, so the LNG under-
ground storage caverns have a good outlook and a
broad space for development. The LNG storage cav-
ern will be located at a certain depth below the water
table, and the liquefied natural gas need a low temper-
ature under normal pressure conditions to be liquefied.
The lowest temperature of the surrounding rock is
close to −50◦ , so a certain range freeze ring will
be formed in the surrounding rock. To determine the
scope of the freeze ring correctly has a great signifi-
cance for the mechanical stability and leakage security
of underground storage.
At present, the strength of rocks and multi-coupling
theory at low temperature conditions have been stud-
ied (Inada et al. 1984, Kenji et al. 1990, Dwivedi et
al. 2000, Winker et al. 1968, Neaupane et al. 1999,
Yamabe et al. 2001, Tang et al. 2010) For example,
KENJI Aoki et al (Kenji et al. 1990) studied the
characteristics of rock under low temperatures dur-
ing the research of storage of refrigerated liquefied
gases in caverns; Yamabe T, Neaupane K.M. (Yamabe
et al. 2001) studied the thermo-mechanical proper-
ties of Sirahama sandstone when the temperature is
subzero; Tang Ming-ming & Wang Zhi-yin (Tang
2010) conducted a lot of mechanical tests under differ-
ent freezing temperature and different water-bearing
states and analyzed the law of rock deformation,
compressive strength and shear strength parameters
and the freezing temperatures; Neaupane K.M. et al.
(Neaupane et al. 1999) simulated the freezing and
thawing processes of rock based on a fully coupled
thermo-hydro-mechanical system.
cess during the construction and operation of LNG
underground storage is executed using the 3D-finite–
difference method according to the basic equations of
coupling analysis, and the relations between the thick-
nesses of freezing ring at different positions of storage
and the operation time are studied.
2 GOVERNING EQUATIONS AND
CALCULATING PARAMETERS
The surrounding rock of LNG underground storage
is assumed as a continuous mixture composed by
rock matrix, water and ice. Assume that the pore vol-
ume ratio is ϕ, and the volume content that the pore
water changes into ice is ω. According to mixture
theory (Kong 1999), the mass conservation equations
of different component can be obtained (Wang 2008,
Tang 2010)
where, T , p, t, K, Ks , εv , βl , αs , ρw , νw , ρi νi are
the temperature, pore pressure, time, elastic volume
modulus, elastic volume modulus of matrix, volume
strain, linear thermal expansion coefficient compres-
sion coefficient of rock matrix, density of water,
volume of water, density of ice, volume of ice and
respectively.

189
 The constitutive equation is shown as:
where, σij , Dijkl
s
, Dijkl
i
, εskl , βs , βi , T0 , δij , are total stress
tensor, elastic matrix tensor of solid, elastic matrix
tensor of ice, strain tensor, volume thermal expansion
coefficient of rock matrix, volume thermal expansion
coefficient of ice, initial temperature and Kronecker
symbol, respectively.
The energy conservation equations are shown as:
where, λs , qs ε̇kk , ρs , cs , λw , qw , cw , λi , qi , ε̇ii , ci ,υ are
thermal conductivity vector of rock matrix, heat source
intensity of rock matrix, volume strain, density of rock
matrix, specific heat of rock matrix, thermal conduc-
tivity vector of water, heat source intensity of water,
specific heat of water, thermal conductivity vector of
ice, heat source intensity of ice, derivative of volume
strain to time, specific heat of ice and Poisson ratio,
respectively.
Some parameters of the equations are changed with
the low temperature. Tang Ming-ming and Wang Zhi-
yin et al have studied the mechanical parameters of
granite under different freezing temperatures and dif-
ferent water-content states. The parameter evolutions
of granite matrix with temperature are shown as below
(Tang 2010):
where, Ed , σT , c, φ, Kr , β, Cw ,σ1 are the elastic mod-
ulus, tensile strength, cohesion, internal friction angle,
thermal conductivity coefficient, thermal expansion
coefficient, specific heat of granite matrix, axial stress,
respectively.
The relationship of moisture content and tempera-
ture is (Xu 2006):
190
Figure 1. LNG storage model.
3 MULTI-COUPLING SIMULATION OF THE
LNG STORAGE
An example is a LNG underground storage with an
arch wall shape cross section. The width of the cross
section is 20 m and the height is 30 m. The under-
ground storage is situated in granite rock which is 70 m
below the ground. Based on actual design information,
the numerical simulation model is shown as Figure 1.
For convenient, assumes that the variations of sur-
face temperature and internal temperature are negli-
gible, and the temperature of margin of the model
is constant as 20◦ C. The temperature of surrounding
rocks of storage is assumed as −50◦ C after the con-
struction of storage and installation of thermo fin. The
steady groundwater table is 10 m below the ground
surface.
After the construction of storage and injection of
LNG, the temperature of LNG is −160◦ C, and the
temperature of the surrounding rocks is about −50◦ C
because the installation of insulation layer. When the
temperature of pore water is below 0◦ C, the pore water
changes into ice, and the pore water permeates into the
zone below 0◦ C because of the temperature gradient.
Gradually, the steady ice ring will be formed, and the
effective pore of the surrounding rock below 0◦ C will
be occupied by ice. The extension process of ice ring
is shown as Figure 2.
From Figure 2, we can see that the thickness of
freezing ring is thicker and thicker with time. The
thicknesses of the ice ring at different positions of the
surrounding rock at different times are listed inTable 1.
The relations between the thicknesses of freezing ring
and time are shown as Figure 3.
The ranges of ice ring increase gradually, and the
thicknesses at different positions at the same time are
differently. At the initial stage, the ice ring at bottom
of storage is about 8.6 m, which is thicker than that at
other positions. After 19 years of LNG injection, the
scope of ice ring will be stable. The thicknesses of ice
ring at bottom and sidewall are about 36 m, and the
thickness of ice ring at vault is about 28 m. The fitting
Figure 2. The range of ice ring at different times.

Table 1. The thickness of the ice ring at different times/m

Time/year 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 14 19 24

Sidewall 2.3 8.5 10.1 14.7 17.8 19.7 20.1 22.3 24.0 26.0 32.1 36.0 36.4
Vault 2.2 7.4 9.7 12.8 15.0 16.3 18.0 19.2 20.1 21.5 25.7 27.9 28.0
Bottom 8.6 10.8 15.0 18.0 20.0 21.3 22.7 24.1 25.2 26.8 32.5 35.6 35.8

numerical simulation on forming freezing ring of LNG

storage cavern.
The results of simulation have shown that the thick-
nesses of ice ring increase gradually. At the same time,
the thicknesses of ice ring vary at different positions,
and the ice ring at bottom is the thickest. After about
20 years of storage construction, the scope of ice ring
became stable. The steady ice ring is nearly spherical
in shape.

Figure 3. The ranges of ice ring at different times. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

relationship between the thicknesses of ice ring and
the time is shown as below.
This work was supported by the National Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China (No. 50774090). And the
authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of
graduate students Sun Yili and Ba Jinhong in carrying
out experimental investigations.

where ds , dv , db are the thickness of ice ring at the
sidewall, vault and bottom of LNG storage cavern
respectively.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the experimental results under low temper-
ature for some granite obtained by author’s research
group, the multi-field coupling governing equations
and calculating parameters under low-temperature are
studied in the paper. And these are applied to the
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37(5): 1 267–1 275.
Inada,Y. &Yokota, K. 1984. Some studies of low temperature
rock strength. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
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Kenji, A. & Keisuke, H. 1990. Storage of refrigerated lique-
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Media. Hefei: China Science and Technology University
Press.

191
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tion of a fully coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical system
in freezing and thawing rock. International Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36(5): 563–580.
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1029–1034.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Mechanical behavior of claystone exposed to high temperatures and its

possible impacts on the stability of a deep nuclear waste repository

H. Tian & M. Ziegler

Department of Geotechnical Engineering of RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

T. Kempka
Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany

ABSTRACT: Changes in the mechanical behavior of claystones exposed to high temperatures have been inves-
tigated in the laboratory within the present study. Specimens were heated in an electrical furnace at temperatures
between 80◦ C and 300◦ C. After the thermal exposure, the specimens were tested with regard to the uniaxial com-
pression strength. The test results showed that the elastic modulus and peak strength first increase and decrease
with increasing temperature at turning points of 80◦ C and 150◦ C. The results provide insights of the relevant to
integrate thermo-mechanical processes when addressing rock mass exposed to high temperatures. To illustrate
this example, the stability calculation of a conceptual model shows the consequence of thermal exposure on the
geomechnical properties of claystones surrounding an exemplary underground nuclear waste repository.

1 INTRODUCTION In order to extend the previous studies, claystone

Rock mass often experiences high temperatures (sev-
eral 100◦ C) due to underground operations, such
as underground nuclear waste disposal (Gibb 1999),
geothermal heat extraction (Zhao 2000), or under-
ground coal gasification (Burton et al. 2007). For those
projects, it is extremely important to investigate the
thermo-mechanical behavior of rock mass exposed to
high temperatures.
In the last few decades, special attention has been
paid to mechanical, physical and thermal properties
of crystalline rocks such as granite (Dwivedi et al.
2008, Heuze 1983) and marble (Ferrero & Marini
2001, Zhang et al. 2008), and sedimentary rocks such
as sandstone (Rao et al. 2007, Yin et al. 2009) and
limestone (Chen et al. 2009, Zhang et al. 2006) during
and after exposure to high temperatures. The exper-
imental research involves properties such as elastic
modulus, tensile and compressive strength, cohesive
strength and internal friction angle, thermal expansion
coefficient, density, porosity, permeability, thermal
conductivity, heat capacity, etc. In addition, thermal
cracking mechanisms (Chen et al. 2005), thermo-
mechanical model construction (Hueckel et al. 1994,
Zhang et al. 2009, Zuo et al. 2005) and coupled
thermo-mechanical numerical simulations (Hsiung,
et al. 2005, Laloui et al. 2001) lead to various research
activities.
Even though detailed investigations have been con-
ducted for crystalline and different sedimentary rocks,
limited results are available for argillaceous rocks.
specimens were selected to study the thermal effects.
Furthermore, numerical calculations of a conceptual
model were carried out to show the consequence of
thermal effects on the stability of an underground
nuclear waste repository.
2 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
Laboratory experiments including thermal treatment
and uniaxial compression tests were carried out to
investigate the effects of high temperatures on an
exemplary claystone of density 2.62 g/cm3 and poros-
ity 7.6%. Samples were retrieved at a depth of about
1,100 m in a hypothetical study area located in North-
Rhine Westphalia, Germany. The samples were cut to
a diameter of 38 mm and height of 76 mm.
Thermal treatment of the samples was performed
in an electrical furnace at atmospheric pressure and
a heating rate of 50◦ C/hour until the nominal tem-
perature was reached. The nominal temperature was
maintained for two hours before the specimens were
cooled down at the same rate to room temperature.
This low rate was applied to limit the effect of thermal
cracking on the specimen. The nominal temperatures
were 80◦ C, 150◦ C, 200◦ C and 300◦ C.
Subsequently, uniaxial compression tests were con-
ducted on the cooled-down samples at a loading
rate of 0.055 mm/min in a servo-controlled equip-
ment to quantify the mechanical behavior involving
the changes of the elastic modulus, peak strength and
strain as a result of the thermal treatment.

193
Figure 1. Axial stress-strain curves of a claystone after high
temperature treatment.
Figure 2. Scatter distribution of elastic modulus vs. temper-
ature.
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
3.1 Stress-strain curves
The resulting stress-strain curves indicate the failure
type of the claystone to be brittle failure after expo-
sure to high temperatures (80◦ C to 300◦ C). This is
equivalent to the samples which did not experience
thermal treatment (Figure 1). The deformation of clay-
stone up to peak stress can be divided into the initial
compression and elastic stages. Due to the closure
of pre-existing fissures and voids by thermal treat-
ment, the initial compression stages (upward concave
parts of the curves) whose strains are about 0.1% are
significantly lower after high temperature treatment
compared to those determined from the non-treatment
samples (the strain is 0.75%).
3.2 Elastic modulus
The values of the elastic modulus (E) were calcu-
lated in the linear domain of each stress-strain curve.
As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the elastic moduli are
larger after high temperature treatment compared to
the untreated samples. Furthermore, the distribution of
E becomes sparser after the exposure to temperatures
of 200◦ C and 300◦ C (Figure 2).
194
Figure 3. Normalized average elastic modulus vs. temper-
ature.
Figure 4. Scatter distribution of peak stress vs. temperature.
Compared with the elastic modulus E0 determined
at room temperature, E increases nearly five times
subsequent to the exposure to 80◦ C. Between 80◦ C
and 200◦ C, E shows a gently descending trend with
increasing temperature. However, it still has four times
the value of E0 . From 200◦ C onwards, the variation of
E is too small to be neglected.
3.3 Peak stress
Due to the variation of density and pre-existing micro-
cracks of the samples, the peak stress (σc ) of the
claystone shows a certain sparseness (Figure 4). After
high temperature treatment, the peak stresses are
higher than those (σc0 ) tested on untreated samples
in general (Figures 4 and 5).
As illustrated in Figure 5, from 20◦ C to 150◦ C,
an approximately linear increase of the average peak
stress with increasing temperature is observed, where
it is 2.1 times σc0 at 150◦ C; then, a sharp decrease
appears from 150◦ C to 200◦ C. From 200◦ C onwards,
the descending trend of the curve becomes extremely
gentle.
Figure 5. Normalized average peak stress vs. temperature.
Figure 6. Scatter distribution of peak strain vs. temperature.
3.4 Peak strain
Due to the closure of pre-existing micro-cracks caused
by thermal treatment, the peak strains (εp ) after expo-
sure to high temperatures decrease in comparison to
those (εp0 ) determined from untreated samples (Fig-
ures 6 and 7). The average peak strain decreases by
60% after the exposure to 80◦ C. From that to 300◦ C,
the variation of average peak strains is less than 15%,
indicated in Figure 7.
4 MODELING OF AN UNDERGROUND
REPOSITORY FOR NUCLEAR WASTE
DISPOSAL
Because the known properties of claystone are in par-
ticular the very low permeability, high sorption and
self-healing capacities, it is expected to be a suitable
host rock for the permanent underground disposal of
nuclear waste (Fairhurst 2002, Martin 2003). There-
fore, to highlight the consequences of thermal effects
on claystones from 20◦ C to 300◦ C, thermo-mechanical
195
Figure 7. Normalized average peak strain vs. temperature.
Figure 8. The conceptual model and its boundary conditions
(units: m).
calculations were performed for a circular repository
for nuclear waste disposal excavated at the depth of
1000 m in a hydrostatic stress state.
4.1 Model setup and parameterization
As shown in Figure 8, a conceptual model was built
to simulate an underground repository for nuclear
waste disposal. Displacement and temperature bound-
ary conditions are set (Figure 8). The constitutive
model is perfect elasto-plastic and the initial temper-
ature in the whole model is 30◦ C. Based on Hsiung
et al. (2005) and Wang & Tian (1997), the variation of
temperature in the repository with time is illustrated
in Figure 9.
Even though mechanical properties after high tem-
perature treatment are of higher quality compared to
those at high temperatures, the resulting trend of both
conditions is comparable (Wu et al. 2005). Therefore,
the experimental results of the present study can be
applied to construct a temperature dependent elastic
modulus E(T) and cohesive strength c(T), as plotted
in Figure 10.
 Table 1. Geotechnical and thermal parameters.

Parameters Case 1/Case 2 Case 3

Density (kg/m3 ) 2500 2500

Elastic modulus (GPa) 1.5 E(T)
Poisson’s ratio 0.25 0.25
Cohesion (MPa) 1.0 c(T)
Friction angle (◦ ) 40 40
Thermal expansion (k−1 ) 1.0 × 10−5
Thermal conductivity (J/kg · k) 2.0
Heat capacity (W/m · k) 1000

Figure 9. Temperature development in the repository with

time.

Figure 11. Stresses and temperature distribution around the

repository. p is the pre-existing stress caused by the over-
burden. σθθ and σrr are the orthoradial and radial stresses,
respectively.

As shown in Figure 11, there are no significant dif-

Figure 10. E(T) and c(T) for the claystone.
Three scenarios were applied to perform the case
study:
• Case 1: mechanical simulation with the conven-
tional Mohr-Coulomb model;
• Case 2: thermo-mechanical simulation with the
conventional Mohr-Coulomb;
• Case 3: thermo-mechanical simulation with the
thermo-mechanical Mohr-Coulomb model, involv-
ing the elastic modulus and cohesive strength as
temperature dependent parameters (Figure 10).
The corresponding modeling parameters for the
three cases are listed in Table 1.
4.2 Numerical results
Since the thermal parameters are assumed to be tem-
perature independent, the temperature distribution
around the repository after four years for Cases 2 and
3 is almost identical due to the transient heat transfer
(Figure 11).
ferences between the stresses distribution in Cases 1
and 2. However, when the thermo-mechanical effects
are taken into account (Case 3), the stresses distribu-
tion shows a great variation compared to Cases 1 and
2. The tensile stress area appears around the repository
in Case 3. The deviatoric stresses (σθθ − σrr ) are higher
in Case 3 compared to Cases 1 and 2. The yield zones
in Cases 1 and 2 are about 1.5R (R is the radius of the
repository), and 2.6R in Case 3.
The higher the elastic modulus, the higher the ther-
mal stress. Since the increase of the elastic modulus is
higher than that of the peak stress, the yield zone of
the repository becomes larger in Case 3 compared to
Cases 1 and 2.
5 CONCLUSION
The deformability and the strength of claystones
exposed to high temperatures were studied by labora-
tory experiments within the present study. The results
clearly state that both the parameters are affected
by thermal treatment. The elastic modulus increases
strongly up to 80◦ C, and decreases weakly from 80◦ C

196
to 200◦ C. From that onwards, it keeps almost stable
up to 300◦ C. The strength increases in the same way,
however, the first turning temperature is at 150◦ C.
Despite the fact that other rocks may behave differ-
ent at temperatures up to 300◦ C, these experiments
show that how mechanical properties of claystones
change after thermal exposure. It has been also shown
that, in an engineering context, changes in the mechan-
ical properties of claystones lead to the development
of a yield zone around the repository possibly involv-
ing negative consequences for long-term stability
of the repository. Hence, extensive laboratory test-
ing of thermo-mechanical properties of the relevant
host rocks as well as numerical simulations involv-
ing thermo-mechanical coupled processes are of major
importance for the safety evaluation of projects utiliz-
ing the underground for temporal storage or permanent
disposal.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The first author is very grateful for her funding
provided by the China Scholarship Council (CSC).
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experimental research on consolidation properties of tailings granule in

paste discharge

H.J. Wang, S.K. Yang, A.X. Wu & H.Z. Jiao

School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Tailings pond is a main source of mine hazards, so it is of utmost importance to choose a
reasonable discharge and damming method for tailings pond management. Paste discharge is a brand new
technology which has received its fast development recently, and it is especially popular among the mines for
it merits, such as environment-friendly, water recovery, stable damming and so on. Starting with a series of
soil mechanical experiments, the consolidation properties of tailings granule under different moisture content
were studied. Compression coefficient and modulus were used to evaluate the compression performance of the
tailings. And the relationship between deformation and time, void ratio and axial load during the compression &
consolidation process were analyzed. The compression and consolidation process from the perspective of pore
water were also investigated. Direct shear test has been conducted under consolidation and drainage condition,
and the influencing factor and level of strength properties have been analyzed, which lay important foundation
for the design of paste discharge technology and theoretical research of consolidation strength properties.

1 INTRODUCTION order to lay foundation for paste discharge’s future

In China, mine disaster is ranking the second place
after traffic accident among all the industrial accidents.
Mine tailings accident is a typical disaster for mine
disasters. According to statistics, China has more than
12000 tailings ponds, and 1 / 3 of them are in dan-
gerous. The root cause of the frequent accidents is
poor dam stability. In our country, the main method
of tailings’ surface disposal is low concentration dis-
posal, with a general weight concentration of only
20%∼30%. The lower the concentration is in the tail-
ings, the more time is needed to complete the drying
and consolidation process. And accidents often occur
during the process (Zhang et al. 2006). Therefore, it
is of great of importance to raise the concentration to
improve the stability problems.
Paste discharge technology, started only recent
years in China, belongs to the category of high
concentration discharge. Paste discharge, or paste
stacking refers to the technology of thickening the
tailings slurry to a good stability, fluidity and plastic-
ity “toothpaste-like” slurry, transporting to the tailings
ponds by gravity or applied force (pump pressure) in
plug flow, and disposing the discharge outlets to dis-
charge the tailings. It has not only good stability and
water-saving benefits, but also environment-friendly
benefits to adopt paste discharge (Robinsky 1978
Kaiser et al. 2006).
Paste discharge technology in our country has just
been introduced, therefore, most characteristic and
key technique are still unknown. The paper studies
the mechanical property of tailings granule through
knowledge of soil mechanics (Zhao et al. 2006) in
development.
2 INTRODUCTION OF EXPERIMENT
The tailings of the experiment are taken from the
Wushan copper – molybdenum mine.
First the physical properties of tailings granule
were tested to analyze the differences of basic nature
between tailings granule and soil, including bulk den-
sity, specific gravity, void ratio, plastic limit, liquid
limit and the composition of grain size.
Then consolidation & compression tests were con-
ducted. Eight groups of samples were prepared for
the tests. Their concentrations were 88%, 86%, 84%,
82%, 80%, 78%, 76% and 74%, respectively, and the
moisture content were 13.6%, 16.3%, 19.0%, 22.0%,
25.0%, 28.2%, 31.6% and 35.1%. During the com-
pression process, deformation was recorded under
different pressures with time, and moisture content of
them was also tested after the compression.
Finally, each sample was subject to direct cut after
consolidation. Tests were conducted under different
pressure until the samples were destroyed, and the
number of the wheels and scale were recorded.
3 EXPERIMENT RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
3.1 Physical properties of the tailings granule
As seen from the Table 1 and Figure 1, the grain size
range of Wushan tailings is large in mostly fine parti-
cles. The average grain size is 54.003 µm, and particle

199
Table 1. Physical properties of the tailings granule.

Bulk density
Items (g/cm−3 ) specific gravity void ratio (%) liquid limit (%) plastic limit (%) plastic limit index (%)

value 1.527 2.669 62 28.5 19.0 9.5

Table 2. The compressibility of tailings granule under

different moisture content.

Moisture 35.1 28.2 22.0 16.3

content / %
Compressibility 0.49 0.46 0.46 0.30
coefficient / MPa−1
Compressibility 2.69 2.92 3.03 4.70
modulus / MPa

Figure 1. Grain size composition curve of tailings granule.

content below 20 µm is as much as 60%. The void ratio

and specific gravity are high, with a plastic limit index
(liquid limit minus plastic limit) as much as 9.5, indi-
cating that clay minerals content is high in the mineral
composition. Synthetically, it can be concluded that
the properties of tailings granule and soil are more or
less the same.

3.2 The compressibility of tailings granule

Generally, the coefficient of compressibility av is used
to evaluate the compressibility of the soil (Zhang
2007), as shown in formula (1). Among them, ei is the
void ratio under a certain pressure, Pi is a certain pres-
sure value. When av < 0.1 MPa−1 the soil has low com-
pressibility When 0.1 MPa−1 ≤ av ≤ 0.5 MPa−1 the
soil has middle compressibility When av ≥ 0.5 MPa−1
the soil has high compressibility.
Another way to evaluate the compressibility of the
soil is the modulus of compressibility Es (Zhang 2007),
as shown in formula (2). As same as the av , Es changes
with the vertical pressure. The smaller the Es is, the
higher the compressibility will be.
Compressibility coefficient and compressibility
modulus under different moisture content can be cal-
culated from formula (1) and (2), and the results are
shown in Table 2. The compressibility coefficient av2
and compressibility modulus Es2 under the second
pressure are chosen as the central values. As can be
Figure 2. The relationship curve between deformation and
time of tailings granule under different concentration.
seen in Table 2, the compressibility coefficients val-
ues under different moisture content are all smaller
than 0.5 MPa−1 , and bigger than 0.1 MPa−1 , which is
the same as the middle compressibility soil that has
good compressibility. The changing of compressibil-
ity modulus with the moisture content is as the same
as the compressibility coefficient, namely the smaller
the moisture content is, the bigger the compressibility
coefficient will be, and the bigger the compressibility
will be.
3.3 The relationship between deformation and time
of tailings granule
According to the experimental data, the curve of the
relationship between deformation and time is con-
structed, setting time (t) as the abscissa and deforma-
tion (h) as the vertical axis, as shown in Figure 2.
Moisture content of 19.0%, the circle part of the
local amplification in Figure 2, is showed in Figure 3.
Amplifying the circled part of 19.0% curve in Figure
2, Figure 3 can be obtained.

200

Figure 3. Amplified part of 19.0% curve in Figure 2.
It can be seen from Figure 2 that the regular pattern
is the deformation gradually increases with load (pres-
sure). During the initial period of loading, the sample
has a large deformation, and then the deformation
increases slowly, and finally achieves stabilization.
Usually, the deformation process of tailings granule
caused by settlement under a certain pressure can
be divided into three phases (Ling et al. 2008): (1)
The instantaneous settlement phase, that is, the settle-
ment happened immediately when pressure is loaded.
Instantaneous settlement is generally regarded as the
elastic deformation of tailings framework under the
effect of pressure, namely the AB segment in Fig-
ure 3. (2) The primary consolidation settlement phase,
which is caused by the abreaction of excess pore water
pressure, elimination of pore water, reduction of pore
volume of saturated viscous tailings under the effect
of pressure. This process lasts longer than the first
one, as BC segment in Figure 3. (3) The secondary
consolidation settlement, as CD segment in Figure
3. It refers to the settlement that pore water pressure
has completely dissipated after primary consolidation
settlement phase. Usually secondary consolidation set-
tlement is considered caused by the creep deformation
and realignment of tailings granule, and the secondary
consolidation settlement changes with different types
of tailings.
The relationship curve of Figure 2 shows that the
deformation decreases with moisture content under the
same load condition. The deformation, or settlement,
of tailings granule is commonly caused by three main
reasons: (1) deformation or compression of the solid
granule itself; (2) compression of pore water in tailings
granule; (3) the reduction of void volume in tailings
granule because of the dissipation of pore water or
gas. Besides, when the tailings granule is in super-
saturation, the more water contained in the tailings
granule, the more pore water will be dissipated during
the consolidation process.
3.4 The relationship between load and void ratio
The void ratios of each group under different moisture
contents and loads are shown in Table 3.
201
It can be drawn from Figure 4 that all the samples
share the same e-P relationship trend with the increase
of load, pore water and gas gradually dissipate, thus
void ratio decreases under the same moisture content.
The moisture content and void ratio have a inverse ratio
relationship, that is, the lower the moisture content is,
the higher the void ratio will be. Figure 5 shows the
change of the moisture content before and after con-
solidation, it can be drawn that the sample which has
higher moisture content dissipates more water, and
there is barely water dissipated under the moisture
content of 13.6%. It partially indicates that the void
ratio of sample which has higher moisture content will
be bigger than the lower one after compression and
consolidation process.
3.5 The strength characteristics of tailings granule
after consolidation
3.5.1 The relationship between shear stress and
shear displacement
It can be seen from Figure 6 that the shear stress
increases with shear displacement before shear loss.
The process can be divided into three phases. At the
beginning of shearing, shear stress increased rapidly,
nearly linear growth. At the second phase, with the
increasing shear displacement, shear stress grows
slowly, but still in the growth trend. At the final stage,
shear stress achieves stability until the shear drop. At
the same time, the moisture content in the same con-
ditions shows that the greater the vertical pressure is
the greater the shear stress will be.
3.5.2 The effect of moisture content to internal
friction angle and cohesion
The shear strength curve of each sample under differ-
ent normal stress is shown in Figure 7.
As shown in Figure 7, with the increase of nor-
mal stress, each shearing strength curve shows linear
increase. According to the Mohr – Coulomb criterion
the above data has been linear fitted, the intercept
obtained is cohesion, and the slope of the line is inter-
nal friction slope. The regression results are shown
in Table 4, where R2 is the multiple correlation coef-
ficient of the equation, the curve of internal friction
slope and cohesion under different moisture contents
can be seen in Figure 8.
Cohesion is mainly made up of the molecular forces
among the water films of granular particles. Fig-
ure 8 shows cohesion changes a lot with moisture
content, namely first increase, then decrease when
moisture content decreases. Commonly, the free water
in the particles will diminish when moisture content
is decreased, and the mutual slip between the particles
will also be reduced, so the cohesion will be increased.
When the water content reaches a certain level, the par-
ticles will be covered with a water film, and the surface
tension will be produced at the air – water interface, so
the cohesion will reach its peak at the moisture content
of 19%. However, with the water content decreasing
Table 3. The void ratios under different moisture contents and loads.

Moisture Content % 13.6 16.3 19.0 22.0 25.0 28.2 31.6 35.1

Initial void ratio 0.440 0.440 0.440 0.440 0.440 0.440 0.440 0.440
Void ratio (100 kPa) 0.427 0.421 0.400 0.404 0.402 0.381 0.360 0.354
Void ratio (200 kPa) 0.415 0.406 0.382 0.381 0.373 0.358 0.344 0.329
Void ratio (300 kPa) 0.396 0.382 0.358 0.352 0.335 0.328 0.302 0.294
Void ratio (400 kPa) 0.351 0.340 0.329 0.310 0.293 0.281 0.267 0.247

Figure 6. The relationship curve between shear displace-

ment and shear stress under a moisture content of 22.0%.
Figure 4. The relationship curve between void ratio and load
under different loads.

Figure 7. The shearing strength curve of each samples under

Figure 5. The change of moisture content before and after different normal stress.
consolidation of each group.

this layer of water film will gradually disappear, reduc-
ing the effect of surface tension, and leading to the
cohesion declining at the same time.
Internal friction angle is the absolute value to char-
acterize the resistance between the particles. Figure
8 shows that internal friction angle changes a lot with
moisture content, namely first increase, then decrease,
final increase again when moisture content increases.
Internal friction angle reaches its minimum value at the
moisture content of about 28% and its peak value at
19%, which is possibly caused by the water absorption
of the particles.
4 CONCLUSION
Through the basic physical properties experiment for
Wushan tailings granule, it can be obtained that the
properties of tailings granule and soil are almost the
same. Compressibility coefficient and compressibil-
ity modulus are used to evaluate the compressibility
of tailings granule and the results indicate that the
compressibility of the tailings granule is relatively
good.
The relationship between deformation and time dur-
ing the consolidation process has been studied. Defor-
mation increases with the increasing of the pressure,

202
Table 4. The regression results of shearing strength.

Moisture Content % Fitting equation R2 Internal friction angle◦ Cohesion kPa

13.6 y = 0.4596x + 12.6 0.980 24.684 12.6

16.3 y = 0.4938x + 21.672 0.969 26.28 21.672
19.0 y = 0.5598x + 30.653 0.968 29.24 30.653
22.0 y = 0.5548x + 23.792 0.974 29.022 23.792
25.0 y = 0.4847x + 17.647 0.992 25.859 17.647
28.2 y = 0.4548x + 12.863 0.986 24.456 12.863
31.6 y = 0.4961x + 8.813 0.981 26.386 8.813
35.1 y = 0.5363x + 2.1934 0.980 28.205 2.1934

Plan (2006BAB02A01), the National Natural Science

Foundation of China Key Program (50934002), and
the Programme for New Century Excellent Talents
(NECT-07-0070).

Figure 8. The relationship curve of internal friction angle
and cohesion under different moisture contents.
and the whole deformation process can be divided
into three phases. The main reason of deformation
or settlement for the tailings granule has been ana-
lyzed. The relationship between void ratio and load
has been researched, namely void ratio decreases while
load increases, besides, moisture content and void ratio
have an inverse relationship.
The relationship between shear stress and shear
displacement has been discussed. The shear stress
increases with shear displacement, which can be
divided into three stages. Finally, the effect of mois-
ture content on internal friction angle and cohesion has
been studied, this effect is mainly due to the amount of
free water, water film generation and adhesive force
between particles.
REFERENCES
Das, B.M. 2008. Advanced Soil Mechanics. Taylor & Francis.
Kaiser, L.K., Lamperd, J.W., Loan, C. & Cooling, D.J. 2006.
A new approach to bauxite residue dry stacking, 9th Inter-
national seminar on paste and thickened tailings, pp,
57–68.
Ling, Y. & Wu, L. 2008. Research on Compression and Con-
solidation Features of Sand Gravel Mixture. Construction
Machinery & Construction Technology, pp. 47–50.
Robinsky, E.I. 1978. Tailings disposal by the thickened
discharge method for improved economy and environ-
mental control. Tailings Disposal Today, Proceedings 2nd
International Tailings Sympsium, pp. 75–77.
Yang, S.K., Wang, H.J., Wu, A.X. & Ai, C.M. 2010. Gen-
eral development and prospect of tailings high-density
discharge technology. Journal of Safety Science and
Technology, 6(5), pp: 28–33.
Zhang, M.X. 2007. Soil Mechanics. Hubei.
Zhang, X.K., Wang, Q.M.M. & Xiang, G.S. 2006. Analysis
of current safety situation of metal and non-metal tail-
ing pond, Journal of Safety Science and Technology, 2(2),
pp. 60–63.
Zhao, C.G., Bai, B. & Wang, Y.X. 2006. Soil Mechan-
ics. Beijing, Tsinghua University Press, Beijing Jiaotong
University Press, 2006.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project was supported by the National Key

Technologies R&D Program for the 11th Five-year

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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Creep behavior of a soft rock in triaxial compression and shear conditions

W. Wang, T.G. Liu, W.Y. Xu, Z.L. Zhang & H.C Wang
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Geomechanics and Embankment Engineering, Hohai University,
Jiangshu, China
Geotechnical Research Institute, Hohai University, Jiangshu, China

ABSTRACT: Soft rock exhibits pronounced creep deformations even under relatively low stress level. In this
study, a series of laboratory tests including triaxial compression creep tests and shear creep tests, were conducted
on a soft rock – strong weathered sandstone in order to investigate the creep behaviors. Based on test results, the
creep deformations of mudstone are analyzed. In addition, a viscoelastic model - Burgers model was chosen to
simulate numerically the creep behavior in triaxial and shear conditions. The parameters identified from triaxial
compression creep tests and shear creep tests are compared between different stress levels.

1 INTRODUCTION sandstone which has a uniaxial compressive strength

In rock mechanics design, the long-term stability anal-
ysis, which is related to the safe operation of the
facilities for a sufficiently long period of time, is
one of the most important problems especially for
the grand projects. For this purpose, time effect on
mechanical properties should be taken into account.
Neglecting time effect may lead to incorrect evaluation
of deformation and thus causes unpredictable risk.
Soft rock, named as ‘weak’ and ‘weathered’ in
rock terminology, is defined as a geotechnical mate-
rial which has a uniaxial compressive strength ranged
from 0.5 to 25 MPa (Hudson 1993, Johnston 1993). It
is revealed by many authors that Soft rock exhibits pro-
nounced creep deformations even under relatively low
stress level (Yoshinaka et al. 1996, Yang et al. 1999,
Maranini & Brignoli 1999, Tsai et al. 2008). Many
underground structures, such as tunnels and under-
ground plants, excavated in soft rocks, are susceptible
to hazards during and after construction due to large
time-dependent deformations. A typical phenomenon
called “squeezing”, which is frequently encountered in
tunneling, is considered as the consequence of time-
dependent deformation of soft rock. Therefore, for
the stability analysis of engineering practices exca-
vated in soft rock, it is essential to conduct a detailed
investigation on creep behavior of soft rock.
The time-dependent behavior of various kinds of
soft rocks such as rock salt, weak sandstones and chalk,
have been investigated experimentally and numeri-
cally (Dahou et al. 1995, Maranini & Brignoli 1999,
Yang et al. 1999, Tsai et al. 2008). However, most
of the experimental studies are based on uniaxial
and triaxial compressive tests. Few results concern-
ing both triaxial compressive tests and shear tests of
strongly-weathered sandstone are reported.
In this study, we focus on the creep behavior of
a very weak rock – Xiangjiaba strongly-weathered
of 1.2–1.5 MPa. The test samples were taken from
the surrounding rocks of testing tunnel located in the
left bank of the Xiangjiaba hydropower station. The
Xiangjiaba hydropower station is located at the gorge
exit of Jinsha River on the boundary between Sichuan
Province and Yunnan Province. During the dam foun-
dation excavation in the left bank, an extrusion belt
was found. The rock is defined as the strong weathered
sandstone.The mechanical properties of this rock mass
are very poor. Large time-dependent deformations are
observed in this rock. Therefore, the long-term stabil-
ity analysis and risk assessment of dam foundation are
of great importance. For this purpose, it is necessary
to conduct a detailed study on the creep behavior of
strong weathered sandstones through the laboratory
tests.
2 TEST DESCRIPTION AND PROGRAM
The rock tested is grayish yellow, strong weathered
sandstone. The natural water content is ranged from
4.8% to 13.7% with its average value 8.9%. The aver-
age density is 2.24 g/cm3 and the average dry density
is 2.06 g/cm3 . The mineralogical composition consists
of mainly quartz, feldspar and sericite. The sample for
the triaxial test is cylindrical and has a diameter of
50 mm and a height of about 100 mm. For the shear
test the sample is cubic and has a side length of about
200 mm. As the rock is very fragile, the rock is sealed
by the concrete and a gap of 10 mm is reserved for
the shear surface. Because of the friability of the rock,
special attention is devoted to the preparation of sam-
ples. The photos of a triaxial test sample and a shear
test sample is shown in Figure 1.
The experimental investigation focus on the labora-
tory creep tests including uniaxial, triaxial creep tests
and shear creep tests. In our study, only mechanical

205
Figure 1. Samples of Xiangjiaba strongly-weathered sand-
stones (left: triaxial test sample; right: shear test sample). Figure 2. Axial strain versus time relation during a uniaxial
creep test.
effects on the time-dependent behavior are considered.
Precautions should be taken to avoid chemical, ther-
mal or hydraulic interaction. The room temperature
was controlled and maintained at 22±1◦ C. Specimens
were placed in tight membranes in order to keep the
water content state and avoid invasion of hydraulic oil
into the specimen during the creep tests.
The triaxial tests were carried out on the rock
servo-controlled rheology testing machine. A pair of
LVDTs was used to monitor axial displacement and
the radial strain was measured with a specifically
designed Aluminum collar to which four gauges were
glued (patent product of the University of Lille 1, N◦
05/05204). The shear tests were carried out on the Figure 3. Axial strain versus time relation during a triaxial
rock shear rheology testing machine. It consists of four creep test with the confining pressure of 1 MPa.
main parts: shear box, EDC digital controller, PC sys-
tem, electro-mechanical servo-controlled system. The 0.1 to 0.3 MPa for triaxial test and of 0.055 MPa for
shear displacement is measured locally by a pair of shear test.
LVDTs. The objective of these creep tests is to character-
The testing program includes 2 triaxial creep tests ize the time-dependent behavior of strong weathered
at two different confining pressures 0, 1 MPa and sandstone under different stress conditions. Full creep
2 shear creep tests at two different normal stress phases are expected to be observed. It is noted that
0.2, 0.6 MPa. Before the creep tests, the short-term the tertiary creep phase does not appear in spite of
tests at the same confining pressure or normal stress pronounced creep deformation occurring in the test.
were performed. The short-term strengths at differ-
ent confining pressures and normal pressures obtained
from the conventional tests were used as reference for
3 RESULTS, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
setting applied stress in multi-stepped creep test.
The creep tests were carried out following a multi-
3.1 Test results
step loading procedure. The multi-step loading proce-
dure is largely used because it can allow the evaluation Two triaxial compressive creep tests at 0, 1 MPa con-
of creep behavior in a reasonable time. For triaxial fining pressures were preformed. Figures 2–3 show
compressive creep tests, confining pressure is loaded the axial strain versus time relations at two different
to the preset value and hold constant, and then the confining pressures, respectively.
axial deviatoric stress was stepwise increased at the From these figures, it is noted that the rock exhibits
rate of 0.2 MPa/min until failure of specimen. For significant time-dependent deformations in triaxial
shear creep tests, the normal pressure is loaded to compression. At each step, more than 50% of total
the designed level and maintained, and then the hori- strain is contributed by creep. The creep rate decreases
zontal shear pressure is loaded gradually at the rate dramatically at the beginning (primary stage) and
of 2kN/min until specimen failed. The creep steps remains almost constant in the secondary stage. Unlike
were performed at various levels of the correspond- other rocks presenting a more brittle behavior and
ing short-term strength. After each load, deviatoric higher compressive strength, the accelerating stage is
stress or shear pressure was kept constant for a time not observed in the limited creep time available dur-
interval (2 or 3 days) during which axial and lateral ing the creep tests. The comparison of the two creep
strains were continuously recorded. The first step load curves shows that the creep strain is more significant
was about 20–40% of the corresponding short-term at higher confining pressure. At the same deviatoric
strength and the stress increments vary in the range of stress level, axial strain at the confining pressure of

206
Figure 4. Shear strain versus time relation during a shear
creep test under the normal stress 0.2 MPa.
Figure 5. Shear strain versus time relation during a shear
creep test under the normal stress 0.6 MPa.
1 MPa is about 1.2–1.5 times larger than that at 0 MPa
confining pressure.
Two shear creep tests were performed on the
strongly weathered sandstones under the normal stress
0.2 MPa and 0.6 MPa. The shear creep strain versus
time curves are shown in Figures 4–5.
As in the triaxial compression creep tests, the sim-
ilar creep behaviour appears in the shear creep test.
The creep strain is significant especially for the high
deviatoric stress level. It is also found that creep strain
increases with normal stress at the same shear stress
level. For instance, at the shear stress of 0.44 MPa, the
total strain is nearly 4 times larger at the normal stress
of 0.6 MPa than at 0.2 MPa. In addition, the steady
creep rate seems to increase with the shear stress. Both
of the samples failed suddenly in the final step loading.
No obvious creep occurs in this stage.
3.2 Relations between applied deviatoric stress,
shear stress and steady creep rate
Many authors have studied the correlation between
deviatoric stress and steady creep rate. Most researches
have shown that steady creep rate increases with
applied stress (Yang et al. 1999, Ma & Daemen 2006,
Li et al. 2009, Li et al. 2010). However, sometimes, the
opposite trend is possible from the creep tests (Fabre
& Pellet 2006). The steady creep rate of axial strain
207
Figure 6. Correlations between steady creep rate and devi-
atoric stress in the triaxial creep tests.
Figure 7. Correlations between steady creep rate and shear
stress in the shear creep tests.
versus deviatoric stress relations obtained from the
triaxial creep tests are plotted in Figure 6.
At each step loading, the steady creep rate is calcu-
lated by the slope of the creep curve after the initial
24 h of creep time which are considered as the pri-
mary creep stage. It is noted that the points are quite
scattered. For σc = 1.0 MPa, beside the first point, the
general trend show that the steady creep rate increases
with the applied deviatoric stress while for σc = 0 MPa,
the steady creep rate decreases with the deviatoric
stress.
In terms of shear creep test, few results are reported
in the literature. It is mentioned in the above section
that the steady creep rate has a trend of increasing with
the shear stress. In order to evaluate the influence of
stress on the steady creep rate, the steady creep rate
versus stress relations are plotted in Figure 7.
The correlations between steady strain rate
and deviatoric stress have been studied by many
researchers. For the fitting of steady creep rate – devia-
toric stress correlation, power function (Ma & Daemen
2006) and exponential function (Li et al., 2010) have
been proposed. In this study, in order to check the
validity of the two function fitting of steady creep
rate – shear stress correlation, the exponential func-
tion is used to fit the steady creep rate versus shear
stress relation for the normal stress σn = 0.6 MPa and
the power function is selected to fit the relation curve
for σn = 0.2 MPa (Figure 7).The results show a good
accord between simulation and data.
The exponential function is given as follows:

where a, b and c are the parameters of the model, τ is

the shear stress and γ is axial steady creep strain rate.
The power function is expressed by:

where A, B are two parameters of the model.

For the test data, the identified parameters are as fol-
lows: a = 4.1e−6 ; b = 1.35e−11 ; c = 22.98; A = 10−5 ; Figure 8. Comparisons between numerical prediction and
B = 1.0076. test data for triaxial creep test and uniaxial creep test.

3.3 Effects of confining pressure and normal

pressure on steady creep rate
Based on the triaxial creep tests on salt rock, the
effect of confining pressure on steady creep rate is
investigated by Yang et al. (1999). It is found that
the steady creep rate decreases as confining pressure
increases. The relationship between steady creep rate
and confining pressure can be approximated by an
exponential function. Nevertheless, according to Fig-
ure 6, for the extremely soft rocks such as strongly
weathered sandstone, the increasing confining pres-
sure tends to increase the steady creep rate. Possible
explanation is that the rock is so weak that hydrostatic
stress induces non-neglectable delayed deformation. Figure 9. Comparisons between numerical prediction and
The result will be further testified by studying the test data for shear creep tests.
viscosity parameters, which will be presented in the
following section. However, more experimental data used to model the creep behavior of strongly weathered
are necessary in order to verify it. sandstone. Plastic deformations are not considered in
Regarding shear creep tests, normal stress has also this study. For describing the whole behavior, a rig-
influences on shear strain rate. The general trend orous visco-elastic-plastic model should be required
shows that the rock exhibits more pronounced time- (Sun 2007, Zhou et al. 2008, Li et al. 2009). The Burg-
dependent deformations at a high normal stress. ers model is the combination of Kelvin model and
Maxwell model. The constitutive relations in triax-
ial compressive condition and shear condition for the
4 NUMERICAL MODELING Burgers model are expressed as follows. For triaxial
compressive condition, the axial strain is given by:
The creep behavior of rocks is very complicated. It
depends on rock type, stress state, temperature etc. No
simple model can describe the whole creep behavior
satisfactorily. In general, there are three types of creep
model: empirical models, rheological models (so- where E1 indicates the Young’s modulus; E2 , η1 , η2 are
called spring-dashpot models) and phenomenological the viscosity parameters of the model.
models in the framework of continuous mechanics For shear condition, the shear creep strain is
theory. Goodman (1989) concluded that for most described by:
rocks, the Burgers model is suitable to describe the
creep behavior if proper parameters are selected. For
the highly deformable and low strength rocks such
as weak sandstone, prominent creep deformation is
shown under relatively low stress level. The descrip- where GM , GK , ηM , ηK are four parameters of the
tion of creep behavior is one of the major concerns model in pure shear stress condition. They are different
in engineering design. Yu (1998) considered that the from E1 , E2 , η1 , η2 in triaxial condition.
Burgers model is the most appropriate creep model for The fitting curves of experimental data with the
soft rock. Therefore, the visco-elastic Burgers model is Burgers model are shown in Figures 8-9. The model’s

208
Table 1. Parameters for triaxial compressive creep tests.

σc σdev E1 E2 η1 η2
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa*h) (MPa*h)

0 0.4 103.06 457.96 41127.98 1030.89

0.6 107.96 1583.88 105820.12 6482.55
0.8 124.94 2120.43 111016.41 7175.19
0.9 125.49 3480.12 228181.66 19828.90
1.0 130.47 6922.02 331268.27 63894.79
1.1 135.89 8128.38 387022.60 36523.01
1.2 142.00 8503.76 315086.91 25105.28
1.3 145.13 8446.19 365159.05 53209.53
1.4 148.80 9580.83 587627.35 86071.46
1.5 153.32 10178.2 497216.10 73917.34
Average value 131.71 5940.08 296952.64 37323.90
1.0 0.4 141.61 1000.61 28426.11 4819.97
0.7 148.69 574.03 61379.78 3263.68
0.9 134.72 1413.17 58278.86 4968.57
1.1 130.57 1301.17 97926.06 6141.23
1.3 128.78 1475.60 103833.10 5120.89
1.5 125.19 1246.17 243335.30 18344.07
1.7 122.60 2286.00 176713.60 15971.19
1.9 124.89 1827.01 116408.00 11872.59
2.1 122.10 2014.71 113494.40 12296.53
2.3 119.69 2301.73 189536.10 21445.34
2.5 119.12 3308.80 103882.10 16962.98
2.7 115.97 1864.97 164231.40 21505.80
Average value 127.83 1717.83 121453.70 11892.74

Table 2. Parameters for triaxial compressive creep tests.

σc τ GK ηK GM ηM
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa*h) (MPa) (MPa*h)

0.2 0.055 467.98 592.47 91.22 62496.31

0.110 472.72 817.70 68.20 35878.65
0.165 474.72 282.09 58.54 42218.17
0.220 647.18 580.52 48.12 46918.28
0.275 725.35 432.04 46.49 48701.82
0.330 833.77 402.40 45.56 50532.29
0.385 1029.51 1303.43 47.12 74364.86
0.440 509.85 2811.95 46.41 60030.56
Average value 645.13 901.70 56.46 52642.62
0.6 0.221 601.90 964.75 21.85 101672.5
0.276 836.48 3249.13 19.48 44231.48
0.331 301.72 369.98 17.37 34286.53
0.386 390.39 477.40 17.72 45436.68
0.441 288.51 221.47 18.30 33813.84
0.496 256.89 250.73 18.80 26936.58
0.551 211.34 143.02 18.18 30183.24
0.606 103.26 113.35 17.57 11027.62
Average value 373.81 723.73 18.66 40948.56

predictions are in good agreement with the experimen-
tal data for the two types of creep tests. The parameters
are determined by the optimization method using the
Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. They are listed in
Table 1 and Table 2.
E1 (or GM ) controls the instantaneous elastic behav-
ior. E2 (or GK ) determines the total primary creep strain
or the delayed elastic strain. η2 (or ηK ) is the viscosity
coefficient of the dash pot in the Kelvin model, con-
trolling the decaying rate of the primary creep strain
while η1 (or ηM ) is the viscosity coefficient of the dash
pot in the Maxwell model which controls the increas-
ing rate of the secondary creep strain. The parameters
are sensitive to the applied stress but the correlations

209
are difficult to obtain. In general, the parameters are
likely to increase with stress for uniaxial creep test or
for shear creep test under low normal stress. On the
contrary, the parameters tend to increase with stress
for the triaxial test at a confining pressure of 1 MPa or
for shear creep test under relatively high normal stress.
By comparing the average values of the parameters
for different confining pressures and normal stress, it
is noted that the parameters E1 , E2 , η1 , η2 decrease with
confining pressure and the GK , GM , ηK , ηM decrease
with normal stress. The decreasing parameters of the
model lead to more pronounced strain in the numerical
modeling of creep behavior. This conclusion is in good
agreement with experimental result.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The creep behavior of Xiangjiaba strongly weathered
sandstone is investigated based on uniaxial and triax-
ial compression creep tests and shear creep tests using
a multistage loading procedure. The Burgers model is
used to describe the creep behavior in uniaxial, tri-
axial and shear conditions. The main conclusions are
summarized as follows:
1. The strongly weathered sandstone presents pro-
nounced time-dependent deformations under rela-
tively low stress level. Only primary and secondary
creep phases appeared in all the creep tests carried
out.
2. The steady creep rate increases with deviatoric
stress under the confining pressure of 1.0 MPa
while it decreases with deviatoric stress in uni-
axial condition. Concerning the shear creep test,
the steady creep rate increases with applied shear
stress at two different normal stresses 0.2 MPa and
0.6 MPa. In addition, the steady strain rate is likely
to increase with the confining pressure or normal
stress.
3. The Burgers model fit well the experimental data of
creep test. The parameters of the model are sensi-
ble to applied stress. However, the variation of the
parameters is in a reasonable range which could
be accepted by the practical engineering. The aver-
age values are used to evaluate the variation of
the parameters with stress state. The result shows
that the parameters are lower at a higher confining
pressure or normal stress.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The work was supported by the National Science
Foundation of China (grant no. 50979030), “the Fun-
damental Research Funds for the Central Universities”
210
(grant no. 2009B14014), “the Doctoral Fund of Min-
istry of Education of China (New Teachers)” (grant no.
20090094120016).
REFERENCES
Dahou, A., Shao, J.F. & Bederiat, M. 1995. Experimental
and numerical investigations on transient creep of porous
chalk. Mechanics of Materials, 21(2): 147–158.
Fabre, G. & Pellet, F. 2006. Creep and time-dependent dam-
age in argillaceous rocks. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 43(6): 950–960.
Goodman, R.E. 1989. Introduction to Rock Mechanics (2nd
ed.). NewYork: John Wiley & Sons.
Hudson, J.A. 1993. Comprehensive rock engineering. Prin-
ciples, Practice and Projects. New York: Pergamon Press.
Johnston, I.W. 1993. Soft rock engineering. In: Hudson
JA, Eds. Comprehensive rock engineering, Elsevier, 1:
367–393.
Li, L.Q., Xu, W.Y. & Wang, W. 2009. A nonlinear viscoelasto-
plastic rheological model based on Nishihara’s model.
Acta Mechanica Sinica, 41(5): 671–680.
Li, L.Q., Xu, W.Y., Wang, W., Guo, Y.Q. & Zhao, H.B. 2010.
Estimation of long-term strength for Xiangjiaba sandstone
based on creep tests. Engineering Mechanics, 27(11):
127–136.
Ma, L. & Daemen, J.J.K. 2006. An experimental study on
creep of welded tuff. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci, 43:
282–291.
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rock: experimental characterization. International Jour-
nal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 36(1):127–
138.
Sun, J. 2007. Rock rheological mechanics and its
advance in engineering applications. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 26(6): 1081–106.
(In Chinese)
Tsai, L.S., Hsieh,Y.M., Weng, M.C., Huang, T.H. & Jeng, F.S.
2008. Time-dependent deformation behaviours of weak
sandstones. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Mining Sciences, 45(2): 144–154.
Yang, C.H., Daemen, J.J.K. & Yin, J.H. 1999. Experimental
investigation of creep behaviour of salt rock. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 36(2):
233–242.
Yoshinaka, R., Osada, M. & Tran, T.V. 1996. Deforma-
tion behavior of soft rocks during consolidated-undrained
cyclic triaxial testing. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci.
Geomech Abstr, 33(6): 557–572.
Yu, C.W. 1998. Creep characteristics of soft rock and mod-
eling of creep in tunnel (Ph.D. thesis), University of
Bradford.
Zhou, H., Jia, Y. & Shao, J.F. 2008. A unified elastic-plastic
and viscoplastic damage model for quasi-brittle rocks.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Measurement on thermal conductivity of compacted GMZ001 bentonite

J.L. Xie & Y.M. Liu

Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, Beijing, China
CNNC Key Laboratory on Geological Disposal of High-level Radioactive Waste, Beijing, China

W.J. Jiang
School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: A large amount of analysis and studies indicated that bentonite is a possible buffer/backfill
material due to its high cation exchange capacity, low permeability, high retention capability of radionuclides,
etc. GMZ deposit has been selected as the candidate supplier for buffer material of high-level radioactive wastes
(HLW) repository in China. In the work described here, Hot Disk Thermal Constants Analyser was used to
measure the thermal conductivity of compacted GMZ001 bentonite. The experimental results were analyzed to
evaluate the effects of dry density, water content, and volumetric fraction of soil constituents on the thermal
conductivity. Test results demonstrate that the thermal conductivity increases with increasing water content or
dry density. A correlation between the thermal conductivity and dry density and water content is proposed to
predict the thermal conductivity of GMZ001. The thermal conductivity is strongly correlated with the volumetric
fraction of air. A linear correlation between them is presented.

1 INSTRUCTION The Gaomaozi(GMZ) bentonite is preselected as

Buffer/backfill material is one of the main engi-
neered barriers for high-level radioactive waste (HLW)
disposal. Compacted bentonite has been chosen as
buffer/backfill material in most disposal concepts
because of its retention properties and low perme-
ability, among other features (Pusch 1979, Villar &
Lloret 2007). One of the key roles of buffer/backfill
material is a conductor, transferring the heat gener-
ated by radioactive decay to the surrounding host rock.
The thermal properties of the compacted bentonite
is therefore of major concern. The thermal property
parameters of bentonite include thermal conductivity,
thermal diffusivity, heat capacity, etc. Thermal con-
ductivity is one of the main parameters for the design
of HLW repository since it controls how effectively the
heat produced in the canister is transported. Several
works have been done previously to study the ther-
mal conductivity of compacted bentonites. Knutsson.
1983 obtained the thermal conductivity of compacted
MX-80 bentonite by using the Transient Hot Strip
method. Measured data can also be found in the works
of Villar. 2000 on Febex bentonite, Madsen. 1998
on MX-80 bentonite. These measurements show that
the thermal conductivity of compacted bentonite is
strongly related to its dry density, water content, and
mineralogical composition (Madsen 1998, Tang et al.
2008). Some empirical correlations based on the mea-
sured data have also been proposed to predict the
thermal conductivity of bentonite and these correla-
tions were evaluated and compared by Ould-lahoucine
(Ould-lahoucine 2002).
the candidate buffer and backfill material for the
design of Chinese repository through a national
screening and comparison taking account of reserves,
transportation condition, extraction techniques, etc
(Liu et al. 2001). Numerous experimental investiga-
tions on the thermal conductivity of GMZ bentonite
have been performed. Results from Liu et al. 2007 and
Wen. 2006 show that the thermal conductivity of GMZ
bentonite increase remarkably with dry density and the
effect of initial water content on the thermal conduc-
tivity increase gradually with the augmentation of dry
density. The author also noted that the thermal con-
ductivity of GMZ bentonite under natural state fulfill
the recommended value of IAEA guideline about the
thermal conductivity of buffer material.
This paper presents investigations on thermal con-
ductivity of GMZ001 sodium bentonite using Hot Disk
TPS2500 Thermal Constants Analyser. The experi-
mental results were analyzed to observe the effects of
dry density, water content, volumetric fraction of soil
constituents on the thermal conductivity.
2 MATERIAL
The GMZ001 sodium bentonite is extracted from
GMZ deposit, and the processing of the material con-
sisted of air drying, disaggregation and sieving by
0.075 mm. The montmorillonite content of GMZ001
is 75.4% and the associated minerals include quartz,
feldspar and christobalite. The main physical proper-
ties of GMZ001 are listed in Table 1.

211
Table 1. Physical properties of GMZ001 (Ye et al. 2009).
wL wP S
Sample Gs % % Ip m2 /g
GMZ001 2.66 313 38 275 570
Figure 1. Compacted samples.
3 EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
3.1 Sample preparation
In order to investigate the effect of different factors
on the thermal conductivity of compacted bentonite
samples, several preparation procedures were applied.
The bentonite powder with its hygroscopic water con-
tent (about 10%) was mixed with deionised water in
different proportions to obtain different water content
conditions (10%, 20%, 30%). To facilitate a uniform
moisture distribution, the mixtures were kept in plastic
bags for at least 240 hours. The final gravimetric water
content of the mixtures was measured when taken out
of the bags for compaction.
The prepared bentonite was then compacted stat-
ically under uniaxial pressure in a mould of 30 mm
inner diameter, and 40 mm high to reach a dimension
of 10 mm high and 30 mm in diameter. The samples
were extruded from the mould after compacted to the
nominal dry density (1.0 g/cm3 , 1.2 g/cm3 , 1.4 g/cm3 ,
1.6 g/cm3 and 1.8 g/cm3 ). The height, diameter and
weight of the samples were measured immediately
and subsequently the actual dry density, porosity and
saturation degree were calculated. The experimental
technique used in this work has the advantage of being
fast in operation, which makes it possible to perform
several tests within a short period of time, yielding
a statistical mean value and coefficient of variation.
Thus, each value of the thermal conductivity for a given
dry density and water content is a mean of 6 individual
tests. In total, 96 samples were prepared (see Figure 1).
3.2 Instrument
The instrument used for the determination of the
thermal conductivity is Hot Disk TPS2500 Thermal
212
Figure 2. Hot Disk Thermal Constants Analyser.
Figure 3. Hot Disk Sensor.
Constants Analyser (see Figure 2). Its operating con-
cept is based on a newly developed technique called
the Transient Plane Source (TPS) method which is
one of the most precise and convenient techniques for
studying thermal transport properties, simultaneously
measuring the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusiv-
ity as well as specific heat per unit volume of the
material (Gustafsson 1991). The Hot Disk sensor con-
sists of a very thin metal (Nickel) foil in the shape of
a double spiral, which has been sandwiched between
two thin sheets of an insulating material (see Fig-
ure 3). When performing a test, the Hot Disk sensor
is pressed between two pieces of the sample. The two
pieces must have at least one plane surface each facing
the sensor. By supplying a constant electrical current,
high enough to increase the temperature of the sensor
between a fraction of a degree up to several degrees,
and at the same time recording the increasing electrical
resistance as a function of time, the Hot Disk sensor
is used both as a plane heat source and as a dynamic
temperature sensor. The main advantage of the TPS
method, as mentioned before, is that the testing pro-
cedure is able to finish within one minute, which can
reduce the risk of water redistribution due to thermal
gradients.
4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
4.1 Effect of dry density and water content
The results on thermal conductivity of GMZ001 at
three water contents: 10.13%, 20.85% and 31.07%,
are plotted in Figure 4 versus dry density.
Figure 4. Thermal conductivity versus dry density (w stands
for the water content).
Figure 5. Thermal conductivity calculated by the proposed
correlation versus measured values.
For the same water content, the thermal conductiv-
ity of GMZ001 increases as the dry density increases.
Meanwhile, the effect of water content can be clearly
identified by the position of the data series: the higher
the water content, the higher the position of the data
series in the plot. That means for the same dry den-
sity, the thermal conductivity increases as the water
content increases. In addition, when compacted to dry
density of 1.6 g/cm3 at hygroscopic water content, the
thermal conductivity of GMZ001 is about 0.82 W/mK,
which meets the requirement of the recommended
value 0.8 W/mK of IAEA guideline.
Numerous empirical correlations have been pro-
posed to predict the thermal conductivity of bentonite
using dry density, water content and other easily mea-
surable parameters. Based on the obtained data, the
thermal conductivity of GMZ001 as a function of dry
density and water content has been found:
The lines displayed in Figure 5 represent the thermal
conductivity calculated using this equation. Compared
213
Figure 6. Thermal conductivity versus (a) volume fraction
of solid; (b) volume fraction of water; (c) degree of saturation;
(d) volume fraction of air.
to the measured values, it can be observed that the pre-
dicting capability of the equation is satisfactory. The
measured values of all the samples can be predicted
with an error less than 13%.
However, it should be noted that the equation still
need more thermal conductivity data to confirm its
accuracy.
4.2 Effect of components
In general, the compacted bentonite is composed of
three phases, namely the solids, liquid water and air.
In Figure 6, the thermal conductivity is presented ver-
sus: (a) solids volume fraction, Vs/V ; (b) water volume
fraction, Vw/V ; (c) degree of saturation, Sr; (d) air
volume fraction, Va/V.
The thermal conductivity K of GMZ001 increases
with Vs/V, Vw/V or Sr, but no obvious quantitive rela-
tionships can be observed between them. However,
K decreases approximately linearly with increasing
Va/V, despite the difference of water content. This phe-
nomenon was also observed by Tang et al. 2007 for

Figure 6. (Continued)
MX-80 bentonite and an empirical correlation based
on experimentally obtained relationship between the
volumetric fraction of air and the thermal conductiv-
ity was proposed to predict the thermal conductivity.
The author also explained that the thermal conductiv-
ity of the solids and that of water are in the same order
of magnitude, and are much higher than the thermal
conductivity of air. That is why K is strongly corre-
lated with Va/V. As for the GMZ001, the linear relation
between K and Va/V can be formulated as:
It can be observed from Figure 6(d) that this
equation satisfactorily describe the linear relationship
between the volumetric fraction of air and the thermal
conductivity of GMZ001.
214
5 CONCLUSION
The thermal conductivity of compacted GMZ001 ben-
tonite was measured by means of the Transient Plane
Source (TPS) method. It is clear that the thermal con-
ductivity increases with dry density or water content
increase. A correlation between the thermal conduc-
tivity and dry density and water content is proposed to
predict the thermal conductivity of GMZ001. The vol-
umetric fraction of constituent are also evaluated and
the thermal conductivity is strongly correlated with the
volume fraction of air. A linear relation between them
is presented.
REFERENCES
Gustafsson, S. 1991. Transient plane source techniques for
thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity measure-
ments of solid materials. Review of Scientific Instruments
62(3): 797–804.
Knutsson, S. 1983. On the thermal conductivity and thermal
diffusivity of highly compacted bentonite. SKB Report,
Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. SKB
83–72.
Liu, Y.M., Xu, G.Q., Liu, S.F., et al. 2001. Study on
compactibility and swelling property of buffer/backfill
material for HLW repository. Uranium Geology 17(1):
44–47.
Liu, Y.M., Cai, M.F. & Wang, J. 2007. Thermal properties of
buffer material for high-level radioactive waste disposal.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
26(supp.2): 3892–3896.
Madsen, F. T. 1998. Clay mineralogical investigations related
to nuclear waste disposal. Clay Minerals 33: 109–129.
Ould-lahoucine, C., Sakashita, H. & Kumada, T. 2002. Mea-
surement of thermal conductivity of buffer materials and
evaluation of existing correlations predicting it. Nuclear
Engineering and Design 216: 1–11.
Pusch, R. 1979. Highly compacted sodium bentonite for iso-
lating rock-deposited radioactive waste products. Nuclear
Technology 45(2): 153–157.
Tang, A.M., Cui, Y.J. & Le, T.T. 2008. A study on the ther-
mal conductivity of compacted bentonites. Applied Clay
Science 41: 181–189.
Villar, M.V. 2000. Caracterización termo-hidro-mecánica de
una bentonita de Cabo de Gata. Ph.D. thesis. Universidad
Complutense de Madrid.
Villar, M.V. & Lloret, A. 2007. Influence of dry density and
water content on the swelling of a compacted bentonite.
Applied Clay Science 39 (2008): 38–49.
Wen, Z.J. 2006. Physical property of china’s buffer mate-
rial for high-level radioactive waste repositories. Chi-
nese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 25(4):
794–800.
Ye, W.M., Cui, Y.J., Qian, L.X., et al. 2009. An experimen-
tal study of the water transfer through confined com-
pacted GMZ bentonite. Engineering Geology 108 (2009):
169–176.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Acoustic emission characteristics and strength variation of

skarn under true triaxial test

S.C. Xu
School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Shenyang University, Liaoning, China

X.T. Feng & B.R. Chen

Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences Wuhan, Hubei, China

ABSTRACT: Aiming at dealing with the brittle failure in the backstopping process at Shi Zhuyuan polymetallic
mine, a series of biaxial test, true triaxial test and triaxial unloading test for skarn with different loading paths
were carried out using the true triaxial loading apparatus and AE system, and some rules of strength, AE
activities and energy releasing process were found out. The results indicate that intermediate effect exists under
these loading methods for skarn which the strength increases at first then decreases with the increment of
intermediate principal stress. With the variation of biaxial, true triaxial and true triaxial unloading tests, the
AE accumulated hits increase gradually and the AE energy show an evolution process from abruptly transient
releasing to progressive accumulative releasing. Under the same loading method, as the intermediate principle
increases by degrees, the starting point of rock failure stage moving forward gradually, and the accumulative
characteristics of energy releasing process becomes obvious.

1 INSTRUCTIONS AND METHODS
1.1 Introduction
In the fields of rock engineering, especially in deep
mining, rock brittle failure often occurs due to the
excavation and unloading effect (Cook 1965). For
example, in the Shi Zhuyuan polymetallic mine which
adopted room and pillar mining methods, the pillars
in the north-eastern area collapsed and accumulated
exposed area of roof increased to nearly 8100 m2 .
Recent years, with the development of acoustic emis-
sion technique, many researchers in rock engineering
field have done lots of work (Lochner 1993, Mansurov
1994, Holcomb 1986, Mogi 1962, Qin 1993). How-
ever, there are still many problems worth to study. So,
in this paper, aiming at dealing with the problems of
rock brittle failure such as the pillars collapsing, we
have done unaxial test for skarn which mined in the
Shi Zhuyuan polymetallic mine and given some ben-
eficial results (Xu 2009). However, as we know, the
unaxial test can not reflect the real paths of stress. So,
we continued our research for skarn using true triaxial
system and gained some useful conclusions.
We begin in Section 1 by introducing the tests
designing and loading paths including the apparatus
and the instruments we used.
In section 2 we investigate the collected experimen-
tal data and justify our assertion that the intermediate
effects generally exist in biaxial test, true triaxial test
and triaxial unloading test.
In section 3 we then explore the acoustic emission
characteristics mainly focus onAE hits and energy.The
results also indicate that: with the variation of biax-
ial, true triaxial and true triaxial unloading tests, the
AE accumulated hits increases gradually and the AE
energy show an evolution process from abruptly tran-
sient releasing to progressive accumulative releasing.
Under the same loading method, as the intermedi-
ate principle increases by degrees, the starting point
of rock failure stage moving forward gradually, and
the progressive accumulating characteristics of energy
releasing process becomes obvious.
Finally, in section 4 we conclude with some bene-
ficial conclusions.
1.2 Test design and methods
The rock in this test were mined from the multi-
metal ore mine called Shi Zhuyuan in Chenzhou of
Hunan province and made in cubic dimensions in
50 × 50 × 100 mm. The accuracy of samples satisfied
the “rock experimental rules of hydroelectric project”.
These tests were consisted of three groups which
includes 36 samples in all. The first group is biax-
ial loading test, which has 12 samples with 4 levels
of intermediate principles. The second group is triax-
ial loading test, which has 12 samples with 4 levels
of intermediate principles. The last group is triaxial
unloading test which also has 12 samples.
2 STRENGTH RESULTS
Table 1 is the strength results of samples under true
triaxial tests and Figure 1 is the Intermediate principle

215
Table 1. Strength of samples under true triaxial tests.

Loading Strength/ Strength/ Strength/

Method No. MPa No. MPa No. MPa

7# 253.2 5# 117.9 62# 171.7

Biaxial 13# 228.7 4# 234.7 30# 178.3
Test 6# 117.9 17# 171.4 8# 200.8
14# 129.9 34# 198.9 22# 275.5
19# 304.6 26# 350.8 18# 273.2
True 23# 309.1 24# 347.4 1# 160.5
Triaxial 9# 369.7 27# 338.4 29# 335.0
Test 63# 391.3 60# 321.3 32# 315.4
True 15# 234.3 21# 218.7 31# 228.3
Triaxial 12# 234.5 28# 179.9 61# 197.6
Unloading 2# 260.7 20# 167.4 11# 273.4
Test 64# 212.9 3# 197.3 16# 116.8

Figure 1. Intermediate principle effect of skarn under true

triaxial test.

effect of skarn under true triaxial test. We can see that

the intermediate effects generally exist in biaxial test,
true triaxial test and triaxial unloading test.

3 AE CHARACTERISTICS

3.1 AE accumulated hits

Figure 2 is the relationship between AE hits and time
of skarn under biaxial loading with different inter-
mediate principle levels. From the curves we can
know that the AE accumulated hits increased grad-
ually with the increment of intermediate principle.
Moreover, the slope of curve became steeper in the
adjoining failure process. The results indicate that
the bigger intermediate principle makes the failure
process shorter.
Figure 3 is the relationship between AE hits and Figure 2. Relationship between AE hits and time of skarn
time of skarn under true triaxial loading with different under biaxial loading with different intermediate principle
levels.
intermediate principle levels. By comparison between

216

Figure 3. Relationship between AE hits and time of skarn
under true triaxial loading with different intermediate prin-
ciple levels.
217
Figure 2 and Figure 3, we find that the AE accumu-
lated hits increased obviously as well as the strength
enhanced due to the support effect of minimum prin-
cipal stress. Meanwhile, the starting point of failure
section move forward gradually and the curves appears
as stepladder. The results tell us that the inner damage
became earlier and more severe as the intermediate
principle became stronger.
Figure 4 is the relationship between AE hits and
time of skarn under true triaxial unloading with dif-
ferent intermediate principle levels. Because of the
compaction effect of the minimum principle in the
initial loading process, the results are different from
the biaxial test. In comparision with the biaxial load-
ing test, the number of accumulated hits is increased
and the starting point of failure section also moved
forward.
3.2 AE energy
Figure 5 is the relationship between AE absolutely
energy and time of skarn under biaxial loading
with different intermediate principle levels, the fig-
ure shows that the energy under this loading condition
released abruptly.
Figure 6 is the relationship between AE absolutely
energy and time of skarn under true triaxial loading
with different intermediate principle levels. In the level
of 20 MPa, the characteristic of energy releasing is
similar to the biaxial test. However, with the intermedi-
ate principle level enhancing, the curve shape changed
from steep rising to stepladder shape.
The AE accumulated energy result is consistent to
the accumulated hits and it indicates that the enhance-
ment of intermediate principle makes the inner damage
section come earlier. Synthesizing the results of AE
accumulated hits under true triaxial loading test, we
know that the enhancement of intermediate principle
accelerate the damage rate in the failure process.
Figure 7 is the relationship between AE absolutely
energy and time of skarn under true triaxial unloading
with different intermediate principle levels. It appears
as stepladder and is different from biaxial test. Com-
pared the results of these three groups, we find that:
the AE energy released abruptly in the biaxial test
and appears as stepladder shape in the other loading
condition. Meanwhile, the rock damage rate accel-
erates obviously as the enhancement of intermediate
principle.
4 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
In this paper we have analysed and compared the
results of strength and AE characteristics of skarn
under true triaxial test. Specifically, we have focused
on the AE features at different intermediate principle
levels. So, under the condition of the tests in this paper,
we can give the conclusions as follows:
Intermediate effect exists under these loading meth-
ods for skarn which the strength increases at first then
 Figure 5. Relationship between AE absolutely energy and
time of skarn under biaxial loading with different intermedi-
ate principle levels.
Figure 4. Relationship between AE hits and time of skarn
under true triaxial unloading with different intermediate
principle levels.

218

Figure 6. Relationship between AE absolutely energy and
time of skarn under true triaxial loading with different
intermediate principle levels.
Figure 7. Relationship between AE absolutely energy and
time of samples under true triaxial unloading with different
intermediate principle levels.

219
decreases with the increment of intermediate princi-
pal stress. With the variation of biaxial, true triaxial
and true triaxial unloading tests, the AE accumu-
lated hits increases gradually and the AE energy show
an evolution process from abruptly transient releas-
ing to progressive accumulative releasing. Under the
same loading method, as the intermediate principle
increases by degrees, the starting point of rock failure
stage moving forward gradually, and the accumulative
characteristics of energy releasing process becomes
obvious.
1. Intermediate effect exists under these loading meth-
ods for skarn which the strength increases at first
then decreases with the increment of intermediate
principal stress.
2. With the variation of biaxial, true triaxial and true
triaxial unloading tests, the AE accumulated hits
increases gradually and the AE energy show an evo-
lution process from abruptly transient releasing to
progressive accumulative releasing.
3. Under the same loading method, as the intermediate
principle increases by degrees, the starting point of
rock failure stage moving forward gradually, and
the accumulative characteristics of energy releasing
process becomes more obvious.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The financial supports from Natural science founda-
tion of Hubei Province under grant no. 2009CDB120,
220
the Special Funds for Major State Basic Research
Project under grant no. 2010CB732006 and National
Natural Science Foundation of China under grant no.
50909092 are gratefully acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Cook, N.G. 1965a. The failure of rock. Int. J. Rock Mech.
Min. Sci, 2: p. 389–403.
Holcomb, D.J. & Costin, L.S. 1986. Detecting damage
surfaces in brittle materials using acoustic emissions.
Transactions of the ASME, 53: 536–544.
Lochner, D.A. 1993.The role of acoustic emission in the study
of rock fracture. Int. J. Rockmech. Min. Sci. & Geomech.
Abstr. 30 (7): 883–899.
Mansurov, V.A. 1994. Acoustic emission from failing rock
behaviour. Rock Engineering, 27 (3): 173–182.
Mogi, K. 1962. Study of elastic cracks caused by the fracture
of heterogeneous materials and its relations to earth-
quake phenomena, bulletin of the Earthquake, Research,
institute, 40, 125–173.
Qin, S.Q. 1993. Outline of Rock AE techniques. Chengdu:
Southwestern Communications University publishing
house.
Xu, S.C. & Feng, X.T. & Chen, B.R. 2009. Experimental
study of skarn under uniaxial cyclic loading and unloading
test and acoustic emission characteristics.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experimental research on aperture evolution of single granite fracture under

stress-chemical solution permeation condition

J.B. Yang, X.T. Feng, L.F. Shen & P.Z. Pan

State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China

ABSTRACT: Experiments of granite with single fracture under constant triaxial stress and chemical solution
seepage are carried out to study the evolution of fracture aperture (and related permeability) under stress-
chemical solution permeation. Experimental results show that with both acid and alkaline solution seepage the
fracture aperture decreases monotonically. The rapid initial closure happened during the first 300 hours of the
tests, followed by slowing closure till a stable final aperture, which is obviously greater under acid flow than
that under alkaline flow. The ion concentration of solution from the outlet was recorded during the test, and
the 3D laser scan and mineral morphology of fracture surface before and after test were also measured. Under
acid solution flow, the SiO2 and Al3+ concentrations of outlet solution increase with time, indicating that the
minerals (mainly feldspar and mica) at contact surface and the free surface are dissolved constantly. Under
alkaline solution seepage, the SiO2 and Al3+ concentrations of outlet solution are significantly lower than those
under acidic flow, indicating that the pressure dissolution at contact points leads to the closure of fracture so that
the reaction ceases gradually with the increase of contact area. The results confirm that the different evolutions
of fracture aperture are due to the competition between the contact surface solution and free surface dissolving.

1 INSTRUCTION value of the solution.A coupled penetrating-dissolving

With regard to fractured rock mass with low matrix
permeability, its permeability is determined by that of
the fractures. In many engineering applications such as
nuclear waste repository, geological storage of carbon
dioxide, the use of geothermal resources, oil explo-
ration and groundwater pollution treatment works, the
permeability evolution of rock mass plays an impor-
tant role in project stability and safety. The chemical
reaction between osmotic solution and fracture surface
has significant impact on the evolution of fracture per-
meability, and the combined effect of chemistry and
mechanics will make the evolution more complicated.
Therefore, the study of permeability evolution in rock
fracture under mechanical-chemical solution penetrate
condition is important.
In recent years, more and more scholars have begun
to pay attention to the issue of water-rock reactions.
Feng et al. (2001, 2004, 2005, 2007) carried out a
series of experimental researches on mechanical char-
acteristics of sandstone, granite and limestone under
different chemical solution conditions. The different
patterns of crack initiation, expansion and running-
through under different chemical solution actions were
studied through the whole process compression tests
on rock samples with small cracks. The variation law
of sandstone porosity under alkaline solution action
was analyzed by Cui et al. (2008) based on laboratory
experiments. It is found out that the variation of sand-
stone porosity was influenced and restricted by the pH
model was established by Zhou et al. (2006) to study
the coupled penetrating-dissolving process of salt rock
fracture under chemical dissolving. The evolution of
hydraulic conductivity and flow patterns, controlled by
simultaneous precipitation and dissolution in porous
rocks with acid solution seepage, was examined in
a series of laboratory experiments by Singurindy &
Berkowitz (2003, 2005) and Singurindy et al. (2004).
Based on distilled water flow-through tests on a nat-
ural novaculite fracture under different temperatures,
Polak et al. (2003, 2004) verified that the dissolution
of minerals at contact points leads to decrease in frac-
ture permeability. On the basis of that, Yasuhara et al.
(2004, 2006) and Yasuhara & Elsworth (2008) car-
ried out a series of laboratory tests and came to the
conclusion that the competition between dissolution at
fracture contact points and the free surface dissolution
dominates the fracture aperture variation. Experiments
of single granite fracture under constant triaxial stress
and acid solution seepage were conducted by Shen
et al. (2010), and the preliminary analysis about the
evolving of fracture was carried out with the theory of
pressure dissolution.
The influence of mechanical and chemical effects
on fracture permeability is well recognized, however
the research on fracture aperture evolution under stress
and seepage of different pH solutions is far from suf-
ficient. This study examines the evolution of fracture
aperture by performing experiments on single granite
fracture under constant triaxial stress and different pH

221
Figure 1. Rock sample preparation.
chemical solution seepage. Al3+ and SiO2 concentra-
tions in the outlet solution of are measured and the
fracture surface topography is scanned to study the
relation between the fracture aperture variation and
chemical dissolution.
2 EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
2.1 Rock sample preparation
The flow-through experiments were conducted on
Beishan granite, whose natural density is 2.6 g/cm3
with a porosity of 0.63% to 0.95%. By means of X-ray
diffraction analysis, it is shown that the main mineral
compositions of the granite are feldspar (52%∼59%),
quartz (24%∼30%) and mica (17% to 20%). First, the
rock was processed into cylindrical samples (37.5 mm
diameter × 75 mm length), and then the granite spec-
imen was split into two parts using Brazilian split
method and an artificial single fracture was created
by putting these two parts together, with the single
fracture being parallel to axial direction, as shown in
Figure 1.
2.2 Experimental system
The fluid flow system configuration is shown in figure
2. The device can load confining pressure, deviatoric
stress, temperature and osmotic pressure simultane-
ously. All penetration pipes are made of stainless steel;
so they can be penetrated by the chemical solution in
different pH environments. The axial and circumfer-
ential strains can be measured simultaneously. Axial
strains are measured by two linear variable differen-
tial transformers (LVDT) and circumferential strains
are measured by placing the annular electronic strain
gage in the middle of the rock sample. During the
experiment, all the data, such as pressure, tempera-
ture, and displacements, are collected automatically
by the system.
2.3 Chemical analysis
This study reflects the reaction between surrounding
rock and groundwater chemicals. According to the
major ion composition of Beishan groundwater (Na+ ,
SO2−
4 , etc.), and with method of increasing the solu-
tion pH to shorten test time, the chemical solution is
222
Figure 2. Schematic illustration of experimental system for
permeability test.
prepared as 0.01 mol/L of NaSO4 solution with the pH
value of 2 and 12. Meanwhile, distilled water is chosen
as penetrating fluid to compare with others. During the
test, flow samples were taken from the outlet at regular
intervals to determine the concentrations of Al3+ and
SiO2 . The samples were also assayed by water quality
analyzer.
2.4 Experimental procedures
The mated core is confined within a rubber sleeve and
placed inside the triaxial pressure cell. This test does
not consider the effect of temperature, so the tempera-
ture of the pressure cell is set to room temperature 25◦ C
and keeps constant during the test. For this series of
tests, the confining pressure and deviatoric stress are
10 MPa and 150 MPa. First the confining pressure is
loaded, followed by the deviatoric stress, and finally
the osmotic pressure is loaded to 1MPa until the devia-
toric stress is stabilized. Stress-strain data are collected
automatically by a computer.
When osmotic pressure changes from 0 to 1 MPa
and becomes stable, the permeability of rock samples
would be measured by means of weighing method.
That means weighing a certain quality of solution from
the outlet during a period of time and then converting
it into flow velocity. Fluid samples were also taken
from the outlet at regular intervals to determine Al3+
and SiO2 concentrations using multi-parameter water
analyzer.
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
3.1 Evolution on fracture aperture
The hydraulic fracture aperture is converted from flow
rate through the cubic law, given by: (Zhang 2005)
Table 1. Experimental conditions*.
Duration
Sample Chemical solution hours
CSS1 pH = 2 0.01 mol/LNa2 SO4 3528
SS4 pH = 2 0.01 mol/L Na2 SO4 1800
CSW1 Distilled water 2184
SW4 pH = 12 0.01 mol/L Na2 SO4 2160
SW2 pH = 12 0.01 mol/L Na2 SO4 600
*Note: For this series of tests, the confining pressure, devi-
atoic stress, osmotic pressure and temperature are 10 MPa,
150 MPa, 1 MPa and 25◦ C, respectively.
Figure 3. Schematic illustration of experimental system for
permeability test.
where Q is flow rate, b is hydraulic fracture aper-
ture, W is fracture width, g is acceleration of
gravity, v is kinetic viscosity, H is differen-
tial water pressures, and L is fracture length. In
this work, W = 0.0375 m, g = 9.8 m2 /s, L = 0.075 m,
v = 0.897 × 106 m2 /s, H = 100 m.
Figure 3 shows the evolution of fracture hydraulic
aperture with time under different test conditions.
Since the aperture keeps nearly constant in the final
stage of testing, the evolving during the first 1000 h is
taken as a compare. Under the effect of acidic and alka-
line solutions, the evolution laws of fracture hydraulic
aperture are similar. Rapid initial closure happened
during the first 300 hours of the test, followed by slow-
ing closure till a stable final aperture. The hydraulic
aperture variation of sample CSS1 during the first
200 h has fluctuations. This may be explained by the
fact that small crushed fragments of fracture surface
block some of the flow channels, which later open
slowly with the dissolution of minerals and due to
the osmotic pressure. With distilled water seepage,
the evolution of fracture aperture is a little different.
The aperture increases slowly in the beginning and
then become stable immediately. The very small initial
aperture implies that the initial fracture is well closed.
Later, some crushed fragments in fracture surface are
taken away by seepage flow, which expands the pene-
tration channel and makes the aperture bigger. During
the distilled water seepage, there is almost no reac-
tion in the fracture (introduced in 3.2), so the fracture
aperture is stabilized soon.
223
Figure 4. Schematic illustration of experimental system for
permeability test.
As is shown in Figure 3, the final stable aper-
tures under different test conditions are different,
with the maximum value under acid solution seep-
age and then distilled water, and minimum alkaline
flow. Experiment of specimen SW2 was conducted
about only 600 h, but the final aperture also satis-
fies the above-mentioned law. After the analyses of
the ion concentration changes in solution during the
tests, combined with the fracture surface profile vari-
ations before and after tests (see details in the following
sections), it is shown that the reasons for such a law
are as follows: With acidic solution seepage, the min-
erals at contact points and free surface are dissolved
simultaneously, which would make aperture decrease.
However, some new flow channels are opened by dis-
solution, which induces a bigger final aperture. With
alkaline solution osmosis, due to pressure dissolution
and the sticky resultant of chemical reaction, the frac-
ture will close better; With distilled water infiltration,
there is almost no chemical dissolution, so the aperture
changes little.
3.2 Fracture surface dissolution analysis
The main mineral compositions of rock samples in this
test are feldspar, quartz and mica, therefore detecting
the Al3+ and SiO2 concentrations in the solution from
outlet can reflect the mineral dissolution conditions of
fracture surface. Figure 4 shows the changes of ion
concentrations with time. As shown in the figure, con-
centrations of aluminum ions and silica in the acid
solution increase with time, indicating that the silicate
minerals on the fracture surface are dissolved con-
tinually. Aluminum ions and silica concentrations in
alkaline solution during the whole experiment increase
first and then gradually decrease to zero, indicating
that part of the minerals on fracture surface experi-
ences weak dissolution. Plus the fracture closure due
Figure 5. Mineral morphology of fracture surface before and after test: (a)∼(d) mineral morphology of fresh fracture surfaces;
(e)∼(h) mineral morphology of specimen surfaces after acid solution seepage; (i)∼(l) mineral morphology of specimen surfaces
after alkaline solution seepage.
to stress, the reaction between osmotic solution and
the minerals on fracture surface gradually slows down
with the decrease of crack opening. There are no alu-
minum ions in distilled water after seepage and just a
little silica appears in the later stage of tests, indicating
that distilled water does not react with the feldspar and
mica on fractured surface, just a little quartz dissolve
in the solution due to a long time soaking in water.
Meanwhile, to carry out visual analysis of the chem-
ical dissolution on fracture surface and observe the
differences between all samples under different chem-
ical seepage conditions, the fracture surfaces of fresh
fractures and fractures after chemical seepage were
analyzed with scanning electron microscope (SEM)
respectively. The typical microscope scanning pictures
are shown in Figure 5. The SEM research shows that
the fresh fracture surface is very compact and the min-
eral joints are clear. There are no signs of weathering or
erosion. After penetration of the acidic solution, most
of the minerals on fracture surface are corroded. The
fracture profile in corrosion area is fuzzy and contains
a lot of dissolved pores. After alkaline solution seep-
age, the corrosion of fracture surface minerals is not
obvious and only a few parts of minerals are seriously
corroded. In addition, fracture surface does not look
smooth as is shown in Figure 5 (i), from which we can
see that there is a thin layer of white precipitate.
When there is sufficient quantity of H+ in the solu-
tion, feldspar and mica will dissolve, and the quartz
224
will react with the concentrated solution of alkali. The
reaction equations are as follows: (Feng 2010, Qian &
Ma 2006, Lasaga 1984)
potash(sodium)feldspar:
mica:
quartz:
The comprehensive consideration of the concentra-
tion changes of Al3+ and SiO2 in permeation solution
combined with the changes in fracture surface mor-
phology indicates that, under the action of acidic
solution infiltration, most of the feldspar and mica
on fracture surface react with chemical solution and
continue to dissolve. Under alkaline solution osmo-
sis, some feldspar and mica on fracture surface are
corroded. Quartz also dissolves and generates sodium
silicate, which is a viscous material (Zhu & Wang
2006, Chen 1994) and would attach to the fracture
surface under the effect of stress, so that the reac-
tion gradually slows down with the fracture closure.
When distilled water infiltrates, a small amount of
Figure 6. Molar concentration ratio between SiO2 and Al3+ .

quartz dissolves into the solution after 30 days of

immersion. Molar concentration ratio between Al3+
and SiO2 in the osmotic solution is used to determine
the dissolution of major minerals. Shen et al. (2010)
has already proved that under acid solution seepage
the dissolution of feldspar dominates at the beginning
and part of the mica minerals dissolve in the subse-
quent. In this test, under alkaline solution seepage, the Figure 7. 3D laser scanning charts of fracture surfaces
molar concentration ratio between Al3+ and SiO2 in before and after tests under different solution seepage.
the osmotic solution is shown in Figure 6. The molar
concentration ratio is up to 20 at the initial phase of
test, which means quartz dissolution dominates dur-
ing this period. Sodium silicate would attach to the
fracture surface and block some penetration channels,
which would prevent the minerals from further dis-
solution. Moreover, due to the compression of applied
stresses fractures would close tighter, making the final
hydraulic aperture extremely small.

3.3 Variation of fracture roughness

In order to study the variation of fracture surface topog-
raphy, three-dimensional (3D) laser scannings of the
sample fracture surface before and after tests are car-
ried out for a visualized understanding. All the 3D
scanning charts of the fracture surfaces before and
after tests under different solution seepage are shown
in Fig. 7. From comparison, we can see visually that
the fracture surface before acid solution seepage is
quite coarse and uneven, with a lot of sharp asperities
on it. However, after acid solution seepage, the asper-
ities on fracture surface become obviously unsharp
and the contour line of fracture surface becomes much
smoother. Similarily, after alkaline solution and dis-
tilled water seepage, the fracture topography also
becomes more or less smoother. However, the smooth-
ing extent is much more unobvious than that under acid
solution seepage. When listing facts use either the style
tag List signs or the style tag List numbers.
The JRCs (joint roughness coefficient) of the frac-
ture surfaces are also calculated by making use of the
coordinate data of laser scanning. JRC values of each
fracture before and after seepage test are obtained, as
shown in Fig. 8, where css-1and css-2 denote the two
Figure 8. Comparisons of JRC values before and after seep-
age tests (the values on the upper right of the histograms
denote the decrease of JRC values).
fracture surfaces generated by splitting of the same
rock sample respectively. We can see from Fig. 8 that
all the JRC values decrease to a certain extent after
seepage tests. The decrease percent is greatest under
acid solution seepage, with the JRC values of four
fractures decreasing 42%, 42%, 29%, 30% respec-
tively. Decrease of JRC after alkaline solution seepage
is slightly greater than that after distilled water seep-
age; with the former two fractures decreasing 25%
and 18% respectively while the latter two decreasing
23% and 12% respectively. The two fracture surfaces
generated from the splitting of the same rock sample
display roughly the same variation extent of JRC val-
ues after the acid solution seepage, and the long the
seepage tests lasts, the greater the variation extent will
be. However, this phenomenon is not observed under
alkaline solution and distilled water seepage. There
are obvious JRC variation differences between the two
fractures generated from the same rock sample under
these two circumstances.

225
 All the above testing results, combined with the vari-
ations of silicon and aluminium ion concentrations
presented in the last section, come to the conclu-
sion that the dissolution of fracture minerals due to
chemical solution seepage has significant influences
on fracture topography. The reaction between acid
solution and fracture minerals is intense and uni-
form, leading to an even transformation of the fracture
surface. While under alkaline solution seepage, the
dissolution of fracture minerals is much weaker.
Only part of the fracture minerals get dissolved
so that the variation pattern of fracture topography is
uneven and random. Meanwhile, the minor chemical
reaction also brings down the effects of alkaline seep-
age solution on fracture topography. It follows that the
effect of distilled water on fracture topography is mini-
mum, since there is little chemical interaction between
distilled water and fracture minerals.
3.4 Analyses of the relationship between fracture
aperture evolution and chemical disslolution
Under different solution seepage, the evolution pat-
terns of fracture permeability vary. By analyzing the
concentrations of representative icons during the pro-
cess of seepage tests, combined with comparisons of
fracture 3D topography and JRC before and after tests,
it is shown that chemical dissolution plays an impor-
tant role in fracture aperture evolution. The chemical
dissolution type and intensity lead to the disparities
of aperture evolution patterns under different solution
seepage.
Under acid solution seepage, the aluminosilicate
minerals such as feldspar and mica dissolve dramati-
cally. At the initial phase, the minerals at contact area
are crushed due to the compression of the confining
pressure. Thus there are more areas coming into con-
tact with the acid solution and dissolution becomes
more intense. With the asperities on fracture surfaces
getting dissolved and carried away by seepage solu-
tion, the JRC of the fracture decreases, which leads to a
further closure of the fracture aperture under compres-
sion. During this phase, the minerals at free surface
also dissolve. As a result, the fracture aperture gets
increased. However, the increase caused by free sur-
face dissolution is far less than the decrease induced
by the mineral dissolution at contact points. Therefore,
the overall trend of fracture aperture evolution in this
phase is still dominated by rapid closure of the fracture
aperture. In the following, due to the closure of fracture
aperture, the contact area between fracture surfaces
increases gradually. Thus, the effect stress at contact
area decreases. Correspondingly, mineral crushing and
dissolution at contact points become slowing down till
the dynamic equilibrium between contact dissolution
and free dissolution is achieved. After that, fracture
aperture varies little with a stable final value.
During the whole process of acid solution seepage,
the seepage channels are always unblocked, indicating
there are little minerals blocking seepage channels,
mainly due to the intense mineral dissolution. There
are even new seepage passages generated, which can
226
be deduced by the fact that the concentrations of sil-
icon and aluminium ions of the outlet solution keeps
increased during the whole seepage tests.
Under alkaline solution seepage, minerals such as
feldspar, mica and quartz in rock matrix all dissolve.
However, from the variation of silicon and aluminium
ion concentrations in the outlet solution, the dissolu-
tion reaction between minerals and alkaline solution is
fairly moderate. At the initial phase, minerals at con-
tact points are crushed and dissolved. The dissolved
aluminosilicate minerals are then washed away by the
seepage solution, leading to the closure of fracture
aperture under compression. All these phenomena are
similar to those under acid solution seepage. The most
important difference lies in the fact that the chemical
interaction between quartz and alkali solution gener-
ates sticky sodium silicates, which would attach to the
mineral surfaces, prevent mineral from further disso-
lution and block part of the seepage channels. This
phenomenon causes further closure of the fracture
aperture, so that a rapid decrease of fracture aperture
is observed during this phase. In the following, the
effective stress at contact points decreases due to the
increase in contact area. In this case, the minerals at
contact points become harder to be crushed and dis-
solved. Moreover, because of the indissolvable sodium
silicate attached around mineral surfaces, the disso-
lution of fracture minerals ceases gradually, and the
silicon and aluminium ion concentrations in the outlet
solution also decrease to zero. Correspondingly, the
variation of fracture aperture becomes steady. Due to
the sediment of indissolvable materials, the fracture is
further occluded, thus the final aperture under alkaline
solution seepage is smaller than that under acid one.
Under distilled water seepage, the aluminium icon
concentration is zero throughout the seepage test.
There is only a little quartz dissolved into the distilled
water in the final stage of the test. The JRC of the
fracture surface also varies little after tests. All these
experimental observations indicate that there is little
dissolving reaction between minerals at fracture sur-
face and distilled water. Under compression, part of the
minerals at contact points is crushed. These crushed
minerals are insoluble in distilled water, so that they
would block part of the seepage passages, leading to
a small fracture aperture. Afterwards, some small and
broken bits of minerals are washed away by distilled
water due to the seepage pressure differential, resulting
in a certain increase in fracture aperture.
Base on the above analyses, the important role of
chemical dissolution on the evolution of fracture aper-
ture under stress is revealed. With regard to fractures
under chemical solution seepage, the dissolution and
sediment of the minerals at fracture surfaces are crucial
factors to the final evolution of the fracture aperture.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, seepage tests on single granite fracture
under constant triaxial stress were carried out. The
seepage fluid included acid solution, alkaline solution
and distilled water. Evolution of the fracture aper-
ture under both stress and chemical dissolution was
investigated; and its relationship with the chemical
dissolution on fracture surfaces was also analyzed on
base of variations of relevant ion concentrations and
the JRC values.
Experimental results show that under constant tri-
axial stress, fracture aperture monotonously decreases
in case of both acid solution seepage and alkaline one.
The evolution of fracture aperture can be divided into
two phases. During the first 300 hours of seepage test,
fracture aperture decreases dramatically, followed by
a phase of leveling off till a constant value. This final
aperture value is greatest under acid solution seepage
and smallest under alkaline one, with the moderate
value occurs under distilled water seepage.
Under chemical solution seepage, the first phase
of rapid closure of the fracture is due to the stress-
induced mineral crush and dissolution at the contact
points along fracture surfaces. Afterwards, as the con-
tact area increases, the effective stress at contact point
decreases, leading to a slower closure of the fracture
aperture. Especially under alkaline solution seepage,
the sticky sodium silicate, produced by the interaction
between alkaline solution and quartz, would attach to
the mineral surfaces, prevent mineral from further dis-
solution and block part of the seepage channels. While
under acid seepage flow, the interaction between acid
solution and rock minerals is so intense that the seep-
age channel keeps unblocked, leading to a greater final
aperture under acid flow than that under alkaline flow.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Financial support from the National Nature Science
Foundation of China under Grant No.10872209 is
gratefully acknowledged.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on mechanical properties of porous rock by CT technique

Y.M. Yang, Y. Ju & L.T. Mao

School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing, China

Y. Ju & L.T. Mao

State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: In order to accomplish on-line observation when CT scanning and disclose the evolution rules
of microscopic porous structure and cracks propagation of porous rock under loading conditions, a set of CT
loading device had been developed by ourselves. Using the CT loading device and CT scanning technology,
the Brazil split tests of porous rock were carried out. The evolutionary laws of porous structures of rock were
observed and analyzed during a split. The intrinsic mechanisms of split failure in porous rock are revealed.
The results show that the macroscopic failure properties of rock feature obvious elastic and brittleness that are
independent of the quantity and distribution of pores during a split. On the contrary, the change of inner porous
structures and response of stress state tightly depend on the distribution properties and geometric deformations
of pores. With the porosity increase, the split cracks deviate from lengthways symmetry axis and the partial
pores present visibly irreversible deformation.

1 INTRODUCTION studied the influence of rock texture on crack initi-

Natural rock is a kind of porous material which is
widespread in nature. The porous structure signifi-
cantly affects the physical, mechanical and chemi-
cal properties of rocks, including strength, modulus
of elasticity, permeability, connectivity, conductiv-
ity, wave propagation, surface adsorption of particles
and storage capacity in rocks. It is crucial to well
understand the influence of porous structure on rock
properties for solving practical engineering problems,
for example, the evaluation about storage capacity of
rocks in the petroleum and gas fields, the resistiv-
ity log response of oil/gas reservoir bed, the great
disasters (gas and gush out) in coal mining, and the
influence of blasting/earthquake stress wave on sur-
face and underground structure (Yang 2009, Jin 2007,
Liu 2008).
At present, mostly, one applies the various strate-
gies, such as laboratory tests, in-situ tests and com-
puter simulations, to obtain and analyze the porous
structure characters, and of which the effect on macro-
scopic mechanical properties of rock. For example,
Palchik developed a model for uniaxial compressive
strength in another brittle porous rock (Donetsk sand-
stone, with 27%–47% porosity), using the influence of
porosity, elastic modulus and grain size to predict the
uniaxial compressive strength and to explain in what
way microstructural parameters influence strength in
soft porous sandstone (Palchik 1999). Vernik studied
the relations between compressive/shearing strengths
and porosity of sandstone. The empirical relations
model had been obtained (Vernik 1993). Hatzor
ation stress and critical flaw length by triaxial tests
performed on monomineralic dolomites. The devel-
oped empirical model for fracture initiation stress and
Griffith fracture initiation criteria, a model for initial
flaw length had been proposed (Hatzor 1997, 1998).
The Computerized Tomography technology pro-
vides the conveniences for people to obtain the
geometric information of porous structure without
destroying the porous structure of virgin rock. The
geometric features and spatial distributions of porous
structure on rock can be exposed using CT scan-
ning technique. Attributing to the advantage of CT
scanning, up to now, more people have adopted CT
scanning tools to investigate the pores features and the
effects on physical/mechanical properties of rock. For
example, using the self-developed CT loading device,
Ren had accomplished the CT experimental study of
damage failure mechanisms of fractured rock with
single crack under the triaxial loading/unloading and
negative temperature conditions. The evolution laws
of CT number and CT images of frozen fractured rock
had been analyzed in the whole process of damage fail-
ure (Ren 2004). Yang had got the realistic microscopic
porous structure of rock by means of CT scanning
technique. Digital image processing methods had been
used to precisely describe the spatial distribution of
different media materials in the rock. The curve rela-
tion between damage variable and damage deviatoric
stress had been obtained (Yang 2007). Ding had stud-
ied the evolution mechanism of cracks inside rock
with low strain rate by means of X-ray CT method
(Ding 2003). Dai analyzed the microscopic failure

229
mechanisms of sandstone under successive loading
and unloading conditions by using CT tests (Dai 2004).
The above researches are valuable and helpful for
people to better understand and realize the deforma-
tion and failure mechanism of porous rock. However,
due to the complexity of problems and limitation in
experimental methods, there are many troublesome
problems that need to be resolved, such as, how to
directly observe and measure the stress distribution
around pores, the mechanism of solid element fail-
ure, and the inosculation of failed elements by means
of experiments, etc. Nevertheless, the techniques of
on-time CT scanning on a loaded specimen and stress-
frozen open a window for solving these problems. So
the purpose of this paper is to develop a set of load-
ing device applied to CT scanning machine to realize
the on-time CT scanning and the on-line observation
and analysis in the processes of deformation failure of
rock. Based on the self-developed CT loading device,
the Brazil split tests on rock with varied porosities
have been carried out to observe and analyze the influ-
ence of pores on the deformation failure, inosculation
state and stress distribution of rock during loading,
The intrinsic mechanism of deformation and failure
of rock have been revealed.
2 CT LOADING DEVICE
The self-developed loading device consists of three
parts: loading sleeve, pressure sensor, and intelligent
display control instrument. The loading sleeve is used
to place specimens and load. It is made of epoxy resin.
The action of pressure sensor is to measure the load
value which is imposed on specimens. The intelligent
display control instrument is applied to reading the
load value. Figure 1 shows the solid photo and design
chart of CT loading device.
The working principle of load device is as follows:
there are two circular rigid gaskets inside the loading
sleeve. One is placed upon the pressure sensor; the
other is set under the screw wrench which is on the top
of the loading sleeve. The specimens are placed in the
middle of two rigid gaskets. When loading, the screw
wrench is rotated and moves down along the sleeve.
With the screw wrench moving, the circular gasket
also moves down to accomplish the loading process
on specimens. By use of the pressure sensor and intel-
ligent display control instrument, we could read the
load value which is imposed on specimens.
3 CT TESTS BASED ON LOADING DEVICE
3.1 Fabrication of porous physical models of rock
Natural rocks are composed of diverse phases with
varied properties. Due to the sedimentary process,
the property of solid phase, and the geometry and
distribution of pores randomly alter even one picks
up a rock sample within a considerably small area.
With a presumption that the property of solid phase
230
Figure 1. Solid photo and design chart of CT loading device.
remains constant, the physical/mechanical properties,
from a theoretical point of view, depend on pore popu-
lation, geometry, size, distribution and connectivity.
Any change in these characteristics could severely
affect mechanical properties of rock. This brings great
difficulty when identifying pore effects on mechani-
cal properties of rock and distinguishing between the
ruling mechanisms.
As a preliminary attempt, we focus our attention
on the influence of pore population (quantity) on
mechanical properties of rock. A number of porous
physical models with various porosities have been
designed to model realistic rock. The physical prop-
erty of solid phase, the size and geometry of pores,
and the distribution characteristics of pores, except
the pore population, are equivalent between the spec-
imens. Referring to the reference (Yang, 2010), the
cement mortar and polystyrene are employed to model
the solid phases and pores, respectively. A series of
loading and on-time CT scanning tests on the porous
models with different porosities has been conducted
to identify the evolution laws of microscopic porous
structures and the response of mechanical properties
of rock from the viewpoint of porosity. The intrinsic
failure mechanisms of porous rock during a split have
been revealed.
The physical models were fabricated with the
porosities of 3%, 7%, 15% and 23%. In order to
ensure that the distribution characters of porous struc-
ture were consistent among the physical specimens,
firstly, the cylindrical with diameter of 50 mm and
highness of 100 mm were processed.Then the cylindri-
cal specimens were divided into four disc specimens
with the same diameter of 50 mm and thickness of
25 mm. Figure 2 shows the physical disc specimens
with the porosities of 3%, 7%, 15% and 23%.
3.2 Effects of porous structures on mechanical
behaviors
A series of Brazil split and on-time CT scanning tests
of specimens with various porosities, i.e. porosities of
3%, 7%, 15% and 23%, were carried out. Four loading
moments were chosen to be regarded as control point
in the process of loading, including no loading, 30%
of peak load, 90% of peak load and peak load, respec-
tively. The CT images of inner porous structures of
four loading moments were obtained using on-time CT
scanning during loading. Considering the limitation of

Figure 2. Physical models of pore rock. From left to right
and form top to bottom, the ρv is 3%, 7%, 15% and 23%,
respectively.
Figure 3. CT images of porous structures with peak loading.
From left to right and form top to bottom, the ρv is 3%, 7%,
15% and 23%, respectively.
content, Figure 3 only shows the CT images of porous
structures with the peak load, i.e. the specimens being
at failure state.
In order to investigate the change of pores quan-
tity and form and the change positions at different
loading moments, the CT images with no loading
were subtracted from the CT image with three load-
ing moments. Figure 4 shows the results of CT images
with peak load minus ones with no loading.
Through tests observation and CT images analysis
we find out the followings:
For all specimens with four types of porosities,
when the load approaches or reaches peak load, the
lengthways cracks emerge throughout the whole disk
specimens. The split failure properties of specimens
231
Figure 4. Pores change of specimens with peak load com-
pared with no loading. From left to right and form top to
bottom, the ρv is 3%, 7%, 15% and 23%, respectively.
feature typical elasticity and brittleness. The quantity
and distribution properties of pores have no obvious
effects on this kind of macroscopic failure characters
of disk specimens.
With porosity rising, due to the effect of pores
number and distribution properties, the stress of inner
elements (microscopic structure) distributes disor-
derly. The split cracks deviate from the lengthways
symmetry owing to the change of principal tensile
stress orientation. Additionally, partial pores deform
irreversibly due to the influence of local shear stress.
The split cracks cross pores and inosculate. The widths
of connective cracks gradually enlarge.
4 EVOLUTION RESEARCH ON MICROSCOPIC
POROUS STRUCTURE
To investigate further geometry and deformation of
pores, we defined a concept of eccentricity e (Ju 2009).
In geometry, the eccentricity is a property of a conic
sectional curve, characterizing the degree of a curve
apart from a circle, as shown in Figure 5. Assuming a
fixed point F (i.e. the focus), a straight line L exclusive
the point F (i.e. the base line) and a non-negative real
number e, the conic sectional curve can be regarded as
a set of all points whose distances to the focus F equal
to the distance to the base line L multiplied by the
number e. The non-negative number e is called the
eccentricity of a conic sectional curve. When e = 0
the conic section curve refers to a circle, 0 < e < 1 an
ellipse, e = 1 a parabola, and e > 1 a hyperbola. The
eccentricity e can be formulated as follows,
where c stands for the half distance between the foci,
and a is the length of a semi-major axis.
 Through calculating, we knew that the initial eccen-
tricity eini of specimens with different porosities
distributes over about 0.58∼0.6 under no loading
condition. We chose 0.6 as the boundary. The pores
eccentricities of specimens with different porosities at
four loading moments were calculated, as shown in
table 1. The changes of pores eccentricities with dif-
ferent porosities at three loading moments in contrast
with no loading had been analyzed. The evolutionary
mechanisms of pores quantity and form were revealed
at different loading moments.
Upon the results we find out the followings.
When the porosity is 7% or less, with gradually
increasing load, the pores quantity and form of speci-
mens have no obvious changes. The cracks appeared in
the matrixes without crossing pores, which distributed
over the lengthways symmetrical axis of specimens.
When the load reach peak load, the pores form have
some changes.
When the porosity ρv is greater than 15%, the pores
take larger changes in terms of quantity and form dur-
ing a split. When load rises up to 90% of peak load, for
the specimen with a porosity of 15%, the total number
Figure 5. Illustration of the eccentricity of conic curves.
of pores decreases has visible descend. For the speci-
men with a porosity of 23%, the pores quantity begins
to decrease when load reaches 30% of peak load. It
implies that when porosity is higher (i.e. ρv ≥ 15%),
the spread paths of split cracks deviate from the length-
ways symmetry axis and cross pores, extending along
the pores. With increasing of load, the quantity of pores
decreases obviously because more and more pores
are “swallowed” by cracks. When the load reached
peak load, the thick and bended split cracks formed
throughout the entire specimens.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we developed a set of loading device
by ourselves. Using models tests method, we inves-
tigated the mechanical mechanisms of deformation
failure and inner porous structures evolution of rock
during a split. Through the observation and analyses
we conclude the followings.
The on-time CT scanning and on-line observation
could be realized during loading using self-developed
CT loading device.
When the porosity is 7% or less, with gradually
increasing load, the pores quantity and form of speci-
mens have no obvious changes. When the porosity ρv
is greater than 15%, the pores take larger changes in
terms of quantity and form during a split. When the
porosity ρv exceeds 15%, the total number of pores
decreases has visible descend with increasing of load.
It implies that when the porosity is lower, the split
cracks appear in matrixes of specimens without cross-
ing pores. When porosity is higher, the spread paths
of split cracks deviate from the lengthways symme-
try axis and cross pores. With increasing of load, the
quantity of pores decreases obviously because more
and more pores are “swallowed” by cracks.
The macroscopic failure of physical porous models
features typical elasticity and brittleness indepen-
dent of the pores distribution properties and quantity.
Owing to the effects of porous structures, the stress of
inner elements (microscopic structure) distributes dis-
orderly. The split cracks deviate from the lengthways
symmetry owing to the change of principal tensile

Table 1. Eccentricity change of pores in specimens with various porosities at different loading moments.

No loading 30% of peak load 90% of peak load Peak load

Change Change Change Change

eccentricity e eini rate /% e rate /% e rate /% e rate /%

ρv = 3% Mean value 0.5978 0 0.5979 0.0167 0.5945 0.55 0.6122 2.41

standard deviation 0.0305 / 0.0379 / 0.0317 / 0.0417 /
ρv = 7% Mean value 0.5889 0 0.5976 1.48 0.6054 2.8 0.6077 3.19
standard deviation 0.0267 / 0.0447 / 0.0305 / 0.0372 /
ρv = 15% Mean value 0.5809 0 0.5671 2.38 0.5700 1.88 0.5920 1.91
standard deviation 0.0195 / 0.0252 / 0.0211 / 0.0230 /
ρv = 23% Mean value 0.5967 0 0.6061 1.58 0.6002 0.59 0.6142 2.93
standard deviation 0.0187 / 0.0196 / 0.0163 / 0.0218 /

232
stress orientation. Additionally, partial pores deform
irreversibly due to the influence of local shear stress.
The split cracks cross pores and inosculate. The widths
of connective cracks gradually enlarge.
Though the macroscopic properties of physical
models feature obviously elasticity and brittleness
under split load, the change of inner porous structures
and response of stress state depend on the distribu-
tion properties and number of pores. The porosity of
15% seems to be regarded as a critical porosity which
affects the properties of microscopic porous structure
and stress distribution of rock.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are grateful for the finance support of
Major State Basic Research Development Program of
China (Grant No. 2010CB226804, 2011CB201201),
National Natural Science Foundation Projects of
China (Grant No. 50974125) and Beijing Key
Laboratory Projects.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Mechanical properties of sandstone after cyclic drying and wetting

H.Y. Yao
Key Laboratory of Geological Hazards on Three Gorges Reservoir Area, Ministry of Education, China
Three Gorges University, Yichang, Hubei, China
China School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui, China

Z.H. Zhang
Key Laboratory of Geological Hazards on Three Gorges Reservoir Area,
Ministry of Education, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, Hubei, China

P.Z. Pan
Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: Cyclic wetting and drying usually occur in rockmass for some reasons such as water level
variation, which is fairly harmful to its long term safety.A series of uniaxial and triaxial compression experimental
tests on sandstone under cyclic drying and wetting have been carried out. The corresponding complete stress-
strain curves are obtained, and characteristics of deformation and failure are analyzed. Compared with the dry
specimens, elastic modulus, cohesion, internal friction angle, uniaxial and triaxial compressive strength of the
specimens under “dry-saturation” cycling were all decreased to some degree. It is found that all mechanical
parameters have a relatively sharp decline after the first time saturated with water, and thereafter, decrease
gradually followed by an increase of cycling times. The rock samples become more ductile after cyclic drying
and wetting.

1 INTRODUCTION interaction was determined. Duperret (Duperret 2005)

Water is one of the most important factors that influ-
ence rock properties. A number of investigations on
the damage of water on mechanical properties of rock
materials have been carried out. For examples, some
researchers have found that the strength and elas-
tic modulus of rock with different moisture contents
decreased in different degree (Chen 1991, Xu 2008,
Yu 2009, Liu 2009). Moreover, the effect of water
on rock properties depends on the time. The results
(Zhou 2005, Guo 2007) showed that the strength of
rock decreased gradually as time extended.
In fact, the effect of water is a process of the stress
corrosion, which includes not only the mechanical
and physical effects between water and rock, but also
chemical effect (Feucht 1990, Ding 2005, Yao 2009).
Current research on this topic showed that the study
of water-rock interaction mechanism is focused on
extensively by researchers.
Because of periodic fluctuation of reservoir water
or ground water, rockmass is often suffered from alter-
nate wetting and drying. In fact, the variation of cyclic
water-rock interaction is the foremost factor to project
stability (Xu 2010). Liu (Liu 2008) performed an
experiment to simulate the process of water-rock inter-
action on bank slopes during fluctuation of water level
with sand rock, and the deteriorated shear strength of
sand rock under “saturation-air drying” in water-rock
evaluated the role of groundwater and sea weather-
ing on the strength of the chalk rocks exposed on the
coastline of the English Channel in Normandy. But
characteristics of deformation and strength of rock
under alternate wetting and drying cycles has not yet
been properly investigated.
Therefore, in this work, uniaxial and triaxial com-
pressive experiments were carried out with sandstone
under different cycles of drying and wetting. The char-
acteristics of deformation and failure were analyzed.
The results may provide a guide to considering the long
term effects of rock engineering.
2 TEST METHOD AND PROCESS
The rock samples for the experiments are sandstones.
The diameters of the specimens for all tests were 50
mm, and the lengths were 100 mm. All specimens were
dried at the temperature of 105◦ C for 24 hours, and
cooled to room temperature, then saturated with dis-
tilled water for 8 hours, and then soaked in distilled
water for 24 hours. This process is defined as one
cycle of “drying and wetting”. Uniaxial and triaxial
compression experiments were carried out under five
conditions: dry and after two, four, six, eight cycles of
drying and wetting, and the confining pressures were
5, 10, 15 MPa respectively.

235
Table 1. Experimental results of specimens

Cyclic σ3 σ1 E c ϕ
times MPa MPa GPa MPa (◦ )

0 0 35.9 5.837 8.32 45.6

5 73.7 8.178
10 109 9.623
15 124 10.597
1 0 7.5 1.406 3.10 43.0
5 50.3 6.357
10 68.7 7.527
15 89.7 9.138
4 0 11.6 2.167 3.06 40.3
5 39.9 4.847
10 57.8 5.617
15 83.2 8.763
8 0 6.07 0.875 2.79 37.4
5 37.1 4.105
10 57.3 5.243
15 67.6 4.941

3 RESULTS ANALYSIS

Testing data are shown in the Table 1. Stress–strain

curves for specimens under different cycles of drying
and wetting are shown in Figure 1. The dry specimens
can be considered as the case suffering 0 cycles of
drying and wetting.

3.1 Deformation analysis

Generally, the typical stress–strain curves of rock spec-
imens can be divided into 5 stages: the micro fractures
compressive stage, the elastic deformation stage, yield
stage, strain softening stage, and plastic flow stage. But
the stress–strain curves of specimens under uniaxial
compressive experiments did not always have 5 devel-
opment stages. For example, as shown in Figure 1(a),
the dry specimen and specimen subject to 4 cycles
of drying and wetting failed as soon as they reached
the peak strength. They did not have the plastic flow
stages.
All of the stress–strain curves of specimens under
triaxial compression have 5 development stages. The
curves of dry specimens are similar to those of spec-
imens after once saturation. The plastic characteristic
are obvious for sandstone after 4 and 8 cycles of dry-
ing and wetting. The elastic deformation stages of
the stress-strain curves become short, and the yield
stages become long. When reaching the strain soften-
ing stage, the axial stress decreases little with strain
for a fairly long time, which shows that the specimens Figure 1. Stress-strain curves of sandstone after cyclic
present a better ductility. On the contrary, the dry spec- drying and wetting.
imens and specimens after the first time of saturation
are more brittle.
Figure 2 shows elastic modulus for specimens under is exception that the elastic modulus of specimen after
different cycles of drying and wetting. As a whole, 1 cycle is lower than that after 4 cycles. The most prob-
the elastic modulus decreased gradually with the able cause of this issue is that rock is inhomogeneous,
increase of drying and wetting cycles, although there and their mechanical parameters are random.

236
Figure 2. Elastic modulus of sandstone after cyclic drying
and wetting.
Figure 3. Peak strength of sandstone after cyclic drying and
wetting.
3.2 Strength analysis
Strength of specimens under different cycles of dry-
ing and wetting with different confining pressures are
shown in Figure 3. Generally, the strength decreases
gradually followed by an increase in cycling times. It
is important to note that the peak strength decreases
by a large margin after the first time of saturation, and
the maximum reduction value is 79.1%.
Figure 4 and Figure 5 present cohesive strengths
and internal friction angles for specimens under dif-
ferent cycles of drying and wetting. Cohesive strengths
dropped substantially after the first time of saturation,
and there are no significant differences among spec-
imens subject to 1, 4, 8 cycles. On the contrary, the
internal friction angle decreases steadily with cycles.
The rock sample for the experiments is sandstone,
and the main components are quartz and feldspar,
cemented by hydro mica and calcite. Hydromica is
hydrophilic mineral. So the cement bond strength
between mineral grains decreases sharply in the
presence of water. Macro-variation of physical and
mechanical characteristics is the reason of decline of
237
Figure 4. Cohesion of sandstone after cyclic drying and
wetting.
Figure 5. Friction angles of sandstone after cyclic drying
and wetting.
mechanical parameter, such as elastic modulus, cohe-
sion, internal friction angle, compressive strength.
4 FAILURE MODE
Being a typical inhomogeneous material, rocks have
many micro and macro defects. Cracks will be gener-
ated around these defects and extended under loading,
which would lead to the final unstable failure of rocks.
Shear failure is still the main failure mode of spec-
imens after cyclic drying and wetting, as shown in
Figure 6. The failure behaviors are more complex
under uniaxial compression. Except one shear crack
throughout the specimen leading to the final unsta-
ble failure, there are many tension cracks aligned
along the axial direction. The specimen failed to
pieces after experiment. On the contrary, there are
no other macroscopic cracks except one shear crack
throughout the specimen under triaxial compression.
Confining pressure limits the development of tension
cracks.

Figure 6. Typical failure modes.
5 CONCLUSION
Cyclic water-rock interaction has great influence on
the deformation and failure behaviors of sandstone.
The elastic modulus, compressive strength, cohesion
and internal friction angle evidently decrease with
the cycles of drying and wetting. It is found that all
mechanical parameters have a relatively sharp decline
after the first time saturated with water, and thereafter,
decrease gradually with cycles.
The rock samples become more ductile after dry-
ing and wetting cycles, and the rock texture become
loosen. So, the specimens failed to pieces under
uniaxial compression.
The current study on this subject is quite prelimi-
nary. Further studies are required to better investigate
and analyze the micro-mechanism on the variation of
mechanical properties of rocks.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The works are supported by National Nature Science
Foundation of China under Grant nos. 50909053
238
and 10972231, Doctoral Program Foundation of
Institutions of Higher Education of China nos.
20100111120002, and Key Laboratory of Geological
Hazards on Three Gorges Reservoir Area (China Three
Gorges University), Ministry of Education under
Grant nos. 2008KDZ07.
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Chen, G.L. & Zhou, R.D. 1991. An experimental study
concerning the macroscopic effect of water on the defor-
mation and failure of loaded rocks. Chinese Journal of
Geophysics, 34(3): 335–342 (In Chinese).
Duperret, A., Taibi, S., Mortimore, R.N. & Daigneault, M.
2005. Effect of groundwater and sea weathering cycles on
the strength of chalk rock from unstable coastal cliffs of
NW France. Engineering Geology, 78(3–4): 321–343.
Ding, W.X. & Feng, X.T. 2005. Study on chemical damage
effect and quantitative analysis method of meso- struc-
ture of limestone. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Engineering, 24(8): 1283–1288 (In Chinese).
Feucht, L.J. & Logan, J.M. 1990. Effects of chemically
active solutions on shearing behavior of a sandstone.
Tectonophysics, 175: 159–176.
Guo, F.L., Zhang, D.L. & Su, J. et al. 2007. Experimen-
tal study of mechanical properties of chlorite schist with
water under triaxial compression. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 26(11): 2324–2332
(In Chinese).
Liu, X.R., Fu, Y. & Wang, Y.X. et al. 2008. Deterioration
rules of shear strength of sand rock under water-rock
interaction of reservoir. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical
Engineering, 30(9): 1298–1302 (In Chinese).
Liu, J., Qiao, L.P. & Li, P. 2009. Experimental studies and
constitutive model of elastoplastic mechanical behav-
iors of sandstone with hydro-physicochemical influenc-
ing effects. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering, 28(1): 20–29 (In Chinese).
Xu, L.H., Liu, S.M. & Li, Y.Q. 2008. Experimental stud-
ies on rock softening properties in Danjiangkou Reser-
voir area. Rock and Soil Mechanics, 29(5): 1430–1434
(In Chinese).
Xu, Q.J., Lu, Y., Yin, H.L. & Li, Z.K. 2010. Shakedown
analysis of a slope with cyclic groundwater level. Inter-
national Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods
in Geomechanics. 34(5): 517–531.
Yao, H.Y., Feng, X.T. & Cui, Q. et al. 2009. Experimen-
tal study of effect of chemical corrosion on strength
and deformation of hard brittle limestone. Rock and Soil
Mechanics, 30(2): 338–344 (In Chinese).
Yu, D.H. & Peng, J.B. 2009. Experimental study of mechan-
ical properties of chlorite schist with water under triaxial
compression. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering, 28(1): 205–211 (In Chinese).
Zhou, C.Y., Deng,Y.M. & Tan, X.S. et al. 2005. Experimental
research on the softening of mechanical properties of sat-
urated soft rocks and application. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering, 24(1): 33–38 (In Chinese).
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Estimation of the elastic tensile and compressive modulus through measuring

the displacement filed in Brazilian disc test

J.H. Ye
Key Laboratory of Engineering Geological Mechanics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Division of Civil Engineering, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK

Y. Zhang & H.G. Ji

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

F.Q. Wu
Key Laboratory of Engineering Geological Mechanics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: In this study, a completely analytical experimental theory is developed to determine the elas-
tic tensile modulus Et and the elastic compressive modulus Ec simultaneously through the deformation and
displacement measurement in the Brazilian disc loaded by a pair of radial concentrated forces. Two groups of
experimental data are used to validate the proposed test method. The results indicate that the proposed method is
feasible, and is convenient to determine the Et and Ec through simple indirect tension test (Brazilian disc test).

1 INTRODUCTION
It is well known that the mechanical behaviour of rock
materials under tensile and compressive status is sig-
nificantly different due to the existence of macro or
micro cracks in rock mass. The failure of engineering
material is much easier to occur under tensile stress
than that under compressive stress. An obvious exam-
ple is that the compressive strength generally is much
higher than the tensile strength for the rock materi-
als. In most previous investigations, the differences of
the tensile and compressive behaviour of rock material
are not considered adequately. Generally, the compres-
sive parameters, such as compressive elastic modulus
Ec determined from the uniaxial compressive test, are
used to evaluate the stresses status, displacement field
of engineering rock mass, such as slopes, large carves
in mountains. This method will undoubtedly underes-
timate the magnitude of displacement field. It will lead
to that the stresses field distribution calculated from
above displacement field is not reliable. Then, a high
risk to fail for engineering rock mass would be raised.
Therefore, it is important for rock engineering engi-
neers to use the suitable parameters for the zones in
rock mass which is being in the tensile status. Devel-
opment of an effective method to determine the tensile
parameters, especially the elastic tensile modulus is
necessary and meaningful.
Recently, many researchers have pain their attention
on the problem how to determine the elastic modulus
of rock material under tensile stress. Generally, there
are two methods are used. The first one is the direct
tension test. The second method is the indirect tension
test, mainly the Brazilian disc test. Duo the complexity
of operation and the stress concentration at the end of
samples, the direct tension test is basically not adopted.
The Brazilian disc test is a widely used method. Ye
et al. (2009) developed an analytical method to deter-
mine the elastic tensile modulus Et adopting a pair of
concentrated forces radially applying on a Brazilian
disc. In their test method, a strain gauge is pasted hor-
izontally on the central point to record the strain in the
region the strain gauge pasted, rather than the strain
of the central point. The priority of this method is that
the effect of the length of strain gauge used on the
magnitude of measured strain is considered, and the
theoretical expression to determine the elastic tensile
modulus Et from experimental data is completely ana-
lytical. Therefore, the results of elastic tensile modulus
Et is more reliable than that determined by Liu (1996).
Recently, Based on the analytical theory proposed by
Ye et al. (2009), Gong et al. (2010) develop a method
to determine the elastic tensile modulus through moni-
toring two points’ displacement on the circular of disc.
However, the expression adopted to determine Et is
not a general analytical solution. Liu (2010) propose a
method to determine the elastic parameters (E and ν)
through monitoring the whole deformation field on the
disc using DIC technique (Vendroux & Knauss 1998)
when the Brazilian disc is applied by rigid plates. In
this method, the difference of tensile and compres-
sive behaviour of materials is completely considered.

239
 the obtained displacement data by using the analytical
expressions proposed following.
The analytical solution of stresses field in an
isotropic Brazilian disc under concentrative forces is
given as (Ye et al. 2009):

where the p is the applied force, l is the thickness of

disc, D is the diameter of disc. On the diameter AB
and CF, the stresses are:

Figure 1. The loading state of the Brazilian disc test.

The elastic tensile modulus is considered the same

with the elastic compressive modulus. Obviously, this
assumption is not right.
In this study, an experimental method to determine
the elastic tensile and compressive modulus Et and
Ec through measuring the displacement field on the
Brazilian disc is developed. In this method, a series
of completely analytical expression is proposed; and
the differences of tensile and compressive behaviours
are adequately considered. Finally, this method will be
validated by two groups of experimental data.

2 TESY THEORY
The horizontal displacement u(x, t) on diameter AB is
In this study, the indirect tension test, Brazilian disc
determined by:
test is adopted to determine the elastic tensile and com-
pressive modulus. From the point of view of physics,
the analytical solution of stresses field in Brazilian disc
using the tensile modulus and compressive modulus in
the zones under tensile and compressive status respec-
tively should be used. However, this analytical solution where the Et is the elastic tensile modulus. ν is the
is not available so far. Here, the Brazilian disc is treated passion’s ratio. Here, the Et is used due to that the
as isotropic and homogeneous material.Ye et al. (2009) tensile stress and the induced tensile deformation is
derived the analytical solution of the stresses field in the dominant part in the whole deformation on diam-
Brazilian disc under a pair of radial concentrative force eter AB. This method is also adopted by Ye et al.
based on the Airy stress function. The reason why the (2009) and Gong et al. (2010). Substituting equa-
concentrative force is applied, rather than a distribu- tion (2) into equation (4), and applying following two
tive force, is that it is difficult to know the contract integral formulations:
angle between the loading curve and the disc (Ye et al.
2009). The test method adopted in this study is that
the disc is applied by a pair of concentrative force
(Figure 1); meanwhile, the displacements of some
points in disc are monitored adopting the DIC tech-
nique or the displacement sensors. Finally, the elastic
tensile and compressive modulus is calculated from

240
 The horizontal displacement u(x, t) on diameter AB
is expressed as:
Similarly, the vertical displacement v(y, t) on diam-
eter CF is determined by:
where the Ec is the elastic compressive modulus due
to that the compressive deformation is dominant on
diameter CF Substituting equation (2) into equation
(7), and applying following integral formulation:
The vertical displacement v(y, t) is expressed as:
Finally, we can determine the elastic tensile mod-
ulus Et and elastic compressive modulus Ec as
following:
If the displacement of point A or B (x = −R or
x = R) is monitored in test, then the elastic tensile
modulus Et could be determined by:
For the Ec , it couldn’t be determined by using
the vertical displacement of point C or F due to the
singularity of compressive stress at the loading points.
Through the equation (10) and (11), it is quite pos-
sible for engineers to determine the elastic tensile and
compressive modulus Et and Ec by monitoring the
deformation and the displacement field in Brazilian
disc.
3 VALIDATION WITH EXPERIMENTAL DATA
In this section, the above proposed test method and
the analytical expressions for determining the Et and
Ec is validated to show the feasibility. Two groups of
experimental data provided by Liu (2010) and Gong
et al. (2010) are adopted to validate the test theory.
241
Figure 2. The distribution of u(x), v(y) on diameter AB and
CF. when (p/lR) = 36.1 MPa.
Liu (2010) conducted a Brazilian disc test taking
the epoxy resin as the material. In his test, the loading
plate is a flat. At the later phase of loading, the contact
area between the flat and the resin disc is large so that
the force acting on disc is not concentrative force, but
distributive force. However, at the beginning phase, the
force acting on could approximately be considered as
concentrative force due to the small contact area. Liu
(2010) monitors the variation process of displacement
field in disc using DIC technique. The distribution of
horizontal displacement u(x) on AB and the vertical
displacement v(y) on CF when (p/lR) = 36.1 Mpa is
shown in Figure 2.
The diameter of resin disc D = 16.84 mm, thick-
ness 1 = 6.75 mm. The Poisson’s ratio is 0.364 which
is provided by Liu (2010). According to the equation
(10) and (11), the elastic tensile modulus Et and elas-
tic compressive modulus Ec are respectively calculated
by using the horizontal displacement and vertical dis-
placement of different points on diameter AB and CF.
The results is shown in Figure 3.
From Figure 3, it is found that the average elastic
tensile modulus Et is about 2.59 Gpa, the average elas-
tic compressive modulus Ec is about 6.13 Gpa. The
tensile modulus is far smaller than the compressive
Figure 3. The elastic tensile and compressive modulus of
the epoxy resin determined by the test theory.

modulus. Liu (2010) point out that the tensile modu-

lus of resin (3.767 GPa) is greater than the compressive
modulus (3.329 GPa). The result is not consistent with
the general knowledge which supports that the tensile
modulus of materials is quite impossible to be greater
than its compressive modulus. Feng and Farris (2002)
have also measured the elastic properties of the epoxy
resin treating the epoxy resin as orthotropic material.
The elastic modulus in in-plane was measured by ten-
sile test. The result is Et = 3.2 + −0.2 GPa. The elastic
modulus in the out-of-plane was measured using other
indirect method. The results is Ec = 5.9 + −0.9 GPa.
This results also show that the tensile modulus of
epoxy is smaller than its compressive modulus; and
the results is very closed to the test results determined
by the test theory developed in this study.
It is also can be seen that the results have good
consistency when the point monitored is far from the
central point of disc, for example, |x/R| or |y/R| > 0.2.
In the zone near to the central point of disc, the results
is scattered; thus it is not reliable. The reason would
be that the displacement in the zone is small, and the
measuring accuracy of DIC technique is not enough
to capture the real displacement.
Gong et al. (2010) performed a series of Brazilian
disc tests of rock materials to monitor the displacement
Figure 4. The recorded force acting on disc and the corre-
sponding displacements of point A and B.
of point A, B, C and F. Here, the displacement results of
three samples (1-1, 3-1 and 12-1) are cited to validate
the proposed test theory. Due to that the C and F are
the singularity of stress field, the elastic compressive
modulus can’t be determined using the displacement
of C and F points. Here, only the displacements of
point A and B are used to determine the elastic tensile
modulus.
In the tests, the applied force p and the displace-
ments of points A and B are all recorded. Figure 4
shows the recorded results for the three samples. It
should be noted that the recorded displacement in
Figure 4 is two times of the real displacement of point

242
Figure 4. (Continued)
A and B due to the test method adopted in Gong el al.
(2010).
The diameter D of disc is about 50 mm, the ratio
between D and thickness 1 is 1.0. The Poisson’s
ration is determined as 0.26 through conventional test
method. According to the test theory proposed in this
study, the variation processes of the elastic tensile
modulus of the three samples are determined as that
shown in Figure 5.
It can be seen from Figure 5 that the variation range
of the elastic tensile modulus Et is about 0.7 Gpa to
4.0 Gpa. In the loading process, the elastic tensile.
modulus Et is not a constant, but a variable. The
obvious trend is that the elastic tensile modulus
243
Figure 5. The variation processes of the elastic tensile mod-
ulus Et determined by the recorded displacement of point A
and B.
increases as the time and loading force increasing.
How to determine the tensile modulus Et for engineer-
ing design is a problem. Due to the fact that what we
need is the elastic parameter, we should determine the
Et when the disc is being the elastic status. Obviously,
it is not reasonable to determine the Et according to
the final load force and the maximum displacement of
point A or B. The reason is that some zones in the disc
would be plastic status when the disc is approaching
the failure status, and the stresses field based on elas-
tic theory can’t describe the real stresses in the disc.
In this study, we would suggest that the elastic tensile
modulus Et is determined when the loading force is
half of the failure loading.
4 CONCLUSION
In order to consider the differences of tensile and com-
pressive behaviour of rock materials, and provide more
reliable design elastic parameters for rock engineer-
ing, in this study, a completely analytical test theory
is developed to determine the elastic tensile modulus
Et and the elastic compressive modulus Ec simulta-
neously through the deformation and displacement
measurement in the Brazilian disc loaded by a pair
of radial concentrated forces. Two groups of experi-
mental data of epoxy resin and sand rock are used to
validate the feasibility of the test theory proposed. The
result shows that the test theory is feasible and conve-
nient to determine the elastic tensile and compressive
modulus of rock materials.
The results of Et and Ec indicate that the tensile
modulus is generally smaller than the compressive
modulus.
The elastic tensile modulus determined by the
recorded displacement is not a constant, but a variable
in loading process. The real elastic tensile modulus
should be calculated when the loading force is half of
the failure loading.
244
The displacement of points near to the central point
of disc is not suitable to be used to determine the elastic
modulus.
REFERENCES
Feng, R. & Farris, R. J. 2002. The characterization of themal
and elastic constants for an epoxy photoresist SU8 coating.
Journal of Materials Science, 37(22): 4793–4799.
Gong, F.Q., Li, X. & Zhao, J. 2010. Analytical algorithm to
estimate tensile modulus in Brazilian disk splitting tests.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering,
29(2): 881–991 (in Chinese).
Liu, C. 2010. Elastic constants determination and deforma-
tion observation using Brazilian disk geometry. Experi-
mental Mechanics, 50(4): 1025–1039.
Liu, F.Z. 1996. Study of mechanical properties of rock in
tension and tension-shear states. Journal of Yangtze River
Scientific Research Institute, 13(3): 35–39 (in Chinese).
Vendroux, G. & Knauss, W.G. 1998. Submicron deforma-
tion field measurements: part 2. Improved digital image
correlation. Experimental Mechanics, 38(2): 86–92.
Ye, J.H., Wu, F.Q. & Sun, J. Z. 2009. Estimation of the tensile
elastic modulus using Brzailian disc by applying diametri-
cally opposed concentracted loads. International Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 46(3): 568–576.
Ye, J.H.,Yang,Y., Chang, Z.H. & Wang,Y. F. 2009. Airy stress
function method for analytic solution of stress field dur-
ing Brazilian disc test. Journal of Engineeirng Geology,
17(1): 528–532 (in Chinese).
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Characterization by X-ray computed tomography of the bedding planes

influence on excavation damaged zone of a plastic clay

S. You & H.G. Ji

School of Civil and Environment Engineering University of Science & Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Clay rock always exhibits several types of planar anisotropy due to joints, foliation planes or
bedding planes, which can not be ignored in estimating the stability for the design of geological disposal sys-
tems. In that case, one kind of plastic clay (Boom Clay) as a host rock for nuclear waste disposal in Belgium
was studied and investigated by means of X-ray Computed Tomography in the laboratory tests. The advantage
of X-ray tomography experiment is that it can visualize failure process of the specimen without disturbing
the sample during the test. It is extremely important for tests which undergo complex loading condition, e.g.,
mechanical unloading, heating process. In this paper, X-ray computed tomography was used to visualization
of the deformability of rock cores which drilled parallel to the bedding planes, perpendicular to the bedding
planes and perpendicular to the bedding planes with a distinct fissure roughly parallel to its axis and cross-
ing the central hole over the height. The X-ray images show the extension of the excavation damaged zone
throughout the sample after mechanical unloading. The results reveal the anisotropy deformation of plastic clay
(Boom Clay).

1 INTRODUCTION 2 PRINCIPLES OF X-RAY COMPUTED

X-ray Computed Tomography (XRCT) was devel-
oped for medical applications in the early 1970s
(Hounsfield 1972). The possibility of its use in petro
physics and geological engineering was soon recog-
nized. It is a non-destructive technique ideally suited
to inspect the internal structure, porosity, the frac-
ture aperture and mechanical deformation of rocks
(Raynauld et al. 1989, Johns et al. 1993, Verhelst et al.
1995, Desrues et al. 1996, Klobea et al. 1997, Van
Geet et al. 2000). The main advantage of XRCT in the
laboratory tests is the internal damage of the objects
can be observed without disturbing or removing the
samples out of the testing cell. Thus, X-ray Com-
puterized Tomography (XRCT) as a non-destructive
method applied on rock cores to observe the fractures
leading to rock failure during the tests.
In this paper, the tests of X-ray computed tomogra-
phy used to visualization of the deformability of rock
cores which drilled parallel to the bedding planes, per-
pendicular to the bedding planes and perpendicular
to the bedding planes with a distinct fissure roughly
parallel to its axis and crossing the central hole over
the height are represented. The X-ray images show the
extension of the excavation damaged zone through-
out the sample after mechanical unloading. The results
characterized the anisotropy deformation of plastic
clay (Boom Clay).
TOMOGRAPHY
X-ray computed tomography is based on the mea-
surement of the attenuation of X-ray beam emitted
from an X-ray tube (Figure 1). The basic equation for
attenuation of mono-energetic X-rays is Beer’s law:
where I0 is the initial X-ray intensity, I is the inten-
sity of X-rays measured after passing the object, µ
is the linear attenuation coefficient for the material
being scanned and x is the path of X-ray pass through
the sample; If the scan specimen is constituted by a
number of different materials, the equation becomes:
where each increment i reflects a kind of material with
attenuation coefficient µi over a linear extent xi .
The attenuation of X-rays is governed by some
main interactions as it passes through the objects being
scanned, like Raleigh scattering, photoelectric effect,
Compton Effect, and the pair generation. Between
30 and 200 keV (the operating range of the day-
present CTs), only Raleigh scattering, photoelectric

245
and Compton effects occur. In case of predominance of
Compton effect (above 100 keV), the µ depends only
on the density of the sample and not on its chemical
composition. On the other hand, when photoelec-
tric effect dominates (50–100 keV), the µ coefficient
depends also on the chemical composition of the
absorbent. Hence, the linear attenuation coefficient µ
depends on both effective atomic number and the
density of the object.
In this paper, Mass attenuation coefficients for
typical rock constituents are given for energy of
120 keV in Table 1 and attenuation coefficients µ at
that energy are derived when multiplying by mineral
density ρ. Furthermore, CT image is a result of a
numerical map consisting of all the attenuation coef-
ficients µ(x, y) corresponding to each voxel results.
The values expressed as non-dimensional CT number
(Hounsfield Units or HU), according to the following
relation:
where µ is the linear X-ray absorption coefficient of
the material and µw is the linear absorption coeffi-
cient of pure water used as a standard reference. Fixed
Figure 1. Signals obtained with two different strikers.
values of this scale take −1000 for the air and 0 for
the water. The greater is the value of µ, the higher
is the corresponding HU. The degree of attenuation
is conventionally expressed in Hounsfield units nor-
malized by the attenuation coefficient of pure water.
Reconstructed CT images usually displayed as nega-
tive images where lighter tones represent higher HU
values and, in contrast, lower HU values correspond to
darker regions of the image.
3 APPLIED XRCT IN HOLLOW CYLINDER
TESTS OF ROCK CORES
3.1 Experimental description
The laboratory tests at LMR-EPFL are performed on
thick-walled hollow cylindrical samples prepared by
drilling a coaxial central hole in a drill core (14 and
86 mm in diameter respectively). The triaxial appara-
tus for the tests had to be modified: i.e. necessity of an
internal rubber membrane and of an inner drain in the
central hole, new caps, and use of aluminum instead
of steel for the body cell, which could reduce the dif-
fusion of X-rays and get better resolutions of images
(You et al. 2010). A sketch of the experimental set up
is shown in Figure 2.
The aim of the tests is to modeling at small-
scale mechanical loadings fairly similar to those that
will be experienced by the host rock around reposi-
tory galleries. For this purpose, after recovery of the
in-situ stress conditions, the pressure in the central
hole is reduced to model the gallery construction. A
difficult challenge of the tests is to study the develop-
ment and the evolution of the damaged zone induced
around the central hole without removing the sample
from the testing cell. In order to solve this problem,
X-ray computed tomography is selected as a favorable
investigation method performed at different steps of
the experiment.
The scanner is a lightspeed VCT from GE Health-
care, USA. For samples corresponding to medium
dimensions of rock cores in laboratory test, the effec-
tive resolution is 0.3 mm. Detector is a 40 mm-wide

Table 1. Presentation of some common mineral components found in rocks and classified by density. X-ray attenuation
coefficients calculated for X-ray energies of 120 keV.

X-ray mass attenuation

Mineral density coefficient Tomography
Material Chemical formula (g/cm3 ) (cm3 /g) 120 keV (HU) 120 keV

Air O2 0 0.000 −1000

Water H2 O 1.00 0.161 0
Kaolinte Al2 Si2 O5 (OH)4 2.60 0.153 1471
Quartz SiO2 2.65 0.154 1535
Chlorite (Mg,Fe,Al)12 [(Si,Al)8 O20 ](OH)4 ·2(H2 O) 2.65 0.187 2078
Smectite (Na,Ca)Al4 [(Si,Al)8 O20 ](OH)4 ·2(H2 O) 2.70 0.155 1599
Calcite CaCO3 2.71 0.170 1861
Illite (K,H3 O)[(Si,Al)3 O10 ](OH)2 2.75 0.157 1682
Dolomite CaMg(CO3 )2 2.87 0.160 1847
Pyrite FeS2 5.01 0.218 5784

246
 Figure 3. The skeleton of the testing stages.

Figure 2. Sketch of the testing device.

HiLight® Matrix III Scintillator with an isotropic

design. It contains 64-channel detector rows made
of 58368 cells (912 detectors per row) with a thick-
ness in the z-direction of 0.625 mm each, providing an
isotropic resolution of 0.6 mm. Dynamic range is 16
bit (accommodating 65’536 grey values) and recon-
structed density maps are 512 × 512 pixels. The tube
voltage as well as the tube charge was set to 120 keV
and 650 mA. Image reconstruction step was set to 0.31
mm corresponding to half of the detector size (Nyquist
theorem for optimal signal processing). A voxel size of
0.6 × 0.215 × 0.215 mm is obtained. A reconstruction
algorithm with a medium edge enhancement effect was
used (Christe 2009). The obtained data are collected
as image sequences in the DICOM standard (Digital
Imaging and Communications in Medicine) devel-
oped by the American College of Radiology (ACR)
and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association
(NEMA).

3.2 XRCT image results

The results presented in this paper are related to the
tests on Boom Clay which cored parallel to the bedding
planes (N◦ 13A), perpendicular to the bedding planes
(N◦ 14) and perpendicular to the bedding planes with a
distinct fissure roughly parallel to its axis and crossing
the central hole over the height (N◦ 14B_bis), sepa-
rately. The tests ran successfully until the end of the
mechanical unloading (decrease of the borehole pres-
sure from 4.5 MPa to 1 MPa in 70 minutes). Medium
resolution X-Ray tomography scans were carried out
at the CHUV (Cantonal Hospital in Lausanne) before
and after the unloading. Furthermore, X-Ray scans
were performed after removal of the sample from the
testing cell. Figure 3 shows the skeleton of the testing
stages.
Corresponding to the dimensions of testing rock
cores is 86 mm diameter and 172 mm length, about 600
reconstructed images are obtained. Fig. 4 illustrates
CT-slices of the sample obtained before and after the
Figure 4. Medium resolution XRCT scans of the Boom
Clay sample inside the cell before (left) and after (right) the
mechanical unloading.
mechanical unloading. Fig. 4 are medium resolution
XRCT scans of the sample inside the cell before (left)
and after (right) the mechanical unloading. The upper
pictures is for the sample (N◦ 13A) drilled parallel to
the bedding planes, the black lines indicates the direc-
tion of the beddings, a very clear oval-shaped deforma-
tion of the central hole is noticed, with principal axes
about parallel and orthogonal to the bedding planes.
The middle scans is for the sample (N◦ 14B_bis),
which drilled vertical to the beddings with a dis-
tinct fissure roughly parallel to its axis and through
the whole sample, a clear and anisotropic conver-
gence of the central hole was observed, an oval-shaped

247
damaged zone seems to develop around the hole with a
major axis in the direction of the crack, this anisotropic
response results most probably from the pre-existing
crack. The lower images is for the one (N◦ 14) cored
perpendicular to the beddings, it is hardly observed any
change close to the borehole, which could let think that
a isotropic damaged zone induced by the mechanical
unloading.
A further visual inspection of the sample carried
out after its removal from the cell and confirmed the
deformation of the central hole and the development
of a damaged zone close to the wall in each case.
Those observations emphasize the important
mechanical anisotropy of Boom Clay arising from
either natural (bedding planes) or induced pre-existing
weakness planes (fissure throughout the sample) and
the need for their correct consideration.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The X-ray Computed Tomography imaging has been
successfully applied to the quantitative visualization of
the deformation of excavation damaged zone in plastic
clay formations. Those results point out the signifi-
cance of the bedding planes in Boom Clay and the need
for a correct consideration of the related mechanical
anisotropy.
The triaxial tests combined with X-ray CT analysis,
have proven to be effective for visualization the appear-
ance and growth of fractures and borehole deformation
during the mechanical tests by taking several scans,
after each testing step, new images are taken, these can
be compared with the previous ones. This will immedi-
ately show the changes in rocks. XRCT will doubtless
be even more efficient research tool integrated with
other analytical data in the laboratory tests.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The TIMODAZ project is co-funded by the European
Commission and performed as part of the sixth
EURATOM Framework Program for nuclear research
and training activities (2002–2006) under contract
FI6W-CT-2007-036449. Further acknowledgements
go to Vincent Labiouse and Laurent Gastaldo, who
248
give the support to the authors work in LMR-EPFL
experiments. The support from the Department of
Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology of the CHUV
are gratefully acknowledged.
The first Author is a PhD student from Beijing
University of Science and Technology (China) and is
attached in LMR-EPFL with a financial support of the
China Scholarship Council (CSC).
REFERENCES
Christe, P.G. 2009. Geological Characterization of Cataclas-
tic Rock Samples Using Medical X-ray Computerized
Tomography: Towards a Better Geotechnical Description,
Ph.D. thesis n◦ 4316, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de
Lausanne.dson J.A., Jarrison J. P., 1997. Engineering Rock
Mechanics. Elsevier Science Ltd., Oxford.
Desrues, J., Chambon, R., Mokni, M. & Mazerolle, F.
1996, Void ratio evolution inside shear bands in triax-
ial sand specimens studied by computed tomography,
Géotechnique, 46, No. 3: 529–546.
Hounsfield, G.N. 1972. A method of and apparatus for
examination of a body by radiation such as X- or gamma-
radiation. British Patent No 1.283.915, London.
Johns, R.A., Steude, J.D., Castanier, L.M. & Roberts, P.V.,
1993. Nondestructive measurements of fracture aper-
ture in crystalline rock cores using X-ray computed
tomography. J. Geophys. Res, 98: 1889–1900.
Klobea, P., Riesemeier, H., Meyer, K., Gocbbals, J., Siitari-
Kauppi, M. & Hellmutb, K.H. 1997. Rock porosity daten-
nination by combination of X-ray computerized tomogra-
phy with mercury pomsimetry. Fres. J. Anal. Chem., 357:
543–547.
Raynauld, S., Fabre, D., Mazerolle, F., Geraud, Y. & Latie‘re,
H., 1989. Analysis of the internal structure of rocks
and characterization of mechanical deformation by non-
destructive method: X-ray tomodensitometry. Tectono-
physics, 159: 149–159.
Verhelst, F., Vervoort, A., De Bosscher, Ph. & Marchal,
G., 1995. X-ray computerized tomography determination
of heterogeneities in rock samples. In: Fujii, T. (Ed.),
Proc. 8th Interanat. Congress on Rock Mechanics. ISRM,
Balkema, Roterdam, p. 105–108.
Van Geet, M., Swennen, R. & Wevers, M. 2000. Quanti-
tative analysis of reservoir rocks by microfocus X-ray
computerized tomography. Sediment. Geol. 132, 25.
You, S., Labiouse V., Vigne L., Gastaldo L. & Bernasconi M.
2010. Medium resolution X-Ray computed tomography
of hollow cylindrical samples of Boom Clay, Proc, Eurock
2010 Int. Conf ; 755–758.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experimental study on shear behavior of rock mass discontinuity

under special stress condition

Q.Z. Zhang, M.R. Shen & W.Q. Ding

Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education,
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT: In deep rock mass, because of the excavation of cavern the stress state of surrounding rock will
be in great changes, especially the rock on the surface of the cavern. In the past the main research on mechanical
property of rock mass discontinuity is under loading condition, but the stress condition of deep rock mass is
different. At present the research of rock mass discontinuity under special stress conditions is still in its initial
stage, and it has not yet formed a relatively complete theoretical system. This paper mainly described the basic
research of the shear behavior of rock mass discontinuity under special stress conditions. Through the results
of the shear tests of rock mass discontinuity under special stress conditions, the shear strength and deformation
were analyzed, and a formula was introduced to describe the relationship between shear strength and shear
displacement under unloading condition.

1 INTRODUCTION system of the testing machine concentrates on the elec-

The existence of rock mass discontinuities makes great
changes in rock mass strength. To a great extent the
instability of rock mass would occur along the rock
mass discontinuities. Because of the excavation the
stress state of the surrounding rock will be complicate
in deep rock mass, especially the rock on the surface of
the cavern. However, the research of rock mass discon-
tinuity under unloading is still in its initial stage, and
it has not yet formed a relatively complete theoretical
system.
This paper mainly described the basic research of
the shear behavior of rock mass discontinuity under
special stress conditions. Through the results of the
shear tests of rock mass discontinuity under special
stress conditions, the shear strength and deforma-
tion were analyzed, and a formula was introduced to
describe the relationship between shear strength and
shear displacement under unloading condition.
2 TEST MATERIAL AND TEST SCHEME
2.1 Test equipment
The experimental test was carried out with CSS-1950
rock biaxial rheologic testing machine produced by
Changchun Testing Machine Research Institute. The
machine can apply vertical axial compression and
horizontal axis compression simultaneously or sepa-
rately, and measure the deformation of both axises and
both sides simultaneously.The maximum vertical axial
compression load is 500 kN; the maximum horizon-
tal axial compression load is 300 kN. The measuring
tric control box, including the measurement unit of
vertical axial force and horizontal axial force, and
the deformation measurement unit of vertical axis and
horizontal axis.
2.2 Specimen preparation
In view of the complexity of the natural rock mass
discontinuity and the practical difficulties in the acqui-
sition, this test uses the cement mortar specimen with
the regular dentate rock mass discontinuity. In order to
avoid the differentiation caused by the different mate-
rial strength and deformation of the specimen, each
batch of specimen are made by the same material, same
material mixture ratio, same maintenance time and the
same mould.
The cement of grade 325, standard sand and water
are mixed as the model material, which mixture ratio
is 2:4:1. Various materials are prepared according to
mixture ratio, stirred and mixed evenly, and put into the
steel mould to smash. Finally the surface is smoothed.
The specimen will be removed after 24 hours since
the model takes shape, and the model takes 28 days’
maintenance under the standard condition. The size of
the specimen used in the test is 10 × 10 × 103 cm. The
single-tooth length is 10 mm, and the number of tooth
is ten. The joint asperity angles are 10◦ , 20◦ , 30◦ , and
45◦ respectively (Figure 1).
2.3 Test method and loading mode
In order to study the mechanical property of rock mass
discontinuity under unloading, the conventional and
unloading shear tests are carried out under different

249

Figure 1. The planar graph of the structural plane specimen
and photo of the model specimen.
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the test’s stress path.
stress states, using the regular dentate rock mass dis-
continuity of different angles. The whole test is divided
into two major kinds:
1) Conventional shear test
In order to obtain the materials’ shear strength
parameters, this research uses Mohr-Coulomb
Strength Theory. The shear tests are carried
out under different stress states, using three
10 × 10 × 10 cm3 cube specimens. Then carry out
the shear test with dentate rock mass discontinuity.
There are five kinds of rock mass discontinuity,
whose joint asperity angles are 0◦ , 10◦ , 20◦ , 30◦ ,
45◦ . Each kind will be shear tested under the nor-
mal stresses of 50%, 40%, 30%, 20% (0.5σc , 0.4σc ,
0.3σc , 0.2σc ) of the uniaxial compressive strength
respectively. The loading is a stepwise process. The
normal stresses and the tangential force will be
applied at the same time by certain ratio until the
specimen is failure.
2) Unloading shear test
There are five kinds of structural surface in this
test too, whose joint asperity angles are 0◦ , 10◦ ,
20◦ , 30◦ , 45◦ , respectively. Each kind separately
carries out the unloading shear test under different
stress levels. However, its loading mode is different
from conventional shear test. First, load the normal
stress and the tangential force at the same time by
certain ratio, then unload the normal stress until the
specimen is destroyed (Figure 2).
3 ANALYSIS OF TEST RESULTS
By doing the unconfined uniaxial compression test,
using 10 × 10 × 10 cm3 cube specimens, the value of
250
Table 1. Shear strength parameters of rock mass disconti-
nuities of different angles (loading).
0◦ 10◦ 20◦ 30◦ 45◦
C(MPa) 0 0.24 0.36 0.64 1.22
ϕ(◦ ) 40 40 41.2 43.3 46
Table 2. Shear strength parameters of rock mass disconti-
nuities of different angles (unloading).
0◦ 10◦ 20◦ 30◦ 45◦
C(MPa) 0.13 0.43 0.56 0.66 0.70
(◦ ) 36.9 37.5 39.3 41.1 41.1
uniaxial compressive strength σc is obtained, that is
14.5 MPa. Besides, by doing the shear test under dif-
ferent stress states, the values of the material’s shear
strength parameters C and ϕ could be obtained, which
are 4.59 MPa and 47.7◦ respectively.
3.1 Strength analysis
According to the conventional shear test, different peak
shear stress values of the specimens could be obtained.
And the integrated shear strength parameters (C and
ϕ as follows) of rock mass discontinuity with various
slope angles could be calculated.
The different shear strength parameters of rock
mass discontinuities under loading condition can be
obtained from Table 1.That is, as the joint asperity
angle of the dentate rock mass discontinuity increases,
its integrated shear strength parameter C increases, and
so does the parameter ϕ.
According to the unloading shear test, different peak
shear stress values of the specimens could be also got.
And the integrated shear strength parameters (C and as
follows) of rock mass discontinuity with various joint
asperity angles could be calculated.
The different shear strength parameters of rock
mass discontinuities under unloading condition can
be obtained from Table 2. That is, the integrated shear
strength parameter C increases with the increase of the
joint asperity angle of the dentate rock mass discon-
tinuity and so does the parameter φ. In the unloading
shear test, all specimens climb along the joint asper-
ities before the joint asperities are cut through and
destroyed. With the increase of the joint asperity angle,
the area of shearing tooth point increases, as well as
the tooth’s shear resistance. Consequently, C and φ will
increase with the increase of joint asperity angle.
The relation graph of integrated shear strength
parameters C and φ and joint asperity angle β can
be obtained from Table 1 and Tables 2, which is as
follows.
Here is the conclusion drawn from Figure 3 and
Figure 4:
1) All the integrated shear strength parameters C
increase under loading and unloading as the joint
Figure 3. The relationship between cohensive force C and
structural plane angle β.
Figure 4. The relationship between internal friction ϕ and
structural plane angle β.
asperity angle of dentate rock mass discontinu-
ity increases, however, the increasing rate under
unloading condition is lower than that under load-
ing condition.
2) All the integrated shear strength parameters ϕ
increase with the increase of the joint asperity angle
under loading and unloading conditions, however,
the increasing speed under unloading is bigger than
under loading.
3.2 Characteristic analysis of shear displacement
curve
The following pictures (Figure 5 and Figure 6) are
shear displacement curves which can be got from the
experimental results.
It can be seen that the slopes of the curves at
the initial stage are very little. It is mainly because
there are some problems in specimen’s pouring and
installation. During the process of pouring, the mid-
dle of the specimen’s surface will be concave, which
is mainly caused by the sinking of gravel in cement
mortar. And the joint asperity angle is not poured
very structured. It makes the specimen unable to close
completely when installing. When exerting shearing
strength, it will compress tightly the part that not closed
first. This makes the specimen have a large horizontal
displacement when the shear stress is only small.
251
Figure 5. The shear displacement curves of 10◦ discontinu-
ities under different stresses (loading).
Figure 6. The shear displacement curves of 45◦ discontinu-
ities under different stresses (loading).
By observing the shear displacement curve of spec-
imen of different angles under loading, the following
conclusions can be obtained.
1) For loading test, the curve shape can be divided into
two major kinds – “weak” and “tooth” types. And
it relates to the climbing asperity angle and nor-
mal stress. When the joint asperity angle is small
and normal stress is low, the curve shape is mainly
the “weak” type. Under the action of smaller shear
stress, it obviously demonstrates the characteristic
that the displacement rate reduces and carries out
the transition to constant. And it obviously shows
the shear-slip characteristic in the curve’s line seg-
ment. This situation mainly appears when the joint
asperity angles are 0◦ and 10◦ . At this point, even if
normal stress increases, the curve shape is still the
weak type. So it is mainly influenced by joint asper-
ity angle. But 20◦ and 30◦ are transition angles. At
this point, the curve shapes are affected by both
joint asperity angle and normal stress.
2) In the initial stage of the “tooth” type curve, it shows
the characteristics that the shear stress and shear
displacement present the linear change.
3) The corresponding shear displacement order of
curve’s peak shear strain is not great related to nor-
mal stress. It is mainly influenced by joint asperity
angle.

Figure 7. The shear displacement curves of 10◦ discontinu-
ities under different stresses (unloading).
Figure 8. The shear displacement curves of 45◦ discontinu-
ities under different stresses (unloading).
4) When normal stress is the same and joint asper-
ity angle is different, the curve’s shear stiffness
increases with the increase of joint asperity angle
β. No matter how great the normal stress is applied,
the slope at initial stage of curve increases with the
increase of angle (Figure 7 and Figure 8).
According to the experiment data and shear dis-
placement curves under unloading condition, the
curve’s fitting formula has been summarized. The
curve is divided into two stages. The first stage is
adhesion stage, that is, linear change stage. The sec-
ond stage is slip stage. At this stage, the value of the
shear stiffness KS is 0 and the relative displacement
increases. In addition, the comprehensive coefficient
f is reduced in the form of hyperbolic function.
In the formula:
KS – Slope of the curve, which represents average
stiffness;
252
Figure 9. The dilatation curves of discontinuities with
different angles (loading).
Figure 10. The dilatation curves of discontinuities with
different angles (unloading).
f – Comprehensive coefficient, including the influ-
ence of rough surface and joint asperity angle, and
rotation angle after specimen’s failure, which can be
obtained from the loading test.
According to calculating experimental data, it can
be seen that when the joint asperity angle is the same,
the stiffness of rock mass discontinuity under differ-
ent normal stress is basically the same. So we can
draw the conclusion that the stiffness is affected greatly
by angle, and has little to do with the normal stress.
And whether it is loading curve or unloading curve,
it presents linear rising at initial stage. But when the
shear stress is close to the maximum, the loading curve
becomes smooth. It is because the normal stress is kept
unchanged when it reaches a certain value.
3.3 Analysis of dilatancy characteristics
Regarding the shear displacement as abscissa and the
normal deformation as ordinate, the dilatation curve
which reflects the dilatation characteristics of rock
mass discontinuity can be gotten, according to loading
and unloading test data.
The law of dilatation curve can be obtained from
the Figure 9 and Figure 10.
1) The dilatation curve of conventional shear test can
be divided into three stages. The first stage is vol-
ume compression stage. The second is shear stage.
 At this stage, the dilatation curve is basically a
straight line, and the specimen’s volume increases
at the uniform speed. The slope of curve is called
the average joint asperity angle. At the third stage,
the shear stress will reach peak value soon, and the
slope of dilatation curve is reduced. These are the
deformation characteristics shown by cutting off
protuberance.
2) The dilatation curve of unloading shear test can be
also divided into three stages. Its first stage is the
same with conventional shear test. The second stage
represents the stage that from keeping normal stress
not changing and exerting shear stress to unloading
normal stress close to specimen’s failure. And the
third stage describes the stage after destroying.
3) In two kinds of tests, with the increase of nor-
mal stress, the curves at the second stage are all
shortened, that is, the volume expansion decreases
together. In two kinds of tests, the average of joint
asperity angle increases with the increase of the
angle of rock mass discontinuity, and basically has
nothing to do with normal stress.
4 CONCLUSION
This research adopted the regular dentate discontinu-
ity with different slope angles to conduct the shear
tests under different normal stresses. The conclusion
is summarized as follows:
1) The integrated shear strength parameters C and
φ all increase with the increase of joint asperity
angle under loading and unloading conditions. The
increasing rate of C under loading is greater than
that under unloading, while the increasing rate of φ
is on the contrary.
2) The strength of rock mass discontinuity under
unloading is different from that under loading. In
the actual project, both the climbing effect and the
gear cutting effect result in the failure of rock mass
discontinuity, not only the one of them.
3) For loading test, the shear displacement curve shape
is divided into two major kinds – weak and tooth
type. And it relates to joint asperity angle and
normal stress.
253
4) There are certain differences between the dilata-
tion curve under unloading and that under loading.
Although the curves can all be divided into three
stages, the representative meanings of each stage
are different to some extent.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This project is financially supported by China Natural
Science Foundation Funds and The Research Fund for
the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China
(Grant No. 41072203, 20090072110012).
REFERENCES
Chen, S., et al. 2005. Problems of deformation and bearing
capability of mass around deep buried tunnels. Chinese
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 24(13):
2203–2211.
He, M. 2004. Present state and perspective of rock mechanics
in deep mining engineering. In: Chinese Society of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering ed. Proceedings of the 8th
Rock Mechanics and Engineering Conference: 88–94.
Huang, T.H., et al. 2002. Experimental and mathematical
modelling for fracture of rock joint with regular asperities.
Engineering Fracture Mechanics 69(17): 1977–1996.
Jing, L., et al. 1994. 3D constitutive model for rock
joints with anisotropic friction and stress dependency in
shear stiffness. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences and Geomechanics Abstracts (2):
173–178.
Patton, F.D. 1966. Multiple modes of shear failure in rock.
In: Proc First Congress of International Society of Rock
Mechanics, Lisbon, Portugal: 509–13.
Qian, Q. 2004. The current development of nonlinear rock
mechanics: the mechanics problems of deep rock mass. In:
Chinese Society of Rock Mechanics and Engineering ed.
Proceedings of the 8th Rock Mechanics and Engineering
Conference: 10–17.
Souley, M., et al. 1995. An extension to the Saeb and
Amadei constitutive model for rock joints to include cyclic
loading paths. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Science & Geomechanics Abstracts 32(2):
101–109.
Wang, M., et al. 2005. Study on deformation and motion char-
acteristics of blocks in deep rock mass. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 24(16): 2825–2830.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

A new calculation model of mechanical parameters of the joints without

cutting through free face

B. Zhao & Z.Y. Wang

Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Oil and Gas Distribution Technology, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The joints without cutting through free surface frequently appear in engineering rock masses of
rock slope, rock pillars and caverns. The stiffness coefficient, the cohesion, and the friction angle of joints are
the significant parameters for reflecting the mechanical characteristics of joints and analyzing the stability of
engineering rock masses. Based on triaxial compression test to the rock specimens containing different joints
angle and stress and displacement analysis, new geometry equations of strain and displacement were established
according to the conservation of energy, the analysis solutions of stiffness coefficients of joints were derived, and
the cohesion and the friction angle of joints were gained by using Mohr-Coulomb strength theory. Mechanical
parameters of the joints without cutting through free surface can be determined laconically by the new calculation
model in this paper.

1 INTRODUCTION deformation and normal deformation of rock joints

Development degree, scale, and configuration of rock
joints are the significant factors determining shape,
position and size of rock mass structure elements
and controlling the stability of rock mass. Normal
stiffness coefficient, tangential stiffness coefficient,
cohesion and fictional angel are the required param-
eters for the stability analysis of rock mass. These
parameters are decided by both roughness, rock wall
strength, infill minerals and occurrence of joints sur-
face and the directions of principal stresses in ground
stress field. Goodman (1974) and Bandis et al. (1977)
presented the empirical formula of normal stiffness
coefficient and tangential stiffness coefficient. Barton
& Choubey (1977) presented the shearing strength cal-
culation formula that took normal force, roughness
and rock wall strength of joints surface into account
(Cai et al. 2002). Experimental researches such as the
description of closure deformation of joints (Xia et al.
2003), the measuring of surface morphology of joints
(Jiang et al. 2006), the investigation of the effect of
grain sizes to roughness of joints surface and shear
deformation behavior (Kabeya et al. 1997), and the
shearing tests under different deformation rate, vari-
able normal stress and different asperity (Li et al. 2008)
were carried out. The dominant factors affecting tan-
gential and normal stiffness coefficient were found out
by special experimental research to joints in rock mass
of the Yangtse Gorges (Liu 1998). Meanwhile, theo-
retical studies about the stress-strain relation of joints
rock mass (Wu et al. 2001), the numerical simulation
of direct shearing test (Zhang et al. 2006), the numeri-
cal discrete model of infilled rock joints (Duriez et al.
2006), the estimation method to roughness of joints
surface (Bryan et al. 2010), and the model of shear
(Xu et al. 2009) were conducted. Sun (1988) analyzed
the mechanical effects of the rock joints without cut-
ting through free face and established strength formula
of it. Xie (1996) put fractal theory into rock mass joints
research. Xia et al. (2002) presented the mathematical
description of joints surface morphology and the fric-
tional and shearing mechanism of joints surface. It is
essential to provide deformation and strength param-
eters for evaluating the stability of jointed rock mass
structure. Direct shearing test is the primary method in
rock mass joints experimental research at the present
time. However, many problems such as preparation
of rock specimens and reproducibility of tests due to
the diversity of joints shapes appear while doing direct
shearing test. Stiffness coefficients, cohesion and fric-
tional angel can be obtained by triaxial compression
tests to jointed rock specimens and theoretical analy-
sis (Wang et al. 2010). A new calculation model based
on triaxial compression test used to jointed rock mass
will be presented in this paper. This new calcula-
tion model can be used to calculate normal stiff-
ness coefficient, tangential stiffness coefficient and
strength parameters of joints by stress and strain values
measured in conventional triaxial compression tests.
2 THE CALCULATION MOEL OF
PARAMETERS FOR THE JOINTS WITHOUT
CUTTING THROUGH FREE SURFACE
2.1 Mechanical analysis of jointed rock specimens
Jointed rock specimens were in elastic state during
triaxial compression tests. Compressive stress was
taken positive in force analysis. Joints in these rock

255
 σ3 . u1 , u3 are the displacements in the direc-
tion of σ1 and the direction of σ3 , respectively. l is
length of rock specimen. R is radius of cylinder rock
specimen. β is the angle between the structural sur-
face and the major principal stress (σ1 ). θ = π − arcos
(1 − a/R) + 0.5 sin [2 arccos(1 − a/R)].
In light of the independence of axial displace-
ment and radial displacement, the relations of the
displacements were gained:

Figure 1. Rock mass specimen and loading state. The structural elements were in elastic state under
the acting of σ1 , σ3 , and therefore the constitutive
relationship can be described:

where E, µ are elastic modulus and Possion ratio of

rock material, respectively.

Figure 2. Loadings and deformation of rock mass specimen. The relations between u1 , u3 and the tangential
displacement and the normal displacement on joint
specimens were without filled materials. Geometric surface can be written under the following form:
shape of joint and force analysis to rock specimen as
shown in Figure 1.
Loading and deformation of rock specimens were
shown in Figure 2. The energy including elastic strain
energy and dissipated energy were generated in rock Substituting Equation (8), (9) into Equation (6), (7)
specimens under the acting of σ1 and σ3 . The for- respectively, following equations can be obtained:
mer was produced by elastic deformation of structural
elements and closing up of joint surface, and the latter
was generated from shear slipping of joint face. The
conception of rock mass structure that rock mass was
composed of structural elements and structural sur-
face was used in this analysis. According to the energy
conversation law, an equation can be gained as follows. Equation (10) and (11) can be given by the form of
matrix:

where σ1 is the increment of σ1 , σ3 is the incre-

ment of σ3 corresponding σ1 . uM a , ur are axial
M

deformation and radial deformation of rock specimen,

respectively. ua is the axial displacement of rock
specimen under the acting of σ1 . ur is the radial
displacement of the rock specimen under the acting of

256
where σ1 , σ3 , εa , εr can be directly determined
in triaxial compression test, and then formulas (4), (5),
(6), (7), (12) were solved for the tangential displace-
ment (u) and the normal displacement (w) on joint
surface.
Table 1. Normal stiffness coefficient and tangential stiff-
ness coefficient of joints surface.
Kss /(MPa·mm−1 ) Kss /(MPa·mm−1 )
σ3 / σ1 / σ/
MPa MPa MPa Individual Mean Individual Mean

2.2 Stiffness coefficient of the joints without cutting 3 30 6.10 13.1 16.3 33.2 45.2
through free surface 40 7.25 24.4 47.6
50 8.40 33.7 54.7
Ignoring the interaction between normal displacement 4 30 7.87 20.2 29.6 36.0 42.0
and tangential displacement, Equation (13) is gained 40 9.02 29.7 38.6
by Equation (12) and the definition of the Goodman’s 50 10.2 38.8 51.3
stiffness coefficient. 5 30 9.64 15.8 21.4 32.2 43.4
40 10.8 20.4 45.8
50 11.9 27.1 52.2

Equation (12) and (13) are solved for Kss , Knn :

where Kss and Knn are tangential stiffness coeffi-
cient and normal stiffness coefficient of joint surface,
respectively. εa and εr are axial strain increment
and radial strain increment, respectively. σ and τ
are axial stress increment and radial stress increment,
respectively.
The axial stress increment and the radial stress
increment on joint surface can be gained by the theo-
rem of Mohr’s circle. While doing the sustained load-
ing tests with invariable confining pressure (σ3 = 0)
in conventional triaxial compression test, Equation
(14) can be rewritten as Equation (15):
where σ1 is the axial pressure increment in conven-
tional compression test. εa and εr are the measured
values of axial strain and radial strain, respectively.
2.3 Determination of strength parameters of joint
surface
Stress components on failure surface can be obtained
by the theorem of Mohr’s circle were expressed as
when β falls between β1 and β2 (β1 ≤ β ≤ β2 , the deter-
mination method of β1 and β2 can be found in the rock
mechanics textbook), rock specimens will be broken
along joint surface. The normal stress (σjβ ) and the tan-
gential stress (τjβ ) on joint surface can be obtained by
the stress state when joint surface is broken. σjβ − τjβ
curves can be gained by the testing results from dif-
ferent rock specimens, which were used to obtain
cohesion (cj ) and frictional angel (ϕj ). The cohesion
(cj ) and the frictional angel (ϕj ) also can be gained by
the algebraic method.
3 TRIAXIAL COMPRESSION TEST FOR
JIONTED ROCK SPECIMENS
3.1 Determination of stiffness coefficient
Jointed granite specimens (β = 70◦ ) were used in the
triaxial compression test under different confining
pressures 3 MPa, 5 MPa and 7 MPa respectively. The
average testing values of three rock specimens at each
confining pressure can be obtained. In these tests, axial
loading was acted in deformation rate at 2 × 10−6 ,
jointed rock specimens did not occur brittle fracture
and joint surface did not slip, inflicting invariable
confining pressure.
Stress-strain curves, including stress-axial strain
curve and stress-radial strain curve, were obtained
in these tests. In elastic phase of these curves, stress
increments (σ1 ) and strain increments (εa , εr ) for
each of them were gained in neighborhood of all axial
loading values that are 30MPa, 40 MPa and 50 MPa
respectively. Normal stiffness coefficient and tangen-
tial stiffness coefficient can be obtained by substituting
σ1 , εa , εr into Equation (15). Equation (16) was
solved for the stress components (σ and τ) on joint
surface. The results are shown in Table 1.
3.2 Determination of cohesion and frictional angel
Compressive strength and confining pressure can be
substituted into Equation (16) for obtaining the nor-
mal stress and the tangential stress used to solve for

257
Table 2. Strength parameters of joints surface determined
by traixial compression test.
σ3 /MPa σ1 /MPa σjβ /MPa τjβ /MPa cj /MPa ϕj /◦
3 59.3 9.47 17.9
5 55.4 10.8 16.1 13.8 17.7
7 98.6 17.5 29.2
cohesion (cj ) and frictional angel (ϕj ). The results are
shown in Table 2.
4 CONCLUSIONS
1. The relation between strain and displacement has
been found by analyzing stress and displacement
of joined rock specimens. Analytic solution of
the stiffness coefficient in elastic state has been
deduced, and the determination method to defor-
mation stiffness and strength parameters of jointed
rock specimens has been given on the basis of
triaxial compression test.
2. The tangential stiffness coefficient and the normal
stiffness coefficient have been obtained by the cal-
culation model in elastic state of the joints without
cutting through free surface and the test data hat
were from triaxial compression test.
3. The calculation model has been presented in this
paper used to calculate stiffness coefficients and
strength index is only applicable to the condition of
comparatively small roughness, therefore, further
research about jointed rock mass with relatively big
roughness is necessary.
REFERENCES
Bryan, S.A., Tatone, Giovanni Grasselli. 2010. A new 2D
discontinuity roughness parameter and its correlation with
JRC. International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining
Sciences, 47: 1391–1400.
Cai, M.F., He, M.C. & Liu, D.Y. 2002. Rock Mechanics and
Engineering. Beijing: Science Press.
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Duriez, J., Darve, F. & Donzé, F.V. 2006. A discrete modeling-
based constitutive relation for infilled rock joints. Inter-
national Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences,
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Jiang, Y.J., Li, B. & Tanabashi, Y. 2006. Estimating the
relation between surface roughness and mechanical prop-
erties of rock joints. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics & Mining Sciences, 43: 837–846.
Kabeya, K.K. & Legge, T.F.H. 1997. Relationship between
grain size and some surface roughness parameters of rock
joints. Int. J. Rock Mech. & Min. Sci., 34: 3-4, paper
No. 146.
Li, H.B., Liu, B. & Feng, H.P. et al. 2008. Study of deforma-
bility behavior and failure mechanism by simulating rock
joints sample under different loading conditions. Rock and
Soil Mechanics, 29(6): 1741–1752.
Liu, X.Z. 1998. Experimental Study on Stiffness Character-
istics of Rock mass Structural Face in TGP. Journal of
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Science Press.
Wang, Z.Y. & Duan, P.J. 2010. A New Method of Determining
Mechanical Parameters of Joints Based on Triaxial Com-
pressive Test for Rock Mass. Rock and Soil Mechanics: to
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for jointed rock masses. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics & Mining Sciences, 38: 591–598.
Xia, C.C. & Sun, C.C. 2002. Joints Mechanics of Engineering
Rock Mass. Shanghai: Tongji University Press.
Xia, C.C.,Yue, Z.Q., Tham, L.G., Lee, C.F. & Sun, Z.Q. 2003.
Quantifying topography and closure deformation of rock
joints. International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining
Sciences, 40: 197–220.
Xie, H.P. 1996. Fractral-Introduction of Rock Mechanics.
Beijing: Science Press.
Xu, H.F. & Chen, L.X. 2009. Ageing Characteristics and
Joints Model of Rock. Shanghai: Shang Hai Jiao Tong
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Zhang, L.H. & Zhu, Y.L. 2000. Comments on Methods of
Joint Shear Strength Determination and Present of New
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ical study of shear behavior of intermittent rock joints with
different geometrical parameters. International Journal of
Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences, 43: 802–816.
Numerical and physical modeling for rock engineering
This page intentionally left blank
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Impact of joint inclination and confining pressure on strength of sandstone

Z. Bai & S.C. Wu

School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

Z. Bai
Department of Civil Engineering, Henan University of Urban Construction, Ping Dingshan, Henan, China

ABSTRACT: The joint inclination and confining pressure have great influence on the strength of sandstone.
PFC is used to perform numerical test for sandstone in order to get the influence law. The smooth joint model is
introduced to eliminate the “bumpiness” in the standard contact model. To ensure the numerical test precision,
BP neural network is applied by an inversion net based on the lab test results. According to the micro-parameters,
many numerical tests are performed, which indicates the rock mass strength first reduces and then rises with
the increasing of the joint inclination, and it rises continuously with the increasing of the confining pressure.
Comparing numerical test results with Jaeger theory, a conclusion is made that the numerical test results based
on smooth joint model is practical and can be further applied to the analysis of equivalent rock mass.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 SMOOTH JOINT MODEL

Sandstone is a sort of engineering medium which
exists extensively in geotechnical engineering fields
of the water conservancy, traffic and architecture etc.
The strength and deformation of joint sandstone have
an important influence on the project’s stability. The
joint inclination and confining pressure can change
considerably which affects the strength of sandstone
greatly. At present, much research about the mechani-
cal properties of rock mass including structural plane
or bedding is developed (Mao et al. 2005 & Li et al.
2008). However, if it depends on test means merely,
the samples are few and short of representativeness,
and the tests are uneconomical. It is very effective to
combine lab tests with numerical tests (Wang 2006).
The computing result is difficult to accept if joint
sandstone is regarded as continuum because it is dis-
continuous geologic body. Discrete element should be
used to simulate joint rock mass. PFC is one of discrete
element programs and can be used to the numerical
tests of joint rock mass (Li 2007, Wang et al. 2007).
Equivalent rock mass approach (Wu et al. 2010)
combines the bonded particle model for rock with a
discrete fracture network and a smooth joint model
to numerically examine the behavior of rock masses.
The numerical tests for sandstone are done based
on smooth joint model according to the macro-
parameters coming from lab tests. The micro-
parameters are acquired through BP neural network
and used to more numerical tests. The influence law of
joint inclination and confining pressure on sandstone
strength is found and the result verifies the reliability
of the smooth joint model.
Smooth joint contact is one kind of contact style among
the particles on joint plane. To date, joints have been
modeled in PFC by identifying a joint plane and chang-
ing the properties of contacts between particles lying
on either side of that plane (Kulatilake et al. 2001).
This technique creates a joint plane with an unrealisti-
cally high joint friction angle due to the “bumpiness”
of the joint. The smooth joint model was developed by
Peter Cundall to remedy this shortcoming (Jung-Wook
et al. 2009, Diego et al. 2011).
The equivalent rock mass is constructed in two
phases by first creating a bonded particle model and
then inserting the smooth joint model and assigning
joint properties. While the bonded particle model sim-
ulates the behavior of a particle interface normal to
the particle contact, nc (Figure 1), the smooth joint
model allows for an interface in any desired orientation
regardless of the local particle contact orientations.
This allows two contact particles to displace relative
to one another without having to honor local contact
orientations, thereby eliminating the need for parti-
cles to “ride over” each other to accommodate relative
shear displacement.
An smooth joint contact is shown in Figure 1 with
the joint geometry consisting of surfaces 1 and 2 and
a dip angle, θp . The joint plane orientation is defined
by the unit-normal vector, nj , and perpendicular vec-
tor, tj . When the smooth joint model is assigned to
the contact, ball 1 and ball 2 are associated with the
appropriate joint surfaces. Normal and shear force and
displacement are calculated relative to the smooth joint
contact using Coulomb sliding theory. According to

261
Figure 1. Smooth-joint Contact Model.
Coulomb sliding theory, the contact force F and the
displacement U can be expressed as:
where Un and Us are the normal displacement and
shear displacement, respectively; Fn and Fs are the
normal contact force and shear contact force. Through
an iteration, from elastic displacement increment Une
and Use , new contact force can be expressed as
where Kn and Ks are the normal stiffness and shear
stiffness, respectively; A is the contact area.
The smooth joint model is defined in terms of con-
ventional rock mechanics joint properties obtained
from lab or field testing. Each joint can be assigned a
friction coefficient, cohesion, shear and normal stiff-
ness. A series of micro-parameters are input when set-
ting up numerical model by PFC, therefore, numerical
tests by PFC should base on lab test.
3 DETERMINATION OF
MICRO-PARAMETERS
3.1 Lab test for intact sandstone
The samples are standard cylinder sandstone which
has a diameter of 50 millimeters and a height of 100
millimeters. The processing precision answers for the
test criterion from ISRM. The loading equipment is
stiff testing machine which is controlled by electro-
hydraulic servo and the model is GAW-2000. The
loading velocity is 0.05 mm/min. There are 3 samples
in this test. Uniaxial compression test is performed for
the 3 samples, respectively, through which the rock
strength is about 44 MPa, the elastic modulus is about
3.7 GPa and the poisson ratio is about 0.19.
262
Figure 2. Numerical test models of rock sample. (a. Intact
rock; Rock mass with single joint)
Table 1. Micro-parameters applied to numerical test.
Micro-parameters Value
Particle density 2630 kg · m−3
Particle modulus 3 GPa
Particle friction coefficient 0.5
Bond modulus 4.5 GPa
Normal bond strength 41(10) MPa
Shear bond strength 41(10) MPa
Note: the data in brackets is standard deviation.
3.2 Micro-parameters for intact sandstone
The rock mechanic test can’t be done because of the
cost and time or need to be done again and again, in
which case, numerical tests have many advantages. In
PFC, define the size of the cylinder which conforms
to the samples at first. Then the minimum radius is
defined to 1.2 mm and the ratio of maximum to min-
imum radius is 1.66. There are 7995 particles which
are created in the model (Figure 2(a)). Considering the
macro-parameters of intact sandstone, BP neural net-
work is used to make an inversion of micro-parameters
and the micro-parameters of the model are gotten
(Table 1). The macro-parameters which are acquired
by the calculation of micro-parameters should match
the practical macro-parameters of the sandstone.
3.3 Micro-parameters of single joint sandstone
The initial contact model is deleted and replaced by
the smooth joint contact model after the smooth joint
model is established. All properties, except for dip
angle and dip direction, are inherited from the proper-
ties of the contact and the two contacting entities via
the following equations.
Table 2. Mechanical parameters of smooth-joint.
Micro-parameters Value
Normal stiffness 1.3 × 108 N · m−3
Shear stiffness 5.3 × 108 N · m−3
Friction coefficient 0.5
Dilation angle 0◦
Cohesion 30 kPa
Friction angle 12◦
where kn and ks are normal and shear stiffness n
for
smooth joint model per unit area, respectively; k and
s
k are normal and shear stiffness for parallel bond,
respectively; kn and ks are normal and shear stiffness
for contact bond, respectively. The area of the smooth
joint cross section is given by.
where smooth joint radius R = λ min(R(A) , R(B) ), with
R(A) and R(B) being the particle radius.
where µ and µc are friction coefficients for smooth
joint and standard contact models.
where σc is bond normal (tensile) strength; cb is
bonded system cohesion; σ c and τ c are normal and
shear stiffness for parallel bond, respectively; φn and
φs are normal and shear strength for contact bond,
respectively.
In general speaking, dilation angle ψ = 0 and the
bonded system friction angle φb = 0.
The smooth joint model is inserted in the cre-
ated intact rock model. The geometry parameters of
smooth joint are in accord with the practical joint. The
mechanic parameters can be inherited from the initial
contact model, that is to say it can be accounted by
equation (3)–(6) and the calculation result is shown
in Table 2. The numerical model for single joint rock
mass is shown in Figure 2(b).
4 NUMERICAL TEST
4.1 Test process
The two end walls are equal to loading plates through
which the model is loaded by strain controlled method.
In the process of loading, it is necessary to use numeri-
cal servomechanism to achieve automatic control. The
equation for wall velocity is
263
where u̇(ω) is the velocity of wall; G is the “gain”
parameter that is estimated by the following reasoning.
The maximum increment in wall force arising from
wall movement in one time step is
where Nc is the number of contacts on the wall, and
kn(ω) is the average stiffness of these contacts. Hence,
the change in mean wall stress is
where A is the wall area. For stability, the absolute
value of the change in wall stress must be less than the
absolute value of the difference between the measured
and required stresses. In practice, a relaxation factor, α,
is used such that the stability requirement becomes
Substituting equation (7) and (9) into equation (10)
yields
and the gain is determined via
4.2 The influence of joint inclination and confining
on strength of sandstone
According to the former method, the micro-parameters
of the rock and joint are given and are regarded as
one numerical simulation testing machine. In the fur-
ther research on joint rock mass, the strength of rock
mass is simulated by changing the geometric features
of the joint and the confining pressure. The influ-
ence of joint inclination and confining pressure on
rock mass strength is studied by numerical test using
these micro-parameters. The compressive strength is
given in Table 3 which is in connection with different
joint inclination and confining pressure. The relation
curves among joint inclination, confining pressure
and compressive strength are drawn in Figure 3.
Seeing from Figure 3, the unconfined compres-
sive strength of joint rock mass is less than that of
intact rock. The compressive strength changes with
joint inclination and it first reduces and then rises with
the increasing of the joint inclination; when the joint
inclination is between 40 and 50 degree, the rock mass
strength reduces greatly; the strength of rock mass
rises continuously with the increasing of confining
pressure.
Table 3. Compressive strength vs different inclination and hypothesis of the traditional continuum mechanics.
confining pressure. The smooth joint model is introduced to numer-
ical test model. The numerical test can eliminate
Compressive strength Confining pressure the “bumpiness” of the standard contact model in
servomechanism.
Mpa 0 MPa 1 MPa 3 MPa 6 MPa
2) Considering the lab test of intact sandstone, the
Inclination 0◦ 34.0 39.6 49.5 60.3 micro-parameters of the numerical model are
10◦ 32.3 38.5 48.9 58.3 given through BP neutral network. These micro-
20◦ 31.2 37.2 47.7 58.1 parameters are used to further numerical tests.
30◦ 28.9 34.8 45.5 56.1 3) The numerical model of rock mass is set up based on
40◦ 25.2 32.3 42.6 52.8 smooth joint model which can eliminate the short-
50◦ 20.4 28.1 39.4 49.4 coming of the standard contact model. Comparing
60◦ 24.9 32.6 44.2 52.0 numerical test results with Jaeger theory, a conclu-
70◦ 32.0 40.2 49.0 54.8 sion is made that the numerical test results based on
80◦ 39.3 45.3 53.5 59.7
smooth joint model is practical and can be further
90◦ 44.1 48.5 57.1 63.5
applied to the analysis of equivalent rock mass.
4) The numerical tests result indicates that the com-
pressive strength of rock mass first reduces and then
rises with the increasing of the joint inclination,
however it rises continuously with the increasing
of confining pressure.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was financially supported by the National

Natural Science Foundation of China (51074014).

Figure 3. Relations between joint inclination, confining
pressure and compressive strength.
According to the single structural plane theory from
Jaeger, if the rock mass damages along joint plane, the
condition in which the compressive strength of rock
mass gets minimum which is
where θcr is the critical value of the joint inclination;
ϕs is internal friction angle which is given a value in
this test. Hence, θcr has the value of 51 degree. That
is to say the compressive strength gets the minimum
when the joint inclination is 51 degree according to
Jaeger theory. It is obvious from Figure 3 that the
compressive strength gets the minimum when the joint
inclination is about 50 degree in spite of the confining
pressure. The comparison indicates the numerical test
result coincides basically with Jaeger theory.
5 CONCLUSION
1) PFC is developed based on the micro-mechanic
property of the particles, it avoids choosing con-
stitutive relation and overcomes the continuity
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synthetic rock mass approach for jointed rock mass model-
ing. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences 48(2): 219–244.
Jung-Wook, P. & Jae-Joon, S. 2009. Numerical simulation
of a direct shear test on a rock joint using a bonded-
particle model. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences 46(8): 1315–1328.
Kulatilake, P.H.S.W., Malama, B. & Wang, J. 2001. Physical
and particle flow modeling of jointed rock block behav-
ior under uniaxial loading. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences 38(5): 641–657.
Li, F. 2007. A study on the breakage properties of geologi-
cal materials using particle flow simulation. China Civil
Engineering Journal 40(9): 78–81.
Li H.Z. & Xia, C.C. 2008. Experimental study on deforma-
tion and properties of jointed marble specimens. Chinese
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 27(10):
2118–2123.
Mao, H.J. & Yang, C.H. 2005. Study on effects of discontinu-
ities on mechanical characters of slate. Chinese Journal
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Wu, S.C., Zhou, Y. & Gao, L.L. 2010. Application of equiv-
alent rock mass technique to rock mass engineering.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
29(7): 1435–1441.
Wang, T., Sheng, Q. & Xiong, J. 2007. Research on Numerical
simulation of Natural caving method based on particle
flow method. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 26(supp2): 4203–4208.
Wang, X.B. 2006. Effect of joint inclination on defor-
mation and failure of rock specimen with a single
joint in plane strain compression. Journal of SICHUAN
University (Engineering Science Edition) 38(2): 24–29.

264
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on water conductive zones in the roof and floor strata induced by
mining of coal seam group under enriched aquifers

Q.J. Cao, J.A. Wang & Y. Zhang

School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: To insure a security mining of coal seam group under enriched aquifers, the height of water
conductive fracture zones in overlying strata and the depth of fracture zones in floor strata are calculated,
the fracture distribution with respect to the main aquifers and coal seam group was elaborated. The width of
waterproof coal pillar when rich water quaternary is on one side of work-face is theoretically determined. The
fracture features in the roof and floor of the coal seam group are analyzed by using of UDEC2D numerical
simulation. The results show that there is small disturbance on quaternary if an adequate width of waterproof
coal pillar is used for protection. Much attention should be paid on K7 and K5 sandstones which are the main
enriched aquifer strata. The effective measures should be employed in advance to prevent and control water
inflow particularly when the thick coal seams of No.3 and No.6 are extracted.

1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS The study focus on the height of fracture zones

In order to meet the needs of coal products with the fast
economic growth in China, extraction of coal under
enriched aquifers has been put into practice. How-
ever, the safe production and sustainable development
requires much detailed in situ investigation and care-
ful analysis on the development of failure zone in the
roof and floor strata of before mining of the coal seams
enriched aquifers.
Hydro-geological conditions in western region of
Shizuishan coal mine are very complicated. The qua-
ternary strata with rich water overlies the coal seam
group with angular unconformable pattern (Wang
2010). There are five coal seams No.3, No.5, No.6,
No.7 and No.9, respectively, which are available for
Extraction. The main aquifers exist in K7 sandstone
with a thickness of 12m and in K5 sandstone with a
thickness of 20m. The characteristic of the coal seams
are illustrated in Table 1. The physical and mechan-
ical parameters of the overburden strata are given in
Table 2.
developed in the roof and floor strata of the coal seams,
and uses theoretical calculations and numerical simu-
lation. The water flowing fractured zone, with respect
to coal seams is investigated. In order to prevent and
control inrush disaster, the study suggests that pro-
tective measures should be employed. For a safe, the
width of waterproof coal pillar is calculated to prevent
water flowing through fractured zone in roof strata.
2 THE HEIGHT OF COAL SEAMS’ ROOF AND
FLOOR FAILURE ZONE AFTER SUFFICIENT
EXTRACTION
2.1 The maximum height of water conductive
zone in roof strata
After sufficient extraction of a longwall panel, the
overlying strata in a certain area would be destructed.
According to destruction degree, the fractured overly-
ing strata can be divided into caving zone, fractured

Table 1. Characters of main mining coal seams.

Distance between Distance between

Coal Average Average coal seam and K7 coal seam and K5
seam Roof lithology Floor lithology depth/m thickness/m sandstone/m sandstone/m

Coal 3 Shale with Fine sandstone, 388 7.66 36.35 –

erosion sandy shale
Coal 5 Shale and fine Sediment shale 475 2.20 129.33 0
sandstone
Coal 6 Shale Fine sandstone 485 8.46 139.27 9.76
Coal 7 Fine sandstone Limestone 515 2.12 157.95 28.62
Coal 9 Limestone Fine sandstone 525 1.32 167.8 38.47

265
Table 2. Physical and mechanical parameters of the overburden strata.

Internal
Elastic Tensile Poisson Density/ frictional Water
Rocks modulus/MP strength/MPa ratio kN · m−3 angle/(◦ ) Cohesion/MPa conductivity

Topsoil layer 30 0.04 0.30 18.0 18 0.40 Aquifer

Gritstone 10 000 0.86 0.21 25.5 45 4.50 Aquifer
Medium sandstone 12 500 0.97 0.14 26.1 41 2.00 Aquifer
Fine sandstone 19 600 0.43 0.13 26.5 32 3.50 Aquifer
Mudstone 2 970 0.86 0.38 26.4 32 1.40 Aquiclude
Coal 1 000 0.80 0.30 13.3 35 1.25 Aquifer
Sandy shale 4 270 0.41 0.35 25.7 34 1.80 Aquiclude
Sandy mudstone 5 680 1.00 0.23 25.9 40 1.20 Aquiclude

Table 3. Each mining coal seam’s maximum height of WCZ.

Coal seam Coal 3 Coal 5 Coal 6 Coal 7 Coal 9

The height 65.40 39.66 68.17 39.66 32.98

of WCZ /m

According to the proposed formulae in literature,

the height of WCZ of coal seam group can be calcu-
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of caving zone, fractured zone lated which applied to medium hard rock (CCIB 2000),
and bending zone. and a larger value of the two results is adorpted

zone and the bending zone as illustrated in Figure 1

(Wang 2003).
Caving zone: After mining coal, overlying strata are
out of balance, the immediate roof strata cave irregu-
larly and fall into the void until the exploited space is
filled with fallen rocks. The height of the caving zone
is usually 4–6 times of the coal seam thickness being
extracted.
Fractured zone: Above the caving zone, the rock
strata are supported by the caving zone and their move-
ment can’t be free but continues downward. When
the bending deformation exceeds the critical limit
of rocks, tensile cracks are generated, and moreover,
fractures are produced. The process develop upwards
gradually until some strong or high deformable strata
are encountered.
Bending zone: Bending zone is the overlying strata
from the top of fractured zone to the ground sur-
face. The bending zone shows overall moving down
basically with less fractures inside.
Generally caving zone and fractured zone are all
called water conductive zone (WCZ). The height of
WCZ is that the vertical distance between the highest
point of fractured zone and mining upper boundary.
The main research methods in determination of the
height of WCZ include qualitative model analysis, the-
oretical calculation, physical simulation and field test
(Ma 2008, Chen 2008, Yang 2008). The combined
theoretical calculation and numerical simulation are
employed to determine the height of WCZ of coal seam
group


where M is the total mining thickness of coal seam.
Taking the larger value of formulae (1) and (2) as
the maximum height of WCZ of coal seam, the results
are illustrated in Table 3.
The WCZ development in the roof strata with
respect to each coal seam extraction are illustrated in
Figure 2.
2.2 The depth of water conductive zone in floor
strata
There are confined aquifers above the roof strata and
below the floor strata of coal seam 3 (Figure 2). It is
necessary to calculate the depth of fractures in coal
seam No.3 and to know weather the fracture zone con-
nects or not with the aquifer in K5 sandstone, and
weather WCZ in the roof of coal seams No.5, No.6,
No.7, No.9 connect with the fracture zone in the floor
strata coal seam No.3.
The floor strata of coal seam would be damaged
under the influence of mining, particularly during the
period of the first weight of mining. Usually, the
depth of fractures in floor strata induced by mining
is determined by the methods of field test, experience
estimation etc (Zhang 2002, Gao 2010, Wang 2003).

266

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of WCZ height in each coal
seam.
As proposed, the fracture depth in floor strata can
be obtained by using of the regression and empirical
formulae as follows:
where, h1 is fracture depth, m; Lis the length of work-
ing face in dip direction, m; His the mining depth, m;
σc is the uniaxial compressive strength of rock, MPa;
α is dip angle, of the coal seam, ◦ .
Substituting the values (H = 388 m, σc = 4.80 MPa,
α = 10◦ , L = 150 m) into formulae (3)∼(5), and taking
the maximum value, the fracture depth is 38.28m in the
floor strata of coal seam No.3.
Since there is no aquifer close to the bottom of coal
seams No.5, No.6, No.7 and No.9, the WCZ in the roof
strata of coal seams No.6, No.7 and No.9 are calculated
and showed their connection with the upper coal seam.
The height of WCZ in coal seam group and the depth
of fracture zone in the floor of coal seam No.3 are
illustrated in Figure 2, detailed analysis is as follows:
267
1. WCZ of coal seam No.3 passes through aquifer
in K7 sandstone, and the fracture zone in floor
strata don’t connect with aquifer in K5 sandstone.
Therefore, dewatering and draining measures can
be taken on K7 aquifer only when mining coal seam
No.3.
2. The distance between coal seams No.5, No.6, No.7
and No. 9 is short. The height of WCZ for coal
seams No.6, No.7, and No.9 are larger than all the
distances between the coal seams and it’s upper
layer, and the aquifer in K5 sandstone was on the
top of coal seam No.5 Therefore, dewatering and
draining measures should be taken on K5 aquifer
when mining the four coal seams.
3. WCZ above the coal seam No.6 will connect with
the fracture zone in the floor of coal seam No.3
when mining the thicker coal seam No.6. Therefore,
water inflowing caused by aquifer in K7 sandstone
should be considered when mining coal seams
No.6, No.7 and No.9
3 THE WIDTH OF WATERPROOF COAL
PILLAR
In order to prevent water flowing through fractured
zones in the roof strata which connects with quater-
nary aquifer, it is necessary to set an adequate width
of waterproof pillar (Zhao 1999 Peng 2009). The offi-
cial regulation on designing coal pillar and coal mining
under buildings, water, rails and major mine structure
provides the formula of the width of waterproof coal
pillars when aquifer lies above the working face. The
coal seam strata and the quaternary are angular uncon-
formity, and their contacting angle is about 34◦ , as
shown in Figure 3.
To calculating the width of waterproof coal pillar,
it should be noted that WCZ characteristics and dis-
tribution array perpendicular to unconformity surface
direction, on condition that the mining coal seam and
quaternary are angular unconformity. In such a way,
the distance from unconformity surface to WCZ can
be the smallest.
The outline shape of WCZ is saddle after mining
the coal seam (Gui 1997). Assume the shape of the
WCZ on both sides of the working face is semicircular,
Then distance of WCZ perpendicular to unconformity
surface Hli is as follows:
Accordingly, the width of waterproof coal pillar Lf
can be derived by the formula as follows:
where α is the angle between coal seam and uncon-
formity surface, (◦ ); β is dip angle of coal seam, (◦ );
Hb is cover thickness, (m); Hb = 3A, Ais the mining
thickness of coal seam, m; Hfe is the depth of bedrock
Figure 3. Calculating diagram of the width of waterproof coal pillar.

Table 4. The width of waterproof coal pillar for coal seams.

Thickness of The Width of

Cover weathering maximum waterproof
Coal thickness zone in height of coal
seam /m bedrock /m WCZ/m pillar’s /m

No.3 23.0 10 65.4 163

No.5 6.6 10 39.7 93
No.6 25.2 10 68.2 172
No.7 6.4 10 39.7 93
No.9 4.0 10 33.0 78

weathering zone, m, its value is taken 10 m; Hli is the

maximum height of WCZ above the working face, m,
the maximum height of WCZ for each coal seam are
in Table 3.
Waterproof coal pillar’s width of coal seam 3, 5, 6,
7, 9 were shown in Table 4.
According to formula (7), the width of waterproof
coal pillar is proportional to the mining thickness of
coal seam, and inversely proportional to the angle
between coal seam and unconformity surface. The
width of waterproof coal pillar for coal seams No.3
and No.6 are about 160∼170 m, the width of water-
proof coal pillar for coal seams No.5, No.7 and No. 9 Figure 4. The fractured zone in roof and floor strata after
are about 80∼90 m. mining of coal seam group.

is about 70 m. The depth of fracture zone in floor is

4 FRACTURE FIELD IN COAL SEAM
about 35 m. Figure 4(a) showed the fractured zone
GROUP MINING
in the roof and floor strata after mining of coal seam
No.3.
In this study, fracture field induced by mining of coal
2. After mining of coal seam No.5, WCZ in the roof
seam group in western region of Shizuishan is simu-
will not connect to the fracture zone developed in
lated by using of UDEC2D . In the Numerical model,
the floor of coal seam No.3 because the thickness of
a dip profile of the strata is selected and the width
coal seam No.5 is relatively small. Mining of coal
of waterproof coal pillar is illustrated in Table 4. The
seam No.5 produces less disturbance to coal seam
width of working face is 150 m and the width of coal
No.3. K5 sandstone was on the top of coal seam 5
pillar is set to 20 m for each coal seam.
and therefore water inflowing caused by aquifer in
The simulation results showed that the disturbance
K5 sandstone should be considered when mining
to overlying rocks caused by mining thicker coal seam
coal seam No.5.
No.3 and No.6 appear much evident. The fracture field
3. After mining of coal seam No.6, WCZ in the roof
induce by mining of coal seam group are described as
will connect to fracture zone in the floor of coal
follows:
seam No.3. Aquifer in K7 sandstone will be dis-
1. After mining of coal seam No.3, WCZ in the roof turbed because the mining of thicker coal seam
will connect to aquifer in K7 sandstone, the height No.6. Figure 4(b) shows the fractured zone in the

268
 roof and floor strata after mining of coal seam No.6.
In this cause, the WCZ of coal seam No.6 will pen-
etrate WCZ produced by mining of coal seam No.5
and will develop to the fracture zone in the floor of
coal seam No.3. Eventually, WCZ form an overall
connection with fracture zone in the roof of coal
seam No.5 and the failure zone in the floor of coal
seam No.3. The total height was around 180 m. It
is advised that water inflowing caused by aquifer
in K5 sandstone and water inflow through frac-
ture zone in the floor of coal seam No.3 should
be considered when mining of coal seam No.6.
4. The WCZ of coal seam No.7 and No.9 will connect
with coal seam No.6, because the distance between
coal seam No.7, No.9 and No.6 is small, though
the thickness of coal seam No.7 and No.9 is smaller
relatively. It is necessary to take measures to prevent
and control water inflow.
The numerical simulation results show that there is
minor disturbance on quaternary under the proposed
width of pillar protection. Water conductive zone does
not connect with the water enrich quaternary, which
avoid quaternary water into gateway of in work face.
Based on the analysis above, aquifers in K7 and K5
sandstone are the key strata for prevention and control
of water inflow.
5 CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
1. When coal seam mining under angular unconfor-
mity quaternary, in order to prevent water flowing
through fractured zone of overlying strata which
connects with quaternary, it is necessary to set
waterproof coal pillar with a proper width. The
thickness of coal seam and the angle between
unconformity surface and mining coal seam are
the main factors in determination of the reserve
width of waterproof coal pillar. In the study, the
thicker coal seam No.3 and No.6 gives rise to a
larger waterproof coal pillar.
2. Mining induce fracture zones in coal seam roof
and floor strata are determined in the case of full
extraction. The range of fracture zones above and
below mined goaf are obtained by the methods of
UDEC2D numerical simulation. the results indicate
that much attention should be paid to water inflow-
ing of aquifer in K7 sandstone when mining coal
seam No.3; water inflowing caused by aquifer in
K5 sandstone should be considered when mining
coal seam No.5; water inflowing of aquifers in both
269
K7 and K5 sandstone should be considered when
mining coal seam No.6, No.7 and No.9.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The presented work has been financially supported
by the State Key Foundation Research Project (973)
granted (No. 2010CB731501) by the Ministry of
China Science and Technology, which is gratefully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Chen, P.P., Liu, H.Q. & Zhu, Z.X., et al. 2008. Height fore-
cast of water conducted zone with top coal caving based
on artificial neural network. Journal of Coal Science and
Engineering 14(2): 190–194.
China Coal Industry Bureau. 2000. Statutes about designing
coal pillar and mining the coal which under buildings,
water, rails and major mine working. Beijing: China Coal
Industry Publishing House.
Gao, Z.N., Meng, X.R. 2010. Study on deformation and
fracturing characteristics of seam floor under mining
influence. Mining Safety & Environmental Protection
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Gui, H.R.1997. The analytical methods of retaining rea-
sonable water barrier. Beijing: China Coal Industry
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Ma, Y.J., Wu, Q., Zhang, Z.Y.2000. Research on prediction
of water conducted fissure height in roof of coal mining
seam .Coal Science and Technology 36(05): 59–62.
Peng, W.Q., Wang, W.J., Li ,Q.F.2009. Reasonable width of
waterproof coal pillar under the condition of cifferent
fault dip angles. Journal of Mining & Safety Engineering
26(2):179–182,186.
Wang, D.S. 2000. The way to determinate fractured zone’s
height. Energy and Environment (06): 45–46.
Wang, J.A., Park, H.D. 2003. Coal mining above a con-
fined aquifer. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences 40(4): 537–551.
Wang, J.A., Ji, H.G. & Zhang, Y. 2010. Heteromorphy of
the overlying strata movement caused by mining under
the unconformity strata. Journal of China Coal Society
35(8): 1235–1241.
Yang, W.F., Sui, W.H. & Xia, X.H. 2008. Model test of
the overburden deformation and failure law in close dis-
tance multi-seam mining. Journal of Coal Science and
Engineering 14(2): 181–185.
Zhao, Y.S., Hu, Y.Q. & Xu, H.T. et al. 1999. The research of
the tectonic-waterproof coal pillar’s dimension . Ground
Pressure and Strata Control (1): 78–80.
Zhang, Y. 2002. The induced function of mining pressure to
the damage of the floor. Journal of Taiyuan University of
Technology 33(3): 252–56.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Optimization of structural parameters of underground mining caverns with

FLAC3D

S.X. Chen, Z.Y. Tan∗ & X.F. Cai

State Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines, Beijing, China
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China

H.G. Ren
Beijing General Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Many Caverns can be created in underground mining. With the increase of mining depth, open
stoping structural parameters have significant impact on the stability of underground group caverns. In the
light of underground mining conditions and sublevel open stopping and subsequent filling method in Yongping
Copper Mine, three underground group caverns models of different stoping structural parameters are established
with FLAC-3D and corresponding plastic zone, displacement and stress distribution after excavation are ana-
lyzed. The optimized mining resolution of stoping structural parameters is decided, which provides a reliable
guarantee in safe and efficient underground mining.

1 INSTRUCTION

Underground excavation forms various caverns, and

some specially assembled caverns make up group
caverns. After excavation it is essential to study the
stability of group caverns to guarantee mining safely
in underground engineering. There are many fac-
tors influencing stability of underground caverns.
However, most of researches have focus on anthropic
factors which include cavity axis, structural parame-
ters, sequence of excavation and geological conditions
and rock mechanics parameters Li Zhongkui (Li et al.
2002) and Bi Jun-li (Bi et al.2007) studied in the long-
span caverns in hydraulic engineering, Su Yonghua
(Su et al. 1998) studied the excavating sequences of
long-span mined caverns. For oblique crossing cavi-
ties of underground mining engineering, the stability
of the cavities with different structural parameters is
analyzed and discussed in this paper.
With the rapid development of computing tech-
nique, the numerical simulation analysis has been
an essential method in engineering. At present, the
experimental and numerical methods are supported
mutually in underground engineering, especially in
underground mines. FLAC-3D (Peng et al. 2008)
developed by Itasca Consulting Group Inc in USA,
is one of the most influential systems in geotechni-
cal field and is widely used in analyzing stability of
underground caverns, because of its visualization in
three dimensions. Also, some simulation analysis of
∗
Corresponding author: Z.Y. Tan, Professor in geotechnical
engineering.
Figure 1. Schematic diagram for sublevel open stoping and
Subsequent filling mining.
underground caverns was carried out with FLAC-3D
in this paper.
Yongping Copper Mine, which is the second largest
copper mine in China, started to switch to open1 cast
– underground combined mining in 2004. The II ore-
body in Yejiawang formation, which is the first mined
area, is the largest orebody in the mine. To ensure an
effective mining, Sublevel Open Stoping and Subse-
quent Filling mining in II orebody was tested for this
research.The testing mining stope is located from 87 m
to −50 m level, shown in Figure 1. It takes two steps to
mine. The first step is to fill the empty space with tail-
cement after ore pillar extraction, the second step is
to fill ore room with tails after extraction. It makes
ore-removal concentrated, drilling in two sublevels
which are 17 m and 20 m in height respectively, and fill
subsequently, as shown in Figure 1. The sizes of ore-
removal and drilling roadway are 4.3 m × 4.1 m and
3.8 m × 3.4 m. This paper mainly studies the stability
of cavern in the first step with FLAC-3D.

271
Table 1. Schemes with different stopping structure
parameters.

structural parameters scheme 1 scheme 2 scheme 3

ore room width (m) 15 18 20

ore pillar width (m) 15 12 10

2 NUMERICAL MODEL

2.1 Simulation scheme

Figure 2. The research area.
Underground caverns in Yongping Copper Mine
are mainly composed of ore-removal roadways and
admission passage, its spatial relation have a great
impact on the stability of group caverns. The length
of ore-removal route in ore-pillar is influenced by
the approach angle and subject to the pillar size.
Furthermore the stability is also affected by the mined
area after room excavation as well as rock mechanical
parameters. Hence, it is essential to make simulation Figure 3. The distribution of group caverns.
of underground caverns with different stoping struc-
tures. According to the aim of research, two solutions 2.3 Initial stress and boundary conditions
are followed to research the simulation.
Due to lesser tectonic stresses in Yongping Cropper
1) the analysis of Caverns in different stoping struc- Mine region, take account of self-weight stress for the
ture parameters. initial stress field and horizontal stress mainly from
According to mining condition and situation the extrusion between bottom and slope in open pit.
of mining preparation and cutting in Yongping According to the principle of elastic mechanics, ver-
Copper Mine, considering the drilling and blasting tical stress and horizontal stress will follow equation 1,
technology conditions, combining the ore mining
efficiency of economic cost factors after produc-
tion of rock and filling, this article proposes three
different stoping structure parameters shown as
Table 1.
2) Cavern excavation and pillar recovery lead to redis- where H = depth of the carvens, m; k = lateral pressure
tribution of country rock stress, which influences coefficient, and k = µ/(1 − µ); µ = Poission’s ratio.
the stability of caverns step-by-step. Therefore, it Because the stress changes with the buried depth,
mainly takes the two following stages to simulate the linear stress with stress gradient is imposed on the
the stability of group caverns: range appointed of model in FLAC3D program. The
• stability after excavation of caverns; stress boundary conditions are defined as follow: left
• stability after excavation of pillars. and right boundaries, pre and post boundaries and bot-
tom boundary are under stress constraint, while upper
boundary is free.
2.2 Numerical calculation model
Combined with the actual situation of open pit and
According to preliminary geological data and explo- underground structures, by the linear regression anal-
ration achievement, II- 4 orebody and the adjacent rock ysis method, the equations of the vertical principal
are selected as research area. Length of computational stress, the maximum horizontal principal stress and the
domain is 350 m, width 200 m, height 280 m. Test min- minimum horizontal principal stress are varied with
ing field is located in the middle of the region, from buried depth and given as following:
−87 m to −50 m sublevel. The caverns make up of
ore-removal passage and drilling roadway. They are
3.4–4.1 m in height and 4.0 m in width. For Modeling,
the distance from the upper boundary to next bound-
ary of test stope is 43 m, the boundary distance of the
test stope is 75 m. In the model define the geographic
northwest direction for X, vertical direction for Z.
The research area is mainly located in testing stope, where σv = vertical principal stress, MPa; σh. max =
is formed with two ore rooms and pillars. After exca- maximum horizontal principal stress, MPa; σh. min =
vation of the ore pillars, the caverns are located at the minimum horizontal principal stress, MPa; Z = buried
bottom of stope (as shown in Figure 2 and 3). depth, m.

272
Table 2. Rock physical-mechanical parameters after dis-
count decreases.
Density Bulk Tension Cohesion Shear Friction
Rock Kg/M3 Gpa Mpa Mpa Gpa ◦
Ore 3125 3.3 1.85 1.08 2.1 47.1
rock
2.4 Physical and mechanical parameters of
ore-rock in simulation
In the process of studying stability of group caverns,
the physical and mechanical parameters of ore-rock are
the fundamental conditions for numerical simulation.
Because the original ore-rock mechanics parameters
obtained in the indoor test have large differences
with parameters in practical engineering background.
Fully considering the effects of test condition and test
method, and taking account of the specific geolog-
ical condition of Yongping Copper Mine, according
to experiential formula between mechanical param-
eters, the ore-rock mechanical parameters obtained
indoor by discount decrease properly are applied to the
numerical simulation of rock mass model, as shown in
table 2.
2.5 Constitutive model
Mohr-Coulomb theory is applied to numerical simula-
tion in this paperThe corresponding mechanical model
is shown in equation (5).
where σ1 = maximum principal stress, MPa; σ3 =
minimum principal stress, MPa; ϕ = internal friction
angle, ◦ ; c = cohesive strength, MPa; when fs > 0,
material shear failure will happen, or when ten-
sile stress exceeds materials’ tensile strength tension
fracture will happen.
3 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
The plastic zones of adjacent rock, the main stress
(main maximum principal stress) and displacement
(mainly vertical displacement) are analyzed here.
3.1 Plastic zones
After excavation of group caverns and ore pillars, there
are some plastic zones occurs in roof and wall of cav-
erns as shown in Figure 4. From the figures, the plastic
zones appear around caverns in the three schemes, but
are not run-through. The group caverns mainly remain
stable, except for some rib spalling in the wall caverns.
From the plastic zone distribution, as shown in
Figure 4, scheme1 is better than scheme 2 and 3 in
overall plastic zone and stability.
273
Figure 4. The distribution of the plastic zone.
3.2 Displacement distribution
The vertical excessive displacement rather than hor-
izontal displacement, leads to collapse in the top of
caverns. Two stages are taken to excavate group cavern
and ore pillar, the vertical displacement is compara-
tively analyzed after mechanic balance as showing in
Figure 5 and 6.
1) The vertical displacement distribution after group
caverns excavation.
In scheme 1, the maximal vertical displacement
at the top of caverns cross is 3.59 mm, the maxi-
mal displacement at top of cavern is 3.5 mm, and
the zones of maximal displacement are relatively
smaller.
In scheme 2, the maximal vertical displacement
at the top of caverns cross is 4.26 mm, the maximal
displacement at the top of cavern is 4.0 mm, and
the zones of maximal displacement are relatively
larger.
In scheme 3, the maximal vertical displacement
at the top of cavern cross is 4.29 mm, the maximal
displacement at the top of cavern is 4.0 mm, and
the zones of maximal displacement are relatively
larger and concentrative.
2) The vertical displacement distribution after ore
pillar extraction.
After ore pillar extraction, the vertical displace-
ment of group caverns changes with stress redis-
tribution of country rock, in which the vertical
displacement at the top of cavern cross is mostly
obvious.
In scheme 1, the maximal vertical displacement
at the top of cavern cross is 6.30 mm.
In scheme 2, the maximal vertical displacement
at the top p of cavern cross is 7.15 mm.

Figure 5. The vertical displacement distribution after group
caverns excavation.
In scheme 3, the maximal vertical displacement
at the top of cavern cross is 6.42 mm.
3.3 Stress distribution
The maximal principal stress distribution after cavern
excavation and the vertical stress distribution after ore
pillar extraction are analyzed as show in Figure 7 and
Figure 8.
1) The maximal principal stress distribution after
group caverns excavation
274
Figure 6. The vertical displacement distribution after ore
pillar extraction.
In scheme 1, the maximal principal stress of
group caverns is 11.176 MPa.
In scheme 2, the maximal principal stress of
group caverns is 11.175 MPa.
In scheme 3, the maximal principal stress of
group caverns is 10.175 MPa, and the stress con-
centrative zone is relatively larger.
2) The vertical stress distribution after ore pillar
extraction
After ore pillar extraction, the pressure supported
originally by ore pillar, is applied to the upper of
cavern room, which lead to increase the pressure
of adjacent rock at the top of group caverns and
further the maximal principal stress of cavern wall.
In scheme 1, the maximal principal stress of
group caverns is 11.1582 MPa.
In scheme 2, the maximal principal stress of
group caverns is 12.405 MPa.
In scheme 3, the maximal principal stress of
group caverns is11.403MPa, and stress concentra-
tive zone is relatively larger.
Figure 7. The principal stress distribution after group cav-
erns excavation.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Through numerical simulation analysis of group cav-
erns stability with three different stoping structure
schemes, the best scheme which is benefit to the
stability of group caverns has been determined.
1. From the distribution of displacement, there are a
common feature and significant differences in the
maximal vertical displacements at the top of cav-
ern after group caverns excavation and ore pillar
extraction, which the latter is nearly two times of the
former. The maximal vertical displacements occur
in cavern intercross (the zones where ore-removal
roadway and route are cross), and the maximal
displacement is listed in order as follows: scheme
2 > scheme 3 > scheme 1. So scheme 1 is the most
favorable, from displacement perspective.
2. From the comparison between the stress distri-
butions, the stress concentrative zones occur in
275
Figure 8. The vertical stress distribution after ore pillar
extraction.
cavern wall near the intercross. The maximal prin-
cipal stress after cavern excavation and ore pillar
extraction changes little, and the maximum princi-
pal stress of three schemes are relatively close, and
the maximum principal stress is shown in order:
scheme 2 > scheme 1 > scheme 3. But the stress
concentrative zone is relatively larger, so scheme 1
is the most favorable.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper is financially supported by National Key
Technologies R&D Program (No. 2006BAB02A17),
Key Program of National Natural Science founda-
tion of China (No. 51034001) and National Key Basic
R & D Program of China (973) (No. 2010CB731501).
REFERENCES
Bi, J.L., Hou, Y.F. & Wang, W.F. 2007. Optimization of
Complex Underground Cavity Group Excavation Project.
Chinese Journal of Underground Space and Engineering,
3(2): 283–288.
Li, Z.K., Dai, R. & Jiang, Y.M. 2002. Improvement of the
generation of the initial stress fieldbyusing flac3d and
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application in a huge underground cavern group. Chinese
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 21(addition
2) : 2387–2392.
Peng, W.B. 2008. Practical Course of FLAC3D. Peking:
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Su, Y.H., Fang, Z.L. & Gao, Q. 1998. Simulating Analysis
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical study and application on technology of slotting and blasting

down the roof for handling mined-out areas

L. Fu
University of Science and Technology Beijing, The Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal
Mines, the Ministry of Education of China, Beijing, China
China Institute of Geotechnical Investigation and Surveying, Beijing, China

Q. Li
Geotechnical engineering company, China petroleum engineering Co., Ltd., Beijing ,China

L. Qiao & Y. Li
University of Science and Technology Beijing, The Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal
Mines, the Ministry of Education of China, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Based on comprehensive assessment and stress measurement of mined-out areas of Jinfeng gold
mine, the stress distribution and surrounding rock stability are analyzed by theoretical and numerical simulation
methods. According to the results, feasibility of the program and the blasting down location of handing mined-out
areas are defined. The case study shows that the falling block can effectively become top pick after blasting
down the roof, the stress of rock mass at the under-part of mined-out areas is obviously reduced. It can ensure
mining safely in the lower middle position. So, it shows that technology of slotting and blasting down the roof
is an advanced and cost-effective method for handling the mined-out areas and should be widely applied.

1 INTRODUCTION pressure. The method has lower cost, but it can

There are five type methods to handling mine-out areas
from home to abroad at metal mines. The handling
methods are shown below (Bieniwski 1974, Hoek
1986, Brady 1990):
1) Using pillars or artificial rock pillars to support
mined-out area. The general requirement is that the
roof is stable and settlement of ground surface is
allowed. Using the method, the mining ground pres-
sure can only be easing, but rock burst can not avoid.
The method has some limits such as high cost and
long time of artificial rock pillar, losing many mine
resources for pillar supporting.
2) Filling mined-out area.The method general is appli-
cable to poor stability of host rock, upper ore body
or ground surface should be support, or rare and
precious metal mine.
3) Closing and isolating mined-out area. It is a eco-
nomic and easy method and applicable to small
field by mining solitary ore body, mined-out area by
mining end of ore body and upper mined-out area of
heavy and thick ore body needing to stopping.There
are general artificial methods, for example, artifi-
cial concrete wall, isolating ore wall and plugging
by cement filling.
4) Caving host rock to handle mined-out area. It can
prevent stress concentration and large-scale ground
easily cause subsidence.
5 Coupling method to handle mined-out area. Based
on analysis of above methods, it should has some
coupling methods and it is economical and easy.
2 A CASE
Jinfeng gold mine Co., LTD of Liaoning province has
a underground mine, its production is 500 t/d and the
main ore body is No.1 of Yangshu mineral deposit.
The trend length is 600 m, control deep-ramp is 350 m,
the thick is 1.02∼28.05 m (average thick is 4.6 m)
and the average grade is 5.81 g/t. Host rock of ore
roof is main composited with marble sillimanite mica
granulite and biotite granulite. Main physical and
mechanical parameters of ore-rock are that: Platts
coefficient is 8∼12 (f = 8∼12), loosening coefficient
is 1.5, density is 2.64 t/m3 . Currently, the mine has four
production levels: 270 m, 240 m, 210 m and 180 m.
Residual work is mined at 330 m and 300 m levels.
Overall mining method is mainly used, and shrinkage
stopping is used at some levels (Zhang et al. 2009).
Because of long-term mining, a lot of mined-out
fields become above 270 m level. Some are smaller
and relatively independent, some are larger and inter-
communication and some occur often in the form

277
of slabbing and spalling. The failure of host rock
influences the normal mining.
In view of mode of ore body occurrence and existed
mined-out area condition, using waste rock to filling
the area, isolating mined-out area from mining area,
and plugging method cannot solve the ground pres-
sure problem. Based on the rock mechanics theory,
the method of slotting and blasting down the roof used
at tensile stress zone can further weak the host rock
strength at the tension zone. So, the roof must be first
to falling along slotting area, and gradually expends
until the host rock reaches to the natural balance. Then,
it avoids falling at the same time. Of course, using
the method, both stress distribution of working face
can be adjusted, and also mining system can avoid
being destroyed. Loosening rock formed by slotting
and blasting roof can isolate mined-out area from the
mining area, it benefits mining deep ore body. So the
method of slotting and blasting down the roof is used
to handling the mined-out area (Song et al. 2006, Xing
et al. 2007).
3 NUMERICAL SIMULATION
In the study, FLAC3D is used to simulate the extraction
process and handling mined-out area by slotting and
blasting down roof method at 330 m, 300 m and 270 m
level, respectively.
3.1 Simulation condition
Based on geomechanical analysis and results of stress
measurement, the distribution law of original rock
stress field at Yangshu mine is that: the maximal
principal stress is horizontal stress, and is orthogo-
nal relationship with main vein; vertical stress is main
gravity stress. Horizontal stress is calculated by the
Equation (1):
The simulated domain is that: the trend length of
ore body is 500 m, controlled height is 400 m (eleva-
tion: 0∼40 m), controlled vertical height of ore body is
230 m (elevation: 380∼150 m), dip length of ore body
is 544 m, ore body thick is 4.61 m, the dip degree is
25. The simulated levels are 330 m, 300 m, 270 m and
240 m, and five stope rooms are simulated at each
level. The size of stope room is that: width is 50 m,
dip length is 47.3 m, vertical height is 20 m, the width
of rib pillar is 3 m, the width, dip length and vertical
height of crown and sill pillars are 50 m, 11.8 m and
5 m, respectively.
Mohr-Coulomb plastic mode is used as the con-
structive mode. The mechanical parameters of rock
mass, which optimized by strength reduction theory
are based on the test results.
3.2 Simulation results
At the extraction processing of every level, the princi-
pal stress increases with the number of level and min-
ing depth increases. Pressure of host rock is gradually
released and adjusted. By the increases of principal
278
Figure 1. Baring pressure and unloading pressure areas
formed by four level extraction.
stress and release and adjustment of host rock pres-
sure, stable pressure arch is formed, and then the new
bearing structure is formed (shown in Figure 1); When
the host rock pressure reaches to stable, tensile stress
occurs at roof, the minimum compressive stress of
floor has also closed to zero, tensile stress and com-
pressive stress zones occur the middle part of mining
area, and tensile (shear) damage zone cannot obviously
occur.
When crown pillar and sill pillar begin to residual
mining, the adjustment of host rock stress is large, the
maximum tension stress of roof increases five times
before residual mining, and there has obvious tensile
stress zone at floor. The tensile stress zone is located
at lower-middle of host rock, that is: the middle of
stope room at original 270 m level, the elevation is
about 285 m. At the same time, the original equilib-
rium stress field is changed, and then bearing zone and
unloading zone of pressure are formed. It can be shown
that: larger stress-released areas occur at nearby host
rock of roof and floor (the parts encompassed by black
curves and shown in figures), compressive stress con-
centrates at upper ore body (above 330 m level roof)
and underneath ore body (under 240 m level floor),
and the bearing pressure of underneath ore body has
the main effect. The bearing pressure area is formed
by ore pillar and host rock far away from mined-out
area (the parts encompassed by black and blue curves
and shown in figures), and then the new pressure arch
is also formed. When the length of span is more than
260 m, the pressure arch is less stable, the compressive
pressure of un-mined ore body under mined-out area
increases and obvious stress concentration and larger
gradient of stress-strain occur in the local. So, it will
have some adverse effects on extraction of deep ore
body and stability of mined-out area.
Considering slotting and blasting roof at maxi-
mum tensile stress (the middle part of 270 m level),
it reduces compressive pressure and stress concentra-
tion of deep ore body, simultaneously, it reduces the
tensile stress and tensile damage of roof.
By unloading pressure with slotting and blasting
down roof, the original through stope is re-divided into
 Table 1. Principal stress of roof-floor and ore pillar before
and after unloading pressure (Unit: MPa)

Before After Reduced

Principal streess value unloading unloading value

Maximum compressive −16.16 −12.43 3.73

stress of rib pillar
Maximum compressive – −6.21 6.21
stress of sill pillar (increasing)
Maximum compressive – −6.04 6.04
stress of crown pillar (increasing)
Maximum tensile 1.017 0.695 0.322
stress of roof
Maximum tensile 0.846 0.563 0.283
stress of floor

Figure 2. Bearing pressure and unloading pressure area

formed by mining of crown and sill pillar.
4.2 Size determined
According to rock mechanical theory, the more depth
of blasting down roof, the more obvious effect of
adjusted pressure. But for the limit of drilling equip-
ment and working space of open stoping, the depth of
blasting down roof is 3.0 m; while controlling local
blasting can avoid all opening field falling, but it
also makes some impact on workface and mining sys-
tem. So, based on the resistance wave theory of loose
deposit, the width of blasting down roof is 10 m.

4.3 Implementation of the technology

Figure 3. Bearing pressure and unloading pressure areas
formed by slotting and blasting down roof.
two independent levels and the new bearing pressure
and unloading pressure zones are deformed. By com-
paring the principal stresses of roof-floor and ore pillar
after and before unloading pressure with slotting and
blasting down roof method, the compared results are
shown in table 1. From the table 1, it is that the max-
imum pressure of rib pillar, the tensile stress of roof
and floor, and the tensile stress area obviously decrease
after unloading pressure, the least degree is 23%. It is
more important that the stress level of not-mined ore
body under mined-out area obviously decreases, stress
concentration and changed degree of stress-strain at
local substantially ease. For the decreasing pressure
and stress concentration, it eliminates the negative
effect that residual mining of pillars impacts on extrac-
tion of deep ore body. It can provide safety for deep ore
body mining and handling of upper mined-out area.
4 THE TEST OF SLOTTING AND BLASTING
DOWN ROOF METHOD
4.1 Location of blasting down roof
Based on the stress test of mined-out area and the
results of numerical simulation, the selected location
is 270 m level.
1) Extracting crown pillars and sill pillar at each stopes
of 270 m level, and sill pillars and some rib pillars
at stopes of 300 m level;
2) Supporting the roof by rock bolts or anchor nets,
especially the near caving roof;
3) Strengthening the roof monitoring, forecasting the
probable local falling;
4) Considering the coordination of upper stopes and
its adjacent stopes;
5 Blasting down roof should follow along the open
stope trend and be uninterrupted. It is not allowed
that blasting down roof if local is unsafe, but the
total interrupted length or total area should be
controlled within 15%.
6) The local, independent and small open stopes can be
handled by plugging method, and preventing people
entry into the mined-out area.
7) Under the pre-blasting down roof, the mined-out
area is filled with waste rock. It will deform a
cushion.
4.4 Parameters
The width and depth of blasting down roof is 10 m,
3.0 m, respectively. Each test, the length of slotting
and blasting down roof is 15 m, and in fact, the length
is 50 m. In order to make test success, the slot raise,
which is a cutting surface to form the slot, is drive. The
parameters of cut hole are that: hole depth, spacing
and hole distance is 3.0 m, 5.0 m and 0.5 m, respec-
tively; The parameters of caving hole are that: hole

279

Figure 4. Detonating net of control blasting of slotting and
blasting down roof method (Unit: mm).
Figure 5. Monitoring results of vertical compressive stress.
depth is 3.0 m, spacing is 3.0 m and hole distance is
1.5 m. The firing method and net connection of firing
are shown that: the firing net is used four detonating
cords and detonators, two parallel delay detonators are
used between two stages and with 25 ms delay detona-
tor to provide safety. One borehole has two ordinary
nonel detonators, and main detonating net is used to
achieve millisecond controlled blasting.
4.5 Effect of blasting down roof
According to the observation after blasting down roof,
the falling loosen rocks of blasting down zone are top
tight. The local has about 0.5 m hanging rock and the
missed top tight roof serve cracking. During the next
few days, the rock usually falling until the falling rocks
are top tight.
280
After slotting and blasting down roof and one-two
moths of stress adjustment, the stress of deep level,
up and down 270 m level are obvious lower than
before. After local blasting down roof, the vertical
stress decreases about 1.02 MPa (shown in Figure 5),
the stress of none-mining ore body under mined-out
area obviously decreases, the local stress concentration
and changed degree of stress-strain are significantly
ease.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the stress measurement and analysis of 3D
numerical simulation, the tensile stress zone of roof is
obtained and the method of slotting and blasting down
roof method is used at the zone to adjust stress contri-
bution. By the method, the falling and loosen rocks
are built into dam. Simultaneously, the roof falling
along the blasting down zone and loosen rock tight
with the roof. Then the opening field is isolated to two
small independent fields. Using the method, the effect
of stress adjustment is obvious, the stress of deep ore
body is lower than that before, and stress concentration
and rock bump are also eliminated.After blasting down
roof, some pillars, which cannot be mined before, can
be mined now.
In practice, the local tensile stress eases and stress
concentration can be adjusted by the method of slotting
and blasting down roof. Simultaneously, the mined-out
area is isolated and pressure of workface is released to
provide safe production. So the handling method is
technically feasible, economical and worthy.
REFERENCES
Bieniwski, Z.T. 1974. Geomechanics classification of rock
mass and its applications in tunneling. Proc. 3rd lnt. Cong.
On RockMech. ISRM. Denver.
Brady, B.H. & Brown, E.T. 1990. Rock mechanics for under-
ground mining Rock mechanics for underground mining.
Beijing: China coal industry publishing house.
Hoek, E. & Bray, J.W. 1986. Underground excavation in rock.
Beijing: Metallurgical industry publishing house.
Song, S.S., Wang, J.M. & Guo, S.L. 2006. The stability of a
testing stope of No.1 orebody in Jinfeng and the practice
of ground pressure control. Gold 27(8): 17–22.
Xing, W.F., Guo, S.L. &Yao, X. 2007. Discussion on Disposal
Technique of Abandoned Stopes in Primary Gold Mine.
Non-Ferrous Mining and Metallurgy 23(6): 7–11.
Zhang, J.S., Wang, J.M. & Guo, S.L., et al. 2009. Summary
of mining methods in Yanshu gold mine. Gold 30(10):
24–28.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

The recovery scheme determination of steep narrow veins

based on 3-D numerical simulation

B. Gao, Y.T. Gao, S.C. Wu & Q. Han

School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The mechanical features of steep orebody, such as roof caving and strata behaviors, differ from
inclined orebody obviously. Therefore, it is important to research deeply on stress-strain characteristic of steep
orebody for safe production of mine. Based on finite element theory, a 3-D calculation model of a steep narrow
fluorite orebody recovery is established by MIDAS/GTS. Three different recovery schemes is designed, which
displayed the variation of stress-strain and displacement of orebody and surrounding rock mass in the main
construction stages. A comparison is done among these three schemes according to the results of 3-D numerical
simulation. It indicates: (1) with preferable surrounding rock condition, orebody recovery has limited impact to
the whole region, while the settlement of overlying strata is relatively big. (2) recovery scheme has a remarkable
effect on the change of surrounding rocks. (3) backfill plays a significant role for the stability of the goaf.
(4) 3-D numerical simulation which reveal the process of orebody recovery excellently can be beneficial for
decision-making of engineering.

1 INTRODUCTION Because the overburden deformation caused by

In China, the mining quantity of steep narrow ore-
body and minor orebody cover a great part, so that the
shrinkage stoping method occupies a large proportion
in mining exploiting. The steep narrow orebody has
been adopting shallow hole shrinkage stoping system.
(Wang et al. 2001). According to the mining technical
conditions and mining methods, the mining amount of
these ore pillars occupies about 10%–40% in the total.
It is positive that strengthening pillar extraction and
recycling the mineral resources from deposite being
mined for increasing the mineral resources utliazation
rate, extending service life, shortening the under-
ground operation line, coordinating the sequence of
mining, improving the underground management con-
dition, dealing with goaf, and maintaining the safety
of underground tunnel, etc.
With the propulsion of the production face, stowing
the goaf by backfill gradually is clled filling mining
method. The main purpose of stowing goaf is to carry
out ground pressure management by the backfill. In
that case, stowing goaf can control the surrounding
rock caving and surface subsidence, which can also
create safety and convenient conditions for the stoping
work (Wang et al. 2001). The method that recovering
the pillar after room filled with filling material, such
as waste rock and tailings, can not only treat the goaf
of open stoping, but also creat favorable condition for
recovering the pillar and improving ore recovery rate
(Cai et al. 1994).
steep orebody recovery is significant different from
gently inclined orebody, the surface movement and
deformation features have much differences between
both. Steep orebody is generally formed by the drastic
geological structural movement, which has compli-
cated geological and mining conditions, so it is very
difficult to establish a laboratory to research the move-
ment law of stope wall rock in exploitation process
(Zhang et al. 2008). Recent years, with development
and wide application of the numerical simulation, it
has developed into a reliable and effective technique
in the research of mining (Xie et al. 1999, Zhou et al.
2009)
Midas/GTS, an analysis software of geotechnical
engineering based on the finite element theory, is a
large-scale numerical simulation software (Ji et al.
2010, Chen et al. 2008). It has a powerful function 3-D
modeling. The software can build a 3-D simulation of
practical project which can realize the excavation and
filling in construction processes through activating
and inactivating the elements. The software also has
powerful function of data analyzing, that can analysis
and compare the simulation results better. Above all, it
can provide a powerful reference for a practical project.
In this paper, a 3-D analog model is carried out
for three different recovery schemes, which displays
the stress-strain and displacement variation of orebody
and rock mass surrounding in the main construction
stages. As a result, the 3rd scheme is determined as the
optimum scheme by comparing the simulation results.

281
Figure 1. 3-D model, front view and profile of the stope.

2 PARAMETERS ANALYSIS analysis can reflect performance of the geotechnical

engineering factually.
2.1 Engineering situation and stoping scheme In this paper, the calculation range of the 3-D model
is 250 m (length) × 250 m (width) × 250 m (height),
The outcrop around the surrounding area includes
which is built for stability analysis. The 3-D model,
lower paleozoic, upper carboniferous, lower per-
which is the appropriate simplification and integration
mian and quaternary. The quaternary distributes most
of actual area, is mainly including four parts: upper sur-
widely among them in this area, which occupied
rounding rock, footwall surrounding rock, overlying
almost 72%. Arround the mining area, there is a main
strata and vein. Furthermore, according to the present
ore vein F1, followly branch range f1-1 and f2-2. The
situation of stope, three groups of mesh is marked out
average thickness of orebody is 2.2 m. Because the
from the vein, including roofs, pillars and excavated
south of the ore vein is covered, it is outcropping inter-
vein. The pillar’s size is 6 m (width) * 50 m (height).
mittently. The dip of orebody is 87◦ . The fluorite of
The total of elements is 109 029. There are five mea-
vein based mainly on green and white, containing some
suring points in the stope which were located at the
variegation like bluish violet. Fuorite near the vein wall
middle of the first middle segment roof, the middle
has a developmental idiomorphic crystal.
of the second middle segment roof, the middle of the
Because the weakness of previous fund and tech-
goaf, the middle of the third middle segment roof and
nique, the mining adopting a laggard and short-term
the middle of the third middle segment floor. Be shown
investment mining technology. In that case, the ground
in figure 1.
surface and underground have formed large amount
The ground surface of the 3-D model is set at free
of mining pits (about 920 000 m3 ) and unfilled goaf
boundary. The bottom of the 3-D model is set at fixed
(about 125 700 m3 ) in the mining area, which have
constraint. Around the 3-D model is set at unilateral
considerable geological calamity and potential safety
contacts. Ground stress is only considered the gravity
hazard. Besides, there has residued large amount of ore
function in the initial condition.
pillar in the three middle sections recovered present,
Vein and surrounding rock in the model is regarded
which is seriously affected to recover the limited
as elastic perfectly-plastic material. The mohr –
resources adequately.
couloum theory as a yeild rule is applied to and the
It is great difficulty and high cost to recover
function is:
these roof and spacer pillars. There are three feasi-
ble schemes according to the technology, safety and
economic efficiency. The 1st scheme is recovering the
spacer pillars but top pillars without filling the goaf.
The 2nd scheme is recovering the spacer pillars but top
pillars with filling the goaf. The 3rd scheme is recov-
ering the spacer pillars and top pillars with filling the
goaf. where θ0 is Lord angel (−π/6 ≤ θ0 ≤ π/6). C, φ are
cohesion and friction angle of vein and surrounding
2.2 Calculation model rock. I1 is the first invariance of stress tensors. J2 is
the second invariance of stress deviator.
At present, it is still the usual means to analysis the
geotechnical engineering by appropriate simplifica-
tion and integration in-plane in the stability analysis. 2.3 Calculation parameters
Otherwise, it is necessary to establish a 3-D model According to the surrounding rock level of the local
to analyze and calculate. (Chen et al. 2008) This is and combining with the experiment date of rock
because in natural situation, the stress and deforma- mechanics, the physical mechanical parameters of the
tion always present as 3-D state, so 3-D stability model are shown in the table 1.

282
Table 1. Mechanical parameters of numerical simulation.

Elastic Specific Friction

modulus Poisson weight Cohesion angle
Rock types GPa ratio kN/m3 kPa ◦

Overlying 2.5 5.0 8.0 18.0 2.0

strata
Upper 0.35 0.3 0.28 0.25 0.33
surrounding
rock
Footwall 25 26 26.5 25 20
surrounding
rock Figure 3. The maximum principal strain nephogram in the
Vein 280 400 700 1000 250 final construction stage of the 1st scheme (PE1).
Backfill 33 38 50 55 30

Table 2. Displacement of measured point of the 1st scheme

(DXYZ).

Construction Construction Construction

stage 1 stage 2 stage 3
No (mm) (mm) (mm)

1 15.14 18.18 20.43

2 5.60 31.56 40.13
3 1.56 101.54 110.93
4 1.69 3.91 24.46
5 0.53 1.31 4.62

Figure 2. The maximum principal stress nephogram in the

final construction stage of the 1st scheme (P1).

3 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

3.1 Results and analysis of the first scheme

The main construction procedures of the 1st scheme
are as follows: recovering the first middle segment
pillar – recovering the second middle segment pillar –
recovering the third middle segment pillar. The con-
crete implementation is to simulate the excavation of
three middle segment pillars through the element inac-
tivation function in MIDAS/GTS. The operation steps
are as follows: inactivating the first middle segment
pillar – inactivating the second middle segment pillar –
inactivating the third middle segment pillar. Figure 2
and figure 3 are respectively the maximum principal
stress nephogram and the maximum principal strain
nephogram in the fina construction stages of the 1st
scheme.
According to the maximum principal stress
nephogram and the maximum principal strain
nephogram in the fina construction stages of the 1st
scheme, with the stoping of the pillars, the surround-
ing rock of pillars and the roof appear a phenomenon
of local stress concentration due to the stress redis-
tribution. It can be seen from each construction stage
that the excavation of every middle segment have great
influence on its middle segment and the upper part, but
quite small on the lower part.
Figure 4. Displacement of measured points of the 1st
scheme (DXYZ).
Table 2 is the five measuring points’ displacement
of the 1st scheme as excavating process. It can be
seen clearly from the table 2 and figure 4 that mea-
suring point displacement increasing constantly as the
excavating. The displacement of measuring point 3
changes significantly after the recovery of the pillars.
The displacement of upper surrounding rock in ore pil-
lar changes obviously, and the maximum displacement
in middle part of goaf is 11 cm.
3.2 Results and analysis of the second scheme
The main construction procedures of the 2nd scheme
are as follows: filling the gap and recovering the
pillars of middle segment 3 – filling the pillars of

283
middle segment 3 – filling the gap and recovering
the pillars of middle segment 2 – filling the pillars
of middle segment 2 – filling the gap and recovering
the pillars of middle segment 1- filling the pillars of
middle segment 1. The concrete implementation is to
simulate the excavation of three middle segment pil-
lars through the element activation and inactivation
function in MIDAS/GTS. The operation steps are as
follows: activating the backfills and inactivating the
pillars of middle segment 3 – activating the pillars
backfill of middle segment 3 – activating the back-
fills and inactivating the pillars of middle segment 2
– activating the pillars backfill of middle segment 2 –
activating the backfills and inactivating the pillars of
middle segment 1 – activating the pillars backfill of
middle segment 1. Figure 5 and figure 6 are respec-
tively the maximum principal stress nephogram and
the maximum principal strain nephogram in the fina
construction stages of the 2nd scheme.
According to the maximum principal stress
nephogram and the maximum principal strain
nephogram in the fina construction stages of the 2nd
scheme, there are limited effects on the whole area
with the filling and recovering. Because the strength
of the backfill is very low, it can be seen that larger
strain appear on the upper part of backfill. The back-
fill has favorable control function to ground pressure
of the gap surrounding rock and effective function to
the stability of gap.
Table 3 is the five measuring points’ displacement
of the second scheme as excavating process. It can be
seen clearly from the table 3 and figure 7 that mea-
suring point displacements increasing constantly but
change slightly as the excavating. Measuring point dis-
placements are increasing constantly from the overall,
but the maximum displacement is only 2.4 cm. The
displacements comparatively small compared with
the first scheme for the backfill.

3.3 Results and analysis of the third scheme

Figure 5. The maximum principal stress nephogram in the
final construction stage of the 2nd scheme (P1).
Figure 6. The maximum principal strain nephogram in the
final construction stage of the 2nd scheme (PE1).
The main construction procedures of the 3rd scheme
are as follows: filling the gap and recovering the pillars
of middle segment 3 – filling the pillars and recover-
ing the roof of middle segment 3 – filling the gap and
recovering the pillars of middle segment 2 – filling
the pillars and recovering the roof of middle segment
2 – filling the gap and recovering the pillars of middle
segment 1 – filling the pillars and recovering the roof of
middle segment 1. The concrete implementation is to
simulate the excavation of three middle segment pillars
through the element activation, inactivation and prop-
erty change function in MIDAS/GTS. The operation
steps are as follows: activating the backfills and inac-
tivating the pillars of middle segment 3 – activating
the pillars backfill and change the roof’s property of
middle segment 3 – activating the backfills and inac-
tivating the pillars of middle segment 2 – activating
the pillars backfill and change the roof’s property of
middle segment 2 – activating the backfills and inac-
tivating the pillars of middle segment 1 – activating
the pillars backfill and change the roof’s property of
middle segment 1. Figure 8 and figure 9 are respec-
tively the maximum principal stress nephogram and
the maximum principal strain nephogram in the final
construction stages of the 3rd scheme.

Table 3. Displacement of measuring points of the 2nd scheme (DXYZ).

Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction

stage 1 stage 2 stage 3 stage 4 stage 5 stage 6
No (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)

1 1.53 1.66 2.20 2.55 5.88 6.06

2 1.95 2.09 15.77 18.11 21.46 22.02
3 1.20 1.45 18.82 19.82 23.94 24.21
4 4.95 5.13 6.10 7.14 13.69 13.75
5 0.81 1.01 2.16 2.07 2.20 2.23

284

Figure 7. Displacement of measuring points of the 2nd
scheme (DXYZ).
Figure 8. The maximum principal stress nephogram in the
final construction stage of the 3rd scheme (P1).
According to the maximum principal stress
nephogram and the maximum principal strain
nephogram in the final construction stage of the 3rd
scheme, there are limited effects on the whole area
with the filling and recovering. Because the strength
of the backfill is very low, it can be seen that larger
strain appear on the upper and middle part of back-
fill. The strains of the roof’s surrounding rock is large
than the 2nd scheme after the recovery. The backfill
has favorable control function to ground pressure of
the gap surrounding rock and effective function to the
stability of gap.
Table 4 is the five measuring points’ displacement
of the 3rd scheme as excavating process. It can be seen
clearly from the table 4 and figure 10 that measuring
point displacements increasing constantly but change
slightly as the excavating, while the displacements are
larger than the 2nd scheme. The displacement of the
whole area changes very little, but the displacement
of roof increases obviously. The maximum displace-
ment of measuring point 3 is 2.94 cm, which is between
the second and third scheme. Because the measuring
point 1 has become the bottom of roof backfill, the
displacement of measuring point 1 is 1.403 cm, which
is between the 2nd and 3rd scheme similarly. The mea-
suring point 3 located at the upper surrounding rock of
pillar of middle segment 2 appear the phenomenon of
rebounding, but it also shown that the displacement
is very small for the backfill, which can prove the
obviously control function of the backfill to ground
stress.

3.4 Comparison and analysis of three schemes

Figure 9. The maximum principal strain nephogram in the
final construction stage of the 3rd scheme (PE1).
The numerical simulation shows that the displacement
change of the whole model in the 2nd and 3rd proposal
keeps in a lower value than in the 1st one after consoli-
dated filling for the goaf, and the geostress and gravity
of the backfill both change the displacement slightly,
however, whose value in the middle part is larger than
that around the perimeter.
In the 3rd proposal, the displacement change ensu-
ing from excavation and filling on the roof between
pillars is more obvious than in other areas. Edge stress
of the goaf has been improved and plastic zone reduced
by the backfill, which put a good stability purpose for
the area.

Table 4. Displacement of measuring point of the 3rd scheme (DXYZ).

Construction Construction Construction Construction Construction Constr uction

stage 1 stage 2 stage 3 stage 4 stage 5 stage 6
No (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)

1 2.41 2.62 3.61 3.84 13.30 14.03

2 2.83 3.03 21.18 22.17 24.26 24.99
3 1.75 1.93 20.15 23.97 26.80 29.42
4 5.18 5.55 8.02 9.75 15.58 15.61
5 0.95 1.17 2.37 2.47 2.55 2.63

285

Figure 10. Displacement of measuring points of the 3rd
scheme (DXYZ).
4 CONCLUSIONS
1. If the surrounding rock of a goaf is in a good con-
dition, the influence of goaf from pillar recovery is
limited and the overlying strata have a small settling
amount. The 3-D numerical simulation results of
the three schemes indicate that pillar recovery has
little effect on displacement of the whole area. A
displacement towards interior is produced on sur-
rounding rock of goaf due to stress redistribution
during the stopping processes. The 1st proposal has
a comparatively large value and risks of stability
while the other two have smaller value and can meet
the requirements of stability.
2. Backfill has a remarkable effect on goaf stability.
The comparison of the three proposals shows that
backfill can control the ground pressure of goaf
surrounding rock effectively and has an extremely
effective function on the goaf stability. The sur-
rounding rock displacement can be controlled at
a low-level.
3. The 3-D numerical simulation can show the pil-
lar recovery procedure preferably and it is of
great reference significance for engineering. As
a result of the complex geological conditions in
mine stope, it is difficult to set up a laboratory
286
to research the characteristics motion of surround-
ing rock during stopping process. However, with
outstanding functions of 3-D simulation and data
analysis, the three-dimensional numerical simula-
tion can provide significant reference for practical
engineering.
4. The 3rd proposal can meet the needs of the stability
of the whole area more profitably than the 1st one,
and make more profits by recycling the mineral on
the roof than the 2nd one. Thus, the 3rd proposal is
confirmed as the final pillar recovery project.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by The National
High Technology Research and Development Program
of China (863) (2009AA11Z105).
REFERENCES
Cai, S.J. 1994. Mining filling mechanics foundation. Beijing:
Metallurgical Industry Press.
Chen, Y.L., Li, L., Liu, J.X. 2008. Finite element analysis
of the underground retaining wall of a deep foundation
excavation. Chinese Journal of Underground Space and
Engineering 4(2): 320–324.
Ji, M.W., Gao, Y.T., Cheng, Z.Q., et al. 2010. Numerical
simulation on the reinforcing effect of the top 2 extended
CFG pile composite foundation. Industrial Construction
40(1): 73–77.
Wang, Q., Shi, W.X. 2001. Mining Science. Beijing: Metal-
lurgical Industry Press.
Xie, H.P., Zhou, H.W., Wang, J.A., et al. 1999. Application of
FLAC to predict ground surface displacements due to coal
extraction and its comparative analysis. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 18(4): 397–401.
Zhang, Q.C., He, G.C. 2008. FLAC3D Modeling of the
BackfillM ethod M ining for Steeply Dipping Ore-
body. Journal of University of South China (Science and
Technology), 22(4): 46–50.
Zhou, C.B., Guo, L.W., Yao, Y.K., et al. 2009. Numerical
simulation of wall rock deformation mechanism of mining
tunnel. Rock and Soil Mechanics 30(3): 654–658.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on the bearing behavior of CFG composite foundation

S.G. Huang
Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China

ABSTRACT: According to the results of field tests, the failure mechanism of composite foundation is mainly
decided by the interaction between soil and cushion in the state of thick cushion or under embankments, and
the practical bearing capacity of a pile in composite foundation is not brought into full play. The following rules
are got from the calculation results of FEM. (1) The stress ration of pile to soil (n) decreases with the thickness
increasing; As the thickness exceeds 300 mm, the influence of cushion thickness on n reduces sharply, as the
thickness exceeds 500 mm, the influence of cushion thickness is smaller. When the cushion thickness is relatively
thin(h = 100 mm),the influence of cushion modulus on n is great very much; As the thickness exceeds 300 mm,
the influence decreases; As the thickness exceeds 500 mm, the influence is very small. (3) As the rigidity of
bearing plate is smaller than 6.25 MN · m2 , the stress ration of pile to soil increases with the rigidity increasing;
As the rigidity exceeds 6.25 MN · m2 , the influence of rigidity on n is very small.

1 INTRODUCTION

CFG piles are developed on the basis of gravel pile,

which compose composite foundation with cushion
and soil around pile together. Because the rigidity of
rigid foundation is large and the cushion thickness is
thin relatively, the stress of pile top is much larger
than that of soil around pile, the stress ratio of pile –
soil is large under the rigid foundation. But under the
action of flexible loads such as embankment load, the
stress ratio of pile – soil is small, and the relative trend
of pile penetrating into the cushion is more evident,
the utilization efficiency of bearing capacity of pile
in composite foundation is lower compared to rigid
foundation.
So far, some research findings were achieved in this
field, but are insufficient. In this paper, the FEM and
field tests are applied to analyze the working mech-
anism of composite foundation under flexible loads
with thick cushion.
2 THE FIELD TEST OF CFG PILES
COMPOSITE FOUNDATION
2.1 Project profile
The designed speed of the high-speed railway from
Wuhan to Guangzhou can reach 350 km/h, so the
deformation of subgrade and the permit settlement
after construction is required to be controlled exactly.
The CFG composite foundation was applied in the
subgrade as one of ground treatment measures.
In order to understand the bearing capacities of the
CFG composite foundation, the single pile static load
test, composite foundation static load test and the pile-
soil stress test are carried out in a typical site.
Figure 1. The Q∼S curve of the single pile.
2.2 The test results and analysis
2.2.1 The results of single pile static load test
The test piles were constructed with the construction
technology of continuous flight auger pile, the length
of pile is 20 m, and the diameter is 0.5 m. The slow
maintained load test was applied in the test, the max-
imum load is 2000 kN, and the load per stage is 1/10
of the predictive ultimate load.
Figure 1 is the Q∼S curve of the single pile. When
the load increased to 1800 kN, the settlement of pile
top increased sharply, and oil pump pressure decreased
sharply, it show that the pile reached failure.According
to the result, the ultimate bearing capacity of the pile
is 1600 kN.
2.2.2 The static load test of composite foundation
with a single pile and soil pressure test
1) The static load test of composite foundation with a
single pile
The pile in the composite foundation is 20 m long
and 500 mm diameter, the size of load bearing plate

287
Figure 2. Arrangement of instruments.

Figure 4. Q∼S curve of the pile in composite foundation.

Figure 3. Q∼S curve of composite foundation.

is 1.415 m × 1.2 m, the thickness of the cushion

Figure 5. Q∼S curve of cushion.
formed from graded gravel is 600 mm. The slow
maintained load test was applied in the test, the
maximum load is 1600 kN, and the load per stage
is 160 kN. Seven soil pressure cells were installed
inside the test pit, one was on the top of pile, and
the others were in the soil around pile. Figure 2 is
the arrangement of instruments.
The load–settlement data shown in Figure 3 were
obtained from the composite foundation test. When
the load reached seventh stage, the loading proce-
dure was terminated. The corresponding settlement
of load bearing plate reached 62.84 mm, and the
compressive stress reached 659 kPa.
According to the test Instructions of compos-
Figure 6. The curve of pile-soil stress ratio vs. load.
ite foundation test, the characteristic value of
composite foundation was obtain from the corre-
sponding settlement s/b = 0.01(b is the width of 3) Deformation of cushion
the load bearing plate). The width of the load Deformation of the cushion in composite foun-
bearing plate is 1200 mm, so s = 12 mm, the cor- dation under the loads of the load bearing plate
responding load is 244 kPa, so the characteristic shown in Figure 5 was obtained from the settlement
value of composite foundation with single pile is measurement of composite foundation and the soils
244 kPa. around pile. Under the maximum load, the defor-
2) Load–settlement relationship of single pile mation of cushion was 30 mm, which is 47.7% of
Load–settlement relationship of single pile in the composite foundation settlement.
the composite foundation shown in Figure 4 was 4) The stress ratio of pile – soil
obtained from the measurement of soil pres- The stress ratio of pile – soil data is shown
sure cells and subsidence marker installed on the in Figure 6. The results note that a peak value
pile top. exists in the relationship of pile-soil stress ratio
According to test results, the maximum set- and load, when the compressive stress is less than
tlement of pile in the composite foundation was 600 kPa, the pile-soil stress ratio increases with the
4.3 mm, the corresponding bearing capacity of the compressive stress; when the compressive stress
pile was 56.5 kN, which is only 35.3% of its ulti- is larger than 600 kPa, the pile-soil stress ratio
mate bearing capacity, and pile efficacy in the decreases with the increase of the compressive
composite foundation is about 50.4%. stress.

288
Figure 7. Numerical model and mesh.

3 FEM ANALYSIS OF THE CFG COMPOSITE Figure 8. The influence of cushion thickness on pile-soil
stress ratio.
FOUNDATION

3.1 Calculation model

During the simulation, the Mohr-Coulomb model is
used in soils; the linear elastic model is used in the load
bearing plate and the concrete of pile. The calculated
pile is 500 mm diameter, 20 m long; The distance of
vertical boundary is 40 m, the distance of horizontal
boundary is 6 m; the calculation width of cushion is
100 mm, 300 mm, 500 mm and 700 mm separately.
The numerical model and mesh are shown in Figure
7, 6-node isoparametric element is used in triangu-
lar element, 8-node isoparametric element is used in
quadrilateral element.
3.2 Analysis of FEM calculation results
Based on the different cushion thickness, cushion
modulus and embankment rigidity, the influence
degree of the different parameters on the composite
foundation bearing behavior was analyzed. The calcu-
lation loads of composite foundation were divided into
7 grades: 100 kPa, 200 kPa, 300 kPa, 400 kPa, 500 kPa,
600 kPa and 700 kPa.
3.2.1 The influence of cushion thickness on the
ratio of pile-soil stress
The calculation results were shown in Figure 7.
According to results, the stress ratio of pile – soil
(n) decreases with the thickness increasing; As the
thickness exceeds 300 mm, the influence of cush-
ion thickness on n reduces sharply; As the thickness
exceeds 500 mm, the influence of cushion thickness is
small.
3.2.2 The influence of cushion modulus on the ratio
of pile-soil stress
The relationship curve between cushion thickness and
pile-soil stress ratio is shown in Figure 8 when the load
is 300 kPa, the relationship curve between cushion
modulus and pile-soil stress ratio is shown in Figure 9
when the load is 300 kPa.
When the cushion thickness is relatively thin
(100 mm), the influence of cushion modulus on n
is great, the stress ratio increased from 5.34 to
Figure 9. The influence of cushion modulus on pile-soil
stress ratio (P = 300 kPa).
13.6; As the thickness exceeds 300 mm, the influ-
ence decreases; As the thickness exceeds 500 mm, the
influence is very small, the stress ratio changed from
3.41–4.08 to 5.54–7.76.
3.2.3 The influence of embankment rigidity
on the ratio of pile-soil stress
The influence of embankment rigidity on the ratio of
pile-soil stress is simulated by changing the size and
elastic modulus of load bearing plate. The relationship
curve between rigidity of load bearing plate and pile-
soil stress ratio is shown in Figure 10 and Figure 11
under conditions of different cushion thickness.
As the rigidity of bearing plate is smaller than
6.25 MN · m2 , the stress ratio of pile to soil increases
with the rigidity increasing; as the rigidity exceeds
6.25 MN · m2 , the influence of rigidity on n is very
small.
The results show that when the height of embank-
ment reaches some extent, the influence of embank-
ment rigidity on the ratio of pile-soil stress can be
neglected.
4 CONCLUSION
1. The bearing behavior of CFG Composite Founda-
tion is obtained in this paper through the single

289

Figure 10. The curves of pile-soil stress ratio vs. rigidity of
bearing plate (h = 300 mm).
Figure 11. The curves of pile-soil stress ratio vs. rigidity of
bearing plate (h = 500 mm).
pile static load test, composite foundation static
load test and the pile-soil stress test. According
to the results of field tests, the failure mechanism
of composite foundation is mainly decided by the
interaction between soil and cushion in the state
of thick cushion or under embankments, and the
practical bearing capacities of piles in compos-
ite foundation are not brought into full play. The
290
actual bearing capacity of the single pile is only
35.3% of its ultimate bearing capacity in the com-
posite foundation; the pile efficacy in the composite
foundation is about 50.4%. The results note that
a peak value exists in the relationship of pile-soil
stress ratio and load, this shows that the failure of
composite foundation is determined by the piles-
cushion interaction of composite foundation with
thick cushion or under the action of embankment
load.
2. The following rules are got from the calculation
results of FEM: ① the stress ratio of pile – soil
(n) decreases with the thickness increasing; as the
thickness exceeds 300 mm, the influence of cushion
thickness on n reduces sharply. As the thickness
exceeds 500 mm, the influence of cushion thickness
is small. ② When the cushion thickness is relatively
thin (100 mm), the influence of cushion modulus
on n is great; as the thickness exceeds 300 mm,
the influence decreases; as the thickness exceeds
500 mm, the influence is very small. ③ The results
show that when the height of embankment reaches
some extent, the influence of embankment rigidity
on the ratio of pile-soil stress can be neglected.
REFERENCES
Chen, S.X. et al. 2007. Experimental study on bearing char-
acteristics of dry jet mixing pile composite ground under
flexible load. Rock and Soil Mechanics 28 (2): 274–278.
Cheung, Y.K, Tham, L.G. & Guo, D.J. 1988. Analysis of pile
group by infinite layer method. Geotechnique 38(3): 415–
431.
He, J.B. & Hong, B.N. 2004. Research on cushion action
mechanism of CFG pile composite foundation for express-
way. Rock and Soil Mechanics 25(10): 1663–1666.
Huang, S.G. et al. 2007. Test study and finite element analysis
of bearing behavior of large diameter overlength piles after
grouting. Rock and Soil Mechanics 28(2): 297-301.
Zhu, Y.S. & Hu, Y.C. 2003. Finite element analysis of
mechanical behaviors of flexible foundation and compos-
ite ground. Rock and Soil Mechanics 24(3): 396–404.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Stability analysis of surrounding rock based on measured

underground karst caves and goaf modeling

C.H. Li & Y. Cheng

Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education of China for High-efficient Mining and Safety of Metal
Mines, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: According to AGI data and geological exploration profile, a numerical model of mined-out areas
was established by using the MIDAS-GTS software. The exact location where the mined-out area was reflected
accurately by studying the Midas numerical calculation model. Visual computing of a complex empty area was
achieved, and the corresponding numerical results are much more reliable than the simplified model. The process
of detecting location of unknown mined-out area underground will be visualized. The reliability, accuracy and
practicality of the detection was improved, a reliable basis of analysis was provided for the evaluation of the
stability of mined-out areas, the reliability of the numerical simulation was improved, simulation can be more
effective for forecasting surface subsidence as a result of underground cavity.

1 INTRODUCTION limitations of the three-dimensional modeling of the

There are a lot of mine gob at many of underground
mining areas, conditions deteriorate since the exis-
tence of mined-out areas, deformation of pillar is
resulted in, maintenance of work area of adjacent
stope and roadway are difficult, and even a large area
underground caving, rock movement, surface subsi-
dence, water inrush and other disasters are caused,
serious casualties and damage of equipment are caused
(Research Center for National Security Administra-
tion. 2004). Therefore, the study of stability of mined
areas and investigation are a very important signifi-
cance for ensuring sustainable development of mine.
Traditional physical detection methods of goaf are
often affected by the physical nature of its own metal
mining and geological conditions, then the accuracy
is reduced, and the operation is tedious, post analy-
sis is complex, three-dimensional form of the empty
area information can not be output accurately (Wang
et al. 1998, Cheng et al. 2002, Yan et al. 2003). AGI
high-density electrical detection was selected at this
mining area. According to the advantages account the
current numerical analysis software in geotechnical
computing, MIDAS-GTS software is applied to sim-
ulate the cavity by many scholars (Li et al. 2002,
Xu et al. 2005), the software model is constructed in
line with the experimental model. A realistic analysis
model is created with advantages of modeling soft-
ware on the basis of AGI actual measurement, the
problem which is not very accurate description for the
three-dimensional space of the empty area is avoided,
real cavity and stability evaluation Technical of cav-
ity is broken. In this paper, surface subsidence which
is induced by diggings exploitation is studied with
MIDAS-GIS software at Jiguanzui mining area, then
its applicability is verified, safety production is guided
(Tan & Miao 2004, Cheng & Zou 2001).
2 ENGINEERING SITUATION
Hubei Sanxin Gold and Copper Co., Ltd. is located in
3.5 km west of the Daye city. It is mining enterprises
of resource development based geological by depart-
ment to mining gold and copper, including Taohuazui
and Jiguanzui skarn deposits. Stratigraphic develop-
ment of Jiguanzui Mining area is complete relatively,
from the Proterozoic to the Cenozoic than missing the
middle and lower Devonian and Upper Jurassic, the
rest are exposed. Most of the surface mining was cov-
ered by Quaternary lacustrine clay, in the southwestern
volcanic sedimentary breccia is exposed just sporadi-
cally. Drilling revealed, according to the information,
according to their character of lithology, combination
of lithology, sedimentary structures such as signs, and
on the basis of regional stratigraphic correlation, vol-
canic rocks, lava, rocks and Carbonate rocks which
are under the Quaternary are attributed to the follow-
ing is respectively lava andesitic basalt (K1 L), volcanic
breccia (K1 M), marble (T1 dy), quartz syenite diorite
porphyrite (Qξδµ2c 2c
5 ), quartz diorite (Qδ5 ).

291

Figure 1. Geological profile of survey line 17.
Figure 2. Sectional drawing of two-dimensional inversion
with three methods of measuring 17 line.
3 AGI HIGH-DENSITY ELECTRICAL
DETECTION AND BACK ANALYSIS
According to the specific geological and topographical
conditions of mining and underground mining condi-
tions at the site, a total of 20 profile lines are laid in the
field to detect. AGI high-density resistance imaging
system is used for detection. Design Depth is 30–70 m
or less. The survey line is arranged along direction
of the exploration line to select system test, and data
is collected in three ways each survey line, length of
each profile line of the horizontal projection is 135–
360 m; number of electrode is 60, if the length is the
low rolling Measurement will be used, according to
the actual the polar distance of horizontal projection
length choose 4–6 meters. The range of survey lines
is from 16 to 24 explorations and prospecting line,
line spacing is 25 meters. In this paper, the data of 17
exploration line is analyzed.
In Figure 2, 17-D dipole method is used; 17-S Schel-
lenberg method is used; 17-W wenner method is used.
Figure 1 and Figure 2 show that data of 17 lines is
collected using three methods for detecting the inver-
sion analysis, the region range of the resistivity is from
8.2∼381  m, the bottom resistivity can be seen from
the figure on the whole, since up to down on the
increasing trend; the distribution of Quaternary soil
is along the direction of the surface the survey line
within 7 m, a high resistance zone is along the section
line from the starting point for measuring a depth of
100 m at the same time have a position about 20 m.
The range of resistance is 146∼381  m.
292
According to data analysis of geological, the profile
line detection area is located under the EC Trias-
sic Daye Group (T1 dy), lithology is mainly marble,
this segment is mainly developed in cave formation,
It can be determined that the high resistivity of the
line is due to dissolving gap, loose rock cave and
around the collapse due to high resistance anomaly
with characteristics of rock resistivity.
4 NUMERICAL SIMULATION
4.1 MIDAS-GTS software summary
MIDAS-GTS which is developed for geotechnical is
finite element software, three-dimensional numeri-
cal model of the project is established by the soft-
ware, closer to the truth, and the result is relatively
safe. Analysis functions available in static analy-
sis, the construction stage analysis, seepage analysis,
flow – stress coupling analysis, consolidation analy-
sis, dynamic analysis are provided by MIDAS-GTS
software (MIDAS/GTS, 2007).
In this paper, the software combined with the geo-
logical section pattern on the cave and mined areas to
simulate the forming process, the location of the model
maximum displacement occurred and the numerical
size are obtained, which confirmed that the weak zone
of gap. Cavity stability can be reflected objectively.
4.2 Model building
According to Gob status and research needs, the status
of mine gob is restored basically, and the situation is
simplified, so that it can be embodied on the computer.
Based on topographic maps for mining, exploration
and geological profile data, Mining three-dimensional
strata solid model is created by the MIDAS-GTS soft-
ware (Li et al. 2007, Jenck et al. 2009), MIDAS-GTS
tetrahedral mesh grid model is formation by divided
into groups of different rock, Mohr-Coulomb model is
used by the constitutive model of rock and soil (Cai,
2002), the model uses solid elements Mesh, three-
dimensional model of block was divided into 100,343
units. Model the mechanical boundary conditions are
before and after (y direction), left and right (x direc-
tion), bottom (x, y, z direction) constraints. Construc-
tion stage analysis is used on case 1, case 2 and case
3. The size of modeling is 500 m × 400 m × 165 m
(Figure 3).
The gob is not inherent in the formation of geolog-
ical bodies, but the process of mining in the under-
ground ore body formation and the gradual formation
of empty areas, so the grid model which has been estab-
lishment and the boundary conditions which has been
set are based on, the first construction phase of simula-
tion is carried out first, to make the model stable under
stress in the weight, and establish the initial weight of
stress field, and then clear the displacement which is
caused by the weight of history (initial stress) effect.
And then the second construction phase is proceed, the
stress redistribution which is caused by the formation

Figure 3. MIDAS-GTS three-dimensional grid computing
model.
Figure 4. Z-axis direction the displacement contour map of
the second construction phase.
of underground caverns, the final phase is stable; the
third construction phase is final stage, according to the
order of the actual mining, once every cycle simulation
Mining step, but if the process is bound to fully simu-
late this mining extremely large amount of computing
time spent, but also for numerical simulation is not
actually necessary, so this calculation, the simulation
steps are simplified to a one-time mining excavation.
4.3 Analysis of model results
From the figure 4 and figure 5, we can see that when
the cave formed, its influence is felt to the surface, the
surface will produce a settlement basin, the maximum
subsidence value reached 0.17 m. The threat can not be
produced by this overall stability and the surface. This
is that consistent with the fact that the surface has not
collapsed when a large-scale and local in the absence
of underground mining has not carried out.
After the useful buried minerals are mined from
underground, the status of the original stress equilib-
rium of mining rock surrounding is destroyed, causing
the surface and rock formations to produce a con-
tinuous movement, deformation and destruction of
non-continuous, this phenomenon is known as Min-
ing Subsidence (He et al. 1994). Before underground
mining, rock is in a relatively balanced state by effect
of stress field in the ground. When the local ore has
293
Figure 5. Z-axis direction displacement contour map of the
second construction phase at position of cave.
Figure 6. Z-axis direction the displacement contours of the
third construction phase.
been mined, since a gob is formed inside of rock,
the changes of rock mass stress states is resulted in
the surrounding, which stress re-distribution is caused,
mobile deformation and failure of rock mass are pro-
duced, until a new equilibrium is reached. As mining
was carried out, the process repeats. It is a process of
very complex physical change and mechanical change,
the process and the phenomenon is known as strata
movement (Zou et al. 2003).
Figure 6 is contour map of Z direction of displace-
ment and deformation of gob rock when the gob is
formed. As in all stages of mining, the profile which
has similar geometry and similar conditions have some
similarity in displacement size and distribution of the
surrounding rock, only representative and profile are
analyzed in this stage. The maximum displacement is
5 m at roof of gob and the negative side of the Z-axis,
upward displacement mainly in the largest displace-
ment of gob at the bottom is 2.31 m. The overall trend
is squeezed into the upper and lower. Displacement of
horizontal is still inward on both sides of the ground. It
can be seen that rock trends of the total displacement
is the internal of the mined area compression by the
displacement of surrounding rock, maximum area of
displacement in surrounding rock is the negative Z side
floor, the maximum displacement is about 5 m, range
of displacement of the shallow parts of the surface has
reached the surface, a relatively large ground subsi-
dence is caused. This is the same as the facts of actual
exploration; the maximum displacement is 3.2 m. At
the top of the Karst cave, because the superposition

Figure 7. Field collapse pit.
of the two factors of the Karst cave and mined areas,
the settlement of surface should be the largest, then
the disc collapse area is formed at a real surface in
Figure 7. The results show that the largest displace-
ment of the ore excavation caused of rock in the mined
area is mainly around the 220 m or so range. It can be
speculated that the rock has produced some damage,
particularly near the roof and roof Z negative side rock
movement is intense, it may severely damaged. In a
word surrounding rock move relatively strong due to
excavation of the whole ore body, the lower part of
the exploitation of ore is intimidated hugely by some
moving dramatic rock. Ore excavation process, roof
downward displacement is occurred due to unloading
effect of the excavation gob, bottom upward bulge,
the left shift to the right, left and right shift, and the
overall compression is the inward, and displacement
of surrounding rock is intense.
4.4 The actual situation of mining subsidence
The range of surface dislocation of Jiguanzui min-
ing area is appeared with the emergence of collapse
pits appeared, with the increase of range of mining
area, central region is slowly sinking. The mine is a
water-filled buried Karst ore deposits, overlying soil
thickness is less than 10 meters. As the mining deposits
in water drainage, causing changes in hydrodynamic
conditions, surface subsidence will be produced by the
increase of hydraulic gradient and the cover layer and
filling the cave seepage failure capabilities. The shape
of collapse like round in shape, wall is nearly vertical,
the around accompanied subsidence and ring cracks.
According to the analysis, it is shown that the
results of subsidence prediction was consistent with
the actual surface subsidence; MSDAS-GIS system
can be applied to yield forecast of Jiguanzui mining
subsidence, and can reflect much better for the actual
situation of mining subsidence and safety guide.
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. The dipole method, Schellenberg detection method
and wenner method of AGI high-density electrical
measurement system are used for data collec-
tion and inversion analysis of 17 exploration line.
294
According to the field geological data, it is judged
that the high resistance zone which is 100 m from
starting point and 20 m depth along the survey lines
is exceptional high resistance which caused by solu-
tion crack, solution cavity and loose rock of around
the collapse.
2. A realistic numerical model of mined areas is
created by combined between AGI detection data
and the MIDAS-GTS software, the actual state of
empty areas can be accurately reflected by studying
numerical model which is formed by the MIDAS-
GTS mesh model, visual computing of complex
goaf is achieved. The corresponding numerical
results are much more real than the simplified
model.
3. The results can be seen from the example that
roof and floor formed mainly vertical displacement
after the formation of empty areas, the damage
and deformation of the surrounding rock is vertical
direction mainly in the excavation; Ore excavation
process, roof downward displacement is occurred
due to unloading effect of the excavation gob,
bottom upward bulge, the left shift to the right,
left and right shift, and the overall compression
is the inward. On the basis of measured with the
AGI, MIDAS-GTS numerical simulation is used,
the result of calculation coincides with the actual
situation of subsidence.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work supported by funded project of national
key basic research and development program
(No.2010CB731501).
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical simulation of heat-supplying tunnel adjacent to

subway shield tunnel

C.H. Li & S.H. He

School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

X.D. Chen
Beijing Teze Heating Project Design Co. Ltd, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Deformation control and structural safety assessment play an important role in the approaching
construction between tunnels. The heat-supplying tunnel should traverse paralleling on top of two subway shield
tunnels of Beijing subway Line 6 nearby Baijialou Bridge of East fifth Ring. In order to predict the behavior
of structure, the ground deformation and the shield tunnels deformation induced by the construction of heat-
supplying tunnel are analyzed based on MIDAS/GTS. The achieved results can provide references to the safety
evaluation of the approaching construction.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the accelerated process of urbanization and the

great development of urban construction in China, it
results in that the crowded urban living space, traf-
fic congestion, environmental degradation and other
issues are highlighted (Wang 2010). In order to satisfy
the urban development demands for traffic, parking,
communications, water supply, heating supply and
electricity supply etc, it is the key means of devel-
oping and using underground space (Luo 2007, Qian
1999).
As a variety of underground structures lying in
the limited underground space, it is inevitable that
the problem of approaching construction between
underground structures. Some research results were
obtained on approaching construction in China and
abroad. Yu (2008) discussed the differentiating of Figure 1. Schematic diagram of spacing position between
approach-degree, the law of ground subsidence and heat-supplying tunnel and subway shield tunnels.
the numerical simulation technique of approaching
construction. Concerning the stress release method,
step excavation and the pre-reinforced construction,
tunnel should traverse paralleling for some distance
Wang (2009) analyzed the displacement influence of
on top of two subway shield tunnels of subway Line
a newly constructed shield tunnel that crosses under-
6 and then traverse vertically above them. The min-
neath the existing subway station in Beijing by a
imum net vertical distance between heat-supplying
three-dimensional finite difference program FLAC3D .
tunnel and subway tunnels is about 3 m and horizon-
Kim (1998) studied the effect of shield tunnel con-
tal distance is only 0.6 m. The minimum thickness of
struction on the structural liners of existing nearby
the covering soil on top of heat-supplying tunnel is
tunnels using reduced-scale model testing.
about 4 m. The space position relationship between
heat-supplying tunnel and subway tunnels is shown as
Figure 1.
2 GENERAL ENGINEERING SITUATION According to geological investigation report, the
strata of the heat-supplying tunnel and subway tunnel
Limited by the foundation of viaduct nearby Baijialou located from top to bottom are: miscellaneous fill, silt,
Bridge of East fifth Ring in Beijing, the heat-supplying silty clay and medium sand.

297
Table 1. Physico-mechanical parameters of every stratum.

E c φ γ h
Stratum kPa v kPa (◦ ) kN/m3 m

Miscellaneous 5 0.35 5 22 18.6 2

fill
Silt 5.6 0.28 9 25 19.4 7
Clay 4.2 0.33 22.6 14.5 19.7 6
Silty clay 6.2 0.3 23 11.5 20.4 3.4
Medium sand 36 0.28 0 40 20.5 16.6

E-Young’s modulus, v-Poisson’s ratio, c-cohesion, φ-internal

frictional angle, γ-gravity density, h-thickness of strata.

Table 2. Physico-mechanical parameters of engineering

materials.

E γ t
Engineering materials GPa v kN/m3 m
Figure 2. The mesh of 3D computation model.
C25 shotcrete 23 0.2 23 0.3
C50 reinforced concrete 24.85 0.2 25 0.3 initial support of heat-supplying tunnel were simu-
lated by plate element with linear elastic constitu-
E-Young’s modulus, v-Poisson’s ratio, γ-gravity density, tive model.
t-thickness of material. 5. The tunnel excavation process was realized by pas-
sivation and the applying of tunnel support was
realized by activation in MIDAS/GTS program.
3 NUMERICAL SIMULATION AND RESULTS 6. Model boundary conditions are displacement
boundary, the horizontal movement was limited in
MIDAS/GTS (Geotechnical and Tunnel Analysis side, the vertical movement was limited in bottom,
System) designed for solving all kinds of problems and the upside of model is free surface.
in geotechnical and tunnel field, has excellent graph- 7. Considering the shield tunnel as existing structure,
ics capabilities and fast analysis speed. After a large the displacement field in calculation had nothing
number of theoretical verification and engineering to do with construction of shield tunnel.
application, it is proved that MIDAS/GTS could ensure
precision and quality of numerical results. The model had 52089 elements and 9513 nodes in
totally, the mesh of the model are shown as Figure 2.

3.1 Computational assumptions 3.2 Analysis of surface subsidence and

1. Taking into account of the range influenced by
construction, the computational scope is: 30 m in
each direction of the corner of the heat-supplying
tunnel, 3 times width of the heat-supplying tunnel
in horizontal direction, 3 times height of the shield
tunnel downwards, up to the surface. Finally, the
entire model is 55 m long, 55.8 m wide, 35 m high.
2. As the scope influenced by construction is limited
and the strata change slowly in horizontal direction,
assuming that the strata (including surface) are hor-
izontal distributed. By taking the weighted average
of adjacent strata parameters from the geologi-
cal investigation report, the physico-mechanical
parameters of strata are listed in Table 1.
3. The material of initial support of heat-supplying
tunnel is C25 shotcrete, the material of shield
segment is C50 reinforced concrete. Physico-
mechanical parameters of engineering materials are
listed in Table 2.
4. Surrounding soil was simulated by 4-node tetra-
hedron element with Mohr-Coulomb ideal elastic-
plastic constitutive model. Shield segment and
ground displacement
Control of surface subsidence and ground displace-
ment take an important role in urban underground
construction, in order to analysis the surface subsi-
dence and ground displacement induced by construc-
tion of heat-supplying tunnel, some figures are drown
according to the calculation results. Figure 3 is vertical
displacement distribution contour of strata, Figure 4
is the curve of transverse surface subsidence which is
20 m away from tunnel corner, and Figure 5 is the curve
of longitudinal surface subsidence above the center of
tunnel.
As shown in Figure 3, subsidence groove appeared
obviously along the direction of the heat-supplying
tunnel, the maximum value of surface subsidence and
ground displacement appeared in the corner of heat-
supplying tunnel, that because where the covering soil
on top of tunnel is thinnest and the area of cross-
section of tunnel is biggest. Surface subsidence value
is 29.5 mm and crown settlement value is 40 mm in
the tunnel corner. Surface subsidence value is 20 mm
and crown settlement value is 33.7 mm further away

298
Figure 3. Vertical displacement distribution contour of
strata. Figure 6. Vertical displacement distribution contour of
shield segment.

Figure 4. Transverse surface subsidence curve.

Figure 7. Horizontal displacement distribution contour of

shield segment.

Figure 5. Longitudinal surface subsidence curve.

form the tunnel corner. As shown in Figure 4, the range

influenced by construction is approximately 10–15 m
away from the center of tunnel, which is about 2–3
times excavation width of tunnel.As shown in Figure 5,
the maximum value of surface subsidence appeared
around the corner of heat-supplying tunnel, along the
two opposite direction of the corner, the subsidence
Figure 8. Vertical displacement of shield segment under the
value decreased gradually and kept the same value corner of heat-supplying tunnel.
about 15 m away form the tunnel corner.

3.3 Analysis of shield segment displacement and

deformation
As the minimum net vertical distance between heat-
supplying tunnel and subway tunnels is about 3 m,
the structure of shield tunnel would be influenced by
the uploading effect caused by construction of heat-
supplying tunnel. Figures 6, 7 respectively are vertical
and horizontal displacement distribution contour of
shield segment. Figures 8, 9 respectively are vertical Figure 9. Horizontal displacement of shield segment under
and horizontal displacement value of shield segment the corner of heat-supplying tunnel.

299

Figure 10. Deformation schematic diagram of shield tun-
nels under the corner of heat-supplying tunnel.
under the corner of heat-supplying tunnel. Figure 10 is
the deformation schematic diagram of shield tunnels
under the corner of heat-supplying tunnel.
In the place where is far away from the corner of
heat-supplying tunnel, the heat-supplying tunnel locat-
ing above the middle of two subway shield tunnels,
so the displacement of two shield tunnels is symmet-
ric. The two shield tunnels move towards the middle
of them in horizontal direction and move upward in
vertical direction, in general, the two tunnels obliquely
move upward to the center of the heat-supplying tunnel
(as shown in figure 10).
In the corner of heat-supplying tunnel, due to the
additional uploading effect caused by heat-supplying
tunnel vertical traversing on top of right shield tun-
nel, the vertical displacement of right shield tunnel
is bigger than left shield tunnel’s, the biggest verti-
cal displacement of right and left shield tunnel are
respectively 6.3 mm and 4.2 mm; however, the hori-
zontal displacement of right shield tunnel is smaller
than left shield tunnel’s, the biggest vertical displace-
ment of right and left shield tunnel are respectively
2.7 mm and 1.9 mm.
As shown in figure 10, the shield tunnels will be
deformed oval shape.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Without considering the ground subsidence due to the
construction of subway tunnels, the maximum surface
300
subsidence and crown settlement of heat-supplying
tunnel caused by the construction of heat-supplying
tunnel, are appeared in the corner of tunnel, the
value are respectively 29.5 mm and 40 mm. As the
covering of heat-supplying is thin, it is necessary
to enhance monitoring and keep dynamic control in
the construction process; the surface subsidence and
ground movement could be controlled effectively by
timely altering support parameters according to the
monitoring results.
Because of the uploading effect caused by construc-
tion of heat-supplying tunnel above, the shield tunnels
will be floated upward and deformed oval shape, the
maximum floating up value is 6.3 mm. In order to
avoid shield tunnels’ excessive deformation, the defor-
mation monitoring of shield tunnels is indispensable
and sometimes the strata between heat-supplying tun-
nel and shield tunnels should be reinforced by grouting
timely.
REFERENCES
Kim, S.H., Burd, H.J., Milligan, G.W.E. 1998. Model test-
ing of closely spaced tunnels in clay. Geotechnique 48(3):
375–388.
Luo, J.J., Zhang, D.L., Wang, M.S., Zhang, C.P. 2007.
Security risk management of neighboring buildings
during metro construction. Rock and Soil Mechanics
28(7): 1477–1482.
Qian, Q.H. 1999. The fourth wave of geotechnology. Under-
ground Space 19(4): 267–272.
Wang, F., Tao, L.J, Zhao, Y. 2009. Numerical simulation of
shield tunnel passing under the existing subway station.
Journal of Jiamusi University (Natural Science Edition)
27(2): 206–209.
Wang, M.S. 2010. An overview of development of rail-
ways, tunnels and underground works in China. Tunnel
Construction 30(4): 351–364.
Yu, X.F., Wang, J. 2008. Research status and thinking of the
interaction of approaching excavation in subway tunnel.
Journal of Beijing University of Civil Engineering and
Architecture 24(3): 30–34.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Stability analysis of stope roof by combined action of anchor cable and

anchor rod

C.H. Li, H.J. Li & Y. Li

Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education of China for High-efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines,
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: According to the characteristics of anchor cable and anchor rod reinforcement for stope roof in
upward horizontal cut and fill stoping method in No.5 orebody of Xincheng gold mine, a three-dimensional
numerical model of stope mining is established with FLAC3D numerical analysis software to simulate the process
of stope mining and anchor cable and anchor rod roof reinforcing. Anchorless scheme and three anchoring
schemes of the roof reinforcing are analyzed respectively. In three anchoring schemes, anchor cable and anchor
rod are distributed by three different regulations in the roof reinforcing. Computation results show that the
scheme 2 (its support net extent is 2.0 × 2.0 m about anchor cable, and 1.5 × 1.5 m about anchor bolt) is the
most. Analyses show that the scheme with interlaced disposal of anchor cable and anchor rod in stope roof is
the best scheme in three reinforcing schemes for both safe and economical, and this scheme is applied to the
practice of reinforcement for the stope roof. Comparisons with the monitored displacements of the reinforced
stope roof confirm the behavior predicted by the reinforcement scheme.

1 INTRODUCTION long anchor cable driven will become short because of

Xincheng gold mine, the main mines of Shandong
gold group Co., LTD, has abundant resources and
large reserves, which made it one of the greatest
underground gold mines in production capacity of
single mine. At present, the main mining orebody of
Xincheng gold mine is No.5 orebody.As most of its ore
rocks are type No.5 orebody, the upward horizontal cut
and fill stoping method was adopted. Stability of No.5
orebody is normal, while part of the mine is fragmen-
tized with fracture development, which bring potential
safety hazard to the mine production. To ensure safety,
with the process of mining, the combined action of
long cables and bolts are adopted to support the roof.
On research of he combined action of long cables and
bolts (Zhang 2006, Xue 2008) researched on anchored
effect of fully cement-imbedded anchor cable and bolt
on weak country rock cavern. Zeng et al. (Zeng 2007)
and Tang et al (Tang 2002) implemented finite element
analysis of rock cutting slope reinforced by combined
action of prestressed anchor cable and anchor bolt.
Gao et al (Gao 2007) and Yang et al (Yang 2008)
researched on the use of the combined action of long
cables and bolts at Jinchuan Mine. Yang et al (Yang
2009), Song & Sun (Song 2005) and Zhu (Zhu 2004)
have combined the action of long cables and bolts at
laneway of coal mine. In the upward horizontal cut
and fill stoping method, long anchor cables and bolts
are used to reinforce stope roof during upward min-
ing, and with the progress of excavation, the length of
being truncated, and at the same time, bolts need to be
supplemented after new layer of orebody being mined.
This is different from support of common tunnel roof,
and few researches were based on this new differ-
ence. Therefore, this paper uses international general
geotechnical engineering analysis software FLAC3D,
to analyze and discuss the combined action of long
cables and bolts reinforcing stope roof in upward hor-
izontal cut and fill stoping method. And the result has
certain guiding sense to engineering operation.
2 PROJECT PROFILE
At present, the main mining orebody of Xincheng gold
mine is No.5 orebody. Stope arranged is vertical to
the orebody trend, and its length is horizontal thick-
ness of the orebody (50–130 m). the width of stope is
8 m, Slice height of stope is 3 m, and its level height
is 50 m, sublevel height is 10 m. As most of its ore
rocks are type No.5 orebody, the upward horizontal cut
and fill stoping method was adopted. Hanging wall of
No.5 orebody is Jiaojia fracture zone. The thickness of
orebody is large, and its average horizontal thickness
is 57 m. Mine rock stability is normal, while part of
the mine is fragmentized with fracture development,
which bring potential safety hazard to the mine pro-
duction. Therefore, long anchor cables and bolts are
used to support stope roof.

301
3 NUMERICAL SIMULATION

3.1 Model construction

According to field distribution of rock masses and
mining structure, numerical calculation model is built
by simplifying treatment. Assuming that all kinds of
rock masses are isotropic continuum, and only ground
stress and gravity action is considered. Seismic wave,
blast waves and groundwater have all been neglected.
The overall dimension of model is 50 × 50 × 50 m, as
shown in Figure 1, and the orebody trend is denoted
by dimension Y. Study area is single stope. The stope
and its peripheral region is divided by fine-mesh,
while these area far from the stope are divided by
coarse-mesh. Model is divided into 28800 units, 31101
nodes.
3.2 Rock mechanics parameters
3.2.1 Rock physical and mechanic parameter
Rock masses mechanic parameters of numerical simu-
lation are listed inTable 1, according to rock mechanics
test of deep rock from Xincheng gold mine, and the
scale effect of rock.
3.2.2 Stress field distribution
Li (Li 2009) introduced linear regression analysis
method to obtain regression equation of maximum
horizontal principal stress, minimum horizontal prin-
cipal stress and vertical principal stress along with
depth. Stress field distribution can be gained with its
equation. Regression results are as follows:
where σh,max = maximum horizontal principal stress;
σh,min = minimum horizontal principal stress; σv =
vertical principal stress; and H = the depth of mea-
suring point.
3.2.3 Strength criterion
Mohr-coulomb strength criterion is selected as the
judgment of material strength. And its mechanical
model is as follows:
where σ1 = the maximun principal stress; σ3 = the
minimun principal stress; c = cohesion; φ = angle of
internal friction. If fs > 0, a shear failure will occur.
When the material is applied by tensile stress, a ten-
sile failure would take place if tension exceeds tensile
strength of the material.
3.3 Long cables and bolts arrangement and
mechanical model
The experiment adopted anchor cable, which is steel
strand of single strand with seven cores, with a diam-
eter of 15.2 mm. The depth of long anchor cable
reinforcing hole is 12 m, and its aperture is 65 mm. The
long anchor cable should be wholly grouted by pure
cement slurry with water cement ratio of 0.45∼0.5,
and the intensity of the grout should be over C20. The
long cable is full-length bonded anchor cable.The bolts
are split-set rock bolts that its length is 1.8 m.
Mechanics parameters of a anchor and grout are
listed in Table 2. And mechanics parameters of a
split-set rock bolt are listed in Table 3. The disposals
of long cables and bolts are as shown in Figure 2.

Table 2. Mechanics parameters of anchor cable and grout.

Basic parameter index Value

Young’s modulus E /GPa 200

Compressive yield strength Fc /MPa 360
Tensile yield strength Ft /MPa 1260
Cable diameter d/mm 15.2
Grout stiffness per unit length kg /GPa 28
Grout cohesion per unit length cg /MPa 120
Grout friction angle φg /◦ 35
Grout exposed perimeter Pg /mm 65
Figure 1. Calculation model.

Table 1. Rock mass parameters in numerical simulation.

Density Elastic modulus Poisson ratio Cohesion Friction angle Tensile strength
Rock mass ρ/(kN/m3 ) E/(GPa) v c/(MPa) φ/(◦ ) σt /(MPa)

Orebody 28.1 10.0 0.21 5.4 54 8.2

Backfill 20.2 1.2 0.28 0.4 40 0.5

302
Table 3. Mechanics parameters of anchor cable and grout.

Basic parameter index Value

Cable diameter d/mm 40

Young’s modulus Eb /GPa 180
Young’s modulus Er /GPa 4
Limit tensile force of rod body /kN 150
Bearing capacity of pallet/kN 125

3.4 The scheme of simulation

Mainly simulated mining region locates at part of
orebody, with fine-mesh of model and within Y = 10–
20 m, which is also corresponding to −630 m level of
No.5 orebody.
Orebody is mined in slices, and the first layer is
5 m. The first batch long cables (12 m) are constructed
when mining completed and backfilled to condign
height. After that, mining is continued and the height
of layer is 3 m. When mining 8 m and backfilling 5 m,
split-set rock bolts are reinforced on roof and both
side of laneway. Of course, with the progress of exca-
vation, the length of long cables driven will become
short because of being truncated. The paper mainly
researches the effect that the combined action of long
anchor cables and bolts support the laneway when the
long cables are first truncated. For that, three different
schemes of the combined action of long anchor cables
and bolts are adopted to study stability of the laneway.

4 SIMULATION RESULTS ANALYSIS

Surface with Y = 15 m was selected as monitoring

surface to study the vertical displacement, the shear
stress and the plastic zone of rock masses with dif-
ferent schemes of the combined action of long anchor
cables and bolts.

4.1 Displacement analysis

According to allowable deformation of roof, the fol-
lowing empirical formula is estimated (Li et al 2006).

where, δ = critical deformation; B = cavern span;

H0 = height of cavern; and Rb = uniaxial saturated
compressive strength of rock.
From Figure 3, the maximum settlement is 9.2 cm
under non-support condition. The vertical displace-
ment of reinforcement scheme is less than that of
non-reinforcement scheme, which indicate that long Figure 2. Three anchoring schemes of the stope.
cables and bolts have fine effect of reinforcement.
The maximum settlement of roof lies in the mid-
4.2 Shearing strength analysis
dle of roof, and the maximum of Scheme 1, Scheme
2 and Scheme 3 are respectively 4.6 cm, 2.1 cm and From Figure 3 the result can be told that, the location
5.8 cm. According to allowable deformation of roof, of the maximum shear stress τxz of the three Schemes
only Scheme 2 meets requirement. is between roof, base plate and unworked wall rock.

303
Figure 3. Z-displacement contrast of roof in roof of stope
with y = 15 m.

The maximum of Scheme 2 is 10 MPa, and it is

less than that of Scheme 1 (14 MPa) and Scheme 3
(15 MPa). These results also support that strengthen-
ing effect in Scheme 2 is better than that in Scheme 1
and Scheme 3.

4.3 Plastic zone analysis

Figure 4 shows that plastic zone of Scheme 2 is less
than that of Scheme 1 and Scheme 3. The above results
show that scheme 2 can control plastic deformation of
roof and meet the request of stability of stope roof.

4.4 Situation of tentative engineering

From the three anchor programs, design units finally
adopted scheme 2 as a project implementation plan
and took a partial adjustment for the design according
to the specific circumstances of the scene. Moni-
toring shown that vertical displacement of roof is
approximately 2 cm after mining the second layer,
Experimental results was a little less than numerical
results. This is because that, on the one hand, moni-
toring begun after the second layer orebody had been
mined, and then rock of roof had produced some dis-
placement. On the other hand, time of Monitoring is
short and whole development of deformation of roof
does not complete.

5 CONCLUSIONS

1. The combined action of long cables and bolts can

improve stress state of stope roof, and restrict settle-
ment and deformation of roof. But different mesh
density determine different effect of reinforce-
ment. Under non-support condition, the maximum
settlement is 9.2 cm. The maximum settlement is
4.6 cm in scheme 1, and that is 2.1 cm in scheme 2, Figure 4. The τxz isogram contrasts of three schemes with
and 5.8 cm in scheme 3. y = 15 m.

304

Figure 5. The plastic zone contrasts of three schemes with
y = 15 m.
2. Different reinforcement schemes have different
effect in plastic zone of wall rock. The plastic zone
of scheme 2 is less than that of scheme 1 and
scheme 3. Different mesh density have different
effect in shear stresses of wall rock. The maxi-
mum of scheme 2 is less than that of scheme 1and
scheme 3.
305
3. Comprehensive comparative analysis, scheme 2
is optimal program of reinforcement. The results
of monitoring on-site shows that scheme 2 is
reasonable and practicable.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper was supported by good friends Mr. Zhang
chao, Mr. Tao Liuqun and Mr. Fan wentao. At the same
time, the work was supported by the National Natu-
ral Science Foundation of China (No.11002021) and
the National Key Basic Research and Development
Program (No.2010CB731501).
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Safety assessment of abandoned stope – Method and practice

J.P. Li
School of Material Science & Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, China
State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

J.P. Guo
School of Material Science & Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, China

ABSTRACT: The disposal of abandoned stope is a difficult technological problem in the mining field in
China. A large abandoned-stope without disposal poses a potential danger of sudden large-scale roof fall. A
regular safety assessment of an abandoned stope is one of the necessary measures to insure safety in production
in underground mines where the open-stopping method is adopted. This paper will deal with the discussion
about the methods used in the safety assessment of abandoned stops and their applications. It includes 3-D
simulation of a large-scaled roof fall, the calculation, the assessment of the pillar distribution, the design, and
the assessment against air shock waves. The 3-D simulation involves some modifications of ANSYS. The plastic
strain variations and tensile fractures are also considered. The new pillar strength theory, the conception of
stress release, and the statistical classification of rock falling are adopted in the methods for assessing the pillar
distribution. Air dynamics of underground mining and crack growth are taken into account in the design against
air shock waves and the assessment. The results shown that it is technologically feasible to evaluate the stability
of abandoned stopes and related engineering environment accurately, simply, efficiently, and quantificationally
with these methods. And the methods have been applied successfully to safety evaluation or safety acceptance
evaluation in gold mines, phosphorite mines, iron mines, plumbum and zinc mines, coal mines, vanadium mines
and strontium mines in China.

1 INTRODUCTION of large scaled roof fall may occur in abandoned-

In accordance with the Chinese Mining Security Pro-
cedures, a regular safety assessment of an abandoned
stope or its disposal is one of the necessary mea-
sures to insure safety in production in underground
mines where the open-stopping method is adopted.
Even the abandoned stope was disposed, the safety
assessment upon completion still must be carried out
to evaluate its effect. Therefore, the safety assessment
of an abandoned-stope is divided into safety assess-
ment before it is disposed and safety assessment upon
completion after it is disposed.
The underground abandoned-stope may bring these
mainly harmfulness: sudden large-scaled roof fall,
local roof fall, and air shock waves resulted by roof
fall. The purpose of the security assessment is to argue
whether aforementioned damages may occur or not.
This paper deals with the discussion about the meth-
ods used in the safety assessment of abandoned-stope
and their applications.
2 SAFETY ASSESSMENT THEORY OF
ABANDONED-STOPE
The main purpose of implementing a security assess-
ment is to estimate whether the underground pressure
stope. If the underground pressure of large scaled roof
fall may not occur, and the pillars are preserved in
abandoned-stope, the rationality of pillars arrange-
ment will be evaluated. Moreover, the main purpose of
implementing the safety assessment upon completion
is to judge the reliability disposing abandoned-stope,
and validate the danger of air shock waves resulted
by the possible risk falling. Therefore, the safety
assessment theory of abandoned-stope includes the
following three aspects.
2.1 The 3-D numerical simulation – to estimate
whether underground pressure of large scale
roof fall may occur
At present, ANSYS is the most powerful commer-
cial software. Its pre-processing can impersonate the
complexity of the surface, underground structure, and
excavation. By killing and changing its elements, the
multi-step mining excavation, top-caving and filling
could be truly simulated. According to requests, it
can be really convenient to draw every step of the
3-D results, and any other section isoline or cloud of
stress and displacement. However, the software can
just calculate every element stress and displacement at
every step, but cannot continue to judge automatically

307

Figure 1. Imitational section and results.
whether these elements may destroy according to the
theory of strength theory of rock-mass (See Figure 1).
In fact, some elements will be demolished, their
plastic condition will appear and their stress will
be again distributed when their stress reaches rock-
mass strength. Thereby, its emulation process is very
different from the process of the actual rock-mass
destruction. In order to compensate for inadequating
the ANSYS software, the special arithmetic operators
of the 3-D elastic-plastic nonlinear finite element has
been devised and has been substituted for the ANSYS
arithmetic operators according to the elastic-plastic
nonlinear finite element. The consummated ANSYS
can not only simulate the multi-step mining exca-
vation, top-caving and filling, but also more truly
emulate faultage, stratum and great cranny, etc. (see
Figure 2) (Li et al. 2005).
On the basis of every step resulted by the improved
ANSYS, it can be judged whether the underground
pressure of large scaled roof fall may occur by virtue of
308
Figure 2. Numerical imitation of plastic zone at multi-step
mining.
observing proportion and scale of the plastic element
in roof and pillar in the step mining excavation.
v-SVR and GA have been applied to inverse deter-
minacy and random primary rock stress. Every pri-
mary rock stress can be fitted and forecast (Yu et al.
2007) in a highly critical way by them. In addition, the
rock mechanics parameter with finite element analysis
can be accurately determined because of the sampling,
the rock mechanics experimentation, the analogy, the
strength reduction technique and the rock mechanical
parameters inversion by moving least square method
are all combined.
2.2 The quantitative analysis pillars distributed – to
evaluate whether pillars arrangement are
dependable
According to stress release effect, beam simply-
supported model, Lunder P J & Pakalnis R C theory,
Terzaghi theory and the engineering geological survey
and statistic of rock falling and crazing are com-
bined in abandoned-stope (Li et al. 2002a, Li et al.
2002b, Li et al. 2005, Lunder & Pakalnis 1997, Zheng
1988), the newest pillar parameteric design and calcu-
lation methods are developed and summarized on the
assumption which the maximal allowance roof span
and the maximal roof tensile stress are researched.
 The load (P) borne by each pillars is:
The maximal allowance roof acclivitous span (Lqy ):
The maximal allowance roof horizontal span (Lsp ):
The equivalent rock thickness (Hp ) of rock load can
be borne by pillar is:
The average shear strength (Ps ) of pillar is:
Friction factor (Ka) of pillar is:
Average strength coefficient (Cp) of pillar is:
Rock load equilibrium equation is:
Where P is the load borne by each pillars, N; Lqy and
Lsp represents pillar space along dip or strike respec-
tively, m; Hf is actual rock-mass overburden, m; γ is
volume weight of rock, N/m3 ; α is the dip angle of
vein, (◦ ); h is thickness of rock beam, it is substitute
for surveyed rock thickness falling and crazing, m;
σ c is tensile strength of rock-mass, MPa; Hp repre-
sents the equivalent rock thickness of rock load can be
borne by pillar, m; A is pillar space (along dip or strike,
whichever larger), m; H is pillar height, m; β load fac-
tor (Zheng, 1988); Ps is the average shear strength of
pillar, MPa; U is shear strength of solid rock sam-
ple, MPa; If the pillar is designed into elliptic form,
a is long axis, b is short axis, a = 1.5b, m; n is safety
factor, n = 1.21.
If h < Hp < Hf , Hp = β(2A + H). Furthermore, if
Hp ≥ Hf , Hp = Hf . In generally, if h ≥ Hp , it isn’t
fit that the open-stopping method is adopted and pillar
is designed.
309
2.3 The danger validation of air shock waves
resulted by the possible risk falling – to
evaluate whether construction weakening air
shock waves are rational
The speed (v) of air shock waves may be impacted by
roof falling in abandoned-stope (Zheng 2008):
where, v is the speed (v) of air shock waves may be
impacted by roof falling, m/s; H stands for the height
difference of falling rocks, m; If the widest possible
range of rock falling is taken as elliptic form, a is long
axis, b is short axis, m; h presents height difference
between rocks surrounding the widest part and the
bottom in abandoned-stope, usually it is taken as the
average section height of the forsaken stope, m; gis
acceleration of gravity, m/s2 ; η is the factor converted,
η = 70% if k = 1.5, η = 100% if k = 1.0.
To ensure safety, in generally, H is taken as
the biggest height difference (Hmax ) of rock falling,
Hmax = N + Lb-min ; N is the section height of the for-
saken stope, i.e. roof height difference, usually is taken
as the biggest roof height difference in Hmax , m; Lb-min
is the grooving depth i.e. the blasthole depth of local
grooving top-caving with controlled explosion, m (Li
et al. 2003, Li et al. 2004, Li et al. 2005); kstands for
the loose coefficient of the rock-mass; St represents the
tensile strength of the rock, whereas in MPa; re is the
circular blast-cave radius, m; z is the sound impedance,
106 kg/(m2 s) (Sun 1985); N of Lb-min should be the
section height of the forsaken stope at the grooving
location, m. Lb−min is as follows:
If local grooving top-caving is not adopted and
rock falling is not easy to roll along the bottom then
the forsaken stope is gradually slanting, so Hmax is
taken as N; moreover, if local grooving top-caving
is not adopted, but the forsaken stope is slantwise or
steep, then rock falling will roll along the bottom in
abandoned-stope. Here, Hmax = N + L, L stands for
crack growth resulted by mining blasting, m. L is as
follow:
The grooving width (W) which is also the width of
accumulation dam blasting loose stones, eliminating
the hidden danger of above air shock waves. Its esti-
mation is as follows (Li et al. 2003, Li et al. 2004, Li
et al. 2005):
where Cis resistance coefficient, and has been proved
by test, usually takes as 1.1∼1.27; ρa is the air den-
sity, kg/m3 ; v is also the airflow velocity which is
resisted and weakened by the accumulation dam,
Table 1. Mechanical parameters of rock-mass in Huangshaping plumbum and zinc mines.

Volume weight Elastic modulus Tensile strength

Medium γ/kN·m−3 E/GPa µ St /MPa C/MPa φ/(◦ )

Dolostone 28.1 22.9 0.33 3.92 9.15 37

Sandstone 26.4 11.4 0.20 6.80 9.80 35
Plumbum and zinc mines 42.1 22.5 0.35 6.40 13.0 32
Limestone 27.4 29.4 0.25 6.67 11.70 31

Table 2. Advising pillar parameters.

Pillar space/m Pillar size#/m Pillar size##/m

Roof falling height
h/m Along strike Along dip b a b a

≤0.5 13 14 5 7.5 3 4.5

1.0 18 19 6.5 10 3.5 5
1.5 22 23 8 12 4 6
≥2.0 25 27 9 13.5 4.5 7
Remark n = 1.21; In order to prevent explosive damage, simple smooth blasting should be applied to
remain pillar, otherwise, a and b will increase 0.5 m∼1.0 m separately; α = 300, other can also
design similarly, # presents H = 15 m, ## stands for H = 4 m (according to the Chinese mining
security procedures).

m/s; f is the friction coefficient of the controlled
blasting muck taken as 0.25; ρr is the controlled
blasting muck density, kg/m3 ; α is the dip angle of
abandoned-stope, (◦ );
The effective cushion thickness (hn ) eliminating
the hidden danger of above the airflow velocity is as
following (LI et al, 2003; Li et al 2004; LI et al 2005):
where hn is effective cushion thickness, m; ln is rough-
ness coefficient, ln = 6.6 × 10−2 dcp, dcp is the aver-
age diameter of rock caved, m; H is the biggest height
difference of rock collapse, in general, H = Hmax , m;
Ln is the potential height of rock collapse, in
general, Ln = L, m; F0 /F is area ratio of rock col-
lapse, Ln ≥ H, get F0 /F = 1; Ln < H, get F0 /F < 1;
L, Lb-min is as before.
3 SAFETY ASSESSMENT EXAMPLE
few of them reach 5 m × 7 m. pillars cracking, collaps-
ing and local roof falling often appear, and the roof
falling height is frequently thicker than 1.0 m∼2.0 m.
In order to estimate whether underground pressure of
large scaled roof fall may occur, ANSYS is applied.
The stress and displacement of the forsaken stope can
be found in Figure 1.
The numerical simulation shows that a small
amount of element tensile stress is closer or bigger
than that of rock-mass (see Figure 1), so underground
pressure of large scaled roof fall may not occur, but
pillars cracking, collapsing and local roof falling may
appear.
According to Formula (1)∼(5), it is also evaluated
whether pillars arrangement are rational. Advising
pillar parameters are seeing Table 2.
It is obvious that pillar span and size are both
irrational. Local pillars cracking, collapsing and roof
falling are ineluctable till pillar span and size are
distributed by Table 2.

3.1 Safety assessment example of abandoned-stope
The height of an abandoned-stope is between −2 m and
305 m, dip 0◦ ∼70◦ , usually dip 15◦ ∼35◦ at the lower,
and its horizontal width is not more than 20 m com-
monly, locally arrives at 80 m. Moreover, Its roof span
is not more than 20 m currently, locally reaches 35 m.
The height of pillars is 10∼15 m. The mechanical
parameters of rock-mass are showed in Table 1.
As roof is not shored, and height of pillars is more
than the order ordained by the Chinese Mining Secu-
rity Procedures. Usually, pillar is 3 m × 4 m, a very
3.2 Safety assessment example upon disposing
abandoned-stope
The vein is about 325 m along strike, 90∼165 m along
incline, the thickness is 14.95∼94.01 m along hor-
izontal, dip 5◦ ∼40◦ , in generally dip 15◦ , between
+31.47 m and −123.59 m in Huangshi strontium
mines. And its average section is 42.19 m in width
along level, it’s dip is between 5◦ and 10◦ in 24∼26
prospecting line. The vein is a lens-form, and it’s
central thickness is larger, between 53.40 m and
−94.01 m.

310
 Large abandoned stopes were formed between
+412 m and +31.47 m. Ground subsidence had
appeared, and that the subsidence depth arrived to 8 m.
Thereby, the abandoned-stope disposed by Huangshi
strontium mines with pillar and roof was exploded.
Commonly, the tunnel obturated by blasting arrived to
5∼7 m long.
The numerical simulation with the improved
ANSYS shows that the ground surface between big
vein and small lode consequentially appears to sub-
side after forming abandoned-stope above +12 m level
(See Figure 2), and the mining is deeper, the ground
subsidence and movement will be larger.
If the widest possible range of rock falling is taken
as elliptic form, a is not more than 325 m, b is not more
than 80 m on the basis of investigating. Thereby, it is
not more than 54.0 m/s that the speed (v) of air shock
waves may be impacted by roof falling.
According to Formula (8), the effective cushion
thickness is not more than 7.26 m, the value is smaller
than subsidence depth (8 m) or caved mining cushion
(11.9 m + L, L = 5.38 m). According to Formula (7),
the width of accumulation dam blasting loose stones is
not more than 4.5 m, it is also smaller than the length
of tunnel operated by blasting (5∼7 m). Therefore, the
abandoned-stope disposal is very useful, and accumu-
lation dam blasting loose stones are rational, it can
resist and weaken the airflow velocity resulted by the
possible risk falling.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The quantificational safety assessment theory of
abandoned-stope includes three aspects, i.e. estimat-
ing the probability of large scaled roof fall, appraising
the reliability of pillars arrangement, and evaluating
the rationality of construction weakening air shock
waves. Above methods and theories can be applied
to assessing all kinds of the forsaken stope. And the
methods have been applied successfully to safety eval-
uation or safety assessment upon completion in gold
mines, phosphorite mines, iron mines, plumbum and
zinc mines, coal mines, vanadium mines and strontium
mines in China.
In estimating the probability of large scaled roof
fall, plastic strain variations, tensile fractures, primary
rock stress inversion by v-SVR and GA and rock
mechanics parameter accurate decision are absorbed
by the improved ANSYS. In appraising the reliability
of pillars distribution, the new pillar strength theory,
the conception of stress release, and the statistical
311
classification of rock falling and cracking, it is really
gratified that they are all adopted by the new design
method. In evaluating the rationality of construction
weakening air shock waves, air dynamics of under-
ground mining and crack growth, we found that they
are all taken into construction assessment.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study is supported by the National Natural
Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of
China(No. 50725931), etc.
REFERENCES
Cheng, Q., Ren, F. & Li, Q. et al. 2002. Study on the Technical
Measures for Controlling the Roof-fall in Mined Area.
Metal Mine, Series No. 316 (10): 7–9 (in Chinese).
Li, J. 2003. Study of the new method disposing gently inclined
abandoned stope and underground pressure control at the s
tope. Beijing: Beijing Institute of Technology (in Chinese).
Li, J. & Chen, H. 2008. Safety Assessment of Abandoned
Stope: Method and Practice. Science and Technology
Review, 26(9): 50–55 (in Chinese).
Li, J., Feng, C. & Li, S. et al. 2002a. Pillar Parameteric
Calculation of Dongtongyu Gold Mine, In: 2002 Inter-
national Symposium on Safety Science and Technology,
Progress in Safety Science and Technology, Beijing/New
York, Science Press, 253–255.
Li, J., Feng, C. & Guo X. et al. 2002b. A Study on Pil-
lar Parameter Calculations. Journal of Beijing Institute
of Technology, 22(5): 662–664 (in Chinese).
Li, J., Feng, C. & Zhou, C. et al. 2004. Study of basic
parameters on local grooving top – caving with con-
trolled explosion. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering, 23(4): 650–656 (in Chinese).
Li, J., Zhou, C. & Feng, C. 2005. Mine rock mechanics:
method and practice disposing gently inclined abandoned
stope. Harbin: Heilongjiang Education Press (in Chinese)
Li. X., Li. J. & Zhou, C. et al. 2005. Comparative study on
numerical simulation and similarity simulation of over-
burden deformation in abandoned stope. Rock and Soil
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Lunder, P.J. & Pakalnis, R.C. 1997. Determination of the
Strength of Hard-rock Mine Pillar. CIM Bulletin, (9):
51–55
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

The upright reliability analysis of large stope cemented backfill

X. Li, Q. Gao & Z.H. Liu

University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

S.Q. Nan
Hebei Iron & Steel Group Mining Co., Ltd. Hebei, China

ABSTRACT: According to the force characteristics of cemented backfill, the cemented backfill stability
mechanical model under tailings was established. According to the cemented backfill stress boundary conditions
of south section −450 m of Sijiaying iron mining, the maximum lateral stress of cement backfill from tailings
is 0.37 Mpa, the maximum shear stress reaches to 1.1 Mpa in the middle of backfill by the side of the tailings;
the overturning safety coefficient of cemented backfill under tailings backfill is 1.13; the safety coefficient of
the backfill compressive strength is 1.05; the upright safety coefficient of cemented backfill is 3.07. At the
same time, the results of physical simulation experiment showed that the overturning of backfill, compressive
strength and upright strength under the ratio 1:10 of cemented backfill can basically satisfy the requirements,
but pieces of backfills were observed to be failed down on the top surface, which produced a security risk. So,
it is necessary to improve the backfill strength.

1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS length. In Lu (1990) opinion, Thomas formula only

With the need for environmental protection and dimin-
ishing mineral resources, by virtue of such merits as
high recovery of resources, little damage to the envi-
ronment and conducive to control the disaster, etc,
filling method was used by more and more mine corpo-
rations. But the biggest problem of this method lies in
high cost, inefficient and complex process. In cutting
and filling mining method, people always expect con-
sume the least amount of cement demand, to reduce the
cost of filling-mining, to maximize economic benefits
as much as possible. In order to ensure the stability and
reduce the cost of stope filling, not only to optimize
the mining sequence was needed, more importantly to
reduce the ratio of cemented material (such as cement,
etc.) and filling aggregate (waste rock, tailings, etc.).
Thereby the cost of filling material can be reduced.
A lot of scholars have concentrated on the deter-
mination of backfills strength. In 1943, Teazrhgi pro-
posed a very famous Terzgahi model; studying of the
retaining material wall of cement filling in stope bot-
tom, Thomas et al (1979) proposed that it should
consider arch effect, and made Thomas the formula;
Micthen, who proposed the filled design formula of
single-sided exposed and three-sides under the con-
straint in 1982; Askwe (1982), amended to Terzgahi
formula to fit filled strength determination of 3D cube
stope. Yang (2000) and Sun (1998) proposed the for-
mula of high water consolidation self-filling strength:
high water model, for the mechanical characteristics
of high water consolidation filled. The model con-
siders the effect of backfill self-strength by exposure
considered the geometry bulk and density of backfill
material, without considering the strength character-
istics of filled material, so he revised the Thomas
formula. Wei & Xie (1998) carried out the stability
study of high stage pillar backfill in Anqing copper
mine. Liu (1999) studied the principle of artificial
filled pilaster. Stope Filling stability study in foreign
is relatively more, such as Australia Mount. Isa mine,
mined depth is near 1000 m, the design filling ratio is
1: (11∼15), the high of self-filling body has reached
to 160∼220 m. The mined depth of Fankou lead-zinc
mine is 400∼500 m, filling height of the vertical expo-
sure is 40 m, the filling ratio is 1: (8∼10); mined depth
of silver-copper deep is about 500 m, filling height of
the vertical exposure is 60 m, designed filling ratio
is 1:(4∼10). Compared with other countries, China
is more conservative to high stage backfill design.
The stope size of Sijiaying southern district designed
is 120×50×100 m; and it is an extra large mining
field and appeared at the first time in our country.
On mining pillar process, as it is the subsequent fill-
ing, lateral exposed area of cemented backfill enlarged,
and stability reduced. So the backfill stability or called
self-filling stability in pillar mining process is the key
of the stope mining normally.
2 ENGINEERING SITUATION
The company of Sijiaying southern district iron mine
planned to build the iron mine with the output is 20

313
 Figure 2. Two-step mining stage stope and pillar subsequent
filling diagram.
Figure 1. Panel, the mine block layout and mining sequence
diagram.

million t/y, and use cutting and filling method in large-

scale, it is the first time in China.
The first mining section is −450 m, and sequence is
from bottom to up, the sequence about the first period
is: −450 m → −350 m → −250 m → −150 m. South-
ern district use subsequent filling method by sequence
sections, which divide the ore body in several pan-
els, the length of each panel is 120 m, room length is
100 m, width of intervening pillar is 20 m; ore block
size: length × width × height = 50 m × 25 m × 100 m,
as shown in Figure 1.
1 and 2 are the first step of cement filling; 3 and 4
are the second step of tailing filling. In initial period,
only rooms and pillars were mined, the intervening
pillar wasn’t mined. The mining design of southern
district is large diameter hole, section empty field and
subsequently filling method.
3 ANALYSE OF FILLING STABILITY THEORY
3.1 The mechanical model of backfill stability
under tailing effect
Room and pillar mining and subsequent filling process
were shown in Figure 2. In subsequent filling phase,
there will be two situations occurred to cement filling
under strength:
1) As the pillar No.7, because pillar No.5 and 9 have
already be mined completed, when mining pillar
No.7, cemented backfill of room No.5 and 7 must
be taken lateral pressure by tailing of pillar No.5
and 9.
2) As pillar No.1, since pillar No. 2 and 3 has not
yet be mined, the other side of cemented backfill
of No.1 and 2 rooms were original rock. There-
fore, there is no lateral pressure of tailing to room
No.1 and 2 in the exploitation process of pillar
No.1. Compared to the two situations, the stabil-
ity of cemented backfill is poor who was taken by
the horizontal pressure from non-cemented filling.
In the study to the self-stability in mining-filling
Figure 3. Model of cemented backfill.
process, establish mechanical model of backfill sta-
bility base on the situation that one side of cemented
backfill was taken by the horizontal pressure from
non-cemented filling, shown in Figure 3.
In Figure 3, one side of cement backfill is pressed
by tailing lateral, the other side is free surface (the fill-
ings are completely exposed). Set the width of cement
backfill is B, height is H, left press is λγgH, top press
is σ0, backfill gravity is ρgH, x axis is the center axis
of backfill, y axis is at the top of cement backfill where
H = 0.
3.2 Cement backfill stress components analysis
after tailing filled
The vertical stress inside the backfill body was mainly
caused by gravity and top press. Horizontal stress
σy was mainly caused by left press of tailing. So,
set σy = xf(y). The Figure 2 shows the tailing-cement
backfill model, the most dangerous situations was con-
sidered, assuming the length of filling body is infinite
along the length direction and the problem can be sim-
plified as plane strain problem. So, the stress function
of model can be expressed as:
where, φ-stress function.

314
 The stress function φ can be obtained through the
integral, as:
The stress components can be obtained through the
stress function
The length unit was taken from the stope length
direction, according to Figure 2, the boundary condi-
tions:
1) Any altitude of x, the vertical force filling is
−B(σ0 + ρgx), (B is the pillar width). According
to Figure 2:
Taken the formula (3) into the boundary conditions:
For any value of x is meet the formula (6), the
coefficient of x must be zero. The equation of B’, F
and H’, the equations were solved and get: B’= 0,
H’= −ρg/2, F = −σ0/2
2) On the top of cemented backfill there is
(σx)x = 0 = −σ0, the formula (3) was taken into
the boundary conditions and get 6Ey + 2F = −σ0,
for any y value is meet the boundary condition, so
E = 0, F = −σ0/2.
3) On the free surface, there is (σy)y = −B/2 = 0, the
formula (4) was taken into the boundary conditions
and get:
4) On one side between cement backfill and tail-
ing, the lateral pressure of tailing is: −λγgx2/2,
according to Figure (4), and get:
Taken the formula (4) into the boundary condi-
tions, get:
315
5) On the free surface, there is (τxy)y = −B/2 = 0,
taken the formula (5) into the boundary conditions,
get:
For any value of x is meeting the formula (9), so
get:
6) On the top of cemented backfill there is:
Taken the formula (5) into it and get:
From formulas (1), (2), (10), (11) and (12), the equa-
tions of A, C, D, G, K can be obtained. Solution of
equations, get:
A=2λγg/B3 , C=-3λγg/ (2B), D=λγg/2,
G=λγg/(10B)-ρg/B, K=Bρg/4-Bλγg/80.
Then the steps (1) and (2) have gotten: B = 0, E = 0,
F = −σ0/2, H = −ρcg/2, taken them into the compo-
nent formulas (3) to (5), the tailing and cement backfill
stress components as follows:
The formula (13) showed that the vertical stress of
filling is proportional to its weight and with the rel-
ativity to σ0. Under the situation of not roof-contact
by filling, σ0 = 0. Under the situation of roof-contact
by backfill, σ0 is the original stress after the trans-
fer the role of filling the top of the stress. Formulas
(14) and (15) showed that the lateral stress and shear
stress on filling are unrelated to σ0. According to for-
mula (14), taking cemented backfill tailings density
ρ = 1.82 g/cm3 , and tailings non-cemented backfill
density ρ = 1.63 g/cm3 , coefficient of lateral pressure
is 0.2286, when the width of filling body is 25 m and
the exposed length are 80 m, 100 m, 120 m, the lateral
stress along the width direction distribution at the bot-
tom of filling is shown in Figure 4. At the left side,

Figure 4. The bottom side stress distribution of a different
backfill height.
Figure 5. The bottom shear stress distribution of a different
backfill height.
y = −12.5 m, it is the cement filling exposed side. At
the right side, y = 12.5 m, it is the contacts between
cement filling and non-cemented backfill tailings. Fig-
ure 4 shows that in the exposed side of the cemented
backfill, tailings lateral stress is zero. The maximum
lateral stress of the cement filling appeared at the con-
tact with non-cemented backfill tailings side. For the
filling height of 100 m, the maximum compressive
stress of bottom side is −0.37 MPa.
According to formula (15), the same mechanical
parameters were taken with above calculate, when the
width of tailing backfill is 20 m and the exposed height
is 80 m, 100 m, 120 m, the shear stress along the width
direction (y axis) of cement filling distribution was
shown in Figure 5, which shows that the shear stress is
zero at the lateral of cemented tailings exposed and the
shear stress reach maximum in the middle of cemented
tailings by the end of non-cemented side, then shear
stress gradually decreased, the shape of curve is related
316
to stope height. Follow the height of cement filling
exposed increase, the maximum of shear stress occur
inside will bigger. At 100 m section, the maximum
of shear stress reaches 1.1 MPa. At one side of non-
cement tailing, shear stress of cemented backfill tends
to suffer a certain value, which is due to tailings back-
fill during deformation contact non-cement tailing and
generate friction.
3.3 Performance function and stability analysis of
cemented backfill
The analysis calculations and determined of cement
filling pillar stability and reliability consists of two
aspects: resist overturning conditions of cement fill-
ing pillar and strength conditions of cement fill-
ing pillar. Therefore, the function under limit state
should be established and stability judgments should
be made.
1) The limit state function of resist overturning con-
ditions
The lateral stress from adjacent mining area or
filling body to cement filling pillar is the over-
turning stress, the gravity and uniformly distributed
stress on the top of pillars cement filling is resist
overturning stress. According to rock mechanics
theoretic:
Torque of overturning:
Torque of resist overturning:
So, the limit state function of resist overturning
conditions can be established as:
According to stability analysis: when Z > 0, it
indicates that cement filling pillar is stable under
lateral stress from adjacent mining area or fill-
ing body and it will not overturn; when Z < 0, it
indicates that the lateral stress from adjacent min-
ing area or filling body to cement filling pillar is
greater than capacity of limit resistance overturn-
ing to filling, and the backfill will lose stability and
overturning.
For example, the filling ratio is 1:8, B = 25,
H = 100, density of cement tailing is ρ = 1.82 t/m3 ,
density of non-cement tailing is 1.63 g/cm3 , coeffi-
cient of lateral pressure is 0.2286, σ = 00.35 MPa,
substituting into equation (18) and calculated that:
Z1 = 80.465 MN·m.
So, Z1 > 0, which shows that the height is 100 m,
width is 25 m, the cement filling in 1:8 will does
not overturn. The safety factor = MR/MS = 1.13.
2) Function under limit state of strength conditions
The gravity and the external loading stress of
cemented filling pillar are destructive, resistive
 stress is uniaxial limit compressive strength to the
cemented filling, the following function under limit
state of strength condition can be established:
Stability analysis: when Z2 > 0, it is shown that the
cement filling pillar will not break and remain stable
under the effect of self-gravity and external loading
stress; when Z2 < 0, it is shown that the stress of filling
is greater than its limit compressive strength and the
cement filling pillar will break and instability under
the effect of self-gravity and external loading stress.
According to the above two judgment rules of sta-
bility, with reference to actual mining situation of
Sijiaying iron ore, the above parameters was taken into
the formula and calculation that:
Filling ratio is 1:8 to the compressive strength of
pillar and σc = 2.25 MPa, the vertical stress of pillar is
2.1386 MPa; safety factor of filling is 1.05.
3.4 Required self-stability strength
If the filling keeps upright in process of filling-mining,
it must meet certain intensity conditions, filling can
keep upright only after certain strength, and it will not
cross off. When the filling was looked as an upright
artificial pillar, the height and strength of filling can be
seen as a major contradiction. For the upright strength
of filling, different scholars have proposed different
methods of calculation, as follows:
1) Thomas calculation
Thomas (1979) considered the friction exist
between cement filling and surrounding rock wall,
the arching effect was generated in the filling
internal, the vertical stress at the filling bottom
σcv is:
where, ρ-bulk density of cement filling, g- acceler-
ation of gravity, hc-filling height, Lc-filling length.
The formula only considered the geometry and
bulk density of filling, without considering the
characteristics of filling body’s upright strength.
2) Amendatory calculation method by Lu Ping
Thomas model does not consider the character-
istics of filling body’s upright strength, Lu (1987)
proposed the amendatory formula:
where, k-coefficient of lateral stress,
◦
k = 1 − sin ϕc ;
α-slump angle of filling, α = 45 + ϕ/2; C, φ-bond
317
Table 1. The self-reliance strength results of different ratio.
Required strength of
Calculation method filling upright / Mpa
Thomas calculation 0.5945
Amendatory Thomas calculation 0.0739
Terzaghi calculation 0.2041
Askew, McCarthy calculation 0.7311
Range 0.0739∼0.7311
strength and internal friction angle of surrounding
rock; Cc , ϕc - bond stress and internal friction angle
of cement filling.
3) Terzaghi calculation
Terzaghi proposed a settlement with the sink
sand body used to analyze the stress distribution in
1943. As the structural characteristics and physical
mechanical of cement filling material is very close
to the consolidated soil, so the method was com-
monly used to analyze the stress distribution and
as a theoretical basis of strength design required to
the cemented filling in stope. Based on the analysis
method, the vertical stress of the filling roof is:
Where,
where, σcv -vertical stress of cement filling bottom;
Lc , Bc -length and width of cement filling; γc -bulk
density of filling; hc -filling height. Cc , ϕc -bond
stress and internal friction angle of cement filling;
k-coefficient of lateral stress, k = 1 − sin ϕc .
4) Askew and McCarthy calculation
The internal vertical stress σcv was taken by
Askew E J and McCarthy P L:
where: Lc , Bc - length and width of cement filling;
Cc , φc - bond stress and internal friction angle of
cement filling.
Based on the experience formula of upright strength
of filling body, taking the design mining size of
Sijiaying iron ore and parameters into formula, set-
ting filling ratio is 1:8, height of cement filling
pillar is 100 m, width is 25 m, the required upright
strength of filling body was seen in Table 1. It can
be seen that there are some differences in required
strength of cement filling pillar with different meth-
ods. When filling ratio is 1:8, cement filling keeping
upright stability, its upright intensity must be between
0.0739∼0.7311 MPa. In order to ensure the stability
of pillar mining and filling, considering the impact of
blasting on the filling in mining process, the design
safety factor of filling strength was designed as 2.0.
The filling strength value was calculated of Sijiay-
ing iron ore in mining should be 0.14∼1.46 MPa. The
compressive strength of 1:8 cement filling is about
2.25 MPa, therefore, the stress on filling does not
exceed the strength of filling material itself in mining
process, filling body was stable in the mining process.

3.5 Calculation to limit exposure height of filling

body
Most mine commonly used experience analogy
method to determine the unstable situation of filling.
To ensure the self-stability of filling, most of mine is Figure 6. Material distribution of model.
to reduce the exposure area of filling and improve the
strength of cement backfill, which have no adequate
theoretical and practical data to evaluate the stability Table 2. The use of similar material and the ratio number
of filling. Now the upright height of filling would be of simulation experiment.
discussed with South African formula.
Ratio of similar materials
Rock type Ratio No. (quality)

Quaternary 973+3% Sand: Calcium carbonate:

gypsum: sawdust
Weathering zone 973 Sand: Calcium carbonate:
where, α-the vertical acceleration, the sum of grav- gypsum
ity acceleration g and vertical component of blasting Ore 965 Sand: cement: gypsum
or shake acceleration; ρ-bulk density of filling, t/m3 ; Backfill 355 Sand: Calcium carbonate:
◦
F-safety factor, 1.2; β-slip angle, 80 . gypsum
According to mechanical parameters of filling
materials in Sijiaying (cement-sand ratio is 1:8),
upright height is 105.9 m, compressive strength of fill-
ing material is 2.25 MPa which the cement-sand ratio
is 1:8, it can meet the allowed height of lateral fill-
ing requirements exposed in mining method. At the
same time, it is indicating that the upright of filling
body is better in current, and a large area exposed of
filling stability to guarantee the second-step recovery
mining-filling requirements.

4 PHYSICAL MODEL TEST OF BACKFILL

STABILITY

Based on mining conditions of Sijiaying iron ore and

the experience of filling stability at home and broad ,
the cement filling ratio was designed to 1:10 in feasi-
bility study, and to verify the reliability of the designed
ratio further, so the model test was designed as follows.
4.1 Model design
The framework type of this model test is deadweight
and the size is 5000 mm × 300 mm × 3000 mm.
According to similarity criterion, the similarity param-
eters between model and prototype are defined: geo-
metric similarity constant CL = 1:170; bulk simi-
larity constant Cγ = 0.6:1; stress similarity constant
Cσ = 1:285. The material distribution of model test
was shown in Figure 6.
The use of similar material and the ratio number of
simulation experiment was shown in table 2. The main
Figure 7. The Southern District physical test model.
instrument of model tests: AQ8603 distributed fibre-
optical strain instrument made byYokogawa Company
in Japan; displacement, pressure box, data acquisition
instrument. The arrangements of physical test model
and test equipment were shown in Figure 7.
4.2 Simulation process
The size of each room in model test is 300 mm ×
150 mm × 600 mm and with diagonal mining method,
it was shown in Figure 8. In order to reflect the true sta-
bility of filling-mining process better, the simulation
mining sequence was used as same as the real situ-
ation. The first step is mining room that formed the
1,2-stope mining room, the first –step room was filled

318
Figure 8. The tailings filling the stope 3,4 diagram.
Figure 9. The second-step recovery from the stability of
backfill.
by cement filling material, the second –step is to mine
pillar ,and then backfilled with tailings. Phenomena
and deformation observed were taken before and after
tailing filling.
4.3 Simulation results and analysis
When listing facts use either the style tag List signs or
the style tag List numbers.
Based on physical model tests with intuitive phe-
nomenon, it can be found that: although the large stope
ore recovery room formed after the first step, but for
−450 m stope section, rooms located in the stabile ore
body, therefore, the caving and deformation problem
did not appeared in its large room of stope, the par-
tial deformation only appeared in the roof. But when
the rooms was filled by 1:10 cement backfill at the
first step and mining pillar at the second step, with the
increasing of exposed filling area, the stability of fill-
ing body deteriorated; especially when mining close to
the roof, the caving phenomenon occurred at the both
sides of filling body, it is shown in Figure 9.
In the second step of simulating room mining, it
is observed that there are some piece falling on the
top of backfill exposed surfaces, the maximum falling
length in vertical is 150 mm, the maximum falling
length in width is 100 mm, the maximum falling length
in depth is 80 mm and the maximum falling area is
12 × 105 mm3 , falling volume is 4.4% of single stope
filling volume. The rock movement crack was also
319
Figure 10. Physical simulation experiment instance of the
tailings filling the stope 3.4.
appearance at the surface of model. These macro-
phenomena describe that: at the first step of mining
−450 m section, the overall stability of the stope is
well. But the cement backfill at second-step does
not meet the upright conditions, so the strength of
cemented backfill should be increased appropriately
to ensure the stability of backfill. Meanwhile, the dis-
placement of surface phenomena have been obvious
that, even if exploited the −450 m section ore bodies,
but also has affected the deformation of the surface
layers.
The tailings are non-cemented granular material,
therefore, the shield board will be used to protect dur-
ing filling process with tailings. When removing the
shield board, the granular tailings immediately col-
lapse out and it is shown in Figure 10. From the
results of physical simulation, there is no overturning
occurred to cement backfill. In mining process, the
stress on backfill does not exceed the intensity itself,
backfill was stable in mining process. In the second
step of mining rooms and filling with tailings, whole
backfill was stable.The fall of the backfill piece impact
safety. The stability of backfill has some problems dur-
ing the second step of mining, so it is necessary to
improve the backfill strength to avoid backfill does
not meet the requirements of it upright.
5 CONCLUSION
As the exposed lateral area of cement backfill grad-
ually expanded at mining pillar process, tailings also
have lateral effects, the stability of cemented backfill
it the key of the large stope normally mining whether
or not. From analyse of several aspects of backfill such
as stress maximum, overturning resistance, resistance
compressive strength, limit upright height and inde-
pendent strength, so the following conclusions can be
obtained:
1. The maximum stress of cemented backfill: The
maximum stress of tailings to the lateral of
cemented backfill has reached 0.37 MPa. In the
 middle of cemented backfill by the side of tailings,
the maximum shear stress reached 1.1 MPa.
2. The overturning resistance of cement backfill: The
ratio of cement and sand is 1:8, the width of room
is 25 m, the section height is 100 m, density of
cement tailings is ρ = 1.82t/m3 , and safety factor
of cement backfill resistance overturning is 1.13.
3. Resistance stress capability of cemented backfill:
The ratio of cement and sand is 1:8, resistance stress
of pillar σc = 2.25 MPa, the vertical stress of pillar
is 2.1386 MPa, and safety factor of pillar resistance
overturning is 1.05.
4. Upright analysis of cemented backfill: It is con-
sidered that the ratio of cement and sand is 1:8,
the height of cemented backfill is 100 m, width is
25 m, and upright stress is between 0.0739 MPa and
0.7311MPa. The resistance stress of 1:8 cemented
backfill is about 2.25 MPa. So the safety factor of
upright of cemented backfill is 1.05.
5. The ratio of cement and sand is 1:8; the safety factor
is 1.2, so the limit of upright height is 105.9 m.
6. Experimental results show that: when the backfill
ratio is 1:10, the resistance overturning, resistance
stress and upright strength of backfill can meet the
requirements basically. But it is observed that: both
sides top of backfill exposed surfaces are partly
falling, it is a security risk to production. According
to theoretical analysis of backfill, the backfill ratio
1:8 is more appropriate.
320
REFERENCES
Baldwin, G & Grice, A.G. 2000. Engineering the New
Olympic Dam backfill system. Proceedings Massmin:
705–711.
Cai, S.J. 1994. Mechanical basis of mine filling. Beijing:
Metallurgy Industry Press.
Gou, A.G, Zhang, H.X. 2005. Current Situation and Devel-
opment of China filling mining. Mine Surveying, No.1:
60–62.
Liu, S.W. 1999. Mechanism of Artificial Wall & Pillar and
Research into its Available Intensity. Hunan Nonferrous
Metals 15(6): 34–36.
Liu, Y.T., et al. 1994. Filling mining technology and applica-
tion. Beijing: Metallurgy Industry Press.
Liu, Y.T. 2002. Present status and development future of
backfill technology in Chinese non-ferrous metal mineral
mines. China Mining Magazine 11(1): 28–34.
Lu, P. 1990. The strength design of Cement backfill pillar.
Jiangxi Nonferrous Metals (2): 48–53.
Sun, H.H, Liu, W.Y., et al. 1998. High water consolidation
filling mining. China Building Industry Press.
Terzaghi, K. & Peek, R.B. 1967. Soil mechanics in engineer-
ing practice. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Tezraghi. 1943. KVTheoretical soil mechanics. John Wiley
and Sons. Inc, New York.
Yang, B.G., Sun, H.H., Zhuang, B.H. 2000. Self-reliance
of high water consolidation backfill. Nonferrous Metals
52(2): 7–10.
Wei, M., Xie,Y. 1998. Study on stability of backfill body dur-
ing high level pillar recovering. Nonferrous Metals 50(1):
1–4.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Effect of water pressure on deformation of roadway surrounding rock

based on solid-liquid coupling theory

S.J. Liang
CREE of Shandong University of Science and Technology
Key Laboratory of Mine Disaster Prevention and Control Qingdao, Shandong, China

ABSTRACT: Solid-liquid coupling analysis on stability of roadway surrounding rock has been made through
the calculating model built by solid-liquid mode of the 3D Finite Difference software FLAC3D, considering water
case and waterless case. The effects have been obtained from the researches, covering different water pressure
on stress distribution, surrounding displacement and plastic area of roadway surrounding rock; the differences
have been acquired, concerning with stress distribution, surrounding displacement and plastic area of roadway
surrounding rock under the condition with water pressure and without water pressure. There is certain a function
relationship between stress, displacement of roadway surrounding rock and water pressure. The conclusions play
a certain theoretical guiding role in improving the stability of roadway surrounding rock in water-rich areas.

1 INSTRUCTION 2 NUMERICAL SOLUTION OF SOLID-LIQUID

Roadway is the underground construction, and its poor
geological environments, such as groundwater, high
ground stress, geothermy, gas tec., have a major impact
on the construction and operation of roadway. Then
influences of water on roadway stability include two
aspects: firstly, groundwater can lead to surround-
ing rock strength decreasing; Secondly, redistribution
stress field by roadway excavation changes the distri-
bution of ground stress field and groundwater seepage
field of original formation, and form damage disturbed
zone for unloading around roadway surrounding rock,
resulting in increased permeability as well as role of
seepage pressure, and increased water pressure will
perform significant impacts on surrounding rock as
well as support bearing properties, which is increas-
ing the deformation as well as deformation velocity
of surrounding rock. Analysis of roadway surround-
ing rock deformation under the action of stress field
as well as seepage field is of great significance.
Currently, methods on analysis of seepage field
are various, including theoretical analytic methods,
numerical analysis and graphical methods. Numeri-
cal methods include finite element method and dif-
ferential method. Finite difference method, with its
unique advantages, has already been applied in the
practical projects. Therefore, this paper, adopting the
solid-liquid coupling model in FLAC3D, made some
researches on the deformation of roadway surrounding
rock under different water pressure.
COUPLING IN FLAC3D[7]
Rock mass as a porous medium, fluid flow in porous
medium based on Darcy’s law meeting the Biot equa-
tions simultaneously.
2.1 Finite difference approximation of spatial
derivatives
According to convention, tetrahedral nodes are
described by n = 1, 4; Face n corresponds to node n;
superscript (f ) corresponds to the surface related to
the effective value of face f .
where [n](l) denotes unit normal vector of face l; S
denotes surface area of face l; V denotes the volume
of tetrahedron.
In order to improve the accuracy of numerical, sub-
stitute xi − xi1 for xi of Equation (1), where xi1 denotes
the corresponding central coordinate. This alternative
would not affect the gradient of potential head of
hydraulic pressure at all, but will increase the effec-
tive precision of calculation model. Derivation can be
drawn as:

321
where

Equation (9) is the balance equation in nodal form

p∗l denotes node component.
at node n, and the right part of the equation denotes
unbalanced flow,

including two parts: unbalanced fluid
2.2 Using node equation to describe mass balance flow QnT + Qnapp and unbalanced thermodynam-

n
equation ics flow Qthm . When not using coupling pattern,
Mass balance equation can be described as the nodal unbalanced flow and pore pressure are only
affected by the deformation caused by the changes of
forces and heat; when using coupling pattern, the inter-
action occurs between both changes, i.e. the changes
of pore pressure affect the deformation, and the defor-
where mation also affects the pore pressure, and unbalanced
flow as well.
In FLAC3D, the Biot modulus is one kind of nodal
property, and can be obtained by

b∗ is the approximate value of instantaneous body

forces ρbi . With a view to a single tetrahedron, Node
flow may be drawn by analogy as

Substitute equation (9) into equation (11), we

can get

where

     
Mn
V n
V n
where pnv = − αε − βT
Vn 4 4

2.3 Explicit finite-difference calculation

In general, the balance equation can be built in node
form as needed. The sum of flow −Qne from tetrahe-
dron to node and additional edge load flow Qnw shared
with node should be zero.
The contribution of zone to node is expressed by
superscript pointing to each global node in order to
where [C] is the global matrix; [p∗ ] is the global vector
of nodal pressure heads.
Form the above discussion, we can draw:
formulation
In the calculation of explicit equation, nodal p − pv
can be assumed to be a changeable linear relationship
over a time interval t. Generally, the derivative on
the left of Equation (13) can be denoted by finite-
difference method and the unbalanced flow at time
t may also be estimated by this method. The nodal
pore pressure is updated gradually with the increase
of timestep from the initial pore pressure. As the pore
pressure is not fixed, it can be expressed as follows:
where

Substitute Equation (4) and qv∗ = qv − α ∂ε

∂t
+ β ∂T
∂t
into equation (8) to deduce

where
The numerical stability denoted explicitly can be
achieved, when the timestep reaches to a certain
conventional critical value.

322
2.4 Mechanical timestep and numerical stability
In FLAC3D, the existence of fluid may increase the
bulk modulus of current medium, and the bulk modu-
lus may affect the nodal quality expressed by density
scaling form on the contrary. An upper modulus of cur-
rent medium can be obtained considering the mechan-
ical conditions ∂ξ
∂t
= 0 and ∂T
∂t
= 0 with undrained pore.
Thus, a nodal pore pressure can be derived from
constitution equation of fluid ∂ξ
∂t
= M1 ∂p
∂t
+ α ∂ε
∂t
− β ∂T
∂t
.

Figure 1. Three dimensional grid.

A constitution equation of stress and strain within

a timestep takes the following incremental form of
elastic law.

Substitute Equation (16) into Equation (15) to get:

Figure 2. Vertical Stress under Waterless Case.

geologic structure and groundwater. Original stress is

In order to analysis the numerical stability in solid-
liquid coupling calculation, The secant value of bulk
modulus in current drained medium K + α2 M is sub-
stituted by K in order to the calculation of nodal quality
of tetrahedron. In FLAC3D, the dry density of medium
ρd is designated in advance; the saturated density is
according to the equation ρ = ρd + nρf calculated by
the designated fluid density ρf and porosity of medium
n; body forces is adjusted by Cauchy law of motion.
2.5 Overall stress correction
In FLAC3D, nodal pore pressure is calculated firstly,
and then elemental pore pressure is derived from
the average bulk of tetrahedron through weighting
method. In this calculation, the total stress is divided
into two parts: one is flow correction σij , and the
f
other is thermal-mechanical coupling correction σijth .
The equations are as follows:
geodesic static stress and soil layers are continuous
conformable contact medium. In order to remove the
influence of borders, the geometric size of the Model
is 100 meters in the X direction, 100 meters in the Y
direction and 60 meters in the Z direction. The X and
Z directions of the model are both applied horizontal
restricts, and the bottom boundary is applied verti-
cal and horizontal restricts. The model is divided into
22640 units and 24345 nodes. The calculating range
and grid generation are represented in Figure 1.
3.2 Simulation
When confined water is in the calculating model, the
solid-liquid coupling mode is adopted. After static cal-
culation reaches to be stable, coupling calculation is
followed to considering the impact of confined water.
The process of tunnel excavation is simulated by the
concept of null element in FLAD3D, and the comput-
ing plans include water and waterless cases. And water
pressure is separately 1 MPa, 2 MPa, 3 MPa and 4 MPa
in the former case.

3.3 Analysis of Results

Overlines denote the average value of the corre-
sponding parameters.
3 SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS
3.1 Flac3D Model
The project adopts the deep laneway of a coalmine. The
FLAC3D Model is constructed neglecting the effect of
1) Stress
This paper only gives the vertical stress distribu-
tions under the condition of water and waterless cases,
shown through Figure 2 to Figure 6.
Whether there is water, stress distributions are the
same: the maximum tensile stress is at the bottom
arch of roadway; the maximum compressive stress is
around the base angles of roadway sides. The maxi-
mum tensile stress increased form 0.222 MPa without
seepage consideration case to 0.346 MPa with seep-
age consideration case. With seepage consideration

323
 Figure 7. Waterless Vertical Displacement.
Figure 3. Vertical Stress under 1 MPa Water Pressure.

Figure 8. Vertical Displacement under 1 MPa Water

Pressure.
Figure 4. Vertical Stress under 2 MPa Water Pressure.

Figure 9. Vertical Displacement under 2 MPa Water

Pressure.
Figure 5. Vertical Stress under 3 MPa Water Pressure.

Figure 10. Vertical Displacement under 3 MPa Water

Pressure.
Figure 6. Vertical Stress under 4 MPa Water Pressure.

case, when the water pressure increases from 1 MPa

to 4 MPa, the corresponding maximum tensile stress
increases from 0.346 MPa to 0.771 MPa. Therefore,
there is a certain influence of seepage on stress, and
the exponential function relationship exists between
seepage and water pressure. And stress distribution
is impacted by the seepage of water, so the presence
of pore water pressure has some impact on roadway Figure 11. Vertical Displacement under 4 MPa Water
stability. Pressure.
2) Displacement
The vertical displacement distributions are shown in Comparing the seepage consideration and no
Figure 7 to Figure 11 under the condition of water and seepage consideration cases, the top subsidence dis-
waterless case. Whether there is water, the maximum placement increases 1.45 mm, and the bottom ascent
displacements are all at the top and bottom of roadway. displacement increases 0.02 mm, so the influence of

324
Figure 12. Waterless Plastic Zone.
Figure 13. Plastic Zone under 1 MPa Water Pressure.
Figure 14. Plastic Zone under 2 MPa Water Pressure.
Figure 15. Plastic Zone under 3 MPa Water Pressure.
water on the top is larger than that on the bottom.
Considering the water pressure increasing from 1 MPa
to 4 MPa, the increased subsidence displacement at
the top increases from 1.45 mm to 1.55 mm, and the
increased ascent displacement at the bottom increased
from 0.02 mm to 0.48 mm. From the overall trend,
therefore, the displacements with seepage considera-
tion are all larger than that from elastic-plastic analysis,
and the displacement increment increases with water
pressure consideration.
3) Plastic Zone
The distributions of plastic zone around the road-
way are shown in Figure 12–Figure 16 after stable
325
Figure 16. Plastic Zone under 4 MPa Water Pressure.
convergence of the calculating results, considering
solid-liquid coupling effect. The figures show that the
plastic zones are mainly at the bottom, top and the
base angles of roadway sides. The depth and degree
of plastic zones are increasing with water pressure.
The corresponding failure depth of roadway bottom
is 4.2 m considering 4 MPa water pressure. While the
plastic zone from elastic-plastic analysis is only 2.5 m.
Therefore, seepage has much negative effect on the
stress distribution of roadway surrounding rock, as
well as the overall stability of the roadway.
4 CONCLUSION
The differences of roadway surrounding rock defor-
mation are relatively large considering water case and
waterless case, so it’s necessary to take seepage into
stability analysis. From the calculating results, in water
case, the maximum tensile stress, maximum displace-
ment and plastic zone of roadway is larger than those of
roadway in waterless case, what’s more, the maximum
tensile stress, the maximum displacement and plas-
tic zone are increasing with water pressure in water
case. However, due to difficult solid-liquid coupling
analysis and long computing time, in the practical
project, the elastic-plastic analysis is adopted within
a relatively large region firstly, solid-liquid coupling
analysis is then adopted in local section, in order
to make reasonable judgment considering the most
unfavorable factors.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported in part by the Shandong Uni-
versity of Science and Technology and Key Laboratory
of Mine Disaster Prevention.
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continua in 3 dimensions. MN, USA: Itasca Consulting
Group, Minneapolis.
Li, S.C. & Li, S.C. 2004. Analysis of fluid-solid coupling
for slope stability of cofferdam in water. Rock and Soil
Mechanics. 25(1):82–86.
Li, T.C. & Li, S.C. 2004. Coupled fluid-mechanical analysis
of Xiamen subsea tunnel. Chinese Journal of Geotechni-
cal Engineering. 26(3):397–401.
326
Liu, J.G., Zhu, G.Y. & Guo, X.H. 2006. Coupled fluid-
mechanical numerical simulation on water inflow capacity
in Xiamen subsea tunnel during construction. Modern
Tunneling Technology. 43(2):34–37.
Zhang, Y.J. 2009. Numerical simulation on forecasting water
inflow and characteristic of overburden failure based
on fluid-solid coupling theory. Journal of China Coal
Society. 34(5):610–613.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Simulation on influence of different loading rates on Jinping marble

in uniaxial compression test by PFC2D

N. Liu & C.S. Zhang

HydroChina Huadong Engineering Corporation, Hangzhou, China

ABSTRACT: Rock mechanical behaviors will be changed when the loading rates is different. The loading rate
is treated as an initial influence on rock mechanical parameters. Considering the complex inner structure, the
dynamical response is more uncertain. The uniaxial compression tests have been finished on Jinping marble,
and the tests results can be used to confirm the micro-parameters of particle flow code (PFC). The numerical
simulation is coincidence well with the uniaxial compression test. Then based on the numerical result, the
numerical tests of uniaixal compression are designed by different loading rates. The rock failure process, crack
propagation, the relation between stress and strain and the energy are studied by PFC. The results show that the
rock mechanical behavior can be simulated well by PFC and the failure model and the crack number are affected
by the loading rates.

1 INTRODUCTION

The loading rate is a change variable parameter in

compression test. The loading rate changes with dif-
ferent engineering. The mechanics behavior of rock is
influenced by different loading mode. The analysis on
mechanics behavior of rock by different loading rates
is treated as the essential and key research content.
There is no unitized standard about loading rate. There
are several control standards, including time, load, and
displacement. Different loading rates will affect the
dynamical mechanics response. In order to check the
loading rate influence, designed four group numerical
simulations on loading rate of uniaxial compression
test. The coherent micro-parameters are confirmed
by test.

2 GETTING STARTED Figure 1. Particle assembly for compression test.

The most basic mechanical properties of rock are those

that are determined in the laboratory by standard test-
ing methods, such as the compressive strength, tensile
strength, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, friction
angle, etc. As the rock mass is comprised of intact
rock and discontinuities the accurate capture of intact
rock properties becomes critical and the first priority
is creating a rock mass that truly represents the reality.
A PFC2D representation of a cylindrical intact rock
sample is a rectangular assembly of particles with
specified statistical size distributions and bounded
with four rigid walls. These particles are generated
with an automatic particle generator with their radii
being distributed either uniformly or according to
a Gaussian distribution. Once the bond is installed
into the neighboring particles, the overall mechanical
behavior of the assembly is dominated by the micro-
properties for particles and bond. As was described
in detail by Itasca (2008), the standard process of
generating a PFC2D assembly to represent a biaxial
test model of a cylindrical rock sample involves the
following steps: particle generation, packing the parti-
cles, isotropic stress installation (stress initialization),
floating particle (floater) elimination and bond instal-
lation (Potyondy & Cundall 1998, 2004, 2006; Lau &
Chandler 2004).
Using the micro-properties and the standard proce-
dures, a PFC particle assembly was created as shown
in Figure 1. In simulating the compression test of a
cylindrical sample, this PFC particle assembly was
loaded axially by moving the top and bottom walls

327

Figure 2. Comparison of Hoek-Brown curve by compres-
sion and numerical results by PFC.
Figure 3. The influence of loading rates on failure model.
towards each other at the same velocity while the two
side servo-controlled walls were used to apply confin-
ing pressure (Cundall & Potyondy 1996£¬ Martin &
Chandler 1994). Under different confining pressure,
a set of biaxial compression tests was carried out on
this particle assembly with the associated hoek-brown
presented in Figure 2.
3 INFLUENCE OF LOADING RATE
3.1 Influence on failure mode
The uniaxial compression tests are simulated by
PFC2D at loading rates of 0.0005, 0.001, 0.005,
0.05 m/s. The final failure mode is illustrated in
Figure 3. Increasing with the loading rate, the failure
328
Figure 4. The influence of loading rates on cracks number.
Figure 5. The influence of loading rates on stress-strain
curve.
mode of rock begins to change from local failure to full
failure. It is obvious that the crack number increases
under high loading rates. The energy will also focus
and release and the rock burst will be happen easily.
The shear crack and subuliform failure will be caused
by high rate because the force can not be transferred.
In the Figure 3(d) there are more shear cracks in the
bottom of the rock specimen and the phenomena is
similar with the research.
3.2 Influence on mechanics behavior
The crack number is affected by loading rate and then
contribution to the failure mode. In order to describe
the process, summarize the number of cracks of four
loading rates in Figure 4. There is no more change in
the former three loading rates and most of the cracks
are tensile cracks. The shear cracks are less. When the
loading rate increases to 0.05 m/s, the crack number
is qualitative. The failure mode is different from the
former three loading rates. The ratio of shear cracks
increase evidently. The final failure mode is more
serious.
3.3 Influence on mechanics behavior
The stress-strain curves under different loading rates
are illustrated in Figure 5. Increasing with the load-
ing rate, the peak strength and elastic modulus will
increase. There are no much change in the former
three loading rate, and the peak strength just increase
22.49 MPa. The peak strength increase to 307.5 MPa
when the loading rate is 0.05 m/s.The marble will show
 much difference in dynamical and statistic parameters.
The mechanics behavior depends on the loading rate.
Different loading rate will lead to different mechan-
ics behavior. When confirm the rock parameters in
laboratory, check the loading rate carefully.

3.4 Influence on energy

The calculation method on energy is compiled in
PFC including boundary energy, bond energy, friction
energy, kinetic energy and strain energy. The initiation
of crack should overcome the bond strength and the
crack will propagate by the strain energy. The fric-
tion effect will dominant when the friction energy
increases by the cracks propagation. When reach the
peak strength, the strain energy will release and fric-
tion energy increase. Because the local failure, the
bond energy will decline. Driven by bond energy
and strain energy, the bond energy will transfer to
other energy. The bond energy is hard to overcome.
The propagation of crack will finish. The failure will
propagate along the failure surface.

4 CONCLUSIONS

By designing different numerical simulation about

loading rate, analysis on the failure mode, crack state
and location is carried out. The loading rate will affect
the peak strength and the modulus. Particularly for the
elastic modulus, it will change dramatically. Accord-
ing to energy, the high loading rate is more violent and
induces rock burst.

REFERENCES
Cundall, P.A., Potyondy, D.O., Lee, C.A. 1996. Micro-
mechanics-based models for fracture and breakout around
the Mine-by Experiment tunnel. Designing the Excava-
tion Disturbed Zone for a Nuclear Repository in Hard
Rock Proceedings, EDZ Workshop, Winnipeg: Canadian
Nuclear Society: 113–22.
Lau, J.S.O., Chandler, N.A. 2004. Innovative laboratory test-
ing. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences 41: 1427–1445.
Martin, C.D., Chandler, N.A. 1994. The progressive frac-
ture of Lac du Bonnet granite. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci
Geomech Abstr 31(6): 643–659.
PFC2D (Particle Flow Code in 2 Dimensions), Version 4.0.
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 2008, Minneapolis, MN:
ICG.
Potyondy, D.O., Cundall, P.A. 1998. Modeling notch-
formation mechanisms in the URL mine-by test tunnel
using bonded assemblies of circular particles. Int J Rock
Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 35(4–5): No. 067.
Potyondy, D.O., Cundall, P.A. 2004. A bonded-particle model
for rock. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 41(8):
Figure 6. Energy change by strain by different loading rate.
1329–64.
Potyondy, D.O., Cundall, P.A. 2006. The PFC model for
brittle behavior in the former two loading rate. When rock: predicting rock mass damage at the Underground
the loading rate increases to certain extent, the rock Research Laboratory. Ontario Power Generation, Nuclear
will show plastic behavior. Especially in the last case, Waste Management Division Report No. 06819-REP-
the post peak is very long. All of those contribute to 01200-10061-R00.

329
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Reliability analysis of the progressive slide of arch dam abutment

X.C. Liu & L.Q. Yang

Civil Engineer and Architecture College, University of Jinan, Jinan, China

ABSTRACT: Reliability analysis of the progressive slide is used to estimate the stability of arch dam. The
space stochastic parameters are surveyed through considering the relativity of parameter. The stability reliability
analysis can be divided into element, sub-structure or sub-system and system. From element to system calculate
abutment’s ability. Sub-structure is composed by elements parallel connection. System is composed by sub-
structures in series. The substructure method is applied to study the interaction between arch dam and its
abutment. In this paper, the weakness part of abutment was found by reliability analysis of the progressive slide,
and the safe evaluation was solved.

1 INSTRUCTIONS determinating cracking trajectory of arch dam was put

forward firstly (Chen 2000). Meanwhile, the determi-
Arch dam is a three-dimensional spatial structure nation of stochastic variables was researched based
and the stability analysis of abutment is important to on the sample data (Yang et al. 2008). Because of
design, always affecting the safety of the dam con- the complexity of the problem, the reliability analy-
struction. It has always been valued to the engineering. sis of the progressive slide of arch dam abutment has
To the problem of stability analysis, there is no per- not been systematically studied. In this paper, elastic-
fect method so far. Reliability analysis is a good way. plastic FEM and reliability analysis were combined to
Comparing to the traditional safety factor method, it estimate the stability of arch dam.
can give a quantitative evaluation for safety to help
engineers discover the weakness parts of abutment
in design, which is helpful for engineering decision 2 RELIABILITY ANALYSIS
and reform. The flexible working stage, plastic over-
load force and load bearing capacity of arch dam and 2.1 Performance functions and limit state equations
base can be estimated uniformly through the system
The function describing the work state of rock
reliability analysis.
mass is g(x1 , x2 , . . . , xn), noted for g(·). Where
The rigid body limit equilibrium method is used to
xi (i = 1, 2, . . .,n) is the basic variable representing the
estimate the arch dam’s safety, but it can not reflect
loads (such as dam thrust, seepage pressure, etc), the
the complex geological condition and the interaction
properties of rock mass (such as friction coefficient f ,
of arch dam and base (Zhou & Yang 1987). Based
adhesive strength c, elastic modulus E, bulk density
on elastic-plastic FEM (Zhou et al. 2004), the stress
γ, Poisson ratio µ, strength, etc.), geometric size and
and deformation of arch dam and basic can be accu-
so on.
rately calculated, and the stability of rock mass can
When the function g(·) > 0, the structure is safe,
be quantitatively evaluated. Meanwhile, the disconti-
and while g(·) < 0, the structure is failure, and when
nuity and heterogeneity of rock mass, the nonlinear
g(·) = 0, it is the limit state of structure, which can be
characteristics of the relation of stress and strain, the
described by the ultimate state equation z.
anisotropic of mechanical properties and the interac-
tion of the dam and abutment can also be considered.
According to Zhou & Yang 1987’s results, arch dam
and base were regarded as a structure system with par-
tial cracking at first under the action of the dam load, The reliability PS is
seepage pressure and gravity. When reach the ultimate
strength, the stress and bearing capacity descend in the
cracking areas and the load extended to the adjacent
areas. The extension may produce a new stress bal- where FZ is probability distribution function of the
ance or cause the cracking zone to spread leading to the function z.
failure of the entire system. Due to the limited calcula- The failure probability of structure is Pf = 1 − PS .
tion conditions, the cracking trajectory of the abutment When the safety of structure is expressed by the relia-
was failed to be given at that time. The method of bility index, the corresponding relation is Ps = (β),

331
where  is normal probability distribution function
and β is reliability index.
where A is element area, N is normal internal force
and T is tangential internal force. N and T are the
nonlinear functions of the basic variables (f, c, and
the load F, etc.), N = N(f, c, F, . . .), T = T(f, c, F, . . .).
The first derivative of the performance function can
be expressed as:
If the finite element method is used, the par-
tial derivative is usually replaced by the differential
approximation. The expression is:
The limit state equation is:
The rock mass produces a partial cracking under
loads firstly, and then the cracking is gradually
enlarged with the load increase. When the whole
system is pierced by crack, the rock mass begins
to slid leading to the total failure. The limit state
equation of each stage can be expressed by the
cracking element k of the highest probability. That
is Zk = f × Nk + C × Ak − Tk . Because the cracking
progress is progressive, the structure stiffness matrix
and other characteristics can be determined by the
sliding k − 1 elements and no cracking elements.
2.2 Determination of stochastic variables
2.2.1 The action of water
The action of water is the key factor in arch dam design,
which includes upstream pressure, downstream pres-
sure, wave pressure, seepage pressure, etc. They are
interrelated. It is known that there is a definite link
between the water action and reservoir water level,
and the reservoir level is directly affected by stream.
So there also exist some relationships of conversion
between the reservoir level and stream. In the reser-
voir regulation computation and economic analysis of
water project, the result of reservoir water lever can be
obtained according to the synthetic probabilistic char-
acteristics deduced from stream, which can make the
survey achievements directly participate in design of
reliability analysis. Due to the synthetic probability
curve cannot be simulated by simple function, Pro-
fessor Guo developed dimension reduction numerical
method (Gou et al.1990), which based on the advanced
first order second moment method recommended by
332
JCSS. In this method, the dimension of limit state equa-
tions can be reduced significantly. The downstream
water level, wave pressure and the distribution or the
value of the seepage pressure were more easily deter-
mined in accordance with upstream water level. The
reservoir water level is critical to the working condi-
tion of the dam. Through controlling the water level
and changing the scope of normal high water level,
the safety of dam can be improved. In structural reli-
ability analysis, the sensitivity coefficient is low, so it
can be taken as constant.
2.2.2 Shear strength of rock mass
On the yield surface, the relation between normal
stress σ and shear stress τ is τ = h (σ). Near working
stress σo of rock mass, the function can be expanded
in Taylor series and the expression is as follows:
Only taking the preceding two items, it can be con-
verted into the linear equation τ = c + σ × tgφ, where
c = cohesion; φ = internal friction angle. If the stress
of test is equivalent to that in working condition, the
linear coefficient (variable c, tgφ) can describe the
tangent of the actual yield surface in the operating
point. In reliability analysis, the sensitivity coefficient
of loads is low and the change in verified point of
the corresponding working stress is little, so the work-
ing stress in the test covering area does not need to
extend. There is a negative correlation between two
variables describing the intensity of rock mass as Yang
et al 2008’s result. Therefore the friction angle can
be regarded as constant (φ = 50◦ ). According to the
optimal slop method, the variability of shear strength
can be expressed through the statistical variable c
(c = τ − σ × tg50◦ ). In this way, when low-normal
stress exists in the sample, the measure is safe. The
result follows Gaussian distribution with the average
of c 3.18 MPa and the average variance 1.185 MPa.
2.2.3 Occurrences of a discontinuity in a jointed
rock mass
The occurrences of a discontinuity in a jointed rock
mass play a leading role in the stability of abutment.
According to the joint density, the spatial distribution
can be divided into well extension zone (A) and less
extension zone (B). The distribution can be described
by Homogeneous Markov chain, the transfer matrix
(5) is:
where PAB is the probability of the current element A
and the next element B. The altitude of joints follows
Gaussian distribution of hemisphere. The probability
density can be gained through the rotational symmetry
of hemisphere and the probability density function can
be expressed as:
where θ is the angle between the normal vector and the
optimal position vector in any structure surface, and k
is coefficient of concentration.
where N is the number of joint surfaces and |R| is
the length of the combined vector R. The distribution
function of the structure plane is:
2.2.4 System reliability
Elastic-plastic FEM can track the cracking process of
arch dam, but it is difficult to estimate the safety. Due to
the dam is regard as synthesis composed by a number
of elements, the safety of arch dam should be estimated
by the system reliability analysis. Studies have shown
4. The correlation analysis. When the system is
that system reliability is the most appropriate security
evaluation index.
1. The model of element. According to analyze the
element under loads, there may be several crack-
ing models, such as bending and tension cracking
model, torsional cracking model, combined bend-
ing cracking model, etc. And any cracking model
can make structure failure. In fact, only a crack-
ing mode can be carried out, so the element of
model can be directly used to represent the ele-
ment function. The element is regarded as the basic
element.
2. The sliding channel and cracking path (sub-
system). The channel is the weak transfixion plane
of abutment. When all the elements are both crack-
ing, the abutment begins to slip leading to fail-
ure. The channel is the sub-system composed by
elements parallel connection. And the system is
composed by sub-systems in series. The crack-
ing order of elements is the cracking path. There
is a high correlation in these paths. So the chan-
nel can be represented by the path of the highest
failure probability, namely, the cracking order of
each element can be selected in the sub-system
(Chen 2002).
3. The parallel system and conditional failure prob-
ability. In stability analysis, the system reliability
is the product of conditional failure probability of
each divided component, which can determine the
failure path. That is:
In the failure paths, there have been n − 1
elements cracking and the cracking of the nth
element is conditional probability. The conditional
333
constraint is: (1) the change of boundary shape.
Slip or cracking elements are separated into con-
tact or free elements. (2) The change of action.
The separate plane may suffer from the external
load. (3) The change of the constitutive model. The
constitutive models of the sliding elements are dif-
ferent. (4) The strength characteristics of concrete
and rock mass should be described by stochastic
variables. The spatial characteristics of the incon-
sistent stochastic variables should be expressed by
the correlation function. If there have been n − 1
cracking elements, the material resistance of the
nth element should be determined by the stochastic
field theory as Hou & Huang 1982’s result. In short,
the performance of system is changed by crack-
ing of the first n − 1 elements. Based on above
changes, the stiffness matrix and load column of
elements are adjusted, and the load effect and resis-
tance of the nth element are established under the
new condition. When the resistance of the n element
is obtained, the failure probability of system can be
got. In cracking paths, the maximum failure prob-
ability path is used to represent the failure channel.
Therefore, the failure tree method is proposed to
judge the most probable failure path.
divided into the combination of serial or parallel
sub-systems, reliability analysis can be carried out.
There is a close correlation in the series sub-system
and the elements of component system. Taking two
extreme conditions (totally relevant and completely
unrelated) to analyzed, the system reliability limit
can be obtained, but the range obtained is too wide,
the reliability analysis with correlation needs to be
studied.
The correlation is between stochastic variables.
For the sub-element component, if basic variables
are unrelated, the JC method can be used to solve.
When the correlation between some variables can
not be ignored, they can be converted into the
unrelated variables by the orthogonal transforma-
tion, then the failure probability obtained by the JC
method.
The correlation is between sub-systems. The sys-
tem is composed by the corresponding sub-systems
in series. To obtain the narrow limit of the system
reliability, the correlation between the sub-systems
needs to be obtained. If the function of sub-systems
can be expressed by the linear limit state equation
of the basic variables in the standard normal space,
the correlation coefficient between sub-systems is
easy to be determined. Therefore, the equivalent
limit state equation of sub-systems should be given
first. The equivalent limit state equation proposed
by Gotluizter and Rockuitz is linear, having the
same reliability with sub-systems. The expression
is as follows:
where ρa is reliability index of the sub-system A
and Zi is the standard normal variable of the basic
 variables Xi (i = 1, . . . ,m). N(0,1) = distribution
and a (a1,a2, . . . ,am) = unit vector.
The linear correlation coefficient ρab between the
sub-systems A and B is:
Some stochastic variables are the random field
variables, such as X1 , X2 , . . . , Xk . The autocorre-
lation function of variables ρ1 , ρ2 , . . . , ρk should
be obtained according to the distance between
two channels, so the function can be expressed as
follows:
5. The reliability of systems in series. For the failure
probability of systems in series, the narrow limit’s
arithmetic has been put forward by Ditleevsen.
When there are n components (sub-system) in
system, the expression is as follows:
where p(Fi Fj ) is failure probability of two sub-
systems i and j, that is the probability of the
intersection of two failure modes. Meanwhile, the
limit of the intersection of the dual-mode failure
probability also has been put forward by Ditlevsoa.
In formula, using P(A ) + P(B ) instead of P(Fi Fj ),
and using max|P(A),P(B )| instead of P(Fi Fj ), the
wide limit can be obtained and the calculation can be
simplified.
The limit is relatively wide in the above formula,
and when ρab < 0, the calculated result is not right, so
the narrow limit of correction is given as follows:
When αab < π/2
334
When αab > π/2
3 INTERRACTION OF DAM AND ABUTMENT
When arch dam and surrounding rock mass are con-
sidered as a whole to be analyzed by finite element,
the calculation quantities is huge and often restricted
by computer capacity, so the system was divided into a
series of sub-structures to be calculated as Huang et al
1997’s results. The interaction between arch dam and
surrounding rock mass is represented by the condensed
stiffness matrix and load column vector of condensed
boundary nodes.
The finite element equation of sub-structures is:
The following expressions can be obtained:
where
The equation (22) is the condensation equation.
Combining {n } and {b }, {b } can be solved, and
then {n } can be solved using equation (23).
4 EXAMPLE
A concrete arch dam in china located in Jinsha River
downstream. The rock mass, which is single, is divided
into 14 layers. The general thickness of layers is
25∼40 m. The overall shape is flat and there is no
large-scale fracture. The location of the main fault belt
is shown in Figure 1. The thickness is 5∼10 cm and
the local thickness is up to 20∼30 cm. The maximum
height is 278 m. The cohesion and internal friction
angle of fault belt are obtained by Bayes method shown
in Table 1.
In order to reduce calculation scale, the dam and
surrounding rock mass were divided into 12 sub-
structures (Figure 2 and Figure 3). The sliding abut-
ment studied in this case was in the sub-structure 6.
Figure 1. Location of fault belt.

Table 1. Mechanical stochastic parameters.

Figure 4. Reliability index of the sliding process of arch
Statistics Bayes method abutment.

Standard Standard cracking elements were as the same event. For exam-
Average Deviation Average Deviation ple, after the element 153 cracking, the internal force
was redistributed and the successive cracking elements
Modulus/GPa 0.666 0.238 0.675 0.246 155, 158, 160, 166 were regarded as the same event,
Cohesion/MPa 0.213 0.187 0.237 0.175
which were entirely relevant.
Internal friction 23.8 2.8 24.1 3.0
angle/(◦ ) The results indicated that the slide of abutment
started at the sliding of surface C9 at the bottom. In
the original stage, the reliability index was shown in
Figure 4. When there were 34 elements cracking in
the fault belt C9, the elements in the cranny and part
of rock elements began to crack. When there were105
cracking elements, the displacement of part of nodes
in sub-structure 6 exceeded the limit.
At this time, the abutment was considered to pro-
duce slide. The corresponding cracking probability
and the reliability index were shown in Figure 5. It
can be seen that the probability of sliding abutment
along the fault belt was relatively large, about 2%.
Figure 2. Three-dimensional view of sub-structure 0. However, with the sliding of elements, the stress field
of abutment was gradually adjusted and the proba-
bility of the sliding elements was gradually reduced.
Finally the reliability index of the abutment stability
was obtained, which was 10.98. The corresponding
failure probability was 1.91 × 10−28 .
According to the results, the cracking process can
be divided into three stages: ① the initial stage. The
elements in the fault belt begin to slip and the maxi-
mum sliding probability is 2.5%; ② the middle stage.
The limit state equation of each element is highly cor-
related and the degree of correlation in the different
load steps is between 0.65 and 0.9. The sliding prob-
ability at the end of the middle stage is 2.0 × 10−23 ;
③ the integeral sliding stage. At this time, the dam
and basic have been torn off and the shear strength
Figure 3. Three-dimensional view of rock mass 11. has been lost. The system is in the state of rigid limit
equilibrium.
The load increment method was used to calculate the
sliding process of abutment. In the process of pro-
gressive slide, condensation matrix of sub-structure 5 CONCLUSION
6 was changed by modifying the stiffness matrix of
cracking points and then the global stiffness matrix of In this paper, the reliability analysis and the elastic-
the system and the load column of the sub-structure plastic analysis are combined to evaluate the stability
6 were changed (Chen & Chen 1995). The interaction of arch dam. The reliability of progressive slide can be
of arch dam and rock mass was expressed through the obtained by searching the most probability cracking
above process. At the same load level, the successive path. Asymptotic cracking analysis should based on

335
probability statistics reliability analysis, taking slid-
ing process as random process, and the abutment rock
mass as stochastic field. The structural reliability anal-
ysis can give a quantitative evaluation of safety to help
engineers discover weaknesses and reform design.
The implementation of reliability analysis requires the
following three conditions:
• there is the exact equation to describe the state of
structural engineering and the development of slid-
ing until to the ultimate failure state, and the security
of engineering can be measured in each working
condition;
• there is the clear safety criteria for the limit state
and reliability index;
• the probability characteristics of the basic vari-
ables can be measured and counted, which requires
there is a clearly sample and a sufficient number of
acquisition.
• In the sliding process, the interaction of arch dam
and base was solved using sub-structure.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by the Shan-
Dong Science Programe (2010GFS10607). The sec-
ond author Yang lingqiang is responding author.
336
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Zhang, S.R. et al. 2001. Probability Simulation of Key Block
of Tunnel. Hydropower Technology, 32(12): 56–59.
Zhang, B.Y. et al. 2004. Improved FEM Based on Dynamic
Contact Force Method for Analyzing the Stability of Arch
Dam Abutment. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, (10):
7–12.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical simulation of liquefaction of saturated sand using discrete

element method

Y. Liu, F. Jiang & X.D. Zhu

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: A fluid-particle coupled discrete element model was utilized to simulate the macro-scale water
flow and micro-scale solid phase deformation of saturated sand. Particles were simulated by DEM while fluid
was simulated by solving the average Navier-Stokes equations. These two sets of equations were coupled by
the no-slip fluid boundary conditions imposed on the surface of each particle. Well established semi-empirical
relationships were adopted to quantify the fluid- particle interaction. Numerical simulations were conducted to
investigate the process of saturated sand liquefaction when subjected to an earthquake-type base excitation. The
evolution of acceleration, shear stress and shear strain were discussed. Numerical results showed that the adopted
fluid-particle coupled model can simulate saturated sand liquefaction well.

1 INTRODUCTION the surface of each particle. Well established semi-

empirical relationships are adopted to quantify the
Soil liquefaction is often addressed by researchers fluid- particle interaction.
using continuum formulations (Lewis 1987,
Zienkiewicz 1998). Water saturated granular soil are
2.1 Fluid phase
complex and a realistic modeling of their dynamic
response requires a multistage, metaphysics computa- The volumetric deformation of water is typically negli-
tional framework. Indeed, these soils involve different gible compared to changes in pore volumes of granular
constituents whose behavior is governed by dissimilar soils. Furthermore, most energy dissipation associ-
physics and consequently exhibit a highly non-linear ated with a water flow through the pores occurs at
behavior marked by multiple spatial and temporal fluid-particle interfaces. The pore fluid was therefore
response scales. considered to be incompressible and the fluid vis-
The Discrete Element Method (Cundall 1979) pro- cous shear stresses were assumed to be negligible.
vides an effective tool to model granular soils and The associated averaged Navier-Stokes continuity and
other geomaterials based on micro-mechanical ideal- momentum equations are then given by:
izations. The dynamic response of water saturated soils
is often partially drained such that excess pore pressure
buildup due to decreases in porosity and pore pressure
dissipation due to pore water movement occur simul-
taneously. A realistic modeling of such a response
requires a coupled formulation capable of accounting
for the soil skeleton deformation, the pore fluid flow
and resultant interaction. where n is porosity, Vf and fi are averaged fluid veloc-
This paper investigates the liquefaction of satu- ity and fluid-particle interaction vectors, τf is averaged
rated granular deposits when subjected to a dynamic fluid pressure, ρf is fluid density, fg is gravitational
base excitation using a fluid-particle coupled discrete acceleration vector.
element model.

2.2 Fluid-particle interaction

2 FLUID-PARTICLE COUPLED DEM MODEL The drag forces may be evaluated using a range of
semi-empirical relationships (Ergun 1952, Wen & Yu
A fluid-particle coupled discrete element model is 1966).
utilized to simulate saturated sand. Particles are simu- In case of n ≤ 0.8,
lated by DEM while fluid is simulated by solving the
average Navier-Stokes equations (Tsuji 1993, Jackson
1997, 2000). These two sets of equations are coupled
by the no-slip fluid boundary conditions imposed on

337
In case of n > 0.8,

In which µf is pore fluid viscosity, Vf is average

particle velocity vector, and dp is equivalent parti-
cle diameter, Rep = nρf df Vf − Vp |/µf is the particle
Reynolds number with average velocity vector Vp and
equivalent diameter, Cd is a drag coefficient.

Figure 1. DEM numerical model.

2.3 Computer strategy

An explicit algorithm is used to evaluate the coupled
fluid-particle response. The DEM analyses are con-
ducted using the PFC software to calculate contact
forces, outer loads and particle motion under drag
forces (Itasca 2008). A Computational fluid Dynam-
ics program (CFD) is coded to solve the averaged fluid
Figure 2. Input simulated seismic wave.
equations of motion. The average Navier-Stokes equa-
tions are solved using a finite volume technique to
compute pore fluid pressure and velocities.

3 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF
LIQUEFACTION OF SATURATED SAND

Numerical simulations are conducted to assess the

response mechanisms of saturated deposits of granular
soils when subjected to a dynamic base excitation.

3.1 Model details

A 200 mm high, 150 mm wide model periodic deposit
of particles, having an average diameter of 6 mm, shear
modulus of 2.9 × 1010 N/m2 is saturated with a viscous
fluid. An impermeable wall condition is imposed at
the base.
The above periodic deposit is subjected (under a
30 g field) to a sinusoidal base acceleration having a
maximum amplitude of 0.2 g and a frequency of 3 Hz
which simulated an earthquake excitation.

3.2 Response of pore water pressure

Through a sinusoidal seismic wave on the base,
the macro-scale response of fluid-particle sample is
numerically simulated. The time histories of excess
pore water pressure ratio are presented in Fig. 3. A
pore water pressure ratio approaching 1.0 corresponds
to soil liquefaction, which is reached for all strata at
a time rate that decreased with depth. Liquefaction
started near the deposit surface and propagated down-
ward. The time histories of excess pore water pressure Figure 3. The curve of increasing pore water pressure.

338
Figure 4. The curve of pore water pressure dissipation.
Figure 5. The shear stress time-history in different depth.
339
Figure 6. The shear strain time-history in different depth.
showing the dissipation process shows the dissipa-
tion of water pressure started near the base and then
propagated upward.
Full dissipation is achieved more than 45 s after
shaking (Figure 4). Excess pore water pressure
increased relatively slowly at lower level and formed
the downward infiltration flow near the base which is
caused by the large density of underside sand. The
excess pore fluid pressure ratio does not reach 1.0
close to the surface which can be explained by the
free drainage condition confining excess pore water
pressure increasing near the surface.
3.3 Response of shear stress and strain
Figure 5 and Figure 6 are the time histories of shearing
stress and strain respectively at selected depth loca-
tions along the central vertical axis of the deposit. The
shearing stress increases gradually at different depths
and decay after liquefaction. However, the strength is
not completely lost at the base.
3.4 Variation of porosity and permeability of sand
Figure 7 was time histories of porosity and permeabil-
ity coefficient respectively at selected depth locations
along the central vertical axis of the deposit.
The porosity at different depths decreases with
time, which indicates that the sand gets denser
after shaking. Accordingly, permeability coefficient
of sand decreases with the reduction of porosity. The

Figure 7. Variation of porosity and permeability coefficient
at different depth.
numerical simulation results are different from tradi-
tional continuum simulation in which the permeability
remains the same during simulating.
4 CONCLUSION
A fluid-particle coupled discrete element model is
utilized to simulate the macro-scale water flow and
micro-scale solid phase deformation of saturated sand.
Particles are simulated by DEM while fluid was
simulated by solving the average Navier-Stokes equa-
tions. These two sets of equations are coupled by the
340
no-slip fluid boundary conditions imposed on the sur-
face of each particle. Well established semi-empirical
relationships are adopted to quantify the fluid- parti-
cle interaction. Numerical simulations are conducted
to investigate the process of saturated sand lique-
faction when subjected to an earthquake-type base
excitation. Numerical results shows that the adopted
fluid-particle coupled model can simulate saturated
sand liquefaction well.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors appreciate the financial support of
the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 50808016.)
REFERENCES
Cundall, P.A. & Strack, O.D.L. 1979. Discrete numeri-
cal model for granular assemblies. Geotechnique, 29(1):
47–65.
Ergun, S. 1952. Fluid flow through packed columns. Chemi-
cal Engineering Progress, 43(2): 89–94.
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 2008. PFC3D theory and
background. Minnesota.
Jackson, R. 1997. Locally averaged equations of motion for
a mixture of identical spherical particles and a Newtonian
fluid. Chemical Engineering Science, 52(15): 2457–2469.
Jackson, R. 2000. The dynamics of fluidized particles,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, New York.
Lewis, R.W. & Schrefler, B.A. 1987. The finite element
method in the deformation and consolidation of porous
media. Wiley, New York, USA.
Tsuji, Y., Kawaguchi, T. & Tanaka, T. 1993. Discrete parti-
cle simulation of two-dimensional fluidized bed. Powder
Technology, 77: 79–87.
Wen, C.Y. & Yu, Y.H. 1996. Mechanics of fluidization.
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100–113.
Zienkiewicz, O.C. 1998. Computational Geomechanics with
Special Reference to Earthquake Engineering. Wiley,
England.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

PFC numerical analysis on prediction of ore loss and dilution of ore drawing
below backfilling waste rock layer

Z.H. Liu, Q. Gao & X. Li

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

Z.H. Liu
School of Energy Sources and Safety, Auhui University of Science & Technology, Huainan, Anhui, China

J.H. Li
Sijiaying Steel Mining of Hebei Iron and Steel Group Mining Co., Ltd, Tangshan, Hebei, China

ABSTRACT: When open-pit mining transferred to underground mining, the backfilling waste rock layer has
a certain impact on ore loss and dilution of ore drawing. There are three main factors of ore loss and dilution
below backfilling waste rock layer–backfilling waste rock layer thickness, waste rock particle diameter and non-
uniformity. Based on the experimental data of different tests, the ore loss and dilution rate of the mathematical
model below the backfilling waste rock layer was established. Combined with the III stope from open-pit mining
to Underground in the Sijiaying Steel mine, the backfilling waste rock non-uniformity and particle diameter
were designed. According to ore loss and dilution effect factors in the drawing the orthogonal experiments are
designed, adopting particle flow numerical simulation methods, the relationship are set up on dilution ratio,
backfilling waste rock layer thickness, particle diameter, particle diameter non-uniformity and loss rate through
absolute factors and relative factors separately. It will be helpful for the backfill layer design in similar conditions.

1 INTRODUCTION approximation ellipsoidal space larger and alternately.

Mining from open-pit switch to underground generally
requires a certain thickness backfilling layer compos-
ing with earth and rock, which meet to prevent seepage
water , leakage air and insulation requirements of mine
(Qiao et al. 2008).The movement of the backfilling
layer and ore is directly related to ore loss and dilution
during drawing. Waste rock particle not only depend
on its physical and mechanical property, but also more
importantly depend on the waste rock particle diame-
ter, uniformity and layer thickness. The paper mainly
explore the relationship of the dilution rate, the backfill
thickness, the backfill layer particle diameter, the non-
uniformity of backfill layer particle diameter and loss
rates, constructing the macroscopic particle motion
properties equation.
2 ANALYSIS OF ORE LOSS AND DILUTION
FACTORS UNDER BACKFILL WASTE
ROCK LAYER
2.1 The backfill thickness
From the point view of drawing, a certain amount
ore released by the gravity will form an approximate
ellipsoid space in the stope ore pile (Ren 1994). The
surrounding ore of space immediately occur to loose
secondary and occupy ellipsoid space, and the original
If backfilling waste rock layer is too thin to approxi-
mation ellipsoidal space when drawing cut-off grade,
causing linking underground and open-air can not
meet the requirements of prevent seepage, ventilation
and insulation. If the backfilling thickness is too large,
the backfilling cost would significantly increase which
is an unnecessary waste. A reasonably thickness of the
backfill should meet not only the requirements of
the mining process and security but also economical.
2.2 Fragmentation of backfilling waste rock
and ore
Because different size particles have the different
velocities in the movement space, and the smaller par-
ticles have the faster movement and stronger penetra-
bility, blocks in the rock looseness range will gradually
separate in the process of drawing. The distribution
characteristics are as follows: there are more large par-
ticles and less small particles needed where it is far
away from the port during drawing, and the proportion
of small particles is higher and large particle is lower
if it is near from the port during drawing. The com-
position of releasing granular fragmentation clearly
reflects the distribution characteristics and the move-
ment of non-uniform discrete particles. From the entire
drawing process, the arch balance is between forma-
tion and destruction alternatively. The current ore and

341

Figure 1. The process of ore particles emitted.
Figure 2. The form of small particles sports.
rock stopped if arch balance formed. Ore continues
flow when the arch destroyed, ore rendered pulse
releasing process, as shown in Figure 1 (Wu et al.
2006.).Waste rock particles are often able to reach
drawing port quickly, and caused the drawing dilution.
The three form of fine particles sports are shown in
Figure 2 (a), (b) and (c) (Li, 2000), that is together with
the large particle movement, free rolling movement
between the bulk and the free-fall.
2.3 The heterogeneous degree of caved ore and
waste rock
In terms of heterogeneous degree of caved ore and
waste rock, there are a lot of pore space among the ore
and waste rock. And the higher heterogeneous degree
of the ore and rock, the more space will be generated,
so that the small particles will have stronger penetra-
bility (Li 2002a). The small particles having greater
freedom would be easy to move down and would form
a flow in the space filling process, so that the large par-
ticles would be lagged behind. When the waste rock
particle diameter of backfilling is larger than or sim-
ilar to the ore particle diameter, in the move down
process, the ore and waste rock boundaries are obvi-
ous. When waste rock particle diameter is smaller than
the ore diameter the ore particles in the near contact
zone drawing port will be obvious.
3 BACKFILLING WASTE ROCK PARTICLE
DIAMETER AND NON-UNIFORMITY
DESIGN
Now a large number of experiments have been carried
out by three-dimensional model. Different tests were
342
also carried out for different approaches and obtained
appropriate results. The re-analyzed experimental data
(Liu et al. 2006, Li 2002b, Zhu et al. 2005) reveal the
loss and dilution mathematical model under backfill
waste rock.
3.1 Mathematical model
(1) Mathematical model of drawing dilution rate
Ratio of waste rock and ore particle diameter
dr /do reflect the dilution rate variation with the par-
ticle diameter ratio. The larger of dr /do the lower
dilution rate is. The particle variation coefficient
(1 − Kbr )/(1 + Kbo ) impacts the dilution rate. The
greater variation coefficient, the higher dilution rate is.
But various factors on the impact of dilution rate λ is
varying degrees, dr /do which the relative degree is the
largest and highest, while 1+K1br Kbo is the least. Accord-
ing to the experimental data (Li 2000) a mathematical
model is constructed:
The correlation coefficient: R = 0.993.
Where λ is the ore dilution rate, dr is waste rock
backfill average diameter, do is the ore average particle
diameter, Kbr is backfilling waste rock non-uniformity
and Kbo is ore non-uniformity, a0 , a1 , a2 are regression
coefficients.
(2) Mathematical model of drawing loss rate
Loss rate ρ is essentially exponentially decay with
the dr /do and 1+K1br Kbo . But loss rate ρ is a sig-
nificant linear correlation between exp(−dr /do ) and
1−Kbr
exp(− 1+K bo
).
According to the experimental data [4] the regres-
sion function is:
The correlation coefficient: R = 0.968.
3.2 Backfilling waste rock particle diameter and
non-uniformity design
The measured ore of the Sijiaying iron III stope
has the average diameter d0 = 174 mm and the varia-
tion coefficient K = 47.6%. According to the previous
statistical analysis formula, the required waste rock
particle composition will be predicted under the dif-
ferent loss and dilution rates. Taking into account the
actual drawing process site condition is poorer than
that of the experiments, and there are much uncontrol-
lable factors.Therefore, the actual use of the regression
equation considers the impact factor of 1.2. Waste rock
particle composition will be obtained under different
loss and dilution rates by solving the nonlinear equa-
tions. There are at least two composition levels of
the waste rock of III stope: the lower large particles
Table 1. Backfilling waste rock stratification and non-uniformity of particle diameter.

Backfill layer thickness/m Upper Strata 10 m Lower Strata 10 m The whole Cover rock 20 m

Waste rock particle diameter/mm 0∼10 10∼80 60∼100 100∼150 (>100)

Average diameter/mm 40 150 (>150) 100 (>72.5)
Particle diameter non-uniformity Kb 0.369 0.436 0.469

Table 2. Orthogonal test project.

Dilution rate Backfill layer Particle diameter Non-uniformity

No. λ (%) thickness h (m) d (m) K (%)

1 10 15 0.5 10
2 10 20 0.6 20
3 10 25 0.7 30
4 15 15 0.6 30
5 15 20 0.7 10
6 15 25 0.5 20
7 18 15 0.7 20
8 18 20 0.5 30
9 18 25 0.6 10

Figure 3. Calculation model (unit: m). Figure 4. Particle element numerical model.

4.1 Orthogonal experimental design and numerical

and the upper small particles. The designed values
of the two layer particle diameters and the variation
coefficient are shown in Table 1.
4 PARTICLE FLOW NUMERICAL
SIMULATING DRAWING
Numerical analysis of geotechnical engineering meth-
ods have two major categories: finite element method
and discrete element method (Zhu et al 2005), and the
numerical analysis of discrete element method in
the block caving ore method has outstanding advan-
tages. Particle flow code (PFC2D ) is used to simulate
the drawing below the backfill layer (Fu et al. 2004).
Based on particle diameter and non-uniformity design
of waste rock backfilling, the relationship among dilu-
tion rate λ, backfill layer thickness h, particle diameter
d, backfill layer particle diameter non-uniformity Kb
and loss rate ρ are studied by particle flow numerical
analysis.
analysis
The calculation scheme adopts orthogonal design, and
the simulation of factors including: dilution rate λ,
backfill layer thickness h, backfill layer particle diam-
eter d, backfill layer particle diameter non-uniformity
Kb . By numerical simulation the relationship among
four factors and the loss rate are studied, and the
particle motion macroscopic properties equation is
constructed. The specific scheme is shown in Table 2.
4.2 Particle clow drawing numerical model and
parameters
The numerical simulation model consists of three
parts: the filling layer, the ore layer, and the draw-
ing seam. Because there are ore entrances in the
drawing seam, so the drawing seam is considered in
isolation. Calculation model is shown in Figure 3 and
Figure 4. Waste rock backfill layer is the study object,
mainly considering backfill thickness, backfill layer
particle diameter and backfill layer particle diameter

343
Table 3. Numerical calculate basis parameter of PFC2D .

Normal stiffness Tangential stiffness Density Friction angle S_bond S_bond

Type Kn (109 N/m) Ks (109 N/m) ρ (kg/m3 ) (◦ ) (N × 1011 ) (N × 1011 )

Backfill layer 4.26 1.289 2700 42.6 0 0

Caving ore 10.76 3.01 3200 43 7.80 3.66

Table 4. Simulation results of the overall statistics.

Dilution rate Layer thickness Particle diameter Mon-uniformity Size range Ore loss
No. λ (%) h(m) d(m) Kb (%) (m) rate ρ (%)

1 10.54 15 0.50 10 0.45–0.55 9.95

2 10.62 20 0.60 20 0.45–0.72 10.24
3 10.29 25 0.70 30 0.49–0.91 15.00
4 15.36 15 0.60 30 0.42–0.78 8.83
5 15.58 20 0.70 10 0.63–0.77 10.07
6 15.17 25 0.50 20 0.40–0.60 9.08
7 18.75 15 0.70 20 0.56–0.84 13.29
8 18.38 20 0.50 30 0.35–0.65 10.53
9 18.36 25 0.60 10 0.54–0.66 6.50

non-uniformity to the drawing impact. The simulation
parameters of PFC2D are the conversion of the rocks
mechanical properties. The group of backfill waste
rock particles is generated in PFC2D by fixing the val-
ues of particle diameter, porosity and the size of the
backfill layer.
4.3 Regression analysis of simulation results
Due to limited pages there only list the overall sim-
ulation results in Table 4. The numerical simulation
results adopt the DPS data processing system to con-
duct quadratic polynomial regression. The quadratic
polynomial regression analysis is an automatic choice
that is more important variable from a large number of
variables in the regression equation, which is based on
multiple linear regression derived from an algorithm.
The statistical regularity is obtained by the regression
results.
4.3.1 Regression analysis of absolute factor
1. Single factor analysis
(1) The impact of waste rock backfill diameter d
➀ The relationship of waste rock particle diameter d
and ore loss rate ρ : With the increase of particle diame-
ter d, ore loss rate ρ decreases linearly. This shows that
the increase of waste rock backfill particle diameter d
can reduce the ore loss rate.
➁ The relationship of waste rock particle diameter
d and ore dilution rate λ: With the increase of particle
diameter d, the dilution rate λ also decreases linearly.
This shows that the increase of waste rock backfill
particle diameter d can also reduce the ore dilution.
(2) The impact of backfill layer thickness h
➀ The relationship of backfill layer thickness h and
ore loss rate ρ: With the increase of backfill layer
thickness h, ore loss rate ρ decreases linearly. This
shows that the increase of backfill layer thickness can
effectively reduce the ore loss rate.
➁ The relationship of backfill layer thickness h and
ore dilution rate λ: With the increase of backfill layer
thickness h, the dilution rate λ decreases linearly. This
shows that the increase of backfill layer thickness h
can effectively reduce the ore loss rate ρ.
(3) The impact of backfill layer particle diameter
non-uniformity Kb
➀ The relationship of backfill layer particle diam-
eter non-uniformity Kb and ore loss rate ρ: With the
increase of non-uniformity Kb , the loss rate increases
linearly. This shows that reducing the backfill layer
particle diameter non-uniformity Kb , which reduce
the amount of the backfill fine particles mixture, can
effectively control the ore loss rate ρ.
➁ The relationship of backfill layer particle diam-
eter non-uniformity Kb and ore dilution rate λ: With
the increase of the non-uniformity Kb , dilution rate
λ increases linearly. This shows that reducing the
backfill layer particle diameter non-uniformity Kb ,
which reduces the amount of the backfill fine particle
mixture, can effectively control the ore dilution rate.
(4) The relationship of dilution rate λ and loss
rate ρ
With the increases of loss rate, the dilution rate
decreases. This shows that dilution rate and loss
rate are a contradiction. A quantity which is optimized
is at the expense of another quantity.
2. Overall equation
The regression equation of ore overall loss rate and
the factors is shown in equation (3), the correlation
coefficient: R = 0.99999.

344
Table 5. Parameter transformation table.

Backfilling Ore layer Backfilling

particle particle Particle waste rock Ore layers
diameter diameter diameter non-uniformity non-uniformity β = 1/
dr (m) d0 (m) ratio α Kr (%) Ko (%) (1 + Kbr Kbo )

0.50 0.8 0.63 10 10 0.9901

0.60 0.8 0.75 20 10 0.9804
0.70 0.8 0.88 30 10 0.9709
0.60 0.8 0.75 30 10 0.9709
0.70 0.8 0.88 10 10 0.9901
0.50 0.8 0.63 20 10 0.9804
0.70 0.8 0.88 20 10 0.9804
0.50 0.8 0.63 30 10 0.9709
0.60 0.8 0.75 10 10 0.9901

where λ is dilution rate, %; h is the backfill layer thick-
ness, m; d is backfill layer particle diameter, m; Kb is
backfill layer particle diameter non-uniformity, %; ρ
is ore loss rate, %.
The regression equation of ore overall dilution rate
and the factors is shown Equation (4), the correlation
coefficient: R = 0.99998.
(3) The relationship of dilution rate λ and loss
rate ρ
When other factors is constant, ore loss rate β
decreases with the increase of λ. According to this
conclusion the relationship of the loss rate and any
other factors can be derived
2. Overall equation
➀ The relation equation of ore loss rate ρ and
the factors is shown Equation (5), the correlation
coefficient: R = 0.99982.

4.3.2 Regression analysis of comparative factors

In order to make the simulation results be applied
directly to an actual project, the parameters of the
model should be revised in order to be suitable for
the practical mining application. The diameter param-
eter of the backfill waste rock is replaced with the ratio
of the diameters of the rock and the ore (a = dr /do ),
so that the ore particles are considered in the program.
And a parameter β (β = 1/(1 + Kbr Kbo )) is introduced
to reflect the different particle movement caused by the
heterogeneity of the waste rock and ore, in which Kbr
is backfilling waste rock non-uniformity andKbo is ore
layer non-uniformity. In all there are four parameters
being used in the program shown in Table 5, that is the
diameter ratio a, the parameter β, the dilution rate, and
the backfilling layer thickness.
1. Single factor analysis
(1) The impact of α to ore flow law
➀ The relationship of α and ore loss rate ρ: With
the increase of α, which backfilling waste rock layer
particle diameter is close to the ore layer, ore loss rate
ρ decreases.
(2) The relationship of α and ore dilution rate
λ: With the increase of α, the dilution rate λ also
decreases.
(2) The impact of β to ore flow law
➀ With the increase of β, which the non-uniformity
product of backfilling layer particles and ore layer
particles reduces, ore loss rate ρ decreases.
➁ With the increase of β, the dilution rate λ
decreases.
➁ The relation equation of ore dilution rate λ
and the factors is shown equation (6), the correlation
coefficient: R = 0.99878.
5 CONCLUSION
(1) The effect of backfilling waste rock layer to dilu-
tion rate and loss rate when mining from open pit
switch to underground depends mainly on back-
filling layer thickness, the particle diameter and
non-uniformity of waste rock backfilled and ore.
(2) The ratio of backfilling waste rock particle diame-
ter and ore layer particle diameter (α) and particle
variation coefficient is basically the exponential
decay, which α is relatively the largest and highest
degree effects
(3) By particle flow numerical analysis, the relation-
ship of dilution rate, backfilling layer thickness,
backfilling layer particle diameter, backfilling
layer particle diameter non-uniformity and the
loss rate are established by adopting the absolute
and relative factors regression.

345
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The study has been supported by National Natural
Science Foundation of China (51074003), Anhui
Provincial University Natural Science Research
Key Program(KJ2011A080), which are gratefully
Acknowledged
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical manifold modeling of sliding instability of rock slope

X.J. Mu, S.H. Wang, M.D. Guo & Z.P. Feng

State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics & Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining
and Technology, Xuzhou, China

S.H. Wang
School of Resource and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China

ABSTRACT: The commonly used numerical method in geotechnical engineering like finite element method,
distinct element method and discontinuous deformation analysis have different characteristics. Each method has
its own advantages and disadvantages with proper scope of application. Numerical Manifold Method (NMM)
was originally developed by Dr. Shi on the bases of Block Theory and Discontinuous Deformation Analysis
(DDA) in the early 1990s. It’s a more general numerical method which can solve the problem of continuity
and discontinuity, dynamic and static, large displacement and small deformation. This paper introduces NMM
briefly and model the spatial entity including three-dimensional finite random or fixed discontinuities using
GeoSMA-3D which is an independent R&D software. In addition,we simulate the sliding instability of a certain
section by NMM.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 SLOPE ENGINEERING SITUATION

1.1 Rock slope 2.1 Geological conditions

There are always large amount of discontinuous struc-
tural plane of different occurrence and characters
in the actual rock mass. So the rock slope is an
extremely complex structural system. The dimensions,
properties and combination mode of the rock struc-
tural plane affect the collapse mode of instability,
once they change a little, the stability will be greatly
affected. Rock slope has elasto-plasticity, anisotropy
and discontinuity, which makes it very difficult for
analysis and study of slope engineering. The parame-
ters involved in stability analysis are quite numerous
and complicated, and for this reason, study on rock
slope has promoted the development of the entire
geotechnical engineering.
1.2 Research thinking
Study on one of the slope engineering of Zhuanghe-
Gaizhou express. On the basis of geological investiga-
tion report, we capture the information of structural
plane, and model the slope spatial entity including
three-dimensional finite random or fixed discontinu-
ities using GeoSMA-3D which is an independent R&D
software. We also use the software to analysis and cal-
culate the key block. In the end, we select a typical
section from the three-dimensional numerical model,
analysis and demonstrate the dynamic slide process
using two dimensional NMM program, and draw the
relevent conclusions.
Zhuanghe-Gaizhou express highway locates on the
hilly and mountainous areas of southern Liaoning
province, the average elevation is lower than 100 m,
the trend is from east to west, the overall length is
100.82 km. We select a rock slope near Daiyu Ridge
which is in the second bid section. The slope gradient
is comparatively steep. The slope angle varies from
35◦ to 50◦ , the height is about 40 m, there are seldom
coverings on the bedrock, and the traces on the slope
surface of structural plane are apparent.It is more con-
venient for measurement and simulation. The slope
mainly consists of sandstone and granite, and belongs
to the typical hard rock slope.
2.2 Information acquisition of structural plane
For the acquisition of fracture parameters on site, we
take the non-contact digital photo-grammetry tech-
nology. It takes pictures of the rock mass from dif-
ferent positions, using them to compound the real
three-dimensional image, and get the parameters after
post processing. In the measurement, we use Shape
MetriX3D system, which is brand new and represents
the highest level of three-dimensional non-contact
digital photo-grammetry system at present time. We
import it from Austria. On the basis of measuring and
processing, combining with the geological investiga-
tion report, we select the following 12 main structural
planes:

347
3 NUMERICAL MODEL ESTABLISHMENT Table 1. Fracture parameters.
AND SPATIAL IDENTIFICATION OF
BLOCKS Parameter 1 2 3 4 5 6

3.1 Brief introduction of GeoSMA-3D Dip◦ 228.0 263.2 285.5 276.6 109.0 250.3
Dip angle◦ 72.8 78.5 81.4 73.2 79.0 24.0
For analysis of practical problems of rock slope in Radius m 12.3 13.8 9.9 5.8 13.7 8.6
geotechnical engineering, we must establish proper Parameter 7 8 9 10 11 12
and reliable numerical model. The commonly used
numerical simulation and analysis software can not Dip◦ 94.0 190.5 20.0 192.0 15.8 181.4
give the real facts of characteristic and distribution Dip angle◦ 45.2 18.6 68.0 72.5 40.6 10.0
regularity of structural plane existing in rock mass. Radius m 10.7 23.5 17.3 15.0 6.2 15.0
GeoSMA-3D can not only achieve this function, but
also shows the morphological characters of fractures
in rock mass directly and get information of any sec-
tion easily. GeoSMA is abbreviation of Geotechnical
Structure and Model Analysis, it is developed on the
basis of general block theory. The operation is sim-
ple and everything is viewable. Parameters input can
be easily done so as to achieve the following func-
tions in a short time: modeling the spatial structure of
rock mass; simulation of three-dimensional fractures;
simple analysis of stereographic projection; identifi-
cation of removable block; analysis of the maximal key
block formed by three groups of structural planes; dis-
play of the trace on model surface; display of fractures
and analysis of any section; analysis of key blocks by
random or fixed discontinuities.
Figure 1. Slope entity model without fractures.

3.2 Theoretical basis

The identification of blocks, discrimination of remov-
ability and analysis of stability are all based on Block
Theory. Block Theory assume the rock mass as fol-
lows: structural planes are flat; fractures run through
the whole study object; the structure is rigid body; the
collapse mode only consists of block falling and shear
slip. Block Theory first takes the structural planes and
excavation face as spatial planes, the structure as con-
vex body, load as space vector, and then uses geometric
methods to calculate how many kinds of blocks gen-
erated and their removability, and analyze stability of
Figure 2. Trace on the slope surface.
block with static calculation.
GeoSMA-3D simplifies the fracture planes as finite
3.3 Establishment of the three-dimensional
disk-shaped. For fixed fractures we can input the
numerical model and analysis
parameters directly, for random fractures we can
generate them in Monte CarLo Method. The pro- According to the the practical situation of the project,
gramme takes the generation of blocks with fractures we set up a one-inclined surface ladder-shaped slope
as a process of incision and combination. In the model, the size of which is 80 m × 60 m × 40 m, the
process of incision, initialize the blocks as convex slope angle is 40◦ . Then add the three dimensional
blocks, and incise the rock block one by one in the fractures with the parameters in Table 1 to form the
order of fractures. Once the fracture intersects with intact numerical model. When all the parameters input
block, then it assumes that it runs through the entire ended, run the program and we get a series of results.
block. The figure below shows the computational trace on
The key block is the weakness in rock mass, the slope surface after the generation of disk-shaped frac-
instability first starts with the key blocks, in this way tures. The results agree with the actual shape of the
lead to the sliding of adjacent blocks, and cause chain slope.
reaction, finally collapse. GeoSMA-3D can find out After spatial identification process, we get the key
the key block in free face through spatial identification, blocks on free surface.
if we take focused reinforcement measures on the key We can see that the structural planes decide the
blocks, then the stability can be maintained. removability of blocks, having free face is only one

348

Figure 3. Key blocks.
Figure 4. Spatial geometric forms of key blocks.
Figure 5. Intersecting lines of arbitrary section and struc-
tural planes.
of the basic requirements. Under the conditions of
knowing nothing about the fractures in rock mass,
supporting and reinforcing the free face is undoubt-
edly uneconomic and unreasonable. But if only we
get the information of key blocks, the reinforcement
will be focused on them. It’s of great significance for
engineering.
After the identification of key blocks, the relevent
information will be given: the volume of block 1 is
1060.798 m3 , consisted of 7 faces, among those the
serial numbers of structural planes are 2-6-7-8-10-
11, and 2 sliding surfaces; the volume of block 2 is
572.756 m3 , consisted of 6 faces, among those the
serial numbers of structural planes are 2-6-8-10-11,
and 3 sliding surfaces; 317.239 m3 , 4 faces, 2-9-12,
and 1 sliding surfaces for block 3.
The program can also figure out the intersecting
lines on any section face cut from the numerical slope.
And thanks to this function of the program, the
geometric parameter is provided, so as to bring
great convenience to the next two dimensional NMM
analysis.
349
4 ANALYSIS BY NMM
4.1 Brief introduction of NMM
Numerical Manifold Method (NMM) was originally
developed by Dr. Shi on the bases of Block Theory
and Discontinuous Deformation Analysis (DDA) in
the early 1990s. It’s a more general numerical method
which can solve the problems of continuity and dis-
continuity, dynamic and static, large displacement and
small deformation.
NMM has got advantages as follows: 1. take the
advantages of interpolation function in FEM and block
kinematics theory in DDA; 2. the mathematics grid
and physical grid are totally independent; 3. diversity
of the cover function; 4. it can simulate the crushing
process of blocks and the movement after that; 5. easy
to solve the problems of fracture extension; 6. high
accuracy on block failure simulation.
4.2 Fundamental theory
The grids of NMM are many finite covers, the cov-
ers overlap each other and contain the entire material
body according to the material region. NMM defines
an independent displacement function on each cover,
then the functions connect together to form a gross dis-
placement function. The gross displacement function
is the weighted average of that on each manifold ele-
ment(the common part of several covers). Equilibrium
equation of NMM is based on principle of minimum
potential energy. SOR is used to solve the equations.
The new method has separate and independent
mathematics covers and physics grid: mathematics
cover defines the accuracy of approximate solution, it
does not change and has no limits; and physics grid, as
the boundary of the actual material, defines the domain
of integration. The superposition of mathematics cover
and physics grid form the finite cover system.
4.3 Selection of section
For planar NMM analysis, the most important thing is
always the transverse section. Because numerical sim-
ulation can only be done on an interval of the rock
mass, and besides the simulation range there are still
rock mass which form lateral restraint to the simulat-
ing part. So we can draw conclusion that the sliding
instability of rock slope mainly happens in the trans-
verse section and betrays the free face. The study of
transverse section is more representative. And among
the transverse sections, the most typical ones are those
which cross through the key blocks, for there are more
intersecting lines and more apparent planar blocks.
Study on these kind of sections is of more practical
value.
So, we select the section of y = 20 m as the study
object.
4.4 Parameters determination
We can get the geometric parameters by extracting the
coordinates through GeoSMA-3D, and then set fixed
Figure 6. Standard transverse section of y = 20 m
Figure 8. Manifold elements in finite physics cover.

Figure 7. Mathematics cover and physics grid. Figure 9. Sliding situation of the 150th time step.

points on bottom fringe and vertical fringe in order to

strictly restrain the lateral and vertical displacement.
The acquiescent regular triangular grids are applied
to mathematics cover. Element layer number on half
window height which decides the accuracy of covers
is 3 in this study. We will set measure points later after
program operation according to the sliding situation.
For physical parameters, since the rock mass of
project area belongs to Class III and IV according
to Standard for classification of engineering rock
masses(GB50218-94), and based on that combining
with the geological investigation report, we make the
value of the main physical mechanical parameters as
follows: body force of Y axis under self-weight stress Figure 10. Relations between blocks in transverse section
is −25.6 kN/m3 , elastic modulus of rock is 18 Gpa, and key blocks in slope entity.
poisson ratio is 0.3, primary stress is not considered,
internal friction angle of rock is 44.75◦ , cohesion is
10.33 Mpa, and we consider no infilling in the struc- The triangular block on the top has relative displace-
tural planes, the contact spring stiffness of rock block ment compared with the bigger block underneath it,
is 20 times the value of average modulus of rock. when gravity centre of the smaller block passes out of
the supporting surface, it rotates and falls down, col-
liding many times with the main sliding surface and
4.5 Simulation and results analysis
finally slides to the base of slope. The other blocks
Firstly, physics grids are generated by pretreatment reposefully slide and fall down. When all the remov-
program, and then generates the mathematics cover able blocks deviate from the main sliding surface, the
defined by the user, compound the two to form the main structure tend to be stable.
physics cover. Secondly, the calculator program read in From the picture processed below, we see that the
the data of finite physics cover, and then begin the iter- firstly sliding blocks on section of y = 20 m computed
ative computation during which the dynamic results by NMM program are exactly the key blocks identified
are visualized, at the same time, we can get the cal- by GeoSMA-3D. The two of them has coincided with
culation book. Finally displacement vector graph and each other quite well in this engineering.
stress vector diagram of manifold elements are shown We set measure points on the gravity center of each
by post processing program. key blocks in the section according to the sliding sit-
We can see that on the disturbance of externali- uation, monitoring the displacement and stress. We
ties the simulated slope tends to be unstable and then analyse the result after the 300th time step, because
slides. The rock mass has some deformation and then the key block under has just got away from the sliding
displacement grows along the main sliding surface. surface and the hystereticly sliding key block above

350

Figure 11. Displacement vector graph and stress vector
diagram of the 300th time step.
Figure 12. Displacement in X axis of key blocks in trans-
verse section.
Figure 13. Displacement in Y axis of key blocks in trans-
verse section.
has no rigid contact with the main slinding surface
yet, it has comparability.
We get the relevant information from the calculation
book:
—– step = 300 —–
blk = 28 cx = +5.09e + 000 cy = +6.76e + 000
txy = −1.40e + 000 m point = 1 dx = −18.726756
dy = −7.775206
blk = 65 cx = +1.16e + 001 cy = +1.26e + 001
txy = −4.31e-002 m point = 2 dx = −6.885567
dy = −3.110473
The first and third lines show the stress state of man-
ifold element the same number with the measure point
locates in itself. The other two lines show the X axis
and Y axis displacement of the two measure points.
We extract every displacement value after each time
step processing them with excel and then we obtain a
series of results:
The positive displacement direction of the figure
above is the opposite of that in the NMM program,
351
the direction of positive displacement in X axis is the
left in simulation, and the direction of positive dis-
placement in Y axis is downward in simulation. Key
block 1 is what measure point 1 monitors. We can see
the trends of displacement of two key blocks are the
same. Key block 2 is a little bit slower than key block
1, coordinating well with the results of GeoSMA-3D.
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. The fractures in rock mass has significant impact on
the safety of engineering. GeoSMA-3D can solve
the problems of triaxial fractures, it is reliable and
universal.
2. With key blocks identification, we can focuse rein-
forcement on them, which is more economical and
reasonable.
3. The stability of high slope in Daiyu Ridge is poor, if
support measures are not taken, there will be large
scale collapse when disturbed.
4. GeoSMA-3D and NMM coordinate with each other
quite well, they have good application prospect
in solving problems of slope reinforcement and
support and problems of sliding instability.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research has been supported jointly by State Key
Laboratory for Geomechanics & Deep Underground
Engineering of China (SKLGDUEK1009), the Liaon-
ing Natural Science Foundation of China (20092011),
National basic research program of China (973 Pro-
gram; 2007CB209405), National Natural Science
Foundation (NNSF) of China (751074042), National
College Basic Science Research Special Foundation
of Ministry of Education, China(N090401008) and
“985 project” of Northeastern University (China); all
of these are gratefully acknowledged.
Authors’ address: Dr. Shuhong WANG, Box 265,
School of Resource and Civil Engineering, Northeast-
ern University, Shenyang, 110004, P. R. China; E-mail:
shwang@mail.neu.edu.cn
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sional numerical modeling of discontinuous rock. Chinese
Journal of Underground Space and Engineering, 3(6):
1154–1156.
Liu, H.Y. & Wang, G.H. 2009. Simulation of impact failure
of jointed rock mass by numerical manifold method. Rock
and Soil Mechanics.
Mao, X.P. & Lang, F.Y. 2004. The present statue and devel-
opment of numerical computation methods in the study
of fracture mechanics. Journal of Shangqiu Teachers
College, 20(2): 20–25.
Shi, G.H. & Pei, J.M. 1997. Numerical manifold method
(NMM) and discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA).
Beijing: Tsinghua University Press.
Wang, S.L. & Ge, X.R. 1997.Application of manifold method
in simulating crack propagation. Chinese Jouranl of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering, 16(5): 405–410.
Wang, S.H., Fu, Y.H., Zhang, Y.B., et al. 2008. Three-
dimensional numerical modeling for structural planes
around rock underground engineering by GeoSMA-3D
method , International Conference on Heterogeneous
Material Mechanics (ICHMM), JUN 03–08, 2008,
Huangshan, P R China, Advances In Heterogeneous
Material Mechanics: 1541–1545.
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Wang, S.H. 2000. Study of Mechanical Behaviours During
Construction Process of Road Tunnel [Ph. D], Shenyang:
Northeastern University, P. R. China
Wang, S.H., Yang, Y., et al. 2009. 3-D Model for Key Block
Due to Rock Tunnel Construction and Its Computerized
Verification. Journal of Northeastern University (Natural
Science) 30(6): 877–880.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical simulation on dynamic response of non-destructive

test of anchor system

Y. Qin
School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China

Y.L. Wu
Guizhou Xinlian Blasting Engineering Limited Corp., Gui Yang, China

ABSTRACT: Numerical simulation is widely used in geotechnical engineering, finite difference software
FLAC3D is used to simulate status of anchorage system in this paper. To simulate different defect in anchor
system, different material parameters of grouting are set, characteristic frequency and typical vibration loading
are applied. The result shows that the stress wave decaying with the excitation frequency and the vibration load
increases when the stress wave spreads in anchoring system.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF

ANCHORAGE SYSTEM BY
Numerical simulation is widely used in geotechni- NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING
cal engineering (Fu 2006 & Tian 2006). At present,
the popular numerical calculation methods include 2.1 Modeling
ANSYS, FLAC3D and ABAQUS etc. FLAC is pro-
Three FLAC models are built in which the Y axis
posed by Cundall P.A at the 80s of the 20th cen-
is set along the bolt direction, rightward is positive;
tury, it is more suitable for numerical simulation
the coordinates which are perpendicular to the anchor
in geotechnical engineering. In the solution process,
plane are the X axis and Z axis. The length of bolt
FLAC using dynamic relaxation method which is
is 3.0 m, with the diameter 20 mm, and the simu-
the same as the distinct element method, without the
lated filling length is 3.5 m, with the filling diameter
formation and solution of large simultaneous equa-
180 mm, the exposed length of bolt is 0.1 m, and the
tions (stiffness matrix), so that it can avoid instability
exposed end coordinates (0, −0.1,0). Model 1 is the
of pathological equations solution which exists in
complete model to simulate the case of all perfusion
solving large linear equations. Since the geometric
of cement mortar, as shown in Figure 1; Model 2
equation of FLAC is suitable for nonlinear prob-
uses dry sand instead of cement mortar in the mid-
lems, geometric equation itself contains the transla-
dle of the anchor system, of which the coordinate
tion and rotation of differential unit, moreover, the
is (0,1,0) to (0,1.9,0),to simulate defective bolt with
physical equation is easy to satisfy the physical non-
one shortcoming, as shown in Figure 2; Model 3 uses
linear material. Therefore, FLAC is applied to solv-
dry sand instead of cement mortar at both ends of
ing geotechnical mechanics problems (Chen & Xu
the anchorage system, of which the coordinates are
2008, Liu & Han 2005), and the popular version is
(0,1,0) to (0,1.45,0) and (0, 1.95,0) to (0,2.4,0), to sim-
FLAC3D.
ulate defective bolt with two shortcomings, as shown
FLAC3D adopts the present Lagrangian algorithm
in Figure 3. Each model is divided into 10,224 units
and mixed – distinct partitioning technology, which
with 11906 nodes, and grid division of the model is
can simulate plastic failure and flow of materials
shown in Figure 4. The material parameters of the var-
accurately, is a very powerful professional geotech-
ious parts of the model are shown in Table 1 (Rao et al.
nical engineering software with a unique advantage of
2008). Bolt and mortar are isotropic elastic material.
the simulation of the bolt. Therefore, the paper used
First of all, using constitutive to make the model
FlAC3D to carry on non-destructive testing numerical
achieve balance under gravity (take g = 10 m/s2 along
simulation of anchorage system.

353
Y direction), and receive initial stress field before
dynamic calculation.
2.2 Numerical calculation
Adopting Mohr – Coulomb model, the failure envelope
of this model corresponds to the Mohr – Coulomb cri-
terion (shear yield function) plus the separation point
of tension (tensile stress yield function), and associates
to the tensile stress flow rule but unrelated to the shear
flow (Liu & Han 2005).
Contact element consists of a series of three-node
triangular cell, and triangle area will be assigned to
each node by contact element, each interface node has
an associated donation area. Each quadrilateral area
is defined with two triangle contact element, and then
builds node at each contact element points automat-
ically. when a grid surface connected with another
contact element, the contact surface nodes will be
generated. Contact surface is boss-eyed, which can
be regarded as "contraction bands". Contact element
relates to entity cell surface (called the target surface)
through the contact surface nodes, and the contact sur-
face force under normal direction is determined by
Figure 1. Model of defect-free bolt.
the target surface orientation. At each time step cal-
culation, first of all, receiving absolute normal pierce
capacity and relative shear velocity between the con-
tact surface node and the target surface, and then using
interface constitutive model to calculate the normal
force and tangential force. When the contact surface
is in the elastic stage, the normal force and tangen-
tial force of the moment of can be obtained by the
following formula (Chen & Xu 2008):
where: Fn(t + t) means the normal force vector of the
time of t + t; Fsi(t + t) means the tangential force
vector of the time of t + t; un means the abso-
lute displacement from interface nodes to the target
surface; usi means relative shear displacement incre-
ment vector; σn means additional normal stress caused
by interface stress initialization; σsi means additional
tangential stress caused by interface stress initializa-
tion; ks means shear stiffness of interface element;
means representative area of node interface.
Here, normal stiffness kn and shear stiffness ks
take 10 times equivalent stiffness of the “most rigid”
adjacent area, as

Figure 2. Model of one defect bolt.

where, zmin shows the minimum size of contiguous
areas on the contact surface normal direction.
Using “shift and remove” method to establish the
contact surface, that is separately establishing two
Figure 3. Model of two defects bolt.
grids which need build interface, and then establish
contact surface at specific location in one grid, and
move the other part of the grid to the specific location.
In the explicit finite difference element method,
using sound wave propagation method to determine
the time step. The time step is calculated as follow:

Figure 4. Schematic model mesh.

Table 1. Material parameters of the model.

Internal
Bulk Shear friction Tensile
modulus modulus angle Cohesion strength Density
Item K(Pa) G(Pa) φ(◦ ) c(GPa) σs (Pa) ρ(kg/m3 )

Bolt 171.7e9 79e9 – – 600e6 7850

Mortar 10e9 7.5e9 46 2.94e6 4.25e6 2680
Sand 16.7e6 7.7e6 30 0 0 1600

354
Figure 5. Dynamic load chart.
The calculation formula for time step of the trian-
gular element is:
where, d represents the distance between any two
points; represents the area of triangular element;
xmax represents the longest side of the triangular
 ele-
ment; Cp represents p wave velocity, Cp = Eρ . And
the relation of modulus E, bulk modulus K, shear
modulus G and Poisson’s ratio ν are: K = 3(1 − E
2ν)
,
G = 2(1E+ ν) . Critical time step of dynamic calculation:
where, V means the volume of tetrahedral sub-unit;
Amax means the largest surface area associated with
f
tetrahedral sub-unit; min {} means calculate all of
the units, including structural elements and contact
elements.
According to the material parameters of each seg-
ment in Table 1, some results can be calculated, the
speed of wave propagation in the bare steel (free bolt)
is 5123 m/s, in the cement mortar is 3588 m/s, in the
dry sand is 89.4 m/s.
In the calculation, adopting time history and impos-
ing anti-cosine initial load to the models, which is
shown in Figure 5, and the pulse width is 10 µs.
The calculation using localized damp form, loss
of energy and the maximum instantaneous strain
energy is proportional, and the ratio is independent of
frequency, is a function of the critical damping ratio D:
where, αL represents localized damp coefficient; D
represents critical damping ratio, takes 0.05 at the
calculation based on GB50011-2001.
3 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
In the calculation, material parameters of the model
remain unchanged (see Table 1), change the dynamic
355
Figure 6. Velocity-time curve at 100 kHz.
Figure 7. Velocity-time curve at 10 kHz.
load and vibration frequency of the dynamic calcu-
lation, the numerical simulation results of different
models are shown in Figure6 and Figure 7.
In the case of the same frequency, the maximum
peak value of various models velocity-time curve
improved with the vibration load increasing; In the
case of the same vibration loading, the maximum peak
value of various models velocity-time curve improved
with the vibration frequency increasing. The reason is,
the stress wave spread to the Y-axis positive direction
as the vibration loading functioned on the bolts, and
the wave speed measured at the first position, which is
not reflected, only relates with vibration loading and
frequency.
4 CONCLUSION
Using finite difference software FLAC3D to numer-
ical simulate status of anchorage system, according
to setting different material parameters grouting to
simulate the defect in the anchor system. No defect,
one defect and two defects models are simulated sepa-
rately. According to changing excitation frequency and
vibration loading in the numerical simulation, numer-
ical simulation of anchorage system in the case of
characteristic frequency and typical vibration load-
ing are carried out, it was found that the stress wave
decaying with the excitation frequency and the vibra-
tion loading increases when the stress wave spread in
the process of anchoring system.
REFERENCES
Chen, Y.M., Xu, D.P. 2008. FLAC/FLAC3D Foundation and
Projects. Beijing: China Water Power Press.
Fu, H.L. 2006. New Method for Numerical Analysis of
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Tian,Y.J. 2006. NewTechnology and Practice of Geotechnical
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634–639.
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tus. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences Vol 41, May, pp. 762–767.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Simulation study on the mechanical stability of subsequent

filling mining stope

G. H. Sun
School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China
College of Mining Engineering, Hebei United University, Tangshan, Hebei, China

S.J. Cai
School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China

W.B. Wang
Jizhong energy FengFeng group Wuan city Nanminghe Mining CO., LTD, Wuan, Hebei, China

ABSTRACT: The aim of the study is to investigate the influence of subsequent cemented filling on surrounding
rock’s mechanical stability. The mechanical parameters of surrounding rock and filling body were determined
on conditions of in-situ investigation and indoor rock mechanics experiment. Based on the parameters, the stress
distribution and displacement of filling stope’s surrounding rock were simulated using FLAC3D according to
a underground mining ore-body existing condition and mechanical property of surrounding rocks. This paper
analyzed the stress-strain appearance and change rule of displacement field, the deformation mechanism of
surrounding rock and filling body, and the stope’s stress distribution rule and damage mechanism. This study
will pay an active role in theoretical basis and scientific evidences to the optimization of mining method and
structure parameters, reasonable mining engineering design, and safety production management.

1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION and considering the geological condition of Liudian

Entering the 21st century, the problem of surface
environment protection caused by mining industry
becoming imperative considering that the protection
consciousness of mine environmental (Zhou 2004). It
is necessary to fill goaf to prevent it from extensive
collapse and subsidence for the purpose of raising
the ore recovery and keeping the stability of pillar
(Cheng 2006). All-tailing consolidated filling is the
effective method applied in deep and complex stress
condition of mining (Murali Mohan 2001, Martina
2000, Wei 2009). It can ensure the ore recovery, main-
tain the stability of stope (Zhang 2008, Cai 2000),
prevent surface subsidence (Zhan 2010, Su 2002),
and improve environment and emission (Li 2005).
For the advantages of All-tailing consolidated fill-
ing, it attracts more attention on exploration of iron
mine.
It is essential to study on the mechanical stability
of mining stope for determining the stope structural
parameters and security and efficiency of stoping
reasonably (Cui 2009). With the development of mod-
ern filling technique, Liudian iron mine successfully
applied the all-tailing consolidated filling in explo-
ration. This paper takes a qualitative analysis on the
stability of subsequent filling mining stope through the
three-dimensional numerical model made by FLAC3D
iron mine.
2 ENGINEERING OUTLINE
The Liudian iron mine is located in Liudian village,
Angezhuang zhen, Luanxian, Hebei province. The
mining area situate at the junction between the west
Shanhaiguan taigong of Yanshan aulocogen and the
platform folded zone of Luanxian. The exposure strata
of this area are mainly based on archean and protero-
zoic, and seldom paleozoic. Most of the area is covered
with extensive quaternary. The genetic type of min-
eral deposit is depositional metamorphic ore deposits,
and the ore body is continuous lens reservoir. The ore
body is 200 m long in strike, 225∼360 m in dip exten-
sion, occurrence with elevation over 24∼248 m, aver-
age thickness is 17.32 m. The orebody strike NE40◦ ,
dip NW and have dip angles 30◦ ∼86◦ , at average
angle 50◦ .
The shrinkage stoping method is applied with all-
tailing consolidated filling to exploration in order to
prevent the surface subsidence and farmland from
the influence caused by exploitation. The ore blocks
strikes in vertical direction. The technique of subse-
quent cemented filling chamber is applied the while
the rib pillar applied all-tailing non-cemented filling.

357
Table 1. The Ore blocks structure parameters of shrinkage stoping method with all-tailing cemented subsequent filling(m).

Stage height Ore blocks length Ore room width Rib pillar width Sillar pillar thickness Top pillar height

40 17–20 14 8 6 4

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of shrinkage stoping method

with all-tailing cemented subsequent filling.
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of geological model.

The ore blocks structure is presented in Table 1 and

Figure 1.

3 FLAC3D SIMULATION OF SUBSEQUENT

FILLING

3.1 Establishment of Model

According to relevant geological data and condition of
exploration, the typical ore body section is the No.1
ore block, No.2 ore block, and No.3. The ore blocks
were perpendicular to the strike of the orebody. Then
used the FLAC3D to build geological model. Figure 3. Stope model diagram.
The size of three-dimensional numerical model
which is determined by the scope of mining section is made and 500 steps is operated, the mining work of
was Length × Width × Height = 100 m(X axis, verti- pillar is carried out, afterwards all the tailings filling
cal direction of the orebody) × 206 m(Y axis, along is used.
the strike of the orebody) × 245 m(Z axis, vertical
direction).
3.3 Strength criterion
The model from top to down respectively is
quaternary epipedon (+50 m∼+10 m), overlying Computing research scope involves some materials,
rock (+10 m∼−150 m), and excavation orebody such as ore rock mass and cement mortar filling, which
(−150 m∼−190 m). The generative generation is belongs to elastic-plastic materials. These medium are
divided into 350475 units, and 374713 node. The suitable to use Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria. The
geological model as follow in Figure 2. mechanical model is expressed as the follows:

3.2 Scheme confirmation

According to the actual process of mining, simulation
recovery plan determines to mining each ore blocks
one by one along the trend of ore body. The min-
ing order of ore block is No.1 ore block, No.2 ore
block, and No.3 ore block successively. And the min-
ing results are replaced by time step in the course of
simulation. Every time a mine stope is excavated and
the subsequent cement filling is proceed simultane-
ously. 500 steps are operated after the filling. Then,
the next mine room is excavated and subsequent filled.
Until the subsequent cement filling of the third stope
where, σ1 is the maximum principal stress (MPa), σ3
is the minimum principal stress (MPa), C is cohesion,
φ is internal friction angle, and fs is yield function.
The initial stress of model is gravity stress, which
should carry through self-balanced treatment before
stopping (Self-balance on the basis of the largest
imbalance force history as the judgment). And model

358
Table 2. Mechanics parameter table of calculated material.
Elastic modulus
Material name (GPa) Poisson’s ratio
Upper rock 30 0.22
Footwall rock 30 0.22
Ore body 60 0.21
Overlying rock 13 0.25
Table 3. The mechanical parameters of cemented filling of Liudian iron mine.
Elastic modulus
Material name (GPa) Poisson’s ratio
Filling body 1.1 0.20
boundary restraint conditions set limit to the model,
the all around model limits horizontal displacement,
the bottom model limits vertical displacement in the
process of simulated calculation.
3.4 Rock mechanics parameters confirmation
Rock materials are divided into quaternary pedo-
sphere, overlying rock, upper and footwall rock, and
ore body. Under the conditions of site engineering
investigation and the indoor rock mechanics experi-
ment, the ore-rock and filing mechanics parameters are
confirmed. The rock material mechanics parameters
can be shown in the following Table 2.
According to the result of the test, the mechanical
parameters of cemented filling of Liudian iron mine
are shown in Table 3.
4 ANALYSIS OF SIMULATED RESULT
4.1 Stress distribution and its rule
The stope rooms are mined in turn and the subse-
quent tailings cemented filling is done. All the tailings
cemented filling is done immediately after the rib pil-
lars are stoped. Then, when the three ore blocks were
mined and filled, the stress change and distribution
are shown in Table 4. The subsequent cemented filling
was done immediately after the stope room of No.1 ore
block is mined and FLAC3D processed 500 steps. At
that time, the maximum primary stress mainly focused
on the upper plate and the upper footwall of the stope
room. And the stress value was about 0.1 MPa higher
than that of No.2 ore block and No.3 ore block. The
change was not obvious. There was stress concentra-
tion in the place where the upper plate surrounding
rock touched the footwall in the stope room of No.1
ore block. The vertical stress value (σz ) was 3.12 MPa.
The vertical stress of the rib pillar was almost the same
as that of No.2 ore block and No.3 ore block. And there
was no big change.
Volume weight Cohesion Internal friction Tensile strength
(MN/m3 ) (MPa) angle(◦ ) (MPa)
0.028 2.75 55 1.2
0.028 2.75 55 1.2
0.0345 4.5 70 1.5
0.026 0.5 30 0.7
Unit weight Cohesion Internal friction Tensile strength
(MN/m3 ) (MPa) angle(◦ ) (MPa)
0.0185 0.4 35 0.5
The subsequent cemented filling was done immedi-
ately after the stope room of No.2 ore block was mined
and FLAC3D processed 500 steps. At that time, the pri-
mary stress value of the filling room of No.1 ore block
was 2.42 MPa which was obviously higher than the
result of the mining of No.1 ore block. The maximum
primary stress mainly focused on the places where the
upper plate surrounding rock touched the footwall and
where the footwall surrounding rock touched the upper
plate. The maximum primary stress value of the rib pil-
lar between the No.1 ore block and the No.2 ore block
rose to 2.21 MPa. The maximum primary stress of the
filling stope of No.2 ore block mainly focused on the
places where the upper plate surrounding rock touched
the footwall and where the footwall surrounding rock
touched the upper plate. And the stress value was
higher than 2.5 MPa, The maximum principle stress
value of column between No.2 ore block and No.3 ore
block is higher than 2 MPa. The maximum principle
stress value of stope cemented filling between No.1
ore block and No.2 ore block is lower than 1 MPa.
The vertical stress value of hanging side surround-
ing rock of No.1 ore blocks filling stope and baseboard
contacting area reaches 8.0 MPa, and the vertical stress
value among column is also 8.0 MPa. The vertical
stress value of hanging side surrounding rock of fill-
ing stope of No.2 ore blocks and baseboard contacting
area also reaches 8.0 MPa, and the vertical stress value
among column is 6.5 MPa, which is lower relatively.
Relative to chamber cement filling of No.1 ore block,
the vertical stress (σz ) increase significantly.
After chamber actual mining, No.3 ore block should
be carried out immediately by afterwards cement fill-
ing, and FLAC3D program runs 500 steps. Compared
to ore block chamber actual mining filling, the maxi-
mum stress and vertical stress were both increased but
not very significantly, and the maximum stress val-
ues in cement filling stope were all lower than 1Mpa,
and vertical stress value is no more than 2 MPa. After
the column actual mining, just make whole backfill-
ing material non-cemented centrally-allotted filling,
359
Table 4. stress distribution of subsequent filling mining stope(MPa).

No.1 ore block No.2 ore block No.3 ore block

Stope room Rib pillar Stope room Rib pillar Stope room

maximum maximum maximum maximum maximum

Order primary vertical primary vertical primary vertical primary vertical primary vertical
number stress stress stress stress stress stress stress stress stress stress

1 −0.94 −3.12 −0.86 −2.50 −0.85 −2.50 −0.80 −2.00 −0.80 −2.00
2 −2.42 −8.00 −2.21 −8.00 −2.51 −8.00 −2.18 −6.50 −2.18 −6.00
3 −2.55 −8.71 −2.11 −7.83 −2.65 −8.90 −2.12 −7.83 −2.5 −8.00
4 −2.89 −9.60 −3.45 −11.00 −3.14 −11.00 −3.50 −11.00 −3.0 −10.00

Note: “−” is compressive stress, “+” is tensile stress

Table 5. The displacement changing conditions after the stope afterwards filling (mm)

No.1 ore block No.2 ore block No.3 ore block

chamber Rib pillar chamber Rib pillar chamber

maximum maximum maximum maximum

maximum maximum maximum maximum maximum maximum horizontal vertical horizontal vertical
Order. horizontal vertical horizontal vertical horizontal vertical displace- displace- displace- displace-
No. displacement displacement displacement displacement displacement ment ment ment ment ment

1 0.5 27 0.5 27 0.5 27 27 27

2 0.6 54 0.6 54 0.4 54 0.4 54 0.3 54
3 0.9 55 0.9 55 0.9 55 0.9 55 0.9 55
4 2.3 57 2.0 57 2.3 58 2.0 58 2.0 58

Note: maximum horizontal displacement is surface displacement; maximum vertical displacement is stope vertical rock
displacement

and FLAC3D program runs until the imitation ends.
From the imitation result, it can be found that the
maximum principle stress increased values of every
cemented filling stope were no more than 0.5 MPa,
which focused on hanging side surrounding rock and
baseboard contacting area.
The vertical stress values of all filling stope were all
increased, and the maximum value was 11 MPa, which
focused on hanging side and surrounding rock and
baseboard contacting area. At the moment, the maxi-
mum stress value of uncemented filling ore columns
was no more than 1 MPa, and the vertical maximum
stress value was no more than 2 MPa.
According to the comprehensive analysis of the
above-mentioned afterwards filling stress changes, the
regulars were listed as follows:
1. The stope stresses were mainly focused on hanging
side surrounding and baseboard contacting area,
and heading side surrounding and roof board con-
tacting area. With the ore afterwards filling work
proceeded, the stress value was increased gradu-
ally, but it runs gently, and the stress value was a
little small.
2. In the whole process, the surrounding stress was
increased with the recovery proceeding, but stress
value of cemented filling did not show signifi-
cant change fundamentally. It showed that filling
material did not bear a part of stress, but just transfer
and absorb a portion of stress, and it played a role in
remising and improving the stress distribution state
to get the purpose of filling.
4.2 Displacement distribution state and its
changing process
After the ore body excavated, the maximum horizon-
tal displacement value caused by hanging and heading
side along vertical ore body and the maximum verti-
cal displacement (submerging) caused by earth surface
were seen in Table 5.
With the process of exploitation, the value of sur-
face vertical displacement (ground depression) raised
constantly. After finishing the exploitation, the max-
imum of surface depression reached 57∼58 mm. The
underground mining result in deformation of rock and
ground depression inevitably. We can found something
from data of Table 5.
With the process digging and filling, the displace-
ment did not increase with the increase of mining, but
increased at beginning and then decreases with min-
ing. As No.1 ore block, the surface displaced 27 mm
after the stope subsequent cemented filling. In kindred
circumstances, the surface of No.2 ore block displaced
54 mm, and No.3 displaced 55 mm. Besides, No.1 ore

360
block’s upward surface displaced 57 mm after the pil-
lar mining and filling. These data showed that the
cemented filling improved the state of stress distribu-
tion in the mining and restricted the displacement of
rock. Meanwhile, it alleviated the ground depression.
4.3 The distribution range of plastic area and its
process of change
After No.2 ore block’s room mining, the contact area
of roof and bottom rock which consolidated fills with
No.1 ore block appeared plastic deformation. The
same circumstance occurred in No.3 ore block’s room
which used No.2 as consolidated filling. The stud-
ding area of unconsolidated filling appears biggish
plastic deformation after the pillar mining unconsoli-
dated filling. It indicated that unconsolidated filling’s
intensity failed to carry the point of maintaining and
improving the state of rock’s stress distribution effec-
tively. In the contact area of room’s hanging rock and
floor, as well as the contact area of bottom rock and
roof, there appeared scattered plastic deformations.
But the zones of plastic deformations were few, which
was conducive to limit rock deformation.
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. There was executed subsequent cemented filling
and subsequent non-cemented filling after the room
and pillar made sequence mining. The stope stress
mainly focused on the contact area of hanging rock
and floor as well as the contact area of bottom and
roof rock. With the development of subsequent fill-
ing, the magnitude of stress rose, but the change
became gentle. And the rock’s stress was controlled
effectively.
2. In the whole process of filling and mining, the
magnitude of stress did not change obviously. The
maximum of principal stress in consolidated fill-
ing was lower than 1 MPa, and the value of vertical
stress was lower than 2 MPa. These data indicated
that the filling material did not bear forwardly, but
to shift and absorb a part of stress energy. There-
fore, it can improve the state of stress distribution
and alleviate the situation of rock’s stress focus.
3. In the filling stope, the filling material isolated the
rock and exposed space. It also prevented further
development of rock joints’ crack, alleviated rock’s
intensity and reinforced rock’s bearing capacity.
Thereby, the rock’s deformation and displacement
were restricted. It alleviated the ground depression
effectively.
361
4. The plastic deformations of consolidated filling
room and rock were scattered and few. It was
propitious to restrict the rock’s deformation and
prevent the ground depression. While the plas-
tic deformation of consolidated filling pillars was
comparatively large. And it failed to maintain and
improve the sate of rock’s stress distribution effec-
tively. The ore block was divided into a room of
14m and a studding of 8m. This structure and
size made the plastic deformation area of uncon-
solidated filling decrease relative after studding
mining. This method controls deformation and
destruction of rock effectively. While it mined rock
ores efficiently, it reduced the cementing fill cost.
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simulation research on control effect of surrounding rock
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Analysis of deformation and failure effects for the roof of mined-out areas
under mechanical construction load

S.R. Wang & H.H. Jia

School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, China

J.M. Yu
Centre for Continuing Education, Hebei Vocational College of Foreign Languages, Qinhuangdao, China

ABSTRACT: Under the construction load, the roof strata above the mined-out areas will suddenly fall and
collapse when its thickness is less then a security value, which is a hidden danger for the miners and equipment
on the surface. Based on the mined-out areas in Antaibao Open-pit Mine, the three-dimensional engineering
geological model and computation model were built by using of FLAC3D technique, and the mechanical con-
struction load was applied on the surface of different elevation. Consequently, the roof of mined-out areas and
pillar damage failure regions were analyzed, the stress concentration extent and the range of principal stress were
discussed as well. The failure mode of room-and-pillar mining and the roof stability criterion were put forward at
the same time. The deformation and failure process and its damage evolution of the roof of mined-out areas were
revealed via monitoring displacement curves. The above mentioned results can provide theoretical and technical
basis for reducing the hidden danger and ensuring safe mining.

1 INTRODUCTION under earthquake (Ma et al. 2006). The accumulation

In recently years, there have left a massive shallow
mine-out areas in Antaibao Open-pit Mine. Rock strata
distorted and roof declined with the passage of time,
and the roof of shallow mined-out areas was easily
weathered. During the process of digging downward
step by step in surface mine, the overlying strata
thickness of the roof of mined-out areas gradually
decreases. The mechanical construction equipment
formed a loading condition on the surface of the
mined-out areas at the same time. Under the mechan-
ical construction load, the roof of the mined-out areas
could be activated, leading to the evolution progres-
sive damages and producing new decline and collapse.
When the accumulated damage range of the roof
developed to a degree, the miners and the excavation
equipment on the surface may unexpectedly fall into
the mined-out areas, which was a hidden danger to the
workers, and greatly influenced safe production.
According to the documental data, the energy analy-
sis of dynamic response signals were conducted during
damage process of the roof and surrounding rocks in
metal mine based on numerical simulation (Cao et al.
2009). The fracture mechanism of overlying super-
thick rock stratum was studied in underground mining
(Wang et al. 2009). The mechanical deformation anal-
ysis of the overlying thick-hard rock layers were made
after mining (Yang et al. 2009). The rock failure
and fall of the large underground mined-out areas
were researched (Zhao 2001). The factors influenc-
ing stress characteristics of rock cavern were studied
effect of dynamic stress in plastic soil was researched
under repeated dynamic loads (Zhang et al. 2009). The
stability of the rock and soil slope engineering were
analyzed with existing cavern respectively (Wang et al.
2007, Zhao et al. 2008). Foreign scholars have also
done the similar researches (Yang et al. 2007, Mogi
et al. 2008).
In summary, although the scholars in China and
other countries have conducted research on damage
effect of the rock under various loading conditions, and
have achieved some beneficial conclusions, the pro-
cess of the deformation and damage evolution charac-
teristics of the roof under mechanical construction load
is rarely reported. Therefore, taking into the mined-
out areas in Antaibao Open-pit Mine, it is of great
importance and value to carry out an analysis of pro-
gressive damage effects on the roof of the mined-out
areas under the mechanical construction load.
2 THE COMPUTATIONAL MODEL AND
PARAMETERS SELECTION
2.1 Building computational model
In the northeast edge of Antaibao Open-pit Mine,
Shanxi Province, China. underlied the mined-out areas
of Jingyang mine by the room-and-pillar stoping
method. Based on the field investigation and the
collected information, the three-dimensional compu-
tational model was built as in Figure 1.

363
Figure 1. Computational model and meshes.
Figure 2. Schematic diagram of monitor points location.
Table 1. Physical and mechanical parameters of rock mass.

Lithology h γ E t c φ load, the calculation and analysis were conducted as

name m kN·m−3 GPa µ MPa MPa ◦ follows:
Firstly, building three-dimensional computational
Sandstone 15 23.8 5.5 0.30 0.25 1.5 39 model, carrying out the balance calculation of initial
Coal 10 14.4 1.0 0.38 0.10 0.5 26 stress field before mining, and the displacement and
Shale 12 24.5 2.4 0.33 0.15 12 34 velocity fields were set into zero after the balance.
Siltstone 15 26.0 4.8 0.32 0.30 1.6 40 Only initial stress caused by rock and soil weight was
considered in this case.
Secondly, based on the mined-out areas identified
by field investigation, drilling and geological prospect-
The computational model is 130 m long, 130 m ing, the balance calculation of stress induced by the
wide, and 52 m high in the x-, y-, and z-axis. The span room-and-pillar stoping process was carried out, then
of mined-out areas is 10 m, and the width of coal pillars the displacement and velocity fields were set into zero.
is 5 m. The model was restricted horizontal movement Finally, exerting mechanical load on the surface of
on four sides with its bottom fixed and its top free. mined-out areas at different elevation to simulate the
The destruction of rock material was assumed consis- loading effect of shoveling exerts on the roof, then the
tent with Mohr-Coulomb strength criterion. The model calculation and analysis of the deformation and failure
was divided into 110031 zones and 20787 nodes. effect on the roof was carried out.
In order to reveal the displacement characteristics
2.2 Parameter selection of the roof and surrounding rocks in the mined-out
areas, the monitoring sites were set in Figure 2.
Based on field investigation and laboratory testing of
mechanical parameters of rock specimen, the physical
and mechanical parameters of rock mass were selected 3.2 Foundation stability criterion
as listed in Table 1. Based on the field investigation and engineering
experience, The overlying strata compose composite
foundation on the mined-out areas by room and pil-
2.3 Determining load and boundary conditions
lar mining method, which general exist three failure
Among the construction machinery equipment in modes as follows:
Antaibao Open-pit Mine, the maximum load density
Type 1: The roof of mined-out areas was partially
of BE shovel is 0.29 MPa. During the construction pro-
destroyed, which had little effect on the stability
cess, constant shoveling and loading kept the giant
of the foundation.
shovel arm swinging back and forth. So the giant
Type 2: Only the coal pillar appeared damage and fail-
shovel could be considered as a pseudo-static load,
ure due to the mechanical construction load, which
and the dynamic load factor was taken as 2.0, thus the
had little effect on the stability of the roof.
shovel load density was 0.58 MPa, which applied on
Type 3: The roof and the coal pillar all appeared dam-
the roof of the mined-out areas by equivalent uniform
age and failure at the same time, leading to the
load.
foundation destruction.
According to the above analysis, the foundation sta-
3 SIMULATION PROGRAMS AND bility criterion of mined-out areas was put forward as
FOUNDATION STABILITY CRITERION follows:
Failure criterion: Under the mechanical construction
3.1 Simulation programs
load, the foundation was instability due to the
To reflect the response characteristics of the roof of roof and the coal pillar generated interconnectivity
mined-out areas under the mechanical construction failure at the same time.

364
Figure 3. Plastic zones filed of the mined-out areas.

Deformation criterion: The roof of the mined-out areas

generated a large accumulated vertical displace-
ment, the vertical deformation curve was not con-
vergence, and meanwhile the horizontal displace-
ment curve of the coal pillar were not convergence,
namely, the foundation was instability.

4 CALCULATION RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

4.1 Plastic zones analysis

As is shown in Figure 3, under mechanical construc-
tion load, with the overlying strata gradually decreased
from 20 m to 15 m, the number of plastic zones in the
roof increased and the damage regions started to local-
ization, that showed the foundation of mined-out areas
was still stability. When the thickness of the roof was
10 m, the plastic zones of the roof further extended
to the surface and generated interconnectivity failure Figure 4. Vertical displacement curves of monitoring
with the coal pillar. That meaned the foundation of points.
mined-out areas came into instability in this case.

4.2 Deformation characteristics analysis

i. Variation of vertical displacement
As is shown in Figure 4, with the thickness of the
roof from 20 m to 15 m, the vertical displacement of
the monitoring site 1 and 2 were 12 mm and 15 mm,
respectively. Although the displacement value was
increasing, the accumulated vertical displacement was
not large enough, and the displacement curve came
to convergence that means the foundation of mined-
out areas was still stability. When the thickness of the
roof reached 10 m, the vertical displacement increased
sharply to 600 mm, and the displacement curve was not
convergence. That means the foundation of mined-out
areas came into instability in this case.
ii. Variation of horizontal displacement
As shown in Figure 5, with the overlying strata
gradually decrease from 20 m to 15 m, the horizon-
tal displacement curves of the coal pillar gradually
increased, but the accumulated horizontal displace-
ment was very small respectively, and the displacement
curves were convergence, that means the foundation
of mined-out areas was stability. When the thickness
of the roof reached 10 m, the horizontal displace-
ment showed sharply increasing, and the displacement
curves were not convergence. With the horizontal
displacement increased, the supporting ability of the
coal pillars decreased gradually, which could suddenly
cause the roof collapse. Therefore, in the process of

365

Figure 5. Horizontal displacement curves of monitoring
points.
the construction excavation, much attention should be
paid to the minimum thickness of the roof, which could
induce the hidden danger to safe mining.
4.3 Principal stress field analysis
As is shown in Figure 6, with the thickness of the roof
decreased from 20 m, 15 m to 10 m, the stress field
in the roof redistributed, the maximum principal stress
increased gradually, and the stress concentration extent
intensified gradually as well. The characteristics of
the principal stress field was closely related with the
plastic zones developed in the roof and the surrounding
rocks.
366
Figure 6. Principal stress filed of the mined-out areas.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Under the mechanical construction load, with the
thickness of the roof decreased stage by stage, the
displacement, principal stress, and the stress concen-
tration extent increased, and the number of plastic
zones increased in the roof and coal pillar, which
showed a nonlinear relationship with the thickness of
the roof changing.
When the thickness of the roof reached 10 m, the
plastic zones in the roof and coal pillar would extend
to the surface completely, the displacement curves of
the monitor sites increased sharply, and which was not
convergence respectively. That showed the roof was
destructed, which was a hidden danger to the miners
and equipment on the ground. This critical thickness of
the roof is as same as the on-site experience of safety
warning.
To sum up, during the process of construction under
the mechanical construction load, the roof displace-
ment observation should be carried out to reduce the
potential hazard caused by the insufficient thickness
of the roof.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was financially supported by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (51074140).
REFERENCES
Cao, Y. Song, B. Pan, J. S. et al. 2009. Energy Analysis of
dynamic response signals during damage process of roof
 surrounding rock based on numerical simulation. Chinese
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 28(1)
Supp. 1: 3137–3145.
Ma, X. D. Li, H. B. Xiao, K. Q. et al. 2006. Study on the
Factors Influencing Stress Characteristics of Rock Cav-
ern under Earthquake. Journal of Disaster Prevention and
Mitigation Engineering 26(2): 164–169.
Singh, P. K. Roy, M. P. 2008. Characterization of blast vibra-
tion generated from open-pit blasting at surface and in
belowground openings. Transactions of the Institutions of
Mining and Metallurgy 117(3): 122–127.
Wang, J. A. Liu, H. Ji, H. G. 2009. Study on fracture mech-
anism of overlying Super-thick rock stratum in under-
ground mining. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 28(1) Supp. 1: 2815–2823.
Wang, S. R. He, M. C. Wu, C. F. et al. 2007. Research
on stability of the slope engineering under complicated
engineering conditions. Beijing: Science Press : 48–157.
Yang, R. Scovira, D. S. 2007. Using blast vibration mea-
surements to estimate rock triaxial strains/stresses and
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dynamic rock strength for blast damage evaluation. 1st
Canada-US Rock Mechanics Symposium-Rock Mechan-
ics Meeting Society’s Challenges and Demands 2(12):
1547–1552.
Yang. Y. Feng, G. C. Liang, B. 2009. Study on the Mechan-
ical Deformation of overlying thick-hard rock layers
after Mining. Science Technology and Engineering 9(6):
1402–1405.
Zhao, B. Y. Liu, B. X. Wan, Y. P. 2008. Numerical Simula-
tion of Blasting Vibration on Slope Stability. Journal of
Engineering Geology 16(1): 59–62.
Zhang, Q. H. Tang, L. S. Wu, Y. G. et al. 2009. Research
on accumulation effect of dynamic stress in plastic
soil under repeated dynamic loads and its quantita-
tive model. Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology
(6): 76–79.
Zhao, W. 2001. The rock failure and fall of the Large Under-
ground Mined-out Area. Journal of Liaoning Technical
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experiment research of deformation of cavern by using DSCM

Z.W. Wang, B.B. Su & S.J. Ma

North China Institute of Aerospace Engineering , Langfang, Hebei University of Engineering, Handan, China

ABSTRACT: The failure of surrounding rock on rounded cavern was researched by means of a laboratory
experiment. The rounded cavern model was loaded by the bidirectional loading system. The whole course data
acquisition on surface speckle field of specimen was realized by image collection system. The test data was
analyzed by the method on white light digital speckle. Evolution and distribution of displacement field and
strain field were achieved on the whole destructive course of the cavern deformation. The experimental results
showed that the failure of the cavern that it was acted by high stress was experienced localization stage on
deformation. The V shaped pits were formed in surrounding rock of the cavern. The larger the load the more
serious stress concentration was. And it was destroyed ultimately. The depth and width of the type of V-pit had
some relationship with the cavern radius.

1 INTRODUCTION appears certain deviation. Digital Speckle Correla-

Cavern (or tunnel) destruction are the engineering geo-
logical problems during excavation of the underground
engineering(Qian, Q.H. 2008). It is due to human activ-
ities and excavation of geological disasters caused the
damage to engineering, not only bring disaster and
economic loss, also give engineering technicians to
bring huge safe hidden trouble. It gives life under-
ground engineering with all kinds of adverse effects
that got the universal attention of international experts
and scholars.
Through the field observation (C.D. Martin, P.K.
Kaiser 1999), failure mechanism (Ewy, R.T. 1990),
numerical simulation (Gao, F.Q. 2010), theoretical
analysis (Wang, Z.W. 2010) and experimental research
(Pan, Y.S. 2007, a large amount of research to study
the damage mechanism of cavities are achieved. Thus
means of cavern destruction are explored and the
theories basis is putted forward. Especially practi-
cal engineering can be simulated by experimental
research. And the influence factors, seeking solu-
tions are revealed. The basis for the engineering
construction is provided. Used for cavern destruction
of the experimental study of traditional method usu-
ally includes electrical measurement (resistance strain
film), acoustic emission, etc. The strain gauge is used
to quantitatively measure of strain and displacement of
local regions. And acoustic emission is used to qual-
itatively or half quantitatively study cavern damage
process with time, space, and the intensity distribution.
The test specimens should be pasted or embedded to
the corresponding devices in advance. And the possi-
ble destroying positions are estimated in advance that
if location to appear on certain position. Those exper-
imental results will be affected greatly if the location
tion Methods (DSCM) (Ma, S.P. 2004) is a very good
method to overcome the disadvantages of the methods
and limitations mentioned above. It has some advan-
tages including high sensitivity, recording information
completely, non-contact, non-pretreating work. The
required information is extracted through the Digital
image processing technology from specimen surface
natural or artificial forming spots. And it is adaptive
to environment. The measurement scales and precision
can be adjusted according to the need of strong appli-
cability. The whole process to the cavern destroying
can be tracked.
In this paper, simulation experiment is achieved by
using the natural marble material specimens through
two-way loading method. Surface image are recorded
with CCD camera. They are analyzed with DSCM.
And destruction of the whole process of the cavities
displacement field and strain field are acquired, and
quantitative research to destroy regional is achieved.
2 EXPERIMENT
Selected natural marble is processed into specimens
that its dimensions is 300 mm × 300 mm × 20 mm. In
the center position, the circular hole that its diameter is
80 mm is drilled. And it is used to simulate the cavern.
The natural texture of marble is used to be a speckles
field. Before the beginning of the experiment, the test
data acquisition system is set time synchronization.
While loading, the horizontal two-way servo control
pressure tester loading system is adopted. Specimens
and loading method are shown in Figure 1. Two-way
loading is adopted. In X direction it is first loaded to
7 MPa and maintain it constantly. In Y direction it is

369
Figure 1. Experimental loading schemes (Digital unit/mm).
Figure 2. Experimental acquisition image.
loaded with displacement control until the specimen
are broken. The loading rate is 1 micron/s. Speckle
image in surface of specimen are collected with CCD
camera that is shown in Figure 2. Displacement evo-
lution on surrounding rock mass is analyzed with
DSCM.
3 THE ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTAL
RESULTS
3.1 Displacement distribution on the whole process
of cavities destruction
Speckle image in the surface of specimen rock that it
is collected in experiment specimen is analyzed with
370
Figure 3. Cavern damage evolution process of displacement
field.
DSCM. The process of displacement evolution on sur-
rounding rock mass is acquired while the surrounding
rock mass is broken in rounded cavern. It is shown in
Figure 3. In the chart the stress value is loading stress
value for Y.
Figure 3 shows that under initial load, deforma-
tion is changing from equality (Figure 3 (a)) to the
non-uniform deformation (Figure 3 (b) (c)). A local
deformation concentration is emerged. As stress is
increasing, deformation area is gradually concen-
trating into the cavern peripheral. It is shown in
chart 3 (d).
3.2 Strain distribution on the process of cavern
damage
Cavern failure mechanism research shows that sur-
rounding rock mass destruction have obvious shear
strain localization area. And it caused damage. There-
fore digital speckle image that it is acquired from
experiment is further analyzed. The evolution process
of shear strain distribution evolution is researched. It
is shown in Figure 4.
In the early stage of loading, the Figure 4 shows that
the shear strain is uniformly distributed (Figure 4 (a)).
As stress is increasing, deformation area is gradually
focus on cavity in surrounding. Then v-shaped defor-
mation structure is formed in surrounding rock mass.
It and macroscopic damage results by experimental
observations are consistent. Upon further analysis, the
distance that cavities V structure tips in the center is
about 1.3 times of the cavern radius (It is coincided
with V type pit of in-situ observation of the tallies
from literature (Martin C.D. 1999)).
 Figure 5. The shear strain distribution at different time
(X = 620 pixel).

To further explore the shear strain at different place

variation with time, shear strain distribution are ana-
lyzed of each point (Y pixel coordinates) in different
time that they are located in a vertical section of right
cavern (X = 620 pixel). It is shown in Figure 5.
The Figure 5 shows that with the change of the time,
the shear strain is increasing more quickly in the centre
than in any other positions. And in the cavity area, the
shear strain is concentrated.The changes are consistent
with Figure 4. Further calculation shows V type pit
deep is about 1.3 times of the cavity radius.

4 CONCLUSIONS

White light digital speckle related method (DSCM)

was applied to circular cavity experimental obser-
vation of deformation and failure. It could realize
the process of the deformation and failure of cir-
cular cavity. And the evolution process of displace-
ment and strain field on the circular cavity could be
achieved.
The speckle images acquired from specimen sur-
face were analyzed.The analysis showed that the defor-
mation fields had obvious shear zone. It explain that
circular cavity destruction have partition fragmenta-
tion phenomenon. Experimental observation and data
analysis explain how circular cavity destroy appear
v-shaped deformation structure. The distance that V
structure tips to the center cavities is about 1.3 times
of the cavern radius.

REFERENCES
Ewy, R.T. & Cook, N.G.W. 1990. Deformation and fracture
Figure 4. Cavern damage evolution process of the shear around cylindrical openings in rock-I, II, Int.J. Rock Mech.
strain. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr. 27(5): 387–427.
Gao, F.Q., et al. 2010. Numerical simulation of zonal distri-
gation of surrounding rock mass in deep mine roadways.
Journal of China Coal Society 35(1): 21–25.

371
Ma, S.P., et al. 2004. Geo-DSCM system and its application
to deformation measurement of rock mechanics. Int. J.
Rock Mech. & Min. Sci. 41(3): 411–412.
Martin, C.D., Kaiser, P.K. & Mccreath, D.R. 1999. Hoek-
Brown parameters for predicting the depth of brittle failure
around tunnels. Can. Geotech. J. 36: 136–151.
Pan, Y.S., et al. 2007. Study on zonal disintegration of
rock.Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
26(S1): 3335–3341.
372
Qian, Q.H. & Li, S.C. 2008. A review of research on zonal
displacement phenomenon in deep rock mass engineer-
ing. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
27(6): 1278–1284.
Wang, Z.W., et al. 2010. Theoretical Study of Breakouts Cir-
cular Openings in deep Underground Opening. Journal
of North China Institute of Aerospace Engineering 20(2):
4–7.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical simulation research on surrounding-rock control

of deep mine cemented paste filling

A.X. Wu, H.Z. Jiao, H.J. Wang, S.J. Zhang, Y. Wang & H. Li
School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The mining depth of a deep Lead-zinc mine has reached 1200 m, with the high stress phenomenon
of the rock core disking, which can cause rock burst. Overhand horizontal cut-and-fill method has been adopted
in the mine to relieve the stress concentration phenomenon and reduce the possibility of rock burst, which has
also improved the safety of pillar extraction. In the paper, FLAC is used to simulate the mining process of
the stope room & pillar step by step excavation and back filling, and to study the affecting law of wall rock
stress-strain distributing and migration on different rate of paste supporting roof. It points out the mechanism
of paste filling body’s control on wall rock deformation, also the secondary stress distribution of goaf wall rock
after paste filling. At last, suggestions are proposed on actual production problems.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the gradual consumption of resources, mining

gradually extended down to the deep earth, which
increased the possibility of rock burst (Julio H.
et al. 2009). Numbers of mines in China was
exploited deeper than 1000 m, including Dong-
guashan Mine of 1000 m in Anhui Province and
Chihong Mine of 1200 m in Yunnan Province
(Wang 2010).
Cemented paste backfill(CPB) is a heterogeneous
material produced by mixing tailings with a solid per-
centage between 70% and 85%, water that is either
fresh or mine processed, and hydraulic binder, which is
usually 2–7% by weight. This technology has econom- Figure 1. Flat-nackcut-and-fill stopping method.
ical as well as environmental benefits for the mining
industry. The use of CPBs in voids created during min- methods of simulation of rock movement before and
ing operations allows the mining industry to extract after filling.
additional ores (He 1998).
A mine in Yunnan Province is an important Pb
2 MINING METHOD AND ROCK
and Zn production base, after 60 years of mining, the
MECHANICS
mining depth has reached 1200 m.
The wall rock occurred the phenomenon of stress
2.1 Mining method
concentration, including disked rock cores and rib
spalling. Therefore, the underground rock environ- The 8th ore body is grown in coarse crystalline
ment is harsher (Nasser et al. 2007). dolomite of lower carboniferous, the boundaries of
Therefore, the mine established a cemented paste between the ore body roof and floor and wall rock
filling system, using the high concentration of is very clear. The orebody occurrences is along with
cemented paste slurry filling the voids, formed high the attitude of stratum, strike is 20◦ ∼40◦ , dip is SE,
strength filling-body, which has played a very good dip angle is 61◦ ∼63◦ . The horizontal thickness of ore
control effect on stress and strain of wall rock (Wu is 2.5∼18.8 m, average 9.93 m. The ore body along
2008). the strike and dip direction were more stable, the
Based on the physical and mechanical properties of occurrence and forms are more stable. The mine use
mine rock, this paper researched on the control mech- flat-nackcut-and-fill stopping method, as shown in
anism of the paste filling on voids wall rock, by the Figure 1.

373
Table 1. The results of the initial stress Kaiser effect
measure.

Initial stress
Stress ratio
Along Vertical Perpendicular
Depth strike direction direction σh1 / σh1 / σv /
Level (m) σh2 σh1 σv σh2 σv σh2

1331 m 1207 27.34 17.54 18.52 0.64 0.95 0.68

Figure 3. Appearance of CPB.

Figure 2. Rock core discing.

Table 2. Ore and rock mechanics parameters.

Unconfined
Rock Modulus of compression Tensile Figure 4. 2D simulation model and boundary condition.
Rock density elasticity Poisson strength Strength
name (g/cm3 ) (GPa) ratio (MPa) (MPa)
2.3 Paste filling process
CPB 1.66 1.424 0.286 3.659 0.423 The CPB in the mine is mixed by thickened tailings,
Sulfidization 4.086 15.09 0.254 86.241 3.007 water-quenched slag, cements and water, the ratio of
ore body cements to aggregate is 1:8, the density of paste can
Limestone 2.797 17.798 0.244 74.677 6.076
reach 78∼82 wt%, the ratio of tailings to slag in
(C2w)
Dolomite 2.78 17.172 0.262 68.655 3.071
aggregate is 75% to 25%. After 28d, the unconfined
(C1b) compression strength of concreted filling body can
reach 3 MPa. The high concentration paste slurry and
concreted filling body in voids are shown in Figure 3.

2.2 Rock mechanical property

3 FLAC NUMERICAL MODEL
2.2.1 Initial rock stress ESTABLISHMENT
Initial rock stress is the fundamental force result in
deformation and failure. The Kaiser effect measure- 3.1 2D simulation model establishments
ment on initial stress was carried out on 8th ore body,
the results shows in Table 1. According the D-D profile chart in Figure 1 C-C, the
The results shown that the direction of greatest prin- two-dimensional model of room and pillar in mining
cipal stress is along the strike, the vertical direction was been established, as shown in Figure 4.
stress value and the perpendicular stress are very close.
3.2 Enactment of boundary condition
2.2.2 Rock burst proneness
The elevation of upper boundary of model 1412 m,
In the process of engineering geology drilling, the rock
depth is 1,126 m. Because of the average bulk density
core discing phenomenon was found in 8th orebody.
of the overburden rock is 2.664 g/cm3 (Palchik 2006),
The rock core discing refers to a phenomenon of the
so the pressure on upper boundary is 30 MPa. Other
core rock fracture into a “pie” during drilling. It is
mechanical properties of rock accord to the data set in
characteristic phenomena of high stress area of rock
Table 2.
mechanics.

3.3 Process of simulation

2.2.3 Rock mechanics parameters
Ore and rock mechanics parameters obtained by test- In Figure 4, Stope number expressed mining sequence;
ing, shown in Table 2. No.1 room was the fist mining stope. Cemented paste

374
 Figure 6. The vertical direction stress.
Figure 5. The maximum principal stress.

filling immediately after the Stope mining is com-

pleted. In this paper, the initial strength of the paste
was assuming 3 MPa.
Three steps mining contrast simulation was carried
By FLAC. First, impact on roof by filling body or no
filling; second, impact by different supporting pit roof
rate; third, impact by recovery of ore pillar.

4 ANALYSIS OF SIMULATION RESULTS

4.1 The impact of filling body on voids wall

movement
The surrounding rock movement compared analysis
before and after filling was carried out by simulating,
the results shown through Figure 5 to Figure 7.
As shown in Figure 5a, when no filling, the surface
wall rock released stress and easy to collapse. And in
about 4m above the room formed a stress concentration
area, the peak stress of about 70 MPa. After filling
(Figure 5b), under the CPB’s supported, the rock stress
was redistributed, so the degree of stress concentration
was significant reduce, lower more than 60%.
As shown in Figure 6a, when no filling, the ver-
tical direction stress was concentrated at the loca-
tion of 4m above the stope shoulder, the maximum
Figure 7. The stope roof displacement before and after
filling.
stress of 35 MPa. After filling (Figure 6b), the stress
concentration regions got smaller, only about 10% of
no filling.
As shown in Figure 7, the roof displacement is less
than 1 cm when filling, which is much smaller than no
filling. When no filling, the roof displacement reach a
peak in the middle of roof, the value is 5.6 cm, at the
same time, the maximum displacement after filling is
only 4 mm, only 7.14% of no filling.

375
Figure 8. The maximum principal stress.
Figure 9. The vertical direction stress.
4.2 Impact of pillar recovery on voids wall
movement
During the extraction of pillar 4th, the both side of the
stope are CPB body, as shown in Figure 4. the stress
distribution of wall rock with filling or no filling were
simulated, and the results was shown through Figure 8
and Figure 9.
As shown in Figure 8, the roof and floor rock
released stress with no filling, the value get lower,
and the stress concentrated at the above of roof, the
peak value reached 60 Mpa. After filling, the concen-
tration region only appeared at the shoulder of the both
neighbor stope.
As shown in Figure 9, the rock of roof and floor had
a lower vertical direction stress value for the stress
released, but small scale concentration occurred at the Figure 10. The maximum principle stress when roof
shoulder of both neighbor stope, the value of about un-supported.
45 MPa. After filling, the region of concentration got
smaller, and only occurred at the neighbor stope.
filled with air, so called ‘empty’, and then simulated
the stress distribution and displacements under this
4.3 The impact of supporting pit roof rate on wall
situation. The results was shown through Figure 10 to
rock
Figure 12.
For multi-stope panel, the supporting pit roof rate after According Figure 10 and Figure 8b, when the roof
pillar recovered have more far-reaching impact on nest didn’t supported by the CPB, there were three location
step excavation and pillar recovery. This simulation set occurred stress concentration, above the 4th pillar, the
the filling height of 3.5 m, and the other 0.5 m was shoulder of both neighbor stope. And also, the peak of

376

Figure 11. The vertical direction stress nephogram.
Figure 12. The stope roof displacement before and after,
filling.
concentrated stress, 60 MPa, was very high. The stress
state of overall rock and CPB was poor.
Compared Figure 11 with Figure 9b, when the roof
didn’t supported by the CPB body, the great stress con-
centration was occurred at the shoulder of un-support.
And also at the outside of both neighbor stope appeared
the phenomenon too, but the region was bigger. The
floor rock was released stress and under a lower stress
value.
As shown in Figure 12, compared the three situation
of no filling, un-support, and filling, the roof displace-
ment of un-supported was smaller than no filling, but
the value was still more bigger than fill. So in the
actual production process, engineering measures must
be taken to maximize the rate of filling to support roof.
377
5 CONCLUSION
1) The cemented paste backfill body can reduce the
stress concentration on the above and shoulder
of stope rock, make the secondary distribution of
stress, also, which can improve the stability of the
roof rock, and reduce the possibility of rock burst.
2) When recovering the pillar, the both neighbor CPB
can support the roof to a certain extent, improving
the job security. The voids of pillar still need filling,
for improving the stress characteristics of the sur-
rounding room, providing support for the following
mining operations.
3) The supporting pit roof rate plays a greater impact on
the roof displacement. If the roof didn’t supported
by filling body, the control action of CPB on roof is
reduced, leading larger roof displacement, and the
roof rock easy being broken and collapse.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This project was supported by the National Nat-
ural Science Foundation of China Key Program
(50934002), the Program for Changjiang Scholars and
Innovative Research Team in University (IRT0950),
and the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(51074013).
REFERENCES
He, M.C. 1998. The theory and practice of Chinese coal mine
soft roadway supporting. Beijing: China Mining Press:
26–28.
He, M.C. & Gao, E.X. 1997. Mechanics of coupled support
and its use in soft rock tunnels. Journal of China Coal
Society 22(zk): 196–199.
Julio, H. & Paul, S. 2009. Dynamic imaging and modelling
of multilayer deposition of gold paste tailings. Minerals
Engineering 22(9): 128–139.
Nasser, M.S., James, A.E., et al. 2007. Numerical simula-
tion of the continuous thickening of flocculated kaolinite
suspensions. Int. J. Miner. Process 84: 144–156.
Palchik, V. 2006. Application of Mohr–Coulomb failure the-
ory to very porous sandy shales. International Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 10:1153.
Wang, H.J., Wu, A.X., et al. 2010. Experimental study on
unclassfied tailings-water quenching slag paste filling
technology in Huize Mine. 13th International Seminar
on Paste and Thickened Tailings Toronto, Canada, May:
3–6.
Wu, A.X. 2008. Granular Dynamic Theory and Its Applica-
tions. Metallurgical Industry Press & Springer: 134–135.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical simulation of pressure relief mining in Chengchao iron mine

M.G. Xu, Y. Zhang & Y. Li

College of Resource and Environment Engineering, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: The paper applied the method of adjusting the region mining sequence to analyses pressure relief
mining in high stress region of eastern in Chengchao Iron. It was numerically simulated according to pressure
relief mechanism and practical project. The stress distribution in high stress region was analyzed in different
mining sequence. Simulation results showed that relief mining of adjusting the order could not only shorten
the exposure time of entry in high stress area, but also improved the stress distribution of the stope, which was
always in stress reduction zone. According to the characteristics of constantly moving surface and the principle
of mining system optimization, working face was always in stress reduced area, finally achieving the effect of
pressure relief.

1 INTRODUCTION angle of the orebody is 15–25◦ . The hanging wall

Over the years, the primary way to maintain the road-
way is supporting and reinforcing the surrounding
rock. But in some difficult conditions, even for tunnel
support and surrounding rock reinforcement, roadway
maintenance is still difficult. If the method of adjusting
mining sequence is used to improve stress distribu-
tion of surrounding rock, the stress in the mining area
will be reduced in the region (Qian, 2003). The entry
of the Chengchao Iron Mine where in the −395 m
level of the eastern fracture zone has significant stress
concentration problem. The stress must be released in
high-pressure area for mining safety. And in order to
not affect the safe progress of mining, it is a good
choice to relieve the stress in high-pressure area.
2 PRESSURE RELIEF MECHANISM
In the mining process, it will form a range of stress
increased areas and stress reduction zone in each roof.
The tunnel in increased stress area will be under great
stress concentration condition and would be destroyed.
While in reduction stress area, the tunnel will be easy
to maintain. According to the feature of the working
face constantly moving and the principle of roadway
system optimal layout, mining sequence is adjusted,
and the approach is mined as quickly as possible.
3 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF RELIEF
MINING IN HIGH STRESS AREA
3.1 Geological Conditions
Chengchao Iron is adopted by no-pillar sublevel cav-
ing. The main orebody above −395 m level is III,
whose average thickness is 48.72 m. The inclination
of orebody is mainly marble, and the compressive
strength is 4.4–15.7 MPa (10 MPa in average). The
footwall is mainly granite, and the average compres-
sive strength is 237.15 MPa.
3.2 Numerical Model
The three-dimensional finite element model of
Chengchao iron has been established by Ansys soft-
ware, which is based on geological cross-section dia-
gram from −360 m level to −430 m level. The size
of Model in X, Y, Z direction is 1000 m × 1000 m ×
500 m. In the model, high stress relieving mining sim-
ulation idea is mining from the high stress area to
hanging wall and footwall in the area of pressure
greater shows, then simulating the relief plans, finally
analyzing relief effect and finding a reasonable mining
order.
This model includes the main five materials:
ore rock, surrounding rock, the hanging wall rock
(marble), the footwall rock (granite), collapse zone.
Rock samples used in experiments are the rock core
from Chengchao Iron −200∼−500 m level, which are
the skarn, marble, diorite, and magnetite.
Experimental studies including determination of
ore rock uniaxial compressive strength, tensile
strength, loading and unloading before peak testing,
etc, are mainly completed in the general material test-
ing machine. The typical ore and rock mechanical
properties of the test data of Chengchao Iron Mine
as shown in Table 1. In the finite element process,
the physical model depends on the structure char-
acteristics and mechanical parameters of rock mass.
The physical model in mining stress field mainly con-
sider of marble, granite, collapse zone, magnetite. The
mechanical parameters of calculation have been deter-
mined through the rock mechanics experiment. The

379
Table 1. Chengchao Iron typical ore mechanical properties of test data and mechanical parameters.

Compressive Tensile Poisson’s Bulk Internal Friction

Modulus Strength Strength Ratio Density/ Cohesion/ Angle/
Lithology E/GPa σc /MPa σt /MPa µ kN·m−3 MPa (◦ )

Marble 32.1 82.8 10.6 0.28 26.6 6.48 31.3

Collapse 0.3 2.15 0.01 0.32 21.0 0.06 20
Zone
granite 60.5 126.8 9.6 0.23 27.8 6.15 36.2
Magnetite 39.4 129.4 10.2 0.30 41.2 8.32 33.6
Diorite 49.9 143.4 9.6 0.23 26.3 10.51 34.3

Figure 1. The finite element mesh of relief model in the

whole mining area. Figure 2. Schematic layout of analog observation point.

mechanical parameters of collapse can be approxi-
mated using the engineering analogy method with
reference to the literature (Li 2006; Wu 2006), as
shown in Table 1.
In relief model of the whole mining area, the exter-
nal surrounding rock with 300 m × 300 m × 300 m
tetrahedral units, the collapse with 200 m × 200 m ×
200 m tetrahedral units, ore with 50 m × 50 m × 50 m
tetrahedral units, as Figure 1 shows, the entire grid
divided into 94,494 units, nodes 132,359.
3.3 Status and programs of simulation
Subsidence in Chengchao Iron extend to −360 m level,
the maximum tensile stress in whole mine is 37.3 MPa,
which mainly concentrated around the collapse area
and the untapped rock block in the junction of east-
west zone. Tensile stress in higher plate and lower plate
is large, and mainly in the diorite and granite. It shows
that after −360 m level of exploitation has been com-
pleted, the work face subject to the impact of mined
area increases, and stress concentration occurs. When
the local rock tensile stress exceeds its maximum ten-
sile strength, part of the tunnel or chamber may occurs
rifting damage. Compressive stress mainly exits on the
contact zone of footwall and orebody, particularly in
western area. This is mainly due to footwall of gob
is mainly exposed to compressive stress after the end
of mining activities above the level. Determination of
rock stress field shows that (Kuang 2008.), the max-
imum principal stress and the intermediate principal
stress generally are level tectonic stress in metal mine
within the mining area. After mining deposits, the level
stress is isolated by the gob, and it will transfer to
the left pillar between the hanging wall and footwall.
Finally, it forms a high stress concentration.
In the eastern high stress area of −395 m level,
mining direction is adjusted towards hanging wall and
footwall back taken. Caving step is set to 3 m. Shown
in Figure 2, in the tunnel 9 # and 11 # the way from
the footwall about 3 m and 20 m where observation
points are arranged, in the tunnel 10 # and 12 # near
the intersection where observation points are arranged.
Completion of the high stress mining requires the
following six steps.
Step One: the former mining simulation.
Step Two: from 9 # to 18 #, mining one step from the
middle to hanging wall and footwall respectively,
the collapse with the formation of 6 m.
Step Three: from 9 # to 18 #, mining two steps from the
middle to hanging wall and footwall respectively,
the collapse with the formation of 12 m.
Step Four: from 9 # to 18 #, mining three steps from the
middle to hanging wall and footwall respectively,
the collapse with the formation of 18 m.
Step Five: from 9 # to 18 #, mining four steps from the
middle to hanging wall and footwall respectively,
the collapse with the formation of 24 m.
Step Six: from 9 # to 18 #, mining five steps from the
middle to hanging wall and footwall respectively,
the collapse with the formation of 30 m.

380

Figure 3. The maximum main stress of −395 m-level
generated after the fist recovery step.
Figure 4. The minimum main stress of −395 m-level
generated after the fist recovery step.
4 THE CALCULATIONS AND ANALYSIS
In the following figures, “ + ” means tensile stress and
“ − ” means pressure stress with the unit Pa. The anal-
ysis of the model mainly studies a 400 m range of
the junction of the east-west area among −360 m to
−395 m levels.
4.1 The cases and analysis
Figure 3 and Figure 4 respectively show the maxi-
mum main stress σ1 and the minimum main stress σ3
of −395 m-level generated after the fist stoping step
in the high-stress zone of east area. In the east high-
stress zone, after retreat mining in a caving mining step
towards hanging wall and footwall, the maximum main
stress σ1 in the mining area is generated, mainly as the
tensile stress which is 7.9 MPa, which appears near
stope. As showed in figure 3, in the direction north-
south, high-stress area is divided into two. Tensile
stress is mainly concentrated in footwall contact zone
between mine and wall rocks and two sides of recovery
area. In the mining area of retreat mining towards foot-
wall, the highest value of the maximum main stress in
381
Figure 5. The maximum main stress of −395 m-level
generated after the forth recovery step.
Figure 6. The minimum main stress of −395 m-level
generated after the forth recovery step.
ore is nearly 10 MPa, which illustrates that in the begin-
ning of recovery, the approach road of stope is severely
damaged by tensile. Among the four measured points,
σ1 decreases about 1MPa in average. Apart from σ3 of
measured points on the No.10 entry decreasing about
0.4 MPa, others increase about 0.3 MPa. In the min-
imum main stress σ3 of mining area, pressure stress
plays the dominant role. In the study range, pressure
stress is mainly concentrated in contact zone between
ore and footwall, the value is 10.58 MPa. In the begin-
ning period of recovery, the stope stress concentration
in high-stress zone is further intensified. However, the
tensile stress of measured points, which is 20 m away
from stope, greater decreases, which reduces the prob-
ability that tensile failure happens in the approach road
of mining preparation. Although the pressure stress of
the point has some increase, it won’t influence the sta-
bility of roadways. So in the beginning, adjustment of
recovery order has a certain effect in reliving pressure.
Figure 5 and Figure 6 respectively show the max-
imum main stress σ1 and the minimum main stress
σ3 of −395 m-level generated after recovering in four
caving mining steps towards hanging wall and foot-
wall in the high-stress zone of east area. In mining
area, among the maximum main stress σ1 , the largest
tensile stress is 13.3 MPa, which appears in the east
of the recovery area. In the figure 5, tensile stress
Table 2. The simulation of measured point on No. 9 approach road in recovery process.

The maximum The minimum Safety

Recovery Steps main stress/MPa main stress /MPa Strain energy/J coefficient

Before recovery 4.22 −5.28 1.96e5 3.0956

Recovery towards hanging 3.17 −5.41 1.22e5 3.9822
wall and footwall 1
Recovery towards hanging 2.72 −6.09 8.22e4 4.4605
wall and footwall 2
Recovery towards hanging 2.85 −5.84 8.29e4 4.3636
wall and footwall 3
Recovery towards hanging 2.55 −6.35 8.60e4 4.6269
wall and footwall 4
Recovery towards footwall 5 2.21 −7.14 3.27e4 5.0563

Table 3. The simulation of measured point on No. 10 approach road in recovery process.

The maximum The minimum Safety

Recovery Steps main stress/MPa main stress /MPa Strain energy/J coefficient

Before recovery 6.35 −3.42 3.87e4 2.1585

Recovery towards hanging 5.03 −2.81 1.67e5 1.9153
wall and footwall 1
Recovery towards hanging 5.22 −3.74 5.08e4 2.5942
wall and footwall 2
Recovery towards hanging 4.82 −4.60 4.98e4 2.7864
wall and footwall 3
Recovery towards hanging 4.33 −2.94 1.44e5 2.0061
wall and footwall 4
Recovery towards footwall 5 4.00 −4.78 6.66e4 3.4925

Table 4. The simulation of measured point on No. 11 approach road in recovery process.

The maximum The minimum Safety

Recovery Steps main stress/MPa main stress /MPa Strain energy/J coefficient

Before recovery 5.98 −3.03 1.14e5 2.3294

Recovery towards hanging 5.00 −3.53 1.48e5 2.7089
wall and footwall 1
Recovery towards hanging 4.61 −4.02 1.99e5 2.8938
wall and footwall 2
Recovery towards hanging 4.89 −4.38 5.55e4 2.6606
wall and footwall 3
Recovery towards hanging 4.72 −4.63 5.95e4 2.7605
wall and footwall 4
Recovery towards footwall 5 4.41 −5.22 5.95e4 2.9398

is still mainly concentrated in footwall contact zone
between mine and wall rocks and two sides of recovery
area. The tensile stress of all measured points has some
decrease, and the points are 8–10 m away from stope.
In the figure 6, the largest pressure stress is appears
in the contact zone between hanging wall and foot-
wall. And with recovering, pressure stress near stope
is decreasing. However, in all of the four measured
points, the minimum main stress is increasing. In the
figures, with recovering, the high-stress area has been
divided into three parts. In the middle orange area,
stress value is higher, which means with the retreat
of stope, decreasing area of stress is 4 m away from
stope, increasing area of stress is 4 m to 15 m away
from stope, and the area to restore stability is more
than 15 m away.
4.2 Analysis of measured points’ value in every
recovery step
Through the simulation of 6 retreat mining steps, the
stress, strain energy and safety coefficient of the mea-
sured points are summarized in following tables, or
Table 2 to Table 5.

382
Table 5. The simulation of measured point on No.12 approach road in recovery process.

The maximum The minimum Safety

Recovery Steps main stress/MPa main stress /MPa Strain energy/J coefficient

Before recovery 4.99 −3.97 2.96e4 1.9331

Recovery towards hanging 3.86 −4.30 1.05e5 2.4441
wall and footwall 1
recovery towards hanging 3.72 −4.52 1.34e5 2.4891
wall and footwall 2
recovery towards hanging 3.38 −5.04 1.06e5 2.7263
wall and footwall 3
recovery towards hanging 3.06 −5.26 1.41e5 2.9379
wall and footwall 4
Recovery towards footwall 5 2.93 −4.99 3.00e5 3.0624

Figure 8. The minimum main stress of measured points in

Figure 7. The maximum main stress of measured points in every recovery step.
every recovery step.

In Table 2 to Table 5, safety coefficient applies

the Mohr-Coulomb Theory that uses the relation
between the maximum/minimum main stress and ten-
sile/compressive strength. The criterion formula is
showed as follow.

The maximum main stress and minimum main

stress of measured points in every recovery step are
showed in figure 7 and figure 8. The strain energy and
safety coefficient can be seen in figure 9 and figure 10.
In the simulation, there are 6 steps in 5 recovery pro-
cesses. Measured points on No. 9 to No. 12 entry is
20 m to 50 m away from stope. Figure 7 shows that the
maximum main stress of measured points on No. 9 to
No. 12 entry is decreasing as a whole. As the recovery
of 5 caving mining steps, the maximum main stress
decreases about 2MPa in average. Whereas the tensile
stress of apical plate is continuously increasing in one
to two caving mining steps near stope, which illustrates
that measured points is placed in stress-decreasing area
when recovering. Figure 8 shows that the minimum
main stress of measured points on No. 9 to No. 12
entry is in trend of increasing as a whole, and it increase
Figure 9. The strain energy of measured points in every
recovery step.
1∼2 MPa. It illustrates that pressure stress is increas-
ing, which basically reflects the regulation of ground
pressure in stope as the stope is continuously closed to
measured points.
In Figure 9, the strain energy of measured points on
No. 9 entry is decreasing, whereas that on No. 12 entry
is increasing. And the strain energy of measured points
on No. 11 entry is decreasing when recovering two
caving mining steps, but after recovering three caving

383

Figure 10. The safety coefficient of measured points in
every recovery step.
mining steps, it decrease to lower level. The strain
energy of measured points on No.10 entry changes
with jumping, as a result of its place is in contact zone
of ore, and nature of wall rock is unstable. Above illus-
trates in the process of adjusting recovery order, the
strain energy has the trend of transferring from east
to west. Figure 10 shows that the safety coefficient
of measured points is continuously increasing, mainly
because the tensile stress of every measured points is
continuously decreasing, which improve the stability
near measured points. However, as the stope is clos-
ing, surrounding rock of roadways that is near contact
zone of ore is unstable. As a result, construction of
roadways in this area should be quickly finished, and
the supporting of the roadways should be strengthened.
5 CONCLUSION
Using Ansys software to establish the numeri-
cal model, relief mining process is simulated in
384
Chengchao Iron of the level of −395 m high
stress area. Three main conclusions are obtained as
follows.
1) Relief mining of adjusting the order can not only
shorten the exposure time of entry in high stress
area, but also improve the stress distribution of the
stope, which is always in stress reduction zone;
2) In the consideration of adjusting mining order, we
must control the back mining line avoid the side
of the stress concentration that would effect the
pressure relief mining result;
3) As a practical matter, we must strengthen the entry
of the mining process and the supporting strength,
so as to avoid the stress of surrounding rock too
large to recovery.
REFERENCES
Kuang, Z.X., Song, W.D. 2008. Underground metal mine
disaster prevention and control technology. Beijing:
Metallurgical Industry Press.
Li, J.S. 2006. West Ma’erqu of south-to-north water trans-
fer project – Ake Creek Long deep tunnel rock burst
prediction and its impact on the projet. Beijing: Chinese
Academy of Geological Sciences: 64–65.
Qian, M.G., Shi, P.W. 2003. Ground Pressure and Strata
Control. Xuzhou: China University of Mining Press.
Song, W.D., Kuang, Z.X., Du, J.H., et al. 2009. Chengchao
iron ore mining and control of ground pressure varia-
tion technique. Mining Research and Development 29(2):
16–20.
Wu, Y.L., Xu, M.G., Wang, Y.H. 2002. Chengchao iron ore
project quality evaluation and selection of support meth-
ods. Rock Mechanics and Engineering 21(7): 1059–1063.
Wu, Y.L., Wang, J. 2006. Chengchao iron ore mining in the
surrounding rock mass in deep Numerical Analysis. The
Seventh National Mining papers. Changsha: Changsha
Institute of Mining Research: 295–298.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical calibration of micro-parameters of the mixed gneiss rock

in uniaxial compression

S.L. Xu & Q.G. Lei

Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Anhui Architecture of University, Hefei, China

X.J. Li
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT: The bonded particle model is now often used to simulate the behaviour of rock because it can
represent the significant physical behaviour mechanisms in rock. The sensitivity analysis of micro-parameters
of using the parallel bond model is conducted in this paper. The calibration is carried out based on the laboratory
uniaxial compression test of mixed gneiss. The measured macroscopic properties of Young’s modulus, the UCS
and Poisson’s ratio are compared with the results of uniaxial compression simulation by the generated model.
This study shows that the micro-parameters have much effect on the macroscopic properties of rock and the
complete stress–strain curve of the mixed gneiss rock sample is predicted well compared with laboratory test
with easy visualization of the whole process of crack initiation, growth, coalescence.

1 INTRODUCTION with an associated reduction in stiffness (Cho et al.

The failure process and mechanism of brittle rocks
are key concerns in the field of rock mechanics for
design of underground openings and stability of exca-
vation boundary. Over past years, numerical models
have gradually replaced the use of analytical solutions
and laboratory tests. Numerical methods can simulate
large-scale rock mass engineering and can improve
stability analysis of underground design. They are also
helpful for the establishment of the constitutive model
of rock.
The particle flow code (PFC) is a type of DEM
(Potyondy & Cundall 2004), which is now widely used
to solve many rock engineering and geomechanics
problem such as simulation of slope stability (Zhou
et al. 2009), uniaxial testing of he diorite rock sam-
ple with complete stress–strain curves(Tomofumi &
Lanru 2007), failure around a circular opening under
bi-axial compression (Fakhimi et al. 2002), modeling
of jointed rock block behavior under uniaxial loading
(Kulatilake et al. 2001). An important advantage of the
PFC over other traditional numerical codes is that the
behavior of the rock mass does not need to be defined a
priori by the user. On the other hand a calibration pro-
cess is required to establish the mechanical properties
of intact rock .
In PFC rock is represented as an assembly of cir-
cular disks bonded together at their contact points and
confined by planar walls. There are two basic bonding
models in PFC: a contact-bonded (CB) model and a
parallel-bonded (PB) model. The parallel bond model
is suitable for the simulation of rock material whereby
the bonds may break in either tension or shearing
2007). The parameters of PB are: the Young’s moduli
of the grains and cement EC and EC ; the ratios of nor-
mal to shear stiffness of the grains and cement kn /ks
and kn /ks ; the radii of the grains R; the radius mul-
tiplier of cement λ; the normal and shear strength of
cement σ c and τ c and the coeffcient of friction between
grains µ.
A major challenge in using a PFC model is selecting
the necessary micro-mechanical parameters of par-
ticles and bonds that result in representative intact
rock properties. In this paper, the numerical calibra-
tion of mixed gneiss is conducted based on the parallel
bond model. Sensitivitie analysis of microparameters
with respect to uniaxial compressive strength (UCS),
Young’s modulus, and Poisson’s ratio are discussed.
Through the calibration process, the results of the uni-
axial compression simulations by PFC show very good
agreement with the laboratory test.
2 UNIAXIAL COMPRESSION TEST OF MIXED
GNEISS
Due to the impossibility of direct measurement
of micro-mechanical properties of rocks, back-
calculation techniques are commonly applied using
numerical calibrations against macroscopic property
values measured from uniaxial compression test.
The mixed gneiss rock was obtained from No. 2
shaft of the Qinling highway tunnel project. The
standard cylinder specimens diameter 50 mm, height
100 mm are made with a coring machine, saw and

385
 Table 1. Parameters in the sensitivity analyses.

Micro-parameter Values

EC (GPa) 24; 34; 44; 54

EC (GPa) 24; 34; 44; 54
kn /ks 1; 2; 3; 4
kn /ks 1; 2; 3; 4
σ c (MPa) 104; 204; 304
τ c (MPa) 104; 204; 304
µ 0.5

Figure 1. Failure of mixed gneiss.

millstone machining. The tests are performed using

a servo-controlled Instron testing machine having a
maximum loading capacity of 0.2 MN. The vertical
displacement control loading method is adopted with
the rate 0.02 mm/min until the destruction of rock
samples occur.
Uniaxial compressive tests of mixed gneiss are car-
ried out 6 times respectively. Through the experiment,
the average uniaxial compressive strength of mixed
gneiss is 120.0 MPa,Young’s modulus 40.0 MPa, Pois- Figure 2. Effects of particle modulus and stiffness ratio on
son’s ratio 0.21. The failure type of mixed gneiss is Young’s modulus.
splitting and spalling in uniaxial compression test as
shown in Figure 1.

3 SENSITIVITY ANALYSES OF
MICRO-PARAMETERS

Particle size controls model resolution but is not a free

parameter; the particle size must be chosen to be of
the same order as the grain size(Potyondy & Cundall
2004). Mixed gneiss is composed of the feldspar,
quartz and mica and other mineral composition. The
particle diameter of feldspar generally is 1∼3.7 mm,
quartz diameter of 0.7∼1.8 mm, mica diameter of
0.6∼0.9 mm, so the average paticle diameter is close
to 1.5 mm. In sensitivity analysis for determination of Figure 3. Effects of particle modulus and stiffness ratio on
micro-parameters of mixed gneiss, the particle radius Poisson’s ratio.
R and radius multiplier λ of cement are set to 1.5 mm
and 1 respectively. throughout the test and shall be stable so as not to
In order to determine the micro-parameters of induce any possible strength increase or unexpected
mixed gneiss, parametric study are thoroughly inves- material responses within the simulated models. The
tigated by PFC. The model width in this study was loading rate applied in the parametric study and for
set to 50.0 mm as same as average diameter of rock other calibration purpose in this study is chosen to
samples used in experiments. The model height was 0.2 m/s for uniaxial compression test
set 100.0 mm in order to satisfy height/diameter ratio
as 2:1. Parameter values used in the sensitivity analy-
ses are given in Table 1. For the mixed gneiss model, 3.1 Effects of particle modulus and stiffness ratio
EC = EC and σ c = τ c are determined, so as not to on elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio
exclude mechanisms that may only be activated via Effects of particle modulus and stiffness ratio on elas-
micro-shear failure (Potyondy & Cundall 2004). tic modulus and Poisson’s ratio are given in Figure 2
The loading rate shall be set slowly enough to and 3. In this study, particle modulus and contact stiff-
ensure the sample remains in quasi-static equilibrium ness ratio are varied from 24 to 54 MPa and 1 to 4

386
Figure 4. Effects of bond modulus and stiffness ratio
onYoung’s modulus.
Figure 5. Effects of bond modulus and stiffness ratio
onYoung’s modulus.
respectively. Figure 2 shows that the elastic modulus
of rock has a linearly proportional relationship with
the particle modulus, but decreases with the stiffness
ratio increases. While Poisson’s ratio increases with
particle stiffness modulus and stiffness ratio increases
given in Figure 3.
3.2 Effects of bond modulus and stiffness ratio on
the elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio
Figure 4 and 5 illustrate the the effects of bond modulus
and stiffness ratio on the elastic modulus and Poisson’s
ratio. The bond modulus and stiffness ratio are varied
from 24 to 54 MPa and 1 to 4 respectively. As the bond
modulus increases, the elastic modulus increases, as
the particles bond stiffness ratio increases, the elastic
modulus decreased. The Poisson’s ratio decreases with
the bond modulus increases, but increases with bond
stiffness ratio increases.
3.3 Effects of Particle bond normal and shear
strength on the uniaxial compressive strength
One of the important parameters that characterize
the macro-strength and micro-fracture behavior is the
bond shear and normal strength. It can be seen from
387
Figure 6. Effects of particle bond normal and shear strength
on UCS.
Figure 6 that the uniaxial compressive strength of
rock increases with the parallel bond normal and
shear strength increasing from 104 to 304 MPa, The
bond strength have a major impact on the uniaxial
compressive strength of rock.
4 CALIBRATION AND FAILURE PROCESS
OF MIXED GNEISS
All numerical simulations by PFC require proper
selection of micro-parameters by means of calibra-
tion processes in which the responses of the numer-
ical model are compared directly to the observed
responses of the laboratory test. A series of numer-
ical calibration simulations of uniaxial compression
tests of mixed gneiss rock sample are carried out
where the measured macroscopic mechanical proper-
ties, most typically Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio
and uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), are used
as the measured macroscopic parameters, which are
compared with equivalent values of these parame-
ters derived from particle models through an iterative
trial-and-error process. If the behavior of the numer-
ical sample matches that of the physical sample. the
obtained microscopic parameters of mixed gneiss are
determined and can be used to simulate the failure
process.
In order to reduce the number of free parameters,
the following micro-parametric assumptions of mixed
gneiss are made based on the sensitivities analysis:
EC = EC , kn /ks = 2, kn /ks = 2, σ c = τ c , µ = 0.5.
Figure 7 shows the comparisons of stress-strain
curves from uniaxial compression test and PFC sim-
ulations. It compares reasonably well with the lab-
oratory stress–strain curves for the intact rock. The
initial non-linearity is not present in PFC simulation
because there are no initial micro-cracks or pores in
the bonded-particle model.
The estimate of UCS, Young’s modulus, and Pois-
son’s ratio from uniaxial compression simulations are
120.9 MPa, 41 GPa, and 0.208, respectively while the

Figure 7. Stress–strain curve of mixed gneiss from labora-
tory test and PFC simulation.
Table 2. Micro-parameters of mixed gneiss.
Micro-parameter Values
R (mm) 1.5
λ 1
EC (GPa) 32
EC (GPa) 32
kn /ks 2 the uniaxial compression strength is influenced by the
kn /ks 2 bond strength.
σ c (MPa) 105
τ c (MPa) 105
µ 0.5
target UCS, Young’s modulus, and Poisson’s ratio
from laboratory test are 120.0 MPa, 40.0 GPa, and
0.21, respectively. Numerical estimations show per-
fect agreements. The micro-parameters of mixed
gneiss rock through numerical calibration are given in
table 2.
The brittle failure process of mixed gneiss in uni-
axial compression test is shown in Figure 8. The crack
distributions in Figure 8 are depicted as bi-colored
lines lying between the two previously bonded parti-
cles with a length equal to the average diameter of the
two previously bonded particles. The black lines repre-
sent the shear crack, when the tangential shear stress is
greater than the bond shear strength. The yellow lines
represent the tensile crack, when the normal stress is
greater than normal bond strength. Because the mixed
gneiss is the natural non-homogenous material, the
bond strength is with uniform random distribution,
micro-cracks are randomly generated. The numbers of
micro-cracks increase with the increasing of load, then
micro cracks begin to coalescence, until the formation
of macro-fracture completes. The brittle failure of the
mixed gneiss is a progressive failure.
The number of tensile cracks is more than shear
cracks because the brittle fracture is caused by grain
boundaries. The final fracture of failure surface is par-
allel to the loading direction and the type of damage is
approximately cleavage fracture, which is close to the
laboratory test.
388
Figure 8. Microscopic failure process of the mixed gneiss.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this study, the calibration of micro-parameters of
mixed gneiss is investigated according to the uniaxial
compression test and parametric studies of the parallel
bond model by PFC simulation. A parallel bond can
be envisioned as a set of elastic springs uniformly dis-
tributed over a rectangular cross section lying on the
contact plane and centered at the contact point. The
sensitivity analyses of varying micro-parameter val-
ues have shown that adjusting the micro-parameters
appears to have much effect on the rock behavior. For
the parallel bond, the elastic modulus and Poisson’s
ratio are controlled by EC , EC , kn /ks and kn /ks , and
The stress–strain behavior of the PFC simulation
compares well the laboratory stress–strain curve and
the micro-mechanical parameter values of the mixed
gneiss are determined by trial and error method. The
progressive process of crack initiation, growth, coales-
cence can be used to evaluate the failure mechanism
of mixed gneiss in uniaxial compression.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper is supported by Grant No. KJ2011B040,
No. k0253101 and No. KJ2007A053.
REFERENCES
Cho, N., Martin, C.D. & Sego, D.C. 2007. A clumped
particle model for rock. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics & Mining Sciences, 44: 997–1010.
Fakhimi, A., Carvalho, F., Ishida, T. et al. 2002. Simulation
of failure around a circular opening in rock. Interna-
tional Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences, 39:
507–515.
Kulatilake, P.H.S.W., Bwalya, M. & Wang, J.L. 2001. Physical
and particle flow modeling of jointed rock block behav-
ior under uniaxial loading. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics & Mining Sciences, 38: 641–657.
Potyondy, D.O. & Cundall, P.A. 2004. A bonded-particle
model for rock. International Journal of Rock Mechan-
ics & Mining Sciences, 41: 1329–1364.
Tomofumi, K., Lanru, J. 2007. Effects of model scale and
particle size on micro-mechanical properties and failure
processes of rocks A particle mechanics approach. Engi-
neering Analysis with Boundary Elements, 31: 458–472.
Zhou, J., Wang, J.Q. et al. 2009. Simulation of slope stability
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30(1): 86–90. (in Chinese)
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical simulation research of goaf caving height in soft rock mine

Z.L. Xu, X.Y. Kong, Z.G. Li, J. Li & Y. Zhang

College of Resource and Environment Engineering, Liaoning Technical University, Fuxin, China

ABSTRACT: Subject to long-term sedimentary structure effect, the roof rock of coal mining face appears
various fractures. And after mining the coal, owing to mine pressure, part of overburden rock above goaf
gradually become distortion, separation and fall. Due to the collapse of roof strata, the air impact disasters are
related to the caving height. Therefore, study the caving height is a key factor of realizing mine safe and effective
production. Bases on the background of One Mine, studies on the goaf caving height, first weighting interval and
cycle weighting interval in soft rock mine working face are carried out by using of UDEC. The simulation results
show the relationship between advancing degree of working face and the goaf caving height. The conclusion
provides a reference for resolving the problem of mine roof collapse in similar mine.

1 INTRODUCTION typical characteristics. The deformation and large dis-

Universal distinct element code, in the early 1970s, is
a new process to deal with discontinuous medium-
related 2D distinct element program. For non-
continuous medium (such as rock mass under the
fissures, etc.) under static or dynamic load, the
generated response can be simulated using UDEC.
Non-continuous media is composed by collection of
discrete blocks. Discontinuous surfaces are treated
as block boundary, allowing discontinuities along the
block where is a greater displacement and rotation.
Block can be rigid or deformable body. Deformation
block is divided into a finite element grid, according
to the given “stress-strain” standards for each unit,
through analyzing the results showed a linear or non-
linear two properties. The relationship between linear
or nonlinear and “force – displacement” can control
what happened discontinuity and tangential to the rel-
ative motion. In UDEC, there are several material
properties models which can be used to analyze the
complete block and discontinuities. Then to simu-
late the discontinuous geological interface may appear
placement of the block system could be simulated
based on “Lagrange” algorithm.
2 CAVING HEIGHT CALCULATION
After coal recovery, 5-3s working face occurred com-
plex movement and deformation in the area around
the rock mined. After the movement and stabilization
of rock strata, according to the destructiveness, three
different mining affected zone can be divided, that is
caving zone, fissure zone and bending zone as shown
in Figure 1.
5-3s Goaf’s caving with the theoretical calculation
is as follows:
1) The calculation of the height of caving zone Based
on the theory in the book of the Science of
Mine Recovery Sink, there are some relationships
between the mining thickness and falling sink
caving zone, and fissure zone.

I—the caving zone II—crack band III—bending band.

Figure 1. Gob zoning diagram within overlying strata.

389
Table 1. The table of expansion coefficient of rock broken.

Swell factor Swell factor

The initial Residual The initial Residual

(just broken (after compaction) (just broken (after compaction)
Rock name degrees) k kt Rock name degrees) k kt

Sand 1.05∼1.15 1.01∼1.03 Hard sand 1.50∼1.80

Clay 1.20 below 1.03∼1.07 General Soft Rock 1.020
Broken coal 1.20 below 1.05 Generally in hard rock 1.025
Argillaceous shale 1.40 1.10 General Hard rock 1.030
Sandy shale 1.60∼1.80 1.10∼1.15

The height of caving zone is decided by mining

thickness and the hulking coefficient of up-lop rock
(Table 1). Generally it is 3–5 times more than the
mining thickness.
Formula of the caving zone height:

where, h –The caving zone height; m – Recovery thick-

ness of coal seam; k – Expansion coefficient of rock
broken; α – Seam dip angle.
According to investigation reports that k = 1.2

Figure 2. Face model figure.

3 5-3S GOAF NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF

FALLING HEIGHT

3.1 Numerical modeling

According to 5-3s coal seam condition, the work-
ing face trend illustration of model can be built as
shown in Figure 2. UDEC calculation scope of model
is 150 m × 130 m, simulate coal thickness is 4.2 m as
shown in Figure 3.
Model boundary conditions are as follows:
1) About the level of constraints imposed by model
boundary, that boundary horizontal displacement
is zero. Figure 3. UDEC simulation chart.
2) Model of the bottom boundary fixed, that is, the
level of the bottom boundary, zero vertical displace-
ment
gradient stress, and at top the stress is 8.6 MPa, vertical
3) Top of the Model is free boundary. According to the
gravity load setting.
Kinnick theory, perpendicular stress in anywhere
5-3s coal seam’s average thickness is 4.2 m, based
of earthcrust s σv = γh, calculate result is calcu-
on the actual mining height of this mine, the actual
lated by the model by the vertical stress in the upper
mining thickness is 3 m.
boundary for σv = γh = 23.5 × 366 = 8.6 MPa, hor-
In the process of simulation, the scope of working
izontal stress take vertical stress of 1.5 times.
face roof-control is 4 m, the height of recovery is 3 m.
According to the calculation model boundary load- As the cycle process in 0.6 m to mining, we can observe
ing conditions are shown as follows: the stress on the coal stress and the movement situation. The simulation
face of both sides is 9.44∼19.52 MPa applied model of results are shown in the Figures 4–6.

390
Figure 4. When working face advances 29.4 m roof risked
falling state.
Figure 5. When working face advances 42.0 m roof risked
falling state.
Figure 6. When working face advances 51.6 m roof risked
falling state.
Though the simulation, we can know that with the
boost of working face, roof inner stress has been
changed. When working face advanced fixed distance,
the rock mass would be fracture in some height range
of uplap. With the constant boost of working face,
working face uplap rock mass height of caving zone,
fissure zone and bending sink zone with it enlarge,
until compact and stable.
391
Figure 7. When working face advances 65.4 m roof risked
falling state.
According to the simulation results, when the work-
ing face advanced 29.4 m, the roof becomes flexible
and damaged. The roof is bending and sink, main roof
first weight, the height of caving zone is about 13.1 m,
the height of fissure zone is about 19.4 m, and coal fell
angle is about 77◦ . With the constant boost of working
face, the coal in the headpiece of top roof occur bend-
ing and destroyed constantly, and the scope of destroy
develops upward.
3.2 Numerical calculation results and analysis
When working face advanced 42.0 m, the roof is falling
totally, the height of falling zone is about 13.5 m, coal
fell angle is about 76◦ . Afterwards, the roof destory
scope and destory shape become stable, which can
draw the period falling step distance of the roof is about
12.6 m. When working face advanced 51.6 m, the roof
is falling totally, the height of the rock-falling zone is
about 13.7 m, coal fell angle is about 77◦ , period falling
step distance of the roof is about 9.6 m. When working
face advanced 65.4 m, the roof is falling totally again,
the height of the falling zone is about 15.6 m, coal fell
angle is about 77◦ , and period falling step distance of
roof is about 13.8 m.
Though the simulation of working face stopping
sequence, we can draw that the largest height of rock-
falling zone is about 15.6 m, coal fell angle is about
77◦ , main roof first span is about 29.4 m, period
weighting step is about 9.6 m–13.8 m, and the average
cycle weighting span is about 12 m.
4 CONCLUSION
1) This paper studies the goaf risked falling by using
UDEC numerical simulate. The simulation results
indicate a good agreement with the actual situations.
And the truth of simulation supplies the scientific
basis for achieving efficiency and safety exploita-
tion. Though the simulate analysis, we can draw
the best exploited step in order to reduce the risked
falling danger.
2) The simulation work considered the practical min-
ing subject supplies the reliable cases study for
solving some problems in the practical work.
REFERENCES
He, M.C., Peng, T. 1995. Soft Rock of the engineering geolog-
ical characteristics and deformation mechanism. Ground
Pressure and Strata Control.
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Liu, S.W., Ma, N.J. et al. 2008. Roof Bolting Coal Hazard
Prediction and Application. Coal Industry Press.
Liu, H.G., Xu, J.H. 2001. Coal drilling pressure relief mech-
anism and application of numerical simulation. Coal
Science and Technology.
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Xie, H.P., Chen, Z.H. 1998. Rock mechanics. Science Press.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Physical simulation study on arrangement about mining

roadway with short distance

G.C. Yan & Y.Q. Hu

Taiyuan University of technology, Taiyuan, China

ABSTRACT: Based on physical simulation test, the stability of mining roadway with different staggered
distance was studied from the aspect of degree of damage. Results indicate: (1) Of these arrangement modes
about mining roadway with short distance, global stability of the inboard-type roadway is better, roof subsidence
is smaller. It is suggested that the Zhang Chun coal mine adopts this kind of arrangement mode; (2) The degree
of damage about overall overlapping-type roadway is larger, and roof subsidence is similar with the inboard-type
roadway. (3) Deformation and damage can reach the maximum in the outward-type roadway when the outward
staggered distance is 2 m, and the degree of damage about outward-type roadway relatively decreases with the
increase of staggered distance. Overall, roof subsidence in the outward-type roadway is larger.

1 INTRODUCTION arrangement form, there is little systematic research on

In underground mining, the importance of roadway
is obvious, all basic activities like conveyance, ven-
tilation and pedestrians etc. in mining need to be
completed through roadway. Therefore, the research
about it has gotten universal attention both at home
and abroad. There are mainly three kinds of arrange-
ment forms about mining roadway in the coal
seam mining with short distance: overlapping-type
roadway, inboard-type roadway, and outward-type
roadway. Each arrangement mode has its own advan-
tages and disadvantages. Overlapping-type roadway
arrangement mode refers to the vertical arrangement
between upper and lower coal seam, a certain length
of working face, easy to control the directions. Stress
in surrounding rock is between the inboard-type road-
way and the outward-type roadway, and it’s relatively
difficult to maintain the degree of damage; Inboard-
type roadway arrangement mode means that lower coal
seam is located in stress decreasing zone of below the
goaf in upper coal seam, this arrangement mode will
form a Square trapezoidal pillar, and then lower coal
face also will be shortened, which will make the recov-
ery rate of the lower coal face reduced. But roadway is
arranged and tunneled in the decompression zone, so
it’s easy for construction and maintenance; outward-
type roadway arrangement means that the length of the
lower coal face is long, high recovery rate and small
loss quantity of coal, but as the roadway is located in
the high-stress region, it is difficult to maintain.
Among those research about arrangement forms
three kinds of roadway at home and abroad, which
mostly concentrate on only one kind roadway
arrangement form about the three kinds of roadways.
In addition, with the coal mining continuously extend-
ing downward and the exhaustion with resources of
the middle and thick coal mine, the Taiyuan thin coal
seam cluster then was listed into the mining program.
Take Luan and Datong for example, subordinate mine
will be the lower coal seams mining whether the joint
mining, or the “Flayer” mining, the study on arrange-
ment mode about mining roadway with short distance
will be one of the difficulties about coal mining. Con-
sidering the reasons above, we take the Luan Group,
Zhangcun mine field for the model to study the min-
ing roadway with short distance by means of physical
simulation.
2 GEOLOGICAL SITUATION
Based on mine field geology report about the Lu
anGroup, Zhangchun mine field, 15# coal seam
groups, known as “Smelly coal group” or “lower coal
seams”. located at the bottom of Tai Yuan groups,
which is the main mining seam in both Tai Yuan and
this area. The average mining depth is 370 m, coal
group is divided into three independent and natural
layers, which are numbered as 15-1# , 15-2# , 15-3# ,
from upper downward, the main features are detailed
as figure 1 shows:
15-1# coal seam: formerly called the third coal, known
as “two section coal”; is the top layer of the 15#
coal group, 4.38 m away the bottom of K2 limestone
and 4.19 m away the 14# coal layer, thickness is

393

Figure 1. Strata graph of roof and floor in 15#coal seam
group.
0–1.5 mm, and the average thickness is 0.95 m, sim-
ple structure, has dirt band occasionally, which is
the main mining layer in this area.
15-2# coal seam: average thickness is 0.56 m, simple
structure, belongs to extremely unstable coal seam.
15-3# coal Seam: formerly called the first coal, known
as “four section coal”. One of the main mining
layers in the whole area, belongs to the lowest
layer of the 15# coal group. 1.67 m away the 15-2#
coal seam, coal thickness is 0–2.42 m, and average
thickness is 1.59 m, 0–3 dirt bands in the coal lay-
ers, complex structure, but belongs to stable coal
seam.
As the strata distribution of roof and floor in 15#
coal seam groups depicted in the strata bar graph 1.
The direct roof is mainly mud stone, partly are sandy
mudstone and carbonaceous mudstone, 1.5–4.91 m for
thickness, 3.31 m for average thickness. Main roof
are limestone, 5.09–11.76 m for thickness, and 7.12 m
for average thickness. The direct roof is mainly mud-
stone, partly are sandy mudstone and carbonaceous
mudstone, 0.3–7.08 m for thickness, 3.82 m for aver-
age thickness. Main floor just developed partly, which
is siltstone- medium sandstone, and 0.2–3.76 m for
thickness, 1.91 m for average thickness.
394
3 THE PHYSICAL SIMULATION TEST
Due to the limitation of test platform and the need
of 9 times about physical simulation in the test.
Therefore, we simplified model and proceed the road-
way staggered distance of both upper coal seam and the
lower coal seam as the working face. The simplified
physical simulation test is conducted 2 times together;
we remained the lower coal seam roadway while pro-
ceeding the upper coal seam roadway for the first time.
But the changes of lower coal seam roadway did not
performe ideally due to geometric similarity of the
roadway model is small, we then conducted the second
simulation test. In the second simulation, we arrange
the roadway on the upper coal seam, which is kept min-
ing according to 4 m(length) × 2.5 m(height),while
proceeding the lower coal seam as working
face, and recorded the influences the upper coal
seam received with different distance (staggered
distance).
3.1 Test installation and model design
3.1.1 Test installation
A planestrain and flexible loading test installa-
tion is used (as shown in Figure 2) the installa-
tion size is 3000 mm × 3000 m × 200 mm (length ×
height × thickness), its surrounding and floor are
restricted by 20# channel steel three hydraulic loading
systems on the roof, and in order to keep load-
ing uniformly, double-layer piecewise 18# welding
channel steel is paved on the surface of simulated
rock.
3.1.2 Model design
According to the original model conditions and
test device, it is determined that the geometric
similarityratio is Cl = 1/50; bulk density similar-
ity ratio is Cr = 0.6; strength similarity ratio is
Cσ = Cl × Cr = 0.6/50. Given to the discontinuity of
rock materials, it is considered fracture influence
parameters of 0.7 as the mechanic parameters for the
specimens in laboratory test. And then the physical
mechanics parameters are obtained according to the
similarity theory. And the proportion chosen is showed
in Figure 1.
3.1.3 Analysis of similarity simulation results
Figure 3 reflects the damage effect on the upper
coal seam roadway from the lower coal seam mining.
Figure 3(a) is the damage effect from the upper
coal seam roadway when the inboard-type stag-
gered distance is 2 m. Of the arrangement mod-
els of inboard-type, some evident fractures arise at
the right side of staggered distance is 2 m above
are more stable, and there are still some frac-
tures at the right side of roadway, but not obvi-
ous. Totally, the degree of damage in the inboard-
type arrangement simulation of roadway upper coal
seam roadway when inboard staggered distance is
Figure 2. Testing installation.

Table 1. The proportion of similar material simulation test.

Bulk Actual uniaxial Actual uniaxial Model bulk Model uniaxial Tensile
density compresstrength tensile strength density compressive strength The proportional
Lithology (KN/m3 ) of (Mpa) (Mpa) (KN/m3 ) strength (Mpa) (Mpa) number

limestone 28.5 110.72 10.83 14.58 1.33 0.12 937(2-11)

Medium-grained 22.9 54.42 9.55 14.82 0.65 0.11 955(2-11)
sandstone
mudstone 21.9 25.87 4.25 14.95 0.31 0.051 3:1(1)(2-17)
Grey rock 24.8 44.84 4.07 14.29 0.54 0.045 655(2-12)
Coal 15.2 9.84 1.42 9.12 0.12 0.016 373(2-15)

2 m as shown in Figure 3(a), other modes whose
inboard-type.
Figure 3(b) shows the arrangement mode of over-
lapping roadway, where the roadway floor of upper
coal seam roadway has large destructive deformation,
and the range of damage is obviously larger compared
with the inboard-type roadway arrangement. Figure
3(c) and Figure 3(d) are roadway arrangement model
whose outward staggered distance are 2 m and 6 m
respectively, the degree of damage is more evident in
the right side and floor of upper coal seam roadway.
The situation of damage has no obvious changes when
outward staggered distance is 2 m compared with the
outward staggered distance is 6 m.
The interact destructive effect situation of the road-
way arrangement is comparatively large in both the
outward-type and overlapping-type from the results
of similar simulation, and degree of damage in the
inboard-type roadway is comparatively small, which
is easy to support in the underground. In addition, due
to the simplified model, similarity simulation results
can only give the global macroscopic destructive
situation and the differences between arrangements of
roadway.
4 CONCLUSION
Based on the results of physical simulation test, the
stability of bare roadway with different staggered dis-
tance was studied. And we can draw the following
conclusions:
• Of these arrangement modes about mining road-
way with short distance, global stability of the
inboard-type roadway is better, deformation of roof
subsidence is smaller according to the study of
degree of damage. We suggest that the Zhang Chun
coal mine adopt this kind of arrangement mode.
• The global damage of overlapping-type roadway is
relatively larger, and roof subsidence of it is similar
with the inboard-type roadway.
• Destructive deformation of outward-type roadway
can reach the largest when the staggered distance
is 2 m, and degree of damage about outward–type

395
Figure 3. The destructive effect of mining roadway with short distance.

roadway decreases with the increase of staggered thick and medium hard seam by sub-level caving min-
distance, Overall, roof subsidence in the outward- ing with high bottom cutting height, Chinese Journal of
type roadway is larger. Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 26(5): 1065–1072. (in
Chinese).
Li, W.G. & Zhang, Z.H. 2005. practice on roadway layout
of combined mining in steep inclined thin seam group at
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Lin. Y.M. 1984. Experimental rock mechanics—simulation.
dimensional simulation study on law of deformation and
Beijing: China Coal Industry Publishing House. (in Chi-
breakage of coal floor on mining above aquifer. Chi-
nese).
nese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 24(23):
Qian, M.G. & Liu, T.C. 1999. Ground pressure and strata
4396–4402(in Chinese).
control. Beijing: China coal industry publishing house.
Hu, Y.Q., Zhao, Y.S., Yang, D., et al. 2003. Study on 3D simu-
(in Chinese)
lation on breakage for coal floor in mining above aquifer.
Xu, Y.Q. 1999. Coal Mining Science. Xuzhou: China Uni-
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering,
versity of Mining and Technology Press. (in Chinese).
22(8): 1239–1243 (in Chinese).
Zhou, Q.W. 2006. Coal mining technology for seam swith
Hu, Y.Q., Yan, G.C. & Shi, X.W. 2008. Study on physical and
very closed distance in Wangcun Mine.Coal Science and
numerical simulation of water inrush prediction theory
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Mechanics and Engineering. 27(1): 9–15. (in Chinese)
Hu, Y.Q., Zhao, Y.S. & Yang, D. 2007. Simulation theory &
method of 3D solid-liquid coupling. Journal of Liaoning
Technical University. 4:2 04–206. (in Chinese)
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396
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

On rationality of the construction methods for wearing tunnels

J.H. Yang & X.M. Wen

Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou, China

H.H. Zhu
Zhejiang Highway Administration Bureau, Hangzhou, China

Y.Q. Shang
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

ABSTRACT: A certain tunnel wears under the highway, and the clear distance from its vault to the highway
pavement is about 3.5 to 5 meters. To ensure that the safety of the highway structure under the construction
process, it is required to strictly control the surrounding rock of the tunnel from deforming, partly destroyed or
losing stability. In this paper, the software Z_Soil3D is adopted to make a stimulated calculation and analysis
of 6 suggested construction schemes under the dynamic process of construction. Besides, a comprehensive
evaluation was made mainly on four aspects, including the maximum amount of road surface subsidence, the
range of road transverse subsidence, etc. And some reasonable construction methods are proposed.

1 INTRODUCTION

A certain tunnel which belongs to the shallow buried

sections wears under the highway, and the clear dis-
tance from its vault to the highway pavement is about
3.5 to 5 meters. The tunnel mainly passes through
completely and moderately decomposed granite. The
completely weathered layer is thicker, tan, and strongly
weathered. Seen from the residual structure, the core
of the granite is mainly sand-like. The underground
water is mostly composed of bedrock fissure water,
which is stored in the fractured granite body. Without Figure 1. Method schematic diagram and failure diagram
enough water and mainly recharged from infiltration of a certain shallow buried tunnel.
of atmosphere precipitation, the water will increase in
the rainy season.
There are six schemes to be selected, as shown in
Figure 1–6. Scheme 1 (Figure 1) has once been the
initial design review program. One tunnel has once
adopted this program and caused an accident(Han et al.
2010, Rong et al. 2009), as shown in Figure 1b. This
program couldn’t meet the demand that the surround-
ing rocks of the tunnel always keep coordination of
three-dimensional force and deformation as well as
coordination and stability of three-dimensional defor- Figure 2. Method schematic Figure 3. Method schematic
diagram of Scheme 2. diagram of Scheme 3.
mation. And it’s not good for the deformation control
of the tunnel. So it should not be acceptable. Figure 2–
Figure 6 stand for five proposed construction schemes
given by the author. The common characteristics are controlling the surrounding rocks’ local damage or
that they all adopt the technical ideas of evacuation step instability, which may threaten the integral stability
by step with light section, timely strong support, short of the tunnel (Wei et al. 2007). From the figures fol-
footage and promptly closure. Besides, they will also lowed, ① means the construction sequence of the steel
realize the maintenance of the surrounding rocks’orig- arch, and “I” means the evacuation sequence of the
inal state and achieve the goal of preventing and strictly surrounding rocks.

397
 Table 1. Mechanical parameters of the surrounding rocks
and structural support materials.

Modulus of
Elasticity/ Poisson’s Angle of Cohesion
Material MPa ratio friction /MPa

V-grade 104 0.4 20 100

surrounding
rock
Figure 4. Method schematic Figure 5. Method schematic
Grouting 110 0.2 25 120
diagram of Scheme 4. diagram of Scheme 5.
layer
Sprayed 28 × 103 0.2 – –
concrete
Initiative 30 × 103 0.2 – –
second
lining
Secondary 30 × 103 0.2 – –
lining
Steel arch and 210 × 103 0.3 – –
Anchor rod

Figure 6. Method schematic diagram of Scheme 6.

2 THREE DIMENSIONAL FINITE ELEMENT

ANALYSIS OF THE CONSTRUCTION
SCHEMES TO BE SELECTED

The software Z_Soil3D is adopted to make stimulation

under the dynamic process of construction. Models
are built in reference to the V-grade surrounding rock.
Consider the slip casting of the advanced pipe-shed
and the ductile according to the unified thickness of
the grouting layer. Take the thickness of the grout- Figure 7. 3D model of Scheme 6. (a) Model sketch of the
ing layer as 3 meters. The mechanical parameters of initiative second lining under construction; (b) Model sketch
the surrounding rocks, grouting layer and structural of the secondary lining after construction.
support materials are shown on Table 1.
The tunnel structural support system consists of the
first structural support, first lining and secondary lin-
ing. The initial support is supported by grouted anchor,
sprayed concrete and steel arch. The anchor rod is
3 meters long. The transverse pitch is 400 mm and
the longitudinal pitch is 500 mm, which presents a
plum-shaped layout. The sprayed concrete thickness is
280 mm. The circular steel arch adopts H175 hot rolled
H-beam, and the longitudinal pitch is 500 mm. The Figure 8. Scheme 1: The curve of road transverse sub-
intermediate temporary steel arch adopts the No.18 sidence and the deforming figure of transverse section
I-steel, and the longitudinal pitch is 500 mm. The first (mm).
lining is 250 mm thick, and the secondary lining is
450 mm. 3 THE CALCULATIVE RESULTS OF EACH
Take Scheme 6 as an example, as its 3D model is CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM
shown in Figure 7. The length of the model is 18 m on
the direction towards the tunnel. In the vertical plane Six methods of tunnel evacuation have been compar-
of the tunnel, the length of the model in the horizontal atively studied, shown as Figure 1 to Figure 6.
direction is 60 m. Taken from the top to the highway Scheme 1:
pavement, the burial depth is 4 m. 30 m is taken below The curve of the road transverse subsidence is
the tunnel. The upper pavement of the model has con- shown on Figure 8a. As the figure shows, the subgrade
sidered the vehicle load of the pavement. According to settlement is unevenly distributed,. The road transverse
“General Specification of Highway Bridge and culvert subsidence scope is larger than 32 m. The deforma-
Design”, the load value is 63kN/m2 on the condition tion range of the surrounding rocks is larger and the
that the other boundaries are fixed boundaries. maximum subsidence is 7.37 mm.

398
Figure 9. Scheme 2: The curve of the road transverse sub-
sidence and the deforming figure of the transverse section
(mm).
Figure 10. Scheme 3: The curve of the road transverse sub-
sidence and the deforming figure of the transverse section
(mm).
The displacement distribution on the surrounding
rock surface is showed on Figure 8b. As the figure
shows, the displacement distribution on the arch of
the surrounding rock is maximal. The displacement
distribution on the inverted arch is also very big.
Scheme 2:
The curve of the road transverse subsidence is
shown on Figure 9a. As the figure shows, the sub-
grade settlement is relatively evenly distributed. The
road transverse subsidence scope is 8 m. The defor-
mation range of the surrounding rocks is small and the
maximum subsidence is 2.47 mm.
The displacement distribution on the surrounding
rock surface is showed on Figure 9b. As the figure
shows, the displacement distribution on the arch of
the surrounding rock is maximal. The displacement
distribution on the inverted arch is also very big. Com-
pared to Scheme 1, with the effect of the intermediate
temporary steel arch, the surrounding rocks and per-
manent steel arch which used to play the role of arch
have changed into flexural sections. Therefore, the
displacement of the top becomes larger.
Scheme 3:
The curve of the road transverse subsidence is
shown in Figure 10a. From the figure, we can con-
clude that the subgrade settlement has got unevenly
distributed, and the transverse subsidence scope is
16 m. The deformation scope of the surrounding rocks
is medium and the maximum subsidence is 4.26 mm.
The displacement distribution on the surrounding
rock surface is showed on Figure 10b. As the figure
shows, the displacement distribution on the arch of the
surrounding rock is maximal, while the displacement
399
Figure 11. Scheme 4: The curve of the road transverse sub-
sidence and the deforming figure of the transverse section
(mm).
Figure 12. Scheme 5: The curve of the road transverse sub-
sidence and the deforming figure of the transverse section
(mm).
Figure 13. Scheme 6: The curve of the road transverse sub-
sidence and the deforming figure of the transverse section
(mm).
distribution on the inverted arch is smaller. The top of
the surrounding rocks and the permanent steel arch has
bent obviously. Compared to scheme 2, to dig the core
soil from upper bench too early has a great influence
on the settlement of the top.
Scheme 4:
The curve of the road transverse subsidence is
shown in Figure 11a. From the figure, we can con-
clude that the subgrade settlement has got unevenly
distributed, and the transverse subsidence scope is
14 m. The deformation scope of the surrounding rocks
is small and the maximum subsidence is 5.51 m.
The displacement distribution on the surrounding
rock surface is showed on Figure 11b. As the fig-
ure shows, the displacement distribution on the arch
of the surrounding rock is maximal, while the dis-
placement distribution on the inverted arch is smaller.
Compared with Scheme 1, we can conclude that the
arch pitch of the surrounding rocks and the perma-
nent steel arch is smaller relatively, and arching is
Table 2. Comprehensive comments on each scheme.

The increment of
Construction The maximum Transverse subsidence The total pavement Comprehensive
methods subsidence (mm) scope (m) convergence (mm) settlement (mm) comments

Scheme 1 7.37 32 14 4.0 Poor

Scheme 2 2.47 8 16 1.0 Excellent
Scheme 3 4.26 16 14 1.8 Middle
Scheme 4 5.51 14 23 1.7 Poor
Scheme 5 3.28 16 12 0.65 Middle
Scheme 6 1.47 22 8.58 0.7 Excellent

correspondingly weaker, and that the deformation of 4 COMMENTS ON THESE CONSTRUCTION

the top surrounding rocks is more obvious.
Scheme 5:
The curve of the road transverse subsidence is
shown on Figure 12a. As the figure shows, the sub-
grade settlement is relatively evenly distributed. The
road transverse subsidence scope is 16 m, and the
deformation scope of adjacent bed is medium. The
biggest settlement of pavement locates on the two
sides of the arch top and the maximum subsidence
is 3.28 mm.
The displacement distribution on the surrounding
rock surface is showed on Figure 12b. As the figure
shows, the displacement distribution on the arch of
the surrounding rock is small, while the displacement
distribution on the inverted arch is bigger. It benefits
mainly from the temporary steel ach at the top, and
that the deformation of the top surrounding rocks is
not obvious.
Scheme 6:
The curve of the road transverse subsidence is
showed on Figure 13a. As the figure shows, the sub-
grade settlement is relatively evenly distributed. The
road transverse subsidence scope is 22 m and the
deformation scope of adjacent bed is big. The biggest
settlement of pavement locates in the right side of the
arch top and the maximum subsidence is 1.47 mm.
The displacement distribution on the surrounding
rock surface is shown on Figure 13b. As the figure
shows, the displacement distribution on the arch of
the surrounding rock is small, while the displacement
distribution on the inverted arch is bigger. It benefits
mainly from the temporary steel ach at the top, and
that the deformation of the top surrounding rocks is
not obvious.
METHODS
By commenting on each of the construction meth-
ods comprehensively from different aspects such as
the maximum subsidence, the road transverse subsi-
dence scope, the added number of the arch top’s and
the inverted arch’s displacement distribution, the incre-
ment of pavement settlement in the initiative second
lining, the settlement evenness of the adjacent bed at
the top of the tunnel, we can get these results shown
in Table 2.
From Table 2, it is conclude that by using the scheme
of evacuation step by step with light section, timely
strong support, short footage and promptly closure
in the process of shallow-burying and crossing down
the tunnel, we can guarantee the maintenance of the
surrounding rocks’ original state and achieve the goal
of preventing and strictly controlling the surrounding
rocks’ local damage or instability, which may threaten
the integral stability of the tunnel.
REFERENCES
Chen, R.W. & Yang, J. 2009. The discussion of tunnel
construction beneath Existed High Way. High Way (1):
259–264.
Wang, W.F. & Bi, J.L. 2007. The comparison of the construc-
tion method of Shallow tunnels in soft rock. The Ninth
National geotechnical numerical analysis and Analyti-
cal Mechanics Proceedings of Symposium. Wu Han. The
Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.
Zhu, H.H. & Shang, Y.Q. 2010. New Method and Application
of Tunnel Design and Construction. China Communica-
tion Press: Peking.

400
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Rheological mechanism and numerical simulation of stability

analysis in a silty slope

P.J. Yue, Z.Y. Tan & L. Wang

State Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines, University of Science and Technology
Beijing, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Chengmenshan Cooper Mine is an open-pit mine mainly disposing copper-surfer minerals, in
which 45% of ore body is located in lake bed. At the lake bed, 15–30 m thick silty mud is filled, and the bearing
capacity of the ground formation is extremely low. During the process of overburden mining and backfill,
the alluvium turns into compact and thin under the burden of the backfill. However, due to high moisture
content as well as strong rheological property of silt, it will result in failure in stability of the silty slope. The
rheological mechanism and stability of silty slope are numerically simulated and analyzed with FLAC3D , and
Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model is established and reasonable structure parameters of slope are obtained,
which provide a governing law for optimization of open-pit excavation and reinforcement of the slope.

1 GENERAL SURVEY The basic principle of FLAC program and algorithm

Chengmenshan Cooper Mine is an open-pit mine
mainly dealing with copper-surfer minerals, which
45% of ore body is located in lake bed. The three
sides of the mine are besieged by the lake. The highest
ground level of the mine is 147.8 m at the top of the Cuo
Mountain and the lowest level is 13 m in the lake. The
thickness of sub-lacustrine deposition mud reaches
15–30 m. The bearing capacity of the sediment deposit
composed of clay and sub-clay is low and unstable, In
process of backfilling, the sediment deposit in some
extent is compacted and extruded and thinning. How-
ever, along with the extrusion of peripheral earth-rock,
extrusion migration of sediment deposit is restricted.
2 INTRODUCTION FOR FLAC
FLAC program (Grgic 2003, Exadaktylos 2002,
Waltham 2004) is jointly developed by the univer-
sity of Minnesota and American Consulting Group
Inc., which is a kind of two-dimensional and three-
dimensional finite difference computation procedure,
namely, fast Lagrange difference analysis. This con-
cept from fluid dynamics mainly studies the changes
with time for each fluid particle. That is, it focuses on
the trajectory, speed and pressure of a fluid particle
in different time. Rapid Lagrange difference analysis
divides calculation domain into several units and the
unit network changes with material.This algorithm can
accurately simulate material yield, plastic flow, soften
and large deformation. It has its unique advantages
especially in the elastic-plastic analysis of materials,
large deformation and simulation construction process
field (Kou 2001, Chen 2004).
is similar with UDEC, but it is applicable for vari-
ous materials mode as well as boundary conditions
of irregular area for continuity problem solution. In
the solution of problem, FLAC program adopts UDEC
dynamic relaxation method solution, and doesn’t need
to solve large-scale simultaneous equations. Mean-
while, compared with previous difference analysis
methods, FLAC can not only do large deformation
analysis for continuous media, but also can simulate
deformation of rock mass along a sliding surface.
FLAC still can use the corresponding constitutive
equations to reflect the dynamic behavior of the actual
materials in the same calculation model for differ-
ent material characteristics. In addition, this method
also needs to consider the interaction between sup-
porting structure such as retaining wall and adjacent
rock. Based on the deformation characteristics of lake
muddy slope, the FLAC3D is applied to analyze stress-
strain as well as corresponding mechanism of change
in the excavation process of lake muddy slope in this
paper.
3 ESTABLISHMENT OF LAKE MUD SLOPE
MODEL
3.1 Engineering geological condition of mining
area
The main rock strata in the mine can be simply
classified into clastic rock structure, carbonate rock
structure, the fourth loose and soft sedimentary struc-
ture and magmatic rocks. The viscous, plastic and
compressing loose rock with large water-bearing capa-
bility and weak permeability is widely distributed in

401
Table 1. Thickness of each layer in the slope.

Layer number 1 2 3 4 5

Thickness/m 5.7 11.7 7.1 5.5 6

Table 2. Physical mechanical properties in each layer.

Layer number 1 2 3 4 5

den/(kg · m−3 ) 1730 1840 1980 2110 2260

coh/(MPa) 0.13 1.12 1.51 1.34 7300
Figure 1. Layered sketch map before slope excavation.
bu/(GPa) 0.108 0.111 0.121 0.123 8.5
sh/(MPa) 2.2 2.4 2.7 2.9 4900
fric/(◦ ) 9 13 16 14 37 will be carried out in order of layers step by step. Ulti-
ten/(MPa) 0.91 1.93 2.05 2.21 6900 mately 30 m high of the lake mud slope is developed.
Because the analysis of the slope is only a part of the
practical slope, so some restrictions will be imposed
the surface of the lake, which contains various rocks, on the slope during excavation and maintenance. In the
rock of geotechnical, alluvial sub-clay deposition and slope of geometric model, the left and right x direc-
gravel clay, the mechanical strength of which decreases tion speed, model bottom x, y, z direction speed, and
with the increase of moisture content, easily turns model all y directions speed will be fixed. First, grav-
into soft and produces plastic deformation and mud- ity acceleration is applied to the geometric model for
slides under the conditions of external forces and initial stress balance. Then, it is excavated in down-
dynamic pressure. Surface water and soft sediments ward bevel at angle of 45◦ by hierarchical sequence.
have disadvantage on stability of upper slope. As shown in Figure 1.

3.2 Classification of lake mud and physical and
mechanical parameters of each layer
The thickness of lake mud in mining area is 15–30 m.
The largest thickness of lake mud 30 m is used to
reflect the most disadvantage situation. According to
clay properties, structure, moisture, loose and plastic
state, lake mud layers can be divided into 21 layers by
top-down order. Considering the similar nature of the
adjacent layers, they are merged into 4 main layers for
analysis. The first layer is mud and mucky clay, the
second one clay, the third one silty sand and the forth
one round gravel pebble layer. At the slope bottom is
a relatively stable rock layer of 6 meters in thickness.
The thickness of each layer is shown in Table 1.
According to the soil sample experimental results
provided by the engineering geological investigation,
shear strength of saturated consolidation drainage is
adopted for intensity index and natural density is used
here. Specific parameters are shown in Table 2.
3.3 Establishment of model
The main factors influencing slope stability include
groundwater, other engineering geological conditions,
natural earthquake or artificially blasting. In fact, mine
will build a dam around the lake before stripping to
drain water inside and outside of the certain area, so
during building a model, the function of the water in
deposition mud cannot be taken into account. Lake
muddy slope is not very high, the maximum is only
30 m and angle of slope is flat. During stripping pro-
cess of the lake muddy slope, excavation processes
4 STABILITY ANALYSIS OF LAKE MUD
SLOPE
4.1 Displacement in x direction of slope
excavation for each stage
As seen in the Figure 2, maximal displacement in x
direction occurred at the slope foot during the first step
of excavation, which shows that soil mass at the slope
foot heaves skyward. Define the foot standing point as
a circle centre, the x direction displacement gradually
decrease along with the increase of the radius. From the
second step of excavating, the maximal displacement
in x direction gradually transfers from slope foot to
the middle of the slope, and gradually decreases at an
approximate circle. This is mainly because after slope
excavation, the increase of lateral activation of surface
and the decrease of the slope foot stress make the upper
slope soil sink with it, meanwhile make displacement
of the middle of activation of surface correspondingly
increase. It is obvious that with the excavation of the
slope foot, stability of the slope as a whole has been
largely affected and may result in slope instability. The
displacement toward activation of surface happens in
this section of the lake mud slope, so it needs to be
monitored and strengthened.
4.2 Displacement in z direction of slope
excavation for each stage
As shown in Figure 3, in the first step of excavation,
all the displacements of soil mass heave skyward and
displacement of soil mass at the foot is the largest,

402
Figure 2. Excavation displacement image in x direction for
each stage.
mainly due to the fact that the vertical stress in exca-
vated area is weakened most seriously and results in
rebound of soil mass when unloading. From the begin-
ning of the second step excavation, displacement in top
soil mass presents downward while the displacement
of soil mass at slope foot presents upward movement.
With increase of the excavation in depth, the downward
displacement of top slope increases gradually, the dis-
placement of slope foot is gradually diminishing, as
unloading rebound scope is gradually decreasing. For
the fourth step, the displacement field of the slope in z
direction presents that downward displacement of soil
403
Figure 3. Excavation displacement image in z direction for
each stage.
slopes is the largest and soil slope foot trend to slightly
heave skyward. This kind of phenomenon shows that
slope excavation produces activation of surface and
top soil sinking, and the lower soil slope excavation,
makes a small range uplift of soil, due to unloading
rebound and upper soil pressure.
4.3 Comprehensive review on stability of
lake mud slope
Through displacement analysis of the excavation pro-
cess in x and z direction, we can see that, overall, the

Figure 4. Safety coefficient, shear strain and velocity vector
diagram.
largest displacement in x direction occurs in the mid-
dle of the slope and it happens on the top in z direction,
so the stability of upper soil are especially important.
Excavating from the first layer to the final one, safety
factor, shear strain and velocity vector diagram of soil
mass can be work out through FLAC3D . As shown in
Figure 4, the soil, with safety coefficient of 1.37, the
soil mass is relatively stable. In the upper portion of the
soil mass, shear strain increment is the largest, namely,
the soil mass is most easily destroyed here. Although
the soil mass at that moment, from theory, doesn’t hap-
pen this damage, but it also needs to be monitored at
the key areas, where support strengthening measure-
ments should be carried out to prevent the soil mass
from destabilizing accident.
5 CONCLUSION
Numerical simulation and analysis has been conducted
with FLAC3D software for rheological mechanism and
stability of lake mud slope, and Mohr-Coulomb con-
stitutive model has been established also. The results
indicate that destabilization most often occurs at the
top of the slope. Meanwhile, from the safety factor
calculated by FLAC3D , the slope lies in a stable state.
404
Therefore, according to the specific circumstances,
some measures should be taken to reinforce the top
slope soil mass. The position of the potential slide
plane and safety coefficient of the slope can be effec-
tively judged by displacement nephogram, shear strain
and velocity vector diagram in different directions.The
deformation values at different positions when it is
excavated can be intuitively obtained, which will help
us further analyze slope stability problems. Therefore,
the FLAC3D possesses an important value and broad
prospect of application in the slope stability analysis.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper is financially supported by National
Key Basic R&D Program of China (973) (No. 2010
CB731501) and Key Program of National Natural
Science foundation of China (No. 51034001).
*Corresponding author: Z.Y. Tan, Professor in
geotechnical engineering.
REFERENCES
Chen, X.G. & Tan, J.S. 2002. Stability and deformation
analysis of maya slope using FLAC-3D. Journal of Shiji-
azhuang Railway Institute 15 (3): 76–79.
Exadaktylos, G.E. & Stavropoulou, M.C. 2002. A closed-
form elastic solution for stresses and displacements
around tunnels. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
& Mining Sciences 39: 905–916.
Grgic, D., Hom, F. & Hoxha, D. 2003. A short-and long-
term rheological model to understand the collapses of iron
mines in Lorraine. France.Computers and Geotechnics
30: 557–570.
Kou, X.D., Zhou, W.Y. & Yang, R.Q. 2001. Stability analysis
on the high slopes of three-gorges shiplock using FLAC-
3D. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
20 (1): 6–l0.
Waltham, A.C. & Swift, G.M. 2004. Bearing capacity of rock
over mined cavities in Nottingham. Engineering Geology
75: 15–31.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical test of fracturing grouting of rock mass

F. Zhang, B.G. Liu & T. Li

School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The process of fracturing grouting of rock masses and the relation between grout diffusion radius
and grouting pressure are studied by using the coupling analysis system of seepage and stresses in rock failure
process. The results show that the process of fracturing grouting of rock masses has three stages. Grout diffusion
radius increases with the increase of grouting pressure, which can be fitted by using exponential function.
Fitted parameters take on Regularities, which show that growth rate of grout diffusion radius decreases with
the increase of surrounding pressure ratio and vertical pressure. Starting cracking pressure increases with the
increase of surrounding pressure ratio and vertical pressure.

1 INTRODUCTON pressure on a global scale may both affect the behaviors

In the fields of dam construction, tunnel excavation,
mine exploitation and so on, lots of water caused by the
seepage of fissure water seriously hinders the progress
of these projects, so grouting is needed. Filling grout-
ing and permeating grouting(Hao et al. 1999, Hao et al.
2006, Luo et al. 2005, Luo et al 2007) are widely used
in rock mass engineering, but fracturing grouting is
rarely used. The situation that natural fissures don’t
connect with the grouting holes is often met in practi-
cal grouting projects, so these fissures can’t be sealed
by using filling grouting and permeating grouting. In
addition, high-pressure grouting pumps are continu-
ously developed and put into use, which makes the
application of fracturing grouting become possible.
Tang Chunan (Tang & Zhao 1997) developed the
Realistic Failure Process Analysis (RFPA) which can
simulate the rock failure process from microscopic
damage to macroscopic failure. On the basis of RFPA,
(Yang et al. 2001) developed the Realistic Failure
Process Analysis 2D-Flow (RFPA2D-FLOW) which
can simulate the seepage rule and coupling mecha-
nism of seepage and stress in the process of initiation,
propagation and evolution of fissures. (Yang et al.
2002) got the results that heterogeneity of rock makes
the initial fracture pressure and the unstable fracture
pressure different and can result in irregular path of
hydraulic fracturing by using RFPA2D-FLOW. (Guo
2010) learnt that in the same rock specimen size, the
initial fracture pressure and the unstable fracture pres-
sure increase with the decrease of inner hole area
by using RFPA2D-FLOW. (Tang et al. 2002) pro-
posed a flow-stress-damage (FSD) coupling model
implemented with the RFPA2D-FLOW can be used
to investigate the behavior of fluid flow and damage
evolution, and their coupling action. (Li et al. 2004)
revealed that the pore pressure magnitude on a local
scale around crack tip and the distribution of pore
of cracks and fractured pressure. The fractures always
propagate towards the regions with higher local pore
pressure and the fracture pressure decreases with the
increment of local pore pressure. The achievements
of RFPA2D-FLOW provide guidance to fracturing
grouting of rock mass.
2 ASSUMPTIONS FOR CALCULATION
Assumptions for calculation are as follows:
1) The process is considered only, during which grout
doesn’t solidificate. The viscosity of grout is a con-
stant and doesn’t change with time. The grout made
from superfine cement is Newton fluid.
2) Grout only fills into fissures but doesn’t seepage
in intact rock because grout with viscosity doesn’t
flow easily like water.
3) The fissures are formed due to the grouting pres-
sure which makes the rock fracture. So grout
diffuses with the diffusion of the fissures. In fact,
the expanding distance of fissure is the diffusion
distance of grout.
3 CALCULATION MODEL
The question can be simplified into plane strain prob-
lem because the length of the grouting hole is far
greater than the diameter of it. So RFPA2D-Flow is
adopted.
The calculation model is show in Figure 1. There is
no preexisting fissure in the model for the preliminary
study. The model is a square with a dimensional size of
2200 mm × 2200 mm. There is a hole whose diameter
is 100 mm in the center of the model. σv stands for the
upper and lower boundary stress, and σh stands for the

405
 Table 1. Mechanical parameters for numerical model.

Parameter name I II III

Density/kN/m3 23 23 23
Young’s modulus/MPa 6000 3650 2000
Poisson ratio 0.3 0.325 0.35
Cohesion/MPa 0.7 0.45 0.2
Internal friction angle/◦ 39 33 27
Permeability coefficient/m/d 0.01 0.01 0.01
Homogeneity index 3 3 3
Coupling coefficient 0.01 0.01 0.01
Residual strength coefficient 0.1 0.1 0.1

Figure 1. Calculation model.

Figure 2. Grids.

left and right boundary stress. k is the ratio of σh to σv .

The model is divided into 440 × 440 elements.
Grids with material characteristic are shown in
Figure 2.
In order to analyze different factors in the process
of fracturing grouting of rock mass, different rocks
and different boundary stresses are taken into consid-
eration in calculation. σv equals respectively 0.5 MPa,
0.75 MPa, 1.0 MPa and k equals respectively 0.4, 0.6,
0.8, 1.0. Mechanical parameters of different rocks are Figure 3. Processing of fracturing grouting of rock mass.
shown in Table 1.
and grout doesn’t diffuse. With the increase of the
grouting pressure, Stress concentrates around the
4 PROCESS OF FRACTURING GROUTING
grouting hole and a stress rising region forms as
shown in Figure 3 (a).
The process of fracturing grouting is shown in Fig-
2) Stable diffusion of grout
ure 3. The process of fracturing grouting includes three
With the continuous increase of the grouting
stages: stress concentration, stable diffusion of grout
pressure, grouting pressure overcomes inner stress
and unstable diffusion of grout.
and tensile strength of the rock to make the rock
1) Stress concentration fracture on the upper edge or the lower edge, Fis-
When grouting stars, the grouting pressure is too sure expands, and meanwhile grout stably diffuses
small to fracture the rock, so fissures don’t form as shown in Figure 3 (b, c, d).

406

Figure 4. Relation between grout diffusion radius and
grouting pressure when vertical pressure is constant.
3) Unstable diffusion of grout
When the grouting pressure reaches a big value,
although the grouting pressure doesn’t increase,
fissure still expands and grout still diffuses. The fis-
sure is narrow and straight as shown in Figure 3 (e).
5 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GROUTING
PRESS AND DIFFUSION DISTANCE OF
GROUT
Relationship between grout diffusion radius and grout-
ing pressure is shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5. σ v of
407
Figure 5. Relation between grout diffusion radius and
grouting pressure when surrounding pressure ratio is con-
stant.
group I equals 0.5MPa when vertical pressure is con-
stant as shown in Figure 4. k of group I equals 0.8
when surrounding pressure ratio is constant as shown
in Figure 5. Take Figure 4 and Figure 5 for example to
illustrate the relationship.
Some conclusions are as follows:
1) Diffusion distance of grout increases with the
increase of grouting press. Their relationship can
be fitted with exponential function shown in for-
mula (1):
 Table 2. Values of fitted parameters when vertical pressure 2. The relation between grouting press and diffusion
is constant. distance of grout can be fitted with exponential
function
Loading condition A/mm α pcr /m
3. Fitted parameters take on Regularities, which show
k = 0.6 0.2273 0.4672 86 that growth rate of grout diffusion radius decreases
k = 0.8 0.8621 0.2874 116 with the increase of surrounding pressure ratio
k = 1.0 4.9586 0.1201 136 and vertical pressure. Starting cracking pressure
increases with the increase of surrounding pressure
ratio and vertical pressure.
Table 3. Values of fitted parameters when surrounding
pressure ratio is constant. REFERENCES
Loading condition A/mm α pcr /m Guo, B.H. 2010. Numerical Analysis of Hydraulic Frac-
turing on Single-holed Rock Specimens, Rock and Soil
σv = 0.5 0.8621 0.2874 116 Mechanics: 1965–1970.
σv = 0.75 4.4576 0.1355 138 Hao, Z. Wang, J.Q. He, X.R. 1999 Computerized Simulation
σv = 1.0 27.626 0.0723 186 of Cracking Grouting in Rock Mass, Chinese Journal of
Geotechnical Engineering 21(6): 727–730.
Hao, Z. Wang, L.G. Liu, B. 2006. Theory of Grouting and Its
Application, Geological Publishing House, Beijing.
where L = diffusion distance of grout whose unit Li, L.C. Tang, C.N.Yang, T.H. 2004. Application of FSD Cou-
is mm; p = grouting press whose unit is m; pling Model to the Test of Multiple Hydraulic Fracture,
pcr = press of starting fracturing of rock whose unit Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering:
is m; p0 = initial press whose unit is m; A = fitting 3240–3244.
parameter whose unite is mm; α = fitting parameter Luo, P.P. Chen, L. Zou, Z.S. 2007. Numerical Simulation
which is non-dimensional. of Grouting in Space Fracture Network of Rock Mass,
(2) Fitted parameters take on Regularities as shown Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 29(1):
1844–1848.
in Table 2 and Table 3, which show that growth
Luo, P.P. Zhu, Y.M. Zhao, Y.M. et al. 2005. Numerical Sim-
rate of grout diffusion radius decreases with the ulation of Grouting in Rock Mass, Chinese Journal of
increase of surrounding pressure ratio and verti- Geotechnical Engineering 27(8): 918–921.
cal pressure. Starting cracking pressure increases Tang, C.A. Thamb, L.G. Leeb, P.K.K. et al. 2002. Coupled
with the increase of surrounding pressure ratio and Analysis of Flow, Stress and Damage (FSD) in Rock Fail-
vertical pressure. ure, International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining
Science 39: 477–489.
Tang, C.N. Zhao, W. 1997. RFPA2D System for Rock Failure
Process Analysis, Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
6 CONCLUSIONS Engineering: 507–508.
Yang, T.H. Tang, C.N. Zhu, W.C. 2001 Coupling Analysis
All conclusions are as follows: of Seepage and Stress in Rock Failure Process, Chinese
Journal of Rock Geotechnical Engineering: 489–493.
1. The process of tensile fracturing grouting includes Yang, T.H. Tang, G.H. Tang, C.N. et al. 2002. Influence of
three stages: stress concentration, stable diffusion Heterogeneity on Hydraulic Fracturing in Rocks, Chinese
of grout and unstable diffusion of grout. Journal of Rock Geotechnical Engi-neering: 724–728.

408
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

A study on natural classification of loose covering strata and its effect on

drawing

G.J. Zhang
School of Resources & Civil Engineering, University of Science and Technology Liaoning, Anshan, China

ABSTRACT: Based on an experimental research, this study verifies the existence of natural classification of
loose covering strata. The study has also made the influence of the natural classification on drawing by conducting
the simulation experiments. The research paves a new way for the reduction of ore loss and dilution.

1 INTRODUCTION

Sublevel caving is a stoping method adopted under

the loose-covered rocks. Covering strata are composed
of rocks with different sizes and shapes, and gaps
between them (Wang 1982). In the process of draw-
ing, covering strata as a whole are moving downward
while the ore-rock contact surface is sinking. In this
falling process, a new phenomenon occurs in the early
covering strata—the fragmentation degree of rock for- Figure 1. Experimental model and process.
mations naturally gets greater from bottom to top
gradually. This phenomenon is defined as natural clas-
sification of loose covering strata (Zhang & Cai 2003). Table 1. Granularity ratio of covering strata.
The natural separation changes the ore-rock contact
condition established before. It makes fine particles Ratio of covering strata (%)
Granularity
on the rock bed mixed with caving ore, which brings (mm) Scheme I Scheme II Scheme III
about ore dilution and puts an end to drawing earlier
than expected. The natural classification is primarily 0∼5 20 33.3 50
responsible for ore loss and dilution. Therefore, when 5∼9 30 33.3 30
adopting sublevel caving in a mine, we should make an 9∼3 50 33.3 20
in-depth study on the nature, the movement regularity Average grain 8.1 6.8 5.05
(Zhang et al. 2008.) and the grain size distribution of diameter
the covering strata. The laboratory experiment is con-
ducted to get a clear picture of the effect of the natural
classification on drawing.
Table 2. Grain sizes of mark particles.

2 EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON NATURAL Mark Mark Mark Mark

CLASSIFICATION particles particle 1 particle 2 particle 3

Grain diameter (mm) 3 7 11

2.1 Laboratory model
As is shown in Figure 1, a single model of organic
glass is used in this experiment for the sake of observ-
ing the mobile process of covering strata. A draw hole black magnetite acts as mark particles. The experi-
is located at the lower position of the model. The ment consists of three schemes. The granularity ratio
simulation proportion is 1:50. The model is 20 cm × of covering strata is illustrated in Table 1.
10 cm × 150 cm (length × width × height).
2.3 Experimental process and result analysis
2.2 Experimental schemes
The experiment is conducted according to the three
As is shown in Table 2, white marble from Anshan different schemes and ratios in Table 1, as is shown in
Dagushan Iron Mine is used as covering strata and Figure 1.

409
 Figure 3. Drawing process model diagram.

3.1 Experimental schemes

The model is equipped with transparent organic glass
Figure 2. Shifting speed of mark particles in three schemes.
on its front and sides for the sake of observing the
experimental process. The simulation proportion is
In accordance with the ratio designed in the exper-
1:100. The specification is 50 cm × 30 cm × 70 cm
imental schemes, the white marble is put into the
(length × width × height). The experiment adopts
transparent experimental model. The loading height
drawing at one end. The draw hole is 3 cm × 3 cm.
is 100 cm. At the same time, three mark particles with
The ore used in this experiment is black magnetite
different grain diameters are placed in the distance of
from Anshan Dagushan Iron Mine and white marble
60 cm from the model bottom. In the drawing process,
acts as covering strata. Both black magnetite and white
the rock formation moves downward. The height of
marble are broken into various grade sizes.
drawing is recorded when each mark particle comes
There are three diverse schemes adopted in the
in sight. Figure 2 shows the respective heights of the
experiment. Scheme I is that fragmentation degree
released rocks in the three schemes when each mark
distribution of caving ore gradually increases from
particle appears.
top to bottom. Scheme II is that caving ore is evenly
As is shown in Figure 2, we can see that the granules
distributed. Scheme III is that fragmentation degree
inside the loose covering strata shift at different rates
distribution gradually decreases from top to bottom.
on condition of certain size distributions. The smaller
In each scheme, the materials are loaded in the same
the particles are, the faster they move. Fine particles
manner of natural classification of covering strata.
move to the draw hole first. When size distributions
are different, the same size particles move at different
rates. When there is a low concentration of fine par- 3.2 Experimental process and result analysis
ticles and a high concentration of big ones, particles
The experiments are respectively conducted accord-
move down faster. As the drawing goes on, fine par-
ing to the three schemes. The drawing process is
ticles gradually move to the bottom of covering strata
shown in Figure 3. Statistical analysis and screening
due to their fast speed. Larger particles stay on the
is made about each experimental result in the process
top owing to their slow movement. That brings about
of experimental stoping is shown in Table 3.
the phenomenon that the particle sizes inside covering
As is shown in Table 3, the recovery ratio of Scheme
strata gradually grow smaller from top to bottom. This
I is the highest and the dilution ratio is the lowest. The
phenomenon is defined as natural classification of
recovery ratio of Scheme III is the lowest and the dilu-
loose covering strata. This phenomenon mainly results
tion ratio is the highest. Both ratios of Scheme II lie
from gaps among particles and fine granules taking
between the former two. This results from the fact that
advantage of empty space. The graded degree depends
the fragmentation degree distribution of caving ore in
on size distribution. When there is a high concentra-
Scheme I gradually increases from top to bottom. In
tion of big particles, the interstices among granules
addition, the particle sizes of ore and rocks lying on
are relatively large, which increases more chances for
the contact surface are relatively close. At the early
fine granules to penetrate down. When there is a low
stoping stage, the upper caving ore prevents the lower
concentration, the interstices are relatively small. This
fine particles of covering strata from penetrating into
reduces the likelihood of moving downward.
the caving ore. Therefore, rocks are not mixed into
the ore in the first five drawings. As the drawing con-
3 EFFECT OF NATURAL CLASSIFICATION tinues, however, the lower fine particles of covering
ON DRAWING strata also move down and gradually come in sight at
the draw hole. Owing to the block of the upper caving
Natural classification of covering strata changes the ore, the covered rocks appear at the draw hole compar-
ore-rock contact condition established before. The lab- atively late, which contributes to a better ore recovery
oratory experiment is conducted to get a clear picture The fragmentation degree distribution of caving ore in
of the effect of the natural classification on drawing. Scheme III gradually decreases from top to bottom.

410
Table 3. Statistics of experimental stoping result.

Release times
Release
Recovery ratio Dilution ratio
Scheme quantity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (%) (%)

T 24 26 27 29 27 33 34 37 35 272
I Wy 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 7 11 25 49.4 9.2
Wk 24 26 27 29 27 31 29 30 24 247
T 28 32 34 35 34 40 41 244
II Wy 0 0 1 4 5 9 13 32 36.8 13.1
Wk 28 32 33 31 29 31 28 212
T 35 40 42 44 163
III Wy 0 3 9 14 28 27.0 17.2
Wk 35 37 33 30 135

Note: T— release quantity; Wy—release quantity of emitted rocks; Wk—release quantity of emitted ore.

The top caving ore contacting covering strata is com-
posed of larger particles. The lower fine particles of
covering strata penetrate into the caving ore first in
that the large caving ore at the top brings about rel-
atively big gaps among particles after blasting. With
the drawing proceeding, there appear rocks at the draw
hole, which leads to ore dilution earlier than expected.
To sum up, when the particles contacting covering
strata are larger, there appear bigger interstices among
the top caving ore. The fine particles at the bottom
of covering strata are soon mixed with the caving ore.
With the drawing proceeding, mixed rocks may lead to
ore dilution earlier than expected and reduce recovery
ratio. When the particles contacting covering strata are
smaller, the fine particles at the top caving ore prevent
the covered rocks from blending ahead of time, put
off the combination of the fine particles at the bottom
of covering strata with the caving ore until later and
improve recovery ratio.
Natural classification makes the fine particles at the
bottom of covering strata easily mixed with the cav-
ing ore. In order to reduce ore loss and dilution, we
should, in blasting process, try to make the fragmenta-
tion degree of the top caving ore contacting covering
strata less than or equal to that of the bottom rocks
of covering strata. Only in this way can we effectively
prevent the fine particles of covering strata from com-
bining with the caving ore in advance and reduce ore
loss and dilution.
2. The classification degree depends on particle
size distribution. The natural classification phe-
nomenon grows obvious on the condition that there
is a low concentration of fine particles and a high
concentration of big ones.
3. This natural classification changes the ore-rock
contact condition established before, makes fine
particles on the rock bed mixed with caving ore,
leads to ore dilution and puts an end to drawing
earlier than expected. It is primarily responsible for
ore loss and dilution. In order to reduce ore loss and
dilution, we should make close the particle sizes
of the interface where caving ore touches covering
strata.
4. The research into natural classification of covering
strata and its effect on drawing paves a new way for
the reduction of ore loss and dilution.
REFERENCES
Wang, C.H. 1982. Drawing Science. Beijing: Metallurgical
Industry Press.
Zhang, G.J. & Cai, M.F. 2003. A Further Study on Some
Problems of Sublevel Caving. China Mining Magazine,
12 (11):41∼43.
Zhang, Z.J., Ming, S.X. & Song, H.Y. 2008.A Study on Move-
ment Regularity of Caving Stope Loose Covering Strata,
Mining Technology, (2):11∼13.

4 CONCLUSIONS

1. Natural classification of loose covering strata is in

objective existence, which features the properties
of loose covering strata.

411
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

The study of Thermal-Hydrologic-Mechanical (THM) coupled process in

dual-porosity rock

G.Q. Zhang & B. Cui

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: A new coupled Thermal-Hydraulic-Mechanical (T-H-M) model has been developed to solve the
problem of T-H-M interaction in dual porosity rock. The model couples the thermal-mechanical and hydraulic-
mechanical simultaneously. It includes the physical coupling between the fracture and the reservoir matrix
when dealing with both thermal and water transportation. Three modules have been assigned for representing
this coupled behavior: (1) The mechanical stress-strain module; (2) Darcy’s fluid flow modules; (3) Thermal
conduction-convection modules. The flow and heat that transport in the porous and the fractures are simulated by
fluid flow and thermal modules while the single mechanical module represents the entire mechanical response
of the dual porosity rock mass under the influences of pore pressure and temperature.

1 INTRODUCTION Collin 2002).Yet, despite the amount of research being

Fractured-porous media have many complex geolog-
ical attributes which arouse people’s interests. The
concept of “Double-Porosity” has been introduced in
the early 1960’s, which considers the fractured rock
mass consisting of two porous systems (Barenblatt
1960 & Warren 1963), which are the matrix, having
high porosity and low permeability, and the frac-
ture, having low porosity and high permeability. It
is well known that fractured rocks exhibit changes
in mechanical compliance and hydraulic conductivity
when subjected to thermal, hydraulic, mechanical, and
chemical forces. In many engineering applications it is
important to be able to predict the direction and magni-
tude of these changes. However, the interplay between
temperature, effective stress, chemical potential, and
fracture response is complex: it is not only influenced
by anisotropic and spatially varying fracture proper-
ties, but also by fracture properties that are dynamic,
and evolve with the dynamic nature of the applied force
(Joshua 2009). The behavior of the system that con-
stitutes the three main interacting processes: thermal,
hydrological and mechanical, is generally referred to
as Thermal-Hydraulic-Mechanical (T-H-M) coupled
processes.
Research in T-H-M behavior of fractured porous
media covers a very wide range of fields and
applications, from underground nuclear waste dis-
posal (Wang 1981, Tsang 2000, Yow 2002), geother-
mal energy exploitation (Hicks 1996, Germanovich
2001 & Rutqvist 2003), rock mechanics and mining
(Neaupane 1999), geology and geotectonic (Faulkner
2003 & Neuzil 2003), transport of oil and gas in
deep reservoirs (Koutsabeloulis 1998 & Pao 2001),
engineering/construction material (Schrefler 2002),
to engineering geological barriers (Thomas 1998 &
done, there is still insufficient understanding of the
processes to be able to construct a feasible design or
prediction regarding its behavior.
Early mathematical models developed to describe
such behavior approached the problem by treating the
fractured rock and the matrix as a continuous medium
(Gray 1976) and representing the fractured rock mass
by an equivalent porous medium(Pritchett 1976).
However, general interaction theories are required to
describe the effect of the motion of fluid on the motion
of matrix and vice versa. Much of this has been sat-
isfied through introduction of the general theory of
consolidation (Biot 1941) which relates the influence
of pore pressure due to the existence of fluid in a porous
rock. This study made it possible for engineers and sci-
entists to solve problems in a much wider scope. The
addition of the thermal component coupled later in the
mid 1980’s (Noorishad 1984) formed a basis to a fully
coupled THM solution.
Although, there has been extensive research and
computer modeling in this area in the past two decades,
the porosity within the fracture and the matrix has long
been considered as one entity as originally formulated
for a continuous body of porous medium (Biot 1941).
However, this does not truly reflect the influences of
fluid pressures and rock stresses on the fracture and
the matrix due to the porosity within the fracture being
more sensitive than that of the matrix (Wittke 1973).
2 GOVERNING EQUATIONS
The physical system of interest is modeled herein
as a multi-continuum, fully or partially saturated
fracture/matrix system with direct communication
between the domains. Local thermal equilibrium is

413
assumed between the fluid and solid (at a single point
in continuum space, the fluid and solid exhibit the
same temperature), but not between separate fracture
and matrix domains. From this framework, a differen-
tial of pressure and temperature may develop between
the fracture and matrix, with properties of pressure
and temperature dissipation influencing the rapidity of
transfer from local changes in the fracture system into
the surrounding matrix blocks, and vice versa. For this
transition, physical characteristics are delegated based
upon dual-porosity poroelastic theory. The governing
balance equations and their constitutive counterparts
are discussed below.
2.1 Solid deformation
The strain-displacement relationship is defined as:
where εij is the component of the total strain tensor
and ui is the component of displacement. The equilib-
rium equation with self weight and neglecting inertial
effects is given as
where σij is the component of the total stress tensor
and f,i the component of body force.
In this paper, the subscript P denotes pore, and F
is fracture, with thermo-elastic response, and utilizing
two distinct pore pressures as (3):
u is displacement; υ is poisson’s ratio; fi is body force
per unit volume; α1 and α2 are Biot’s coefficients
in pore and fracture, respectively; αT is the thermal
coefficient; and G is the elastic modulus of the dual
porosity media.
Because the pore pressure and temperature in
matrix may not equal to that in fracture, equation (3)
should be rewritten as
2.2 Conservation of Mass
The governing equation for fluid flow which relates
the flux, q, and its potential is defined by Darcy’s law
which is expressed in matrix form as
where λ is the specific weight of the fluid; µ is
the dynamic viscosity; Z is the elevation; k is the
414
permeability matrix, and is  the gradient operator,
defined by
According to Darcy’s law the equilibrium equation
for fluid transport in an isotropic medium is
The term Ṗ of equation (7) refers to the change rate
of pressure with time t, due to grain compressibility β.
The second term is Darcy’s flux, which is a function
of the permeability k, dynamic viscosity µ, specific
weight of the fluid λ, elevation z, and fluid pressure p.
The third term Qf is the source term.
However, accounting to the thermal effects and the
fluid mass transfer between the porous and fractured
phases, the equilibrium equation for the porous phase
can be written as
where the added component in the first term of the
equation (8) is a positive component referring to the
flow of fluid mass driven by the changes of the volume
due to strain ε̇, and the second term is the fluid mass
transfer between the porous and the fractured phase,
where the coefficient ϕ which governs the quasi-steady
response is a function of the geometry of the porous
block and the flow characteristics (permeability and
dynamic viscosity) within, as
where, α# = (s60 ∗
∗ )2 , and s is the space of the fracture.
Similarly, the equilibrium equation for the fractured
phase can be expressed as
The equation (9) differs from the equation for
the positive component of the mass transfer between
the porous and fractures while in equation (8), it is
negative.
2.3 Thermal behavior
The governing equation for fluid flow which relates the
heat flux qT , and its potential, which is the temperature,
is defined by Fick’s law which is expressed in matrix
form as
where λ is the thermal conductivity.
 The general thermal transport equilibrium equation
for an isotropic medium is defined by

where ρ is the density, C is the heat capacity, and QT

are is the heat source.
For the porous phase of a dual-porosity medium,
the equilibrium equation is

where λ is the thermal conductivity. The first term on

the LHS is the rate of change of temperature due to the
capacity to store heat, the second term is the thermal
dilation due to change of pressure which also accounts
for the fluid transfer between the porous and fractured Figure 1. T-H-M coupling process and relation between
phase. The third term is the change of temperature due parameters.
to thermal strain. The last two terms are the thermal
conduction and convection, respectively.
Similarly, the thermal behavior of the fractured
phase may be expressed as

3 T-H-M COUPLING MECHANISM AND

ANALYSIS

In order to solve the five dependent variables (dis-

placements u, porous phase fluid pressure pP , frac-
tured phase fluid pressure pF , porous phase temper-
ature TP , and fractured phase temperature TF ) a total
of 5 predefined modules have been selected. They are
solid mechanics (stress-strain) module; two Darcy’s
Flow modules, one for modeling the pressure in the
porous phase and the other for the fractured phase; two
thermal conduction and convection modules for the
porous and fracture respectively. The key to modeling
the behavior of a dual-porosity medium in FEMLAB
is to be able to incorporate the coupling terms derived
earlier into the general governing equations initially
defined by the program. Thus, there are four main
adjustments which must be made to the predefined
model: (1) defining the material properties of the
dual-porosity medium; (2) modifying the governing
equation for the mechanical behavior to include the
influences of fluid pressure, and strain due to thermal
expansion; (3) modifying the equilibrium equation for
the fluid flow to account for the fluid mass transfer
between the porous and the fractured medium and the
volume change due to thermal expansion; (4) modify-
ing the equilibrium equation for the thermal transport
Figure 2. Coupled process in geothermal reservoir
(Swenson 1997).
to account for the temperature change due to fluid
transfer between the two phases and the tempera-
ture change due to the mechanical influences on the
thermal strain.
4 NUMERICAL SIMULATION
4.1 Rock seam model and parameters
The process of geothermal exchange in nature may be
shown simply as Figure 2. In order to simulate this cou-
pling process in computer, a calculation model should
be built.
There is a rectangular dual porosity rock mass
(Figure 3). The cold water passes through the fracture-
matrix rock seam. It includes the coupled processes of
mass deformation, fluid transportation, pore pressure
and temperature changes.

415
Figure 3. A rectangular 4 × 2 × 2 m block is assigned for
the geometry of the domain.

Figure 4. Pressure and velocity field during water transport

Table 1. Parameters for the fracture-matrix rock. in rock.
Parameter Symbol Value

Initial fracture aperture 2b 200 µm

Reservoir matrix porosity ϕP 0.05
Fluid velocity in the fracture V0 1 m/day
Thermal dispersivity βT 0.05 m
Matrix diffusion coefficient Dm 10−5 m2 day−1
Reservoir matrix tortuosity T 0.1
Reservoir matrix specific heat CP 800 Jkg−1 K−1
capacity
Rock density ρs 2600 kg m−3
Fracture fluid density ρf 1000 kg m−3
Thermal conductive of fracture λf 0.5 Wm−1 K−1
fluid
Specific heat capacity of Cf 5000 J kg−1 K−1
fracture fluid
Initial temperature(matrix and T0 423K(150◦ C)
fracture)
Constant injection well Ti 300K(27◦ C)
temperature Figure 5. Displacements when cold water going through
rock mass.

The parameters of the rock and functions for mate-
rial properties are shown in table 1 and table 2,
respectively.
4.2 Boundary and initial conditions
The mechanical boundaries are fixed in the direction
normal to the surface for all except the top face where
a compressive stress of −10 N/m2 in the z direction
is applied. Reasonable displacements are given. The
elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the porous phase
are 100 GPa and 0.25, respectively; the normal and
shear stiffness of the rock mass are 5 GPa and 0.1 GPa,
respectively; and the fracture spacing in the z direction
is 1 m. Water at room temperature is injected into the
fracture which in a hot porous matrix with the tem-
perature of 150◦ C. Normal stress in the Z direction
with 10 Pa acts on the top and bottom surface of the
rectangular block. Displacements are fixed in the y
direction at the inlet and outlet boundaries and in the
x direction at the sides of the block. The modeling of
the heat transport can be completed by creating a heat
source at the inlet boundary, and assigning different
thermal conduction in the porous phase and the frac-
tured phase. Heat flux at 1000 MW/m2 is developed
at the outlet.
4.3 Result analysis
Figure 4 shows the pressure [Pa] distribution in the
reservoir and the arrow is the velocity field [m/s].
It is clear that the pressure at the position of the
inlet surface is 1.014 × 105Pa, and it is much more
greater than that of other positions and from Figure
5 we can find that when cold water goes through the
rock mass, the displacements (5.742 × 10−3 m) at the
loading surface is close to that obtained from manual
calculation (5.720 × 10−3 m). The flow velocities of
the porous phase and the fracture phase is found to be
1.25 × 103 m/s and 1.25 × 106 m/s which is the exact
solution obtained from calculation. The heat flux given
by the model is exactly as calculated manually.

416
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. A new coupled thermal-mechanical-hydraulic (T-
H-M) model has been developed to solve the
problem of thermal-mechanical-hydraulic interac-
tion in fractured rock mass. The model that has
been developed couples simultaneously thermal
and matrix deformation. It includes the physical
coupling between the fracture and the reservoir
matrix when dealing with both thermal and water
transport.
2. The model is capable of providing correct solutions
for static analysis. Although the time dependent
solutions have not been verified and the model
is not completed with the capability to update
permeability values due to effects of stress and
temperature, some results are shown to present the
capability of the model to date.
3. Future study of the coupling process for dual
porosity medium need to consider the following
items: ① The dynamic changes of the cleat aper-
ture and permeability of the reservoir matrix due
to the effects from stresses and temperature; ②
When the applied stress produces a change in
hydraulic properties or the change in fluid pres-
sure produces a change in mechanical properties
(such as changes of compressibility or elastic mod-
ulus, etc.), the T-H-M coupling mechanism; ③
Thermal-Hydrological-Mechanical-Chemical cou-
pling processes and numerical simulator which
used to examine THMC processes in a construct
that is applicable to the broad variety of engineering
applications.
REFERENCES
Barenblatt, G.E., Zheltov, I.P., et al. 1960. Basic concepts in
the theory of seepage of homogeneous liquids in fissured
rocks. Journal of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics 24:
1286–1303.
Biot, M.A. 1941. General theory of three-dimensional con-
solidation. Journal of Applied Physics 12: 155–164.
Collin, F., Li, X.L., et al. 2002. Thermo-hydro-mechanical
coupling in clay barriers. Engineering Geology 64(2–3):
179–193.
Faulkner, D.R. & Rutter, E.H. 2003.The effect of temperature,
the nature of the pore fluid, and sub yield differential stress
on the permeability of phyllosilicate-rich fault gouge.
Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth 108(B5).
Germanovich, L.N., Lowell, R.P., et al. 2001. Temperature-
dependent permeability and bifurcations in hydrother-
mal flow. Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth
106(B1): 473–495.
Gray, W.G., O’Neill, K., et al. 1976. Simulation of heat
transport in fractured, single-phase geothermal reser-
voirs. Summaries Second Workshop Geothermal Reser-
voir Engineering Stanford, California, Stanford Univer-
sity: 222–228.
Hicks, T.W., Pine, R.J., et al. 1996. A hydro-thermo-
mechanical numerical model for HDR geothermal
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reservoir evaluation. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics
Abstracts 33(5): 499–511.
Joshua, T., Derek, E., Ki-Bok, M. 2009. Numerical
simulation of thermal-hydrologic-mechanical-chemical
processes. International Journal of Rock Mechanics &
Mining Sciences 46: 842–854.
Koutsabeloulis, N. & Hope, S.A. 1998. Coupled stress/fluid/
thermal multiphase reservoir simulation studies incorpo-
rating rock mechanics. SPE/ISRM EUROCK-98 Sympo-
sium, Norway.
Neaupane, K.M.,Yamabe, T., et al. 1999. Simulation of a fully
coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical system in freezing and
thawing rock. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences 36(5): 563–580.
Neuzil, C.E. 2003. Hydromechanical coupling in geologic
processes. Hydrogeology Journal 11(1): 41–83.
Noorishad, J., Tsang, C.F., et al. 1984. Coupled Thermal-
Hydraulic-Mechanical Phenomena in Saturated Fractured
Porous Rocks: Numerical Approach. Journal of Geophys-
ical Research 89(B12): 10,365–10,373.
Pao, W.K.S., Lewis, R.W., et al. 2001. A fully coupled
hydro-thermo-poro-mechanical model for black oil reser-
voir simulation. International Journal for Numerical and
Analytical Methods in Geomechanics 25(12): 1229–1256.
Pritchett, J.W., Garg, S.K., et al. 1976. Geohydrological
Environmental Effects of Geothermal Power Production
- Phase IIA. La Jolla, California, Systems, Science and
Software.
Rutqvist, J. & Tsang, C.F. 2003. Analysis of thermal-Warren,
J. E. and P. J. Root. 1963. The behavior of naturally frac-
tured reservoirs. Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal
3: 245–255.
Schrefler, B.A., Khoury, G.A., et al. 2002. Thermo-hydro-
mechanical modeling of high performance concrete at
high temperatures. Engineering Computations 19(7–8):
787–819.
Swenson, D.V., DuTeau, R., et al. 1997. A coupled model of
fluid flow in jointed rock applied to simulation of a hot dry
rock reservoir. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics Abstracts 34: 308.
Thomas, H.R., He, Y., et al. 1998. An examination of the vali-
dation of a model of the hydro/thermo/mechanical behav-
ior of engineered clay barriers. International Journal
for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics
22(1): 49–71.
Tsang, C.F., Stephanson, O., et al. 2000. A discussion of
thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) processes associated
with nuclear waste repositories. International Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 37(1–2): 397–402.
Wang, J.S.Y., Tsang, C.F., et al. 1981. A study of regional
temperature and thermo hydrologic effects of an under-
ground repository for nuclear wastes in hard rock. Journal
of Geophysical Research 86(B5): 3759–3770.
Wittke, W. 1973. Percolation through fissured rock. Inter-
national Association of Engineering Geology Bulletin 7:
3–28.
Yow, J.L. & Hunt, J.R. 2002. Coupled processes in rock
mass performance with emphasis on nuclear waste isola-
tion. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences 39(2): 143–150.
Jonny, R., Chin-Fu, T. 2003. Analysis of thermal-hydrologic-
mechanical behavior near an emplacement drift at Yucca
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637–652.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical analysis on bolting reliability of jointed rock mass with filling

X. Zhang
School of Civil Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, China

Y. Yang
Shandong Provincial Academy of Building Research, Jinan, China

J.H. Wang
Mageba Bridge Products Limited Company, Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT: In view of many stochastic influenced factors for bolting effect of jointed rock mass with filling,
the FEM simulation of bolting effect and validation have been done on the basis of the previous research results.
Then the reliability theory is introduced to the study of bolting effect of the jointed rock mass with filling.
The random of material parameters is emphases, and the FEM code ANSYS PDS and Monte-Carlo method are
used to make trying in the reliability analysis of the bolting jointed rock mass with filling. The value sample of
stochastic input variables and output variables, the distributive function, the correlative coefficient matrix and
the sensitive degree are all got. The analysis offers reference for the similar engineering.

1 INSTRUCTIONS enough circle times make probability result enough

All kinds of joint and cranny with filling may make
rock stiffness and rock shear strength lower. Bolts
can be used as the important supporting structure,
because it can strengthen rock through controlling the
distortion. Presently, such studies have been done by
experiment, theoretic and numerical analysis, and the
results shows that the influence factors always dis-
play random, such as the uncertain load, uncertain
material parameter, geometry size, initial boundary
condition and computation model. Conventional cal-
culation abstract these uncertain factors as fixed num-
bers, and make up the supporting influence on rock.
But the safety coefficient is always excessive and there
is no uniform standard in reliability. So it becomes
very important to study bolt supporting with reliability
theory.
The reliability study has been doing from the 1970s’
and 1980s’ last century. In virtue of probability and
statistics, the usual method defines the uncertain fac-
tors as uncertain variable, describes the rock carrying
capacity and stability using the reliable indicator. So,
the expression is very complex. Now, the much sim-
plified expression has been found, and the reliability
solution include the first order second matrix method,
the high order high-lever matrix method, the response
surface method, Monte-Carlo method and stochastic
finite element method. The adaptability of Monte-
Carlo method is more obvious than others, in any
physics model and any input parameter. Monte-Carlo
method can be solved by parallel computing, for every
circle computing is completely independent. And
exact.
The bolted computation model of jointed rock mass
with filling has been simplified, and been simulated
by FEM. Using the FEM code ANSYS PDS, the relia-
bility analysis has also been done and the value sample
of stochastic import variables and output variables,
the distributing function, the correlative coefficient
matrix, the sensitive degree are all gotten.
2 COMPUTATION MODEL
Only the joint cut through the rock and the sliding
surfaces move relatively, the bolts may take action.
And the bolt always change the stress and strain by
the reasonable computing model The change model of
stress and strain is always been Shear stress is assumed
proportional to the distance difference to the above and
below.
The normal stress is also assumed proportional to
the vertical distance.
where τ0 and σ0 are respectively the initial shear stress
and the normal stress; ks and kn are respectively the
tangential and the vertical rigidity coefficient.

419
Figure 1. Equivalent analytic model of bolt-supported
effect.
The bolting effect can be simulated by the following
model.
The bolting effect of single bolt is averaged, and the
shear strength is:
σs fs + cs = τs means the shear strength, σbs and cb are
respectively the vertical and the tangential equivalent
stress along surface.
ρ = Ab /Aτ , Ab , Aτ are respectively the area of bolt
and rock, and σb and τb are respectively the axial stress
and the section average shear stress.
Due to the deformation modulus of full rock is
larger than that of moving surface, so the distortion
of rock can be omitted:
un and us are respectively the tangential and the
vertical displacement. δn and δs are respectively the
transverse and the axial distortion.
3 THE FEM METHOD
ANSYS as a current FEM design software provides
PDS (Probabilistic Design) for reliability analysis.
PDS can realize reliability design through computing
the influence of uncertain input parameters or con-
firming the probability of the results, which dissatisfy
the design. The steps are.
3.1 Create analysis file
The analysis file is an ANASYS command file, whose
postfix is mac. After creating FEM model in GUI
with load and boundary condition, the solution may
create LOG file, which includes all history manipula-
tion. Using text editor, deleting all redundant history
commands, the LOG file can be modified to a parame-
terized analysis file according to APDL requirements.
The point is that the uncertain input and output param-
eters in analysis file must be defied as numerical
parameter variable.
420
Figure 2. Data flow of reliability analysis.
3.2 Reliability analysis
This step includes specifying reliability analysis file,
choosing input and output variable and defining the
correlation coefficient, defining the distribution types
and function of the input variable, choosing the anal-
ysis tool and method. ANSYS provides Monte-Carlo
method and the response surface method, the former
includes several methods.
3.3 Deal with the results
The step includes sample display, drawing the distri-
bution chart of the input variable and the distribu-
tion function of the failure probability, confirming
correlated coefficient matrix of the input and out-
put variable, searching corresponding input variable,
analyzing sensitivity, creating analysis report.
The data flow of reliability analysis in ANSYS.
4 SIMULATION METHOD AND VALIDATION
The anchorage force is provided by the link between
bolted solid and rock. The FEM model of bolted solid
and rock is created to simulate high nonlinear problem.
The bolted solid and its surface are defied rigid and the
rock and its surface are defied flexible. The Target ele-
ment is defied on rigid surface of bolted solid, and the
Contact element is also defied on flexible surface of
rock. The Contact elements express contact and slid-
ing, and the same constant number as Target element
is set to create the couple contacts.
Here is an example, whose FEM model is an φ
50 mm × 100 mm cylinder shown in Figure 3. If α (the
angle between joint an level) is 30◦ , considering one
bolt, the comparison of stress-strain curves are shown
in Figure 4. The FEM result and examination result
are nearly consistent, which proves the bolted model
of jointed rock is feasible.
5 EXAMPLE
5.1 Model and parameters
The dimensions of the test-component and bolt are
respectively 5 cm × 10 cm and 0.15 cm. The angles of
 Table 1. The materials and mechanics parameters of model.

Elastic Friction
Density modulus Poisson’s Cohesion angle
Material Kg·m −3 GPa ratio KPa ◦

Rock 2.7e3 15 0.2 9e2 39

Joint 2.0e3 0.2 0.3 1e2 22
Bolt 1.0e4 195 0.22
grouting 2.1e3 26.3 0.19 5.3e2 37

considered to study the bolted reliability of jointed

rock with filling. The appropriate material parame-
ter probability characteristic is the basic requirement
to study the reliability. And the characteristics always
could be gotten from many examinations, but now,
we define it normal school referencing some articles.
Define rock elastic modulus E as 15 GPa and the coef-
Figure 3. The bolting structure of the model.
ficient of variation as 0.05. Define rock cohesion c as
0.9 MPa and the coefficient of variation as 0.02.
Define rock internal friction angle φ as 39 and the
coefficient of variation as 0.01. The stability criterion
is adopted referencing article.
The following is the most content and command
flow in reliability analysis file.

yane = 15e9 !define and initialize the input variable

yanc = 9e5
yanf = 39
/PREP7 !enter former processor and create model
K,1,-2.5,-5,0,
LSTR,1,2
Figure 4. Comparison of stress-strain curves.
FLST,2,8,4
ET,1,TARGE169 !define element
R,2, , ,
MPTEMP„„„„ !define material
AMESH,_Y1 !create mesh
... !define contact
FINISH
/SOL !create load and solve
D,P51X, ,0, , , ,UY, , , , ,
SFL,P51X,PRES,1e8,
SOLVE
FINISH
/POST1 !enter postprocessor
FLST,5,117,2,ORDE,2 !choose output parameter
ETABLE, ,EPTO,Y !create result table
ESORT,ETAB,EPTOY,0,0, ,
Figure 5. The FEM mesh of the model.
*GET,MaxYstrain,sort,0,max !output result
the level between bolt and joint are respectively 90◦
and 30◦ . The below displacement and the whole rota-
tion are controlled. Pressure is loaded on the above
5.3 Analysis result
boundary. Model is shown in Figure 5. Parameters are
shown as the following Table 1. The sample and value histogram of c are respectively
shown in Figure 6 and 7. The histogram is similar to the
probability density distribution functions, which prove
5.2 Reliability analysis
that the sample value and 200 times simulation are both
Considering the other parameters can be artificially satisfied. Other random input variables also have the
controlled, material parameters would be mainly similar histogram. At the same time, the smooth curve

421
Figure 6. Specimen history of c.
Figure 8. Mean specimen history of the axile strain of bolt.

Figure 7. Histogram of c.

of axial bolt strain is shown in Figure 8, which also

prove 200 times simulation is satisfied. Figure 9. Accumulative distributing function of the axile
The cumulative distribution function of axial bolt strain of bolt.
strain is shown in Figure 9, which expresses that the
axial bolt strain is smaller than 0.0054 at the 90% con-
dition, and the probability is about 80.82% when the
axial bolt strain is smaller than 0.0052, which shown
in Figure 10.
The sensitivity Figure of bolt axial strain is also
shown in Figure 11, which is found mostly relevant to
the rock elastic modulus E and the cohesion c. That is
consistent to the fact.
The correlation coefficient matrix between out-
put variable and random input variable is also shown
below.

6 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the existing examination and theory, empha-

sis on the uncertain material parameters, in virtue of Figure 10. Reliability computation.

422

Figure 11. Sensitive degree of the axial strain of bolt.
Figure 12. Matrix of relative coefficient.
PDS, the reliability theory has been tried to be intro-
duced to analysis the reliability of the bolted jointed
rock with filling.
1. The anchorage force is provided by the link between
bolted solid and rock, which can be realized by
defining contact elements between bolted solid and
rock. The Target element and Contact element are
separately used on bolted solid surface and rock
flexible surface. The Contact element expresses
contact and sliding, and the same constant num-
ber as Target element is set to create the couple
contacts.
2. Histogram of the random input variable is almost
the same as Probability density distribution func-
tions, which denotes the sample value is rational
423
and the simulation times is satisfied. At the same
time, the calm tendency of the bolt axial strain also
explains the simulation times is satisfied.
3. The cumulate distribution function of bolt axial
strain expresses that the axial bolt strain is smaller
than 0.0054 at the 90% condition. And the proba-
bility is about 80.82% when the axial bolt strain is
smaller than 0.0052.
4. According to the sensitivity Figure, the axial bolt
strain is found mostly relevant to the rock elastic
modulus E and the cohesion c. Which is consistent
to the fact.
REFERENCES
Cheng, D.X., et al. 2006. 3DEC modeling of equivalent
mechanical parameters in anchored jointed rock mass.
Rock and Soil Mechanics 27(12): 2127–2132.
He, M.C., et al. 2002. Reliability analysis of stability of coal
roadway supported by rock-bolt. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 21(12): 1810–1814.
Li, S.C & Zhu, W.S. 1997. Mechanical character of bolt-
ing joint of jointed rock mass with filling. Rock and Soil
Mechanics 18: 54–59.
Liu, N. & Zhuo, J.S. 1995. 3-D stochastic FEM and reliability
analysis of joint rock. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Engineering 14(4): 297–305.
Spang, K. & Egger, P. 1990. Action of fully-grouted bolts in
jointed rock and factors of influence. Rock Mechanics and
Rock Engineering 23(3): 201–229.
Ugai, K. 1989. A method of calculation of total factor of
safety of slope by elaso-plastic FEM. Soil and Foundation
29(2): 190–195.
Wang, W.J. & Hou, C.J. 2001. Reliability analysis on coal
wall bolting of extraction gallery. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 20(6): 813–816.
Yang, S.L., et al. 2004. Analysis on the bolt deformation as
result of joint shear displacement. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 23(19): 3268–3273.
Zhang, D.M & Ma, Y.D. 2004. The reliability research of
bolting support coal side in mining gateway. Non-ferrous
Mining and Metallurgy 20(6): 7–9.
Zhu, H.C., et al. 2002. Testing study on working mechanism
of full grouting bolt under tensile load. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 21(3): 379–384.
Zhu, W.S., et al. 2001. Research on reinforcing effect for
jointed rock masses of shiplock slope by physical model-
ing. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
20(5): 720–725.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Optimization design of supporting and analysis of stability for

mining tunnel with soft coal seam

X.H. Zhang, J.G. Song & Q. Gao

Civil and Environmental Institute, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: By studying the characteristic parameters of soft coal tunnel surrounding rock and stress analysis
of fully-mechanized coal face, the supporting type of combined anchor rob and anchor rope and all-wire anchor
line are presented . All-wire anchor line support technique has been proved to be better than anchor rob and
anchor rope combined support technique after analysis by numerical stimulation.

1 INTRODUCTION

Shaqu is based on loose and joint developed coal.

There is high potential hazard due to high level of gas
in the coal. Therefore, it is of importance to maintain
safety and increase economic benefits by developing
conceptual model of mine support technology; estab-
lishing the model of numerical analysis; studying the
ground stress regularity of mine district; optimizing
the supporting type and arranging working face rea-
sonably. This paper is written based on productive
practice and engineering experience, presenting the
supporting type of combined anchor rob and anchor
rope and all-wire anchor line which numerical analysis
and stability evaluation has been done.

2 THE SUPPORTING TYPE OF

FULLY-MECHANIZED COAL FACE OF
LOOSE COAL TUNNEL
Figure 1. Face into wind alley anchor nets supporting.
2.1 The supporting type of combined
anchor rob and anchor rope
2) Both sides support
The section configuration of fully-mechanized coal The both sides of tunnel adopted the supporting
face of coal gateway is rectangle, with the width of type of combined anchor rob and wire netting. The
3.9 m and height of 2.5 m. diameter of anchor rob was 20 mm, the length was
2.4 m, and space between two anchor robs was
1) Roof support
600 mm × 850 mm, End anchorage was immobi-
The roof of tunnel adopted the supporting type of
lized using epoxy resin and wire netting was used
combined anchor rob and anchor rope and steel
as fictitious graticule.
band of wire netting, the diameter of anchor rob
was 22 mm, the length of that was 2.4 m, space
between two anchor robs was 0.85 m × 0.85 m, The 2.2 The supporting type of anchor rope
first anchoring force was no less than 70 kN, the
Supporting parameters are shown in Figure 2.
thickness of W steel bend was 3 mm, the width
was 220 m, and the length was 3.9 m . The anchor 1) Roof Support
rope was a single steel strand which was 1860 grade The top tray of tunnel roof was an anchor rope with
under relaxation, with a length of 8.0 m, immobi- a length of 5.5 m and a diameter of 15.24 mm. The
lized by the fixed reagent with the epoxy resin. (see end anchorage was immobilized by resin anchor
Figure 1 for supporting parameters). agent, space between two anchor robs was 1.65 m,

425
 distance between rows was 0.8 m, three per row;
precompact force was 50 kN, the length of anchor-
ing was 1.5 m. The thickness of W steel bend was
3 mm, the width was 220 m, and the length was
3.9 m.
2) Both sides support
The both sides of tunnel still adopted the support-
ing type of anchor rob with a diameter of 20 mm,
length of 2.4 m, and space between two anchor
rope of 600 mm × 850 mm, and wire netting was
the longitude and latitude grids.
3 THE NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF THE
SUPPORTING TYPE OF COMBINED
ANCHOR ROB AND ANCHOR ROPE OF
LOOSE COAL TUNNEL
3.1 The computational model and the supporting
parameters of bolting with wire mesh
3.1.1 The calculation parameters of engineering
rock mass
The parameters of surrounding rock need to be
deducted, due to the deformation of the roof and bot-
tom of tunnel during the exploitation. See table 1 for
parameters of engineering rock mass after deduction.

3.1.2 The supporting parameters and calculation of

bolting with wire mesh of entry into the wind
According to the supporting parameters from Figure 1,
the calculation parameters of the supporting type of
bolting with wire mesh was obtained after equivalent
calculation. See Table 2 and Table 3 for the features
and the equivalent calculation parameters.

3.2 Computing result and analysis

Through computer simulation of the supporting type
of bolting with wire mesh, it can be drawn that sig-
nificant laneway floor heave was observed without
support of tunnel bottom. The deformation of top
slope was effectively controlled with the supporting
type of bolting with wire mesh for both sides and
roof. However, anchor rob and anchor rope was pulled
into surrounding rock, resulting in the deformation of
tunnel. Thus the stability of the tunnel was affected. It
also can be shown that the surrounding rock of bottom
Figure 2. Face into wind alley full anchor supporting.

Table 1. Face into wind lane engineering rockmass calculations.

Shear strength parameters Distortion parameters

Volume Tensile Internal friction Elastic Poisson’s Bulk Shear

Location and lithology density strength Cohesion Angle modulus ratio modulus modulus

Location Lithology γ/kg·m3 σT /MPa C/MPa ϕ(◦ ) E/GPa µ K/GPa G/GPa

d Roof Dark gray limestone 2546 0.35 2.12 37 66.6 0.22 39.6 27.3
Direct Roof Black Shale 2363 0.13 0.55 28 30.6 0.23 18.9 12.4
Coal Seam Coal Seam 1246 0.00 0.32 18 4.56 0.35 5.1 1.69
Bottom Sandy shale 2309 0.41 1.25 27 23.2 0.23 14.3 9.43

Table 2. Face into wind alley anchor nets supporting parameters and properties.

Array Anchor Elastic Anchorage Lime slurry Lime slurry

Length Diameter Interval pitch length modulus yield value Compressive Shear modulus
Location l/m φ/mm a/m t/m lm /m E/GPa yi/MN strength/GPa /GPa

Roof 2.4 22 0.85 0.85 0.8 98.6 0.548 20.0 9.0

Both sides 2.4 20 0.6 0.85 0.5 98.6 0.548 20.0 9.0
Anchor 8.0 15.24 1.4 1.7 2.0 98.6 0.548 20.0 9.0

426
shifted more than 50 cm, while the roof did more than
35 cm. At the same time, stress in surrounding rock
was concentrated and a fairly large plastic yield zone
already appeared.
of tunnel bottom effectively. And the level of maxi-
mum principal stress decreased and the plastic zone of
surrounding rock reduced remarkably. It indicated that
the supporting type of anchor rope was more effective
than supporting type of bolting with wire mesh.

4 THE NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF THE 5 CONCLUSION

SUPPORTING TYPE OF ANCHOR ROPE OF
LOOSE COAL TUNNEL
According to the numerical analysis, the supporting
type of anchor rope effectively increased the strength
of surrounding rock, over hanged the surrounding
rocks to the deeply stable rock, and reduced the sink of
roof. Therefore, the stability of surrounding rock was
improved by using the short shank anchor of anchor
rope instead of supporting type of bolting with wire
mesh. Calculation parameters of the supporting type
of anchor rope was shown in the Table 4. The results
of numerical simulation of tunnel and analysis were
described as above.
The displacement of surrounding rock of tunnel
decreased with the supporting type of anchor rope
compared to supporting type of bolting with wire
mesh, but the bottom was still the largest zone of
deformation. Hence, it is of importance to maintain
the stability of tunnel by controlling the deformation
1. As for fully mechanized mining loose coal tunnel,
the supporting type of bolting with wire mesh was
able to control the convergence of roof. However
was not effective enough to prevent anchor rob and
anchor rope to be pulled into surrounding rock. The
displacement of surrounding rock of bottom was
more than 50 cm and that of roof was also more than
35 cm. Meantime, the stress in surrounding rock
was high, it concentrated and large plastic yield
zone appeared.
2. In fully mechanized mining loose coal tunnel which
adopted the supporting type of anchor rope, the
deformation of surrounding rock of tunnel compa-
rably was decreased, the concentration of principal
stress was reduced, the plastic zone was decreased,
and the deformation of bottom was improved.
Therefore, the supporting type of anchor rope was
more effective than the supporting type of bolting
with wire mesh.

Table 3. Face into wind alley anchor nets supporting calculations.

Practical calculating parameters Plane strain equivalent parameters

Cross- Cross-
sectional sectional
Shear Shear Elastic Yield area Shear Shear Elastic Yield area
rigidity strength modulus value Ar/m2 rigidity strength modulus value A/m2
Location Kb/GPa Sb/kNm−1 E/GPa Y/MN (10−4 ) Kb/GPa Sb/kNm−1 E/GPa Y/MN (10−4 )

Roof 23.4 691 98.6 0.548 3.8 27.5 813 116 0.645 3.8
Both sides 16.8 628 98.6 0.548 3.14 19.8 739 116 0.645 3.14

Table 4. Soft coal seam roadway mining face all the anchor supporting calculations.

Practical calculating parameters Plane strain equivalent parameters

Cross- Cross-
sectional sectional
Shear Shear Elastic Yield area Shear Shear Elastic Yield area
rigidity strength modulus value Ar/m2 rigidity strength modulus value A/m2
Location Kb/GPa Sb/kNm−1 E/GPa Y/MN (10−4 ) Kb/GPa Sb/kNm−1 E/GPa Y/MN (10−4 )

Both sides 16.8 628 98.6 0.548 3.14 19.8 739 116 0.645 3.14
anchor
Top short 9.20 729 98.6 0.548 3.8 5.4 429 58.0 0.322 1.82
anchor
Top long 9.20 729 98.6 0.548 1.82 5.4 429 58.0 0.322 1.82
anchor

427
REFERENCES
Chen, Q.M. Fully mechanized roadway along gob mine
pressure characteristics and control technology appeared.
Coal journal 23 (4): 382–385.
He, M.C. 2003. Coal soft rock tunnel engineering sup-
port design and construction guidelines. Beijing: science
press.
Liu,T.Y., Ma, N.J., Gao. 1998. ReliabilityAnalysis of roadway
engineering. Xuzhou: China University of Mining Press.
Ma, N.J. 1995. Adopt quasi roadway. SAFETY & Manage-
ment. Beijing: coal industry press.
Song, H.T. & Zhang,Y.D. 1999. Bolt status and development.
SAFETY & Management (1): 14–16.
Song, J.G. Research on Optimization of Coal Pillar and
Supporting Parameters for Mining Tunnel with Soft Coal
Seam. USTB. PhD thesis.
428
Song, J.G. 2005. Big mining height compound mining rock
pressure regularity study appeared. SAFETY & Manage-
ment (2): 19–21.
Wang, G.D. 2002. Roadway dynamic pressure characteristics
and control method. Appeared, SAFETY & Management
(1): 47–48.
Wang, W. & Xia, J. 2005. The regulation of ground pres-
sure and its controlling in fast advancing fully mecha-
nized mining face. GROUND PRESSURE AND STRATA
CONTROL (4): 97–98.
Yang, B.S. & Wu, Y.H. 1998. Mechanism and prevention of
complex roof control practices. Coal mining (2): 47–49.
Yang, G.Y. 2000. Complex pressure condition mine pressure
control design research and surrounding rock is appeared.
Shandong coal technology (increase): 10–12.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Simulation of tunnel excavation in fractured rock masses using

extended finite element method

Y.L. Zhang & M.M. Shi

Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: The extended finite element method (XFEM) is a new numerical method for modeling disconti-
nuity. XFEM is used to simulate the tunnel excavation with the presence of discontinuities. This method greatly
eases the simulation of fractured rock masses as no remeshing is required. Numerical examples are analyzed to
demonstrate the efficiency of the XFEM technique in tunnel excavation problem It is observed from these simu-
lations that joints have great influence on the deformations stress distributions around the tunnel. And numerical
results also indicate that the influence of a joint to the underground tunnel stability is strongly dependent of the
joint dips and locations.

1 INTRODUCTION solved with minimal remeshing. Since its introduc-

Numerical simulation of tunnel excavation in frac-
tured rock masses is a challenge. In many occasions,
it has been assumed that the rock mass is isotropic and
homogeneous. Apparently this assumption is invalid
in real-world engineering practice. Rock mass is an
inhomogeneous material which includes fractures in
the forms of joints, fissures, faults and microcracks.
The identification of the potential instability of the
surrounding rock structures before construction is cru-
cial for the safety of underground tunnels. And the
strength of surrounding rock masses is governed by
discontinuities, joints and fractures inside the rock. To
model the fractured rock masses effectively, numerical
methods need to characterize the mechanical behav-
iors of these discontinuities. Generally, there are two
categories of numerical methods that have been devel-
oped to simulate the discontinuities in rock masses
(Vargas 1985, Barla et al 1999), one is discontin-
uum approach like discrete element method (DEM),
DDA, and the other is equivalent continuum approach
like finite element method (FEM), boundary element
method (BEM) etc. Among these methods, FEM is
the most widely used and mature numerical method in
engineering due to its flexibility in handling inhomo-
geneity, non-linearity and complex boundary condi-
tions. But modeling crack growth in a traditional FEM
is inconvenient and time-consuming since re-meshing
is required to ensure the alignment of the mesh and
the geometry of the discontinuity. Moreover, signifi-
cant mesh refinement at the crack tip is essential to
obtain accurate results due to the singularity.
To eliminate these shortcomings, extended finite
element method (XFEM) has been developed by
Belytschko et al (Moës et al 1999, Dolbow et al 2000).
In this method, discontinuities can be represented via
suitable enrichment functions and problems can be
tion in 1999, XFEM has been successfully applied to
various fields. As far as underground excavation is
concerned, XFEM is new to this area. In this paper,
XFEM is utilized to simulate the tunnel excavation
in fractured rock masses. Procedures are addressed in
the safety assessment of tunnel excavation in fractured
rock masses.
2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDS
2.1 Displacement approximation
The basic idea of XFEM is to enrich the approxima-
tion of displacement field based on priori knowledge
of the solution such that it is able to reproduce features
of the problem. In the extended finite element method
the displacement field is decomposed into two parts,
a continuous part and a discontinuous part. The con-
tinuous part is the usual displacement field, while the
enrichment part enables the element to accommodate
discontinuities. The enrichment of the displacement
field is based on a local partition of unity developed
by Babuska (Babushka & Melenk 1997) and it takes
the form (Dolbow et al. 2000):
where N is the set of all nodes in the mesh, Ncut is the
set of nodes whose support is cut by a crack and Ntip
the set of nodes whose support contains the tips Ni (x)
is the shape function of node i, ui is the classical degree
of freedom of node i, and ai and bia are the enriched
variables associated with the Heaviside step function
H(x) and the crack-tip functions Ba (x), respectively.

429
 For strong discontinuities, Heaviside function H(x)
is employed as the enrichment function. The Heaviside
function H(x) is defined as,
where x is a sample point, x∗ (lies on the crack) is the
closest point to x, and n is the unit outward normal to
the crack at x∗ .
On the basis of linear elastic fracture mechanics,
singular enrichment functions are introduced to rep-
resent singular stress fields around the crack tip. The
enrichment functions for the crack tip is,
After applying virtual work principle to the usual
governing equations in solid mechanics, and substi-
tuting the XFEM trial functions (Equation 1), the fol-
lowing discrete system of linear equations is obtained:
where uh is the vector of nodal unknowns, and K and
f are the global stiffness matrix and external force
vector, respectively. The global stiffness matrix and
external force vector are calculated by assembling the
following elemental counterparts:
Interested readers can refer to Budyn et al 2004 for
the details of the sub-matrices and sub-vectors. It is
shown from above equations that additional degrees
of freedom are introduced for the enriched nodes to
describe the behavior of discontinuities Solution of
the system of equations, the displacement at each node
can be obtained. Stresses and strain filed can then be
calculated by post-processing.
2.2 Geometrical representation of discontinuity
XFEM implicitly tracks cracks through the level set
method. The level set method is a numerical technique
for tracking moving interfaces developed by Osher
and Sethian (Osher & Sethian 1988). It is based upon
the idea of representing implicitly the interfaces by
430
the zero level set of some higher dimensional func-
tion. A crack is represented with the help of two level
set functions, one is a normal level set which is the
signed distance to the crack surface and the other is
a tangent level set which is the signed distance to the
plane including the crack front and perpendicular to
the crack surface (Ventura et al. 2002, Ventura et al.
2003). The level set functions are signed distance func-
tions which are discretized on the same mesh as the
displacement field. The normal level set is negative
on one side of the crack surface and positive on the
other side. The tangent level set is negative behind the
crack front and positive in front of it. This approach is
adopted in this paper, since it offers a simple way to
describe mesh-independent geometries.
2.3 Computer program RockXFEM for tunnel
excavation simulation in fractured rock masses
Based on the above theories, a computer pro-
gram named RockXFEM was developed to simulate
geotechnical problems related with fractured rock
masses. The code was written using object-oriented
programming language C++, and some common
constitutive models such as isotropic elastic model,
Drucker-Prager model, Mohr-Coulomb model were
integrated into the code. The code has been validated
against some classic fracture mechanical problems
with closed-from solutions.
Before any geotechnical steps can be modeled the
initial stress conditions in the ground must be pre-
scribed. The in-situ stresses are assumed to be caused
by the weight of overlying strata in this paper. The
vertical stress is calculated as the weight of overlying
strata as,
where γ is the unit weight of the overlying material and
z is the depth below surface. The initial stress state in
the ground is assumed to be at k0 condition, therefore
the horizontal stresses are computed from the given
lateral earth pressure coefficient at rest
Tunnel excavation is simulated by removal of the
soil elements. The implied loadings caused by the
removal of specified elements are calculated.
In order to add XFEM into an existing finite ele-
ment code, additional algorithms such as descriptions
of crack geometry, the enrichment of nodes and ele-
ments, the partition of elements with crack, assembly
procedure of global matrix, introducing the addi-
tional d.o.f., identification of the enriched nodes are
programmed into the code. In the code, the discon-
tinuities are approximated in the form of multiple
piecewise linear segments. There are four steps in
coding RockXFEM. Firstly, geometries-mesh inter-
action computations are carried out to determine the
nodes and elements to be enriched. The second step
requires expansion of the nodal degrees of freedom in
the classical finite element formulation to accommo-
date the additional nodal unknowns associated with the
enrichment functions. The third step is to treat mesh-
crack geometry interaction, including crack-element
intersection and element partitioning.The element par-
titioning is required to insure equivalence between
the strong and weak forms of the governing system
of equations and to preserve accuracy of numerical
integration. The element partitioning, in which the ele-
ments enriched by the discontinuous and the crack-tip
functions are subdivided into sub-triangles, requires
extensive operations of computational geometry to
determine the intersections of the crack line with the
element edges. The fourth step is to solve the system Figure 1. Geometry and boundary conditions of the prob-
of equations after the assembly process and then do lem.
post processing to acquire the displacement, stress,
and strain field.

3 NUMERICAL EXAMPLES

In this section, an example of tunnel excavation is con-

sidered to investigate the influence the presence of
joints on the tunnel stability This example studies the
distribution of stresses and displacements around the
tunnel. Two types of rock mass are considered, one is
a homogenous, continuous rock mass, and the other is Figure 2. Distribution of maximum principal stress (no
a rock mass with one joint. For the jointed rock mass, joint).
in one case the joint is horizontal and in the other case
the joint is vertical.
The problem layout is shown in Fig. 1. A circular
tunnel of radius 6m is located with cover of 20 m below
the surface. The boundary condition of the model is as
follows: the base of the model is assumed to be rough;
hence it is restrained in all directions.The outer vertical
boundary is free to move in vertical direction only. To
model this problem, 4-node quad element is used and
there are 10306 elements and 10462 nodes in the mesh.
The problem is assumed to be plane strain. The Mohr-
Coulomb elasto-plastic model was used to represent
the behavior of rocks. The parameters for constitutive Figure 3. Distribution of maximum principal stress (with
model are: Young’s value is 7.0e9Pa, the poison ratios joint).
is 0.28, cohesion is 0.80e6Pa, the frictional angle is
30◦ . roof of the tunnel, while its value is around 1.5E6 when
For the first case, a single joint parallel to the bottom there are no joints.
line of the tunnel is assumed to pass through the rock For minimum principle stress, negative values
mass, as shown in Figure 1. The rock joint is assumed emerged when joint exists. This shows that tensile
to be non-cohesive and frictionless. stresses appear at the tips of joint (Figure 5).
The obtained results are discussed below. For each In Figure 6 and Figure 7, similar patterns to dis-
case the numerical modelling was performed under the tribution of the minimum principal stress are shown
same initial and boundary conditions. for the distributions of vertical stresses. Vertical stress
concentrations are induced at sharp corners in under-
ground tunnel in Figure 6 and Figure 7.
3.1 Influence of joint on stress distributions
Figure 1 and 2 show that the magnitude and distri-
3.2 Influence of joint on displacement
bution of the maximum principle stress are mainly
concentrated at the corner of the tunnel. The distri- The vertical displacements after the excavation are
butions of maximum principal stress are different for plotted in Figure 8 and Figure 9 The vertical dis-
the two cases. The value maximum principal stress is placement value from the top of the tunnel with joint
larger (around 1.6E6Pa) when the joint lies above the obviously exceeds the corresponding values of the case

431
Figure 4. Distribution of minimum principal stress (no
joint).
Figure 5. Distribution of minimum principal stress (with
joint).
Figure 6. Distribution of vertical stress (no joint).
Figure 7. Distribution of vertical stress (with joint).
without joint. The maximal settlements at the roof of
the tunnel are 1.0 mm and 2.4 mm respectively for the
case with and without joint. However the presence of
joint above the roof has little impact on the deformation
at the tunnel bottom.
For the horizontal displacement, the influence of
joint above the roof is less significant than that of
vertical displacement. The horizontal displacement
increase from 0.25 mm to 0.4 mm after the joint is
432
Figure 8. Distribution of vertical displacement (no joint).
Figure 9. Distribution of vertical displacement (with joint).
Figure 10. Distribution of horizontal displacement (no
joint).
Figure 11. Distribution of vertical displacement (with
joint).
added. It is shown that the distribution of the displace-
ment is symmetrical due to the geometry symmetry in
the model (Figure 10 and Figure 11).
3.3 Impact of joint orientation
The effects of joint and joint orientation on the stabil-
ity of tunnel during excavation are analysed here. To
examine the impact of joint orientation on the stability
Figure 12. Distribution of vertical displacement (vertical
joint).
Figure 13. Distribution of horizontal displacement (vertical
joint).
Figure 14. Distribution of maximum principal stress (ver-
tical joint).
Figure 15. Distribution of minimum principal stress (verti-
cal joint).
of tunnel, a special case is simulated with the joint
located vertically at the top of the roof as shown in
Figure 12. Particular attention is paid to the changes
of stresses and displacement.
Results from Figure 12 to Figure 16 show that the
vertical joint has less negative effects on the stability
of tunnel that that of horizontal joint.
433
Figure 16. Distribution of vertical stress (vertical joint).
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, extended finite element method for mod-
eling discontinuities in rock mass has been presented.
The method is developed based on partition of unity.
And nodal degrees of freedom are enriched to ana-
lyze the displacement jump across the discontinuities
and the singularities at crack tips. The main advantage
of this method is that it can be implemented in any
existing FEM codes with a few modifications.
Numerical simulations with XFEM were conducted
to analyze the construction of a tunnel in order to eval-
uate the influence of the joints. It was observed from
these simulations that joints have great influence on
the induced stress values and deformations around the
tunnel. When the joint locates vertically at the roof
of the tunnel, however, the induced stress values at
these critical positions are much smaller. Numerical
analysis indicates that the influence of a joint to the
underground tunnel stability is strongly dependent of
the joint dips and locations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the “Hundred
Talents Programme” of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences and the Project is also sponsored by the
Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Over-
seas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry.
REFERENCES
Babuska, I. & Melenk, J.M. 1997. The partition of unity
method. International Journal for Numerical Methods in
Engineering (40): 727–758.
Barla, G., Barla, M., Repetto, L. 1999. Continuum and dis-
continuum modeling for design analysis of tunnels. 9th
Int. Congr. on Rock Mech. Paris, France. Bandis S. 1993.
Engineering.
Belytschko, T. & Black, T. 1999. Elastic crack growth in finite
elements with minimal remeshing. International Journal
for Numerical Methods in Engineering (45): 602–620.
Budyn, E., Zi, G., Moës, N., Belytschko, T. 2004. A Method
for Multiple Crack Growth in Brittle Materials without
Remeshing. International Journal for Numerical Methods
in Engineering 61(10): 1741–1770.
Dolbow, J., Moës, N., Belytschko, T. 2000. Discontinuous
enrichment in finite elements with a partition of unity
method. Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng (36): 235–260.
Erdogan, F. & Sih, G.C. 1963. On the crack extension in plates
under plane loading and transverse shear. Journal of Basic
Engineering (85): 519–527.
Germanovichl, N., Salganik, R.L., Dyskin, A.V., et al. 1994.
Mechanisms of brittle fracture of rock with pre-existing
cracks in compression. Pure and Applied geophysics
143(1–3): 117–149.
Moës, N., Dolbow, J., Belytschko, T. 1999. A finite element
method for crack growth without remeshing. Int. J. Numer.
Methods Eng (46): 131–150.
434
Vargas, E. 1985. Continuum and discontinuum modelling of
some blocky type foundation problems. In Proceedings
of the International Symposium on Fundamentals of Rock
Joints Bjorkliden, Sweden: 543–553.
Ventura, G., Xu, J.X., Belytschko, T. 2002. A vector level set
method and new discontinuity approximations for crack
growth by EFG. International Journal For Numerical
Methods in Engineering (54): 923–944.
Ventura, G., Budyn, E., Belytschko, T. 2003. Vector level
sets for description of propagating cracks in finite ele-
ments. International Journal of Numerical Methods in
Engineering (58): 1571–1592.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical investigation of the stability of roofing with cemented

tailing backfill and its application

K. Zhao, Y.Y. Deng & X.J. Wang

Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, China

Z.H. Xu
China Nerin Engineering Co. Ltd, China

L. Liao, C. Gong & X. Yang

Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, China

ABSTRACT: The stability of the backfill roof is important in the method of drift undercut with cemented fill
stoping. Deformation, stress state and acoustic emission in the surrounding media of stoping drifts are analysed
with the aid of the Rock Failure Process Analysis Code in accordance with the actual conditions in Wushan
copper mine in China. Emphasis is placed on the key part of the backfill roof, which is located above the
lower drift. Stoping and filling processes are simulated respectively with three different stoping drift section
sizes (width×height: 3 × 3 m2 , 5 × 3 m2 , 5 × 4 m2 ). Numerical simulation results indicate that the distribution
regularities of deformation, stress and acoustic emission are similar for the three cases (i.e. three different section
sizes). The failure mode strongly depends on the tensile stress of the cemented tailings backfill roof, and acoustic
emission occurs mainly in the middle and corner areas of the backfill roof. The acoustic emission event counts
and energy rates increase with the increase of the backfill roof width in the case of the same height. And, with
the same width the acoustic emission event counts and energy rates decrease with the increase in height. The
above findings are used to analyse and plan the layout of acoustic emission monitoring in Wushan copper mine.
This is found to be in good agreement with actual stability states.

1 INTRODUCTION and filling processes are simulated by the RFPA to

The rock mechanics problems caused by deep min-
ing engineering are the focus in the field of mining
engineering (He et al. 2005). Until now, mining with
backfill has been the most important method in deep
mining due to rock mechanics problems induced by
deep mining (Gu et al. 2006). Mining with backfill
is not only an effective method of environmental pro-
tection but also a way to control ground pressure. For
drift undercut with cemented fill stoping the stabil-
ity of the backfill roof is closely related to people’s
safety. In order to guide stoping stability monitoring,
understanding the mechanical and acoustic emission
(AE) behaviours of the cemented tailings backfill roof
is a primary prerequisite. To solve such a problem, a
numerical simulation method is adopted according to
the actual conditions in Wushan copper mine, in which
the maximum excavation depth reaches 600m. A Rock
Failure Process Analysis Code (RFPA) that can simu-
late the whole process of material failure from gradual
fracture to destabilization has been developed (Tang
1997). The RFPA has seen many successful applica-
tions in civil and mining engineering areas especially
in analysing the material failure process and AE char-
acteristics (Tang et al. 2005, Liang et al. 2002). Stoping
obtain the distribution regularities of deformation,
stress and AE. The results provide the theoretical base
for backfill roof AE monitoring and analysis. In-situ
AE monitoring has been carried out in Wushan copper
mine and the AE monitoring results agree well with
in-situ backfill roof stability states.
2 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE
MINING PROCESS
2.1 Model establishment and excavation steps
Drift undercutting with cemented fill stoping has been
applied in Wushan copper mine. Stoping drifts are
mainly vertical to ore body trend and three kinds
of drift section size (i.e. width × height: 3 × 3 m2 ,
5 × 3 m2 , and 5 × 4 m2 ) have been adopted. All drifts
will be filled with cemented tailings backfill after
recovery. In the lower half of the drift refill the fill-
ing body has a cement to tailing ratio of 1:4, while
in the upper half the ratio is 1:8. Corresponding three
plane strain models subjected to the above parame-
ters are established, namely, model A (width×height:
3×3m2 ), model B (width × height: 5 × 3 m2 ) and

435
model C (width × height: 5 × 4 m2 ). Model B is shown
as Figure 1.
The excavation simulation process is divided into 4
steps. The first step means all caved areas are refilled,
and the new mining layer has not been excavated. The
second step is the excavation of the right side drift of
the next sub-layer, and filling the excavation area is
the third step. The fourth step is the excavation of the
central part of the next sub-layer. This corresponds to
steps 1–4 of model B in Figure 2.
2.2 Mechanical parameters and initial conditions
Physical and mechanical parameters of rock and
filling materials are assumed to follow a Weibull
distribution (see Table 1) and the Mohr-Coulomb
criterion is adopted as the failure criterion. Before
any excavation the gravity stress field is taken into
consideration while there is no consideration of the
tectonic stress field because this paper focuses on
the cemented tailings backfill roof. So the uniform
distributed load is applied on the top boundary of
the model to simulate the overlying strata gravity.
The horizontal and vertical displacement constraints
are applied on both side and bottom boundaries
respectively.

2.3 Simulation results and analysis

2.3.1 Stress evolution of backfill roof in the
horizontal direction
Let AB in Figure 3 represent a line near to the top of the
excavation plane. The maximum stress along line AB
is shown in Figure 4. Figure 4 shows that line AB is in a
state of relatively uniform compressive stress without

Figure 1. Prototype and simulation model of model B. Figure 2. Steps of numerical simulation of model B.

Table 1. Parameters of rock and filling materials.

Mean Young’s Mean compressive Mean tensile

Density modulus Poisson strength strength Cohesion Frictional
Types (kN/m3 ) (GPa) ratio (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) angle (◦ )

Weathered granite 26 32 0.25 100 9.8 20 38

Skarn 35 40 0.3 190 16 22 36
Marble 27 53 0.3 150 16 20 40
cement to tailing ratio 1:8 20 0.42 0.07 2.92 0.3 0.5 16
cement to tailing ratio 1:4 20 0.69 0.14 4.17 0.42 0.6 18

436
new excavation in the sub layer (step 1). After the right
side ore body of the next sub layer was excavated, stress
concentration appeared in nearly one third of the seg-
ment close to point B and another segment remained
close to the first step stress state (step 2). From Fig-
ure 4 (c), stress concentration decreased significantly
due to caved area filling with cemented tailings back-
fill (step 3). After the next sub layer directly beneath
line AB, compressive stress increased sharply in the
area at each end of line AB, and decreased rapidly in
other areas (step 4).
Figure 3. The evolution model of horizontal mechanics
process.
Figure 4. Diagrams tailings backfill roof along line AB.
437
2.3.2 Stress evolution of backfill roof in
vertical direction
In order to obtain the stress variation of the cemented
tailings backfill roof in the vertical direction, let CD
in Figure 5 represent a vertical line located in the mid-
dle of the top of the excavation plane. Calculation
results of three models are shown in Figure 6. From the
analysis of Figure 6, compressive stress occurs along
line CD and the stress value in the lower half of the
filling body is higher than the upper half (step 1).
After the right side ore body of the next sub layer
Figure 5. The evolution model of vertical mechanics
process.
Figure 6. Diagrams of stress curves of a cemented tailings backfill roof along line CD.

was excavated, the stress state is almost identical to
the first step, however, in the middle area of line CD
the stress increased (step 2). Stress decreased to a cer-
tain extent because the caved area has been filled with
cemented tailings backfill (step 3). After the next sub
layer directly beneath the line CD, compressive stress
decreased, and even tensile stress appears in the area
near to point D (step 4).
tailings backfill, displacements generally decreased
rapidly (step 3). Therefore, we can infer that this filling
method can control the deformation of a backfill roof
effectively. Furthermore the displacement of the back-
fill roof increased again under excavation action of the
next sub layer and maximum displacement occurs in
the mid-roof area (step 4).

2.3.3 Displacement evolution of backfill roof

2.3.4 AE evolution of backfill roof
Take line AB (Figure 3) as an illustration of the dis-
AE phenomena can characterize the inner state of dam-
placement evolution of the backfill roof, as shown in
age of materials and the damage location and zone can
Figure 7. From Figure 7 it can be seen that the regu-
also be determined by AE. Numerical simulation of the
larity of displacements of the three models is similar
AE evolution of the backfill roof is shown in Figure 8.
and differs only in terms of the value of displace-
The red circle represents AE events of the present step,
ment. The displacements in the area of line AB are
and the dark circle represents the former step. The cir-
generally small (step 1), and gradually increase with
cle size represents the amount of AE energy. Some
the lapse of sub layer excavation time, especially in
important conclusions from Figure 8 are as follows:
the area near to point B (step 2). In other words, dis-
placement gradually increases from point A to point 1) AE events take place more easily in models A and
B. After the caved area has been filled with cemented B than in model C. It means that AE occurrence

438
Figure 7. Diagrams of displacement curves of cemented tailings backfill roof along line AB.

Figure 8. Plots of simulated AE locations for cemented tailings backfill roof.

increases with the increase of the width of the
backfill roof.
2) In model B, AE event counts and energy are both
increased compared to model C. It means that AE
event counts and energy decrease with the increase
of roof height.
3) AE occurs especially in the middle of the backfill
roof, which is attributed to the excavation of the
next sub-layer ore body of step 2. The occurrence
of AE in model B is more likely than in the others,
in other words, damage of the backfill roof can be
influenced by roof height.
4) From the fourth step, because the backfill bearing
capacity is far less than the ore body, AE occurrence
in the backfill roof is concentrated in the area near
to the backfill.

439
Figure 9. Layout of AE sensor.

Table 2. Records of AE monitoring.

Series of Times Major event Total events Energy rate

1 0 6 26
2 0 2 8
3 4 20 68
4 0 11 48
5 2 11 39
6 0 9 40
7 1 21 88
8 0 6 24
9 0 7 32
10 0 3 13 Figure 10. Relationship between energy rate and time of AE
monitoring.

3 AE MONITORING ON SITE
Two AE sensors were laid in the backfill roof before
filling, in Wushan copper mine, for stability moni-
toring, as shown in Figure 9. AE monitoring records
during the next sub layer excavation period of No. 1
sensor are listed in Table 2. From Table 2, AE occurs
at intervals in the backfill roof during the excava-
tion period. However, the counts of both AE events
and energy rates remain low coinciding with the engi-
neering practice, as there was no remarkable failure
phenomenon on site, only small rupture exits in the
backfill roof.
Energy rate variation during the next sub layer exca-
vation period of No.2 sensor is shown in Figure 10.
Energy rates of the backfill roof increased due to the
disturbance of excavation, which is called the unsta-
ble stage, during a period of 0–30 days as shown in
Figure 10. Then, energy rates remain low, which is
termed a relatively stable stage. With the excavation
development the energy rate increased rapidly during
the 55–65th days. This is a key period as most roof
falling accidents occur within this period. Thus, much
attention should be paid to the process of crack devel-
opment in the roof. There exists a link between AE
and roof stability although we have not determined
the quantitative relationship. AE monitoring is a good
aid in analysing damage evolution and the crack prop-
agation rate. After this period, the energy rate declined
and remained at a very low level due to filling of the
caved areas.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Numerical simulation is a useful approach to help
us understand the evolution of AE, stress and dis-
placement of the backfill roof for drift undercut with
cemented tailings backfill stoping. Simulation results
provide guidance for the correct layout of monitor-
ing sensors. It is clear that AE monitoring has assisted
mining engineers to analyse the failure process of the
backfill roof, just as in the case given in this paper.
However, the quantitative relationship between AE
parameters and stability of the roof has not been deter-
mined until now. So AE monitoring data need to be
accumulated on site and as a base for further study
to establish the quantitative relationship between AE
parameters and stability.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was funded by the China National Natural
Science Foundation (no. 50464002) and was partially
supported by Key Projects in the National Science &
Technology Pillar Program during the 11th Five-Year
Plan of China (no. 2008BAB32B03).

440
REFERENCES
Gu, D.S. & Li, X.B. 2006. Modern mining science and
technology for metal mineral resources. Metallurgical
Industry Press, China: 86–99.
He, M.C., Xie, H.P. & Peng, S.P. 2005. Study on rock mechan-
ics in deep mining engineering. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 24(16): 2803–2813.
Liang, Z.Z., Tang, C.A. & Huang, M.L. 2002. Numeri-
cal simulation of patterns of acoustic emission in rock
441
failure. Journal of Northeastern University (Natural Sci-
ence) 23(10): 1008–1011.
Tang, C.A. 1997. Numerical simulation of rock failure and
associated seismicity. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 34(2):
249–262.
Tang, C.A., Chen, Z.H. & Xu, X.H. 2005. A theoretical model
for Kaiser effect in Rock. Pure and Applied Geophysics
(150): 203–215.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Pull-out rheological test of anchorage system and evolution characteristic

study of interfacial stress

T.B. Zhao
College of Resource and Environment Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao,
Shandong, China
Key Lab of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, China

C.L. Liu
College of Resource and Environment Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao,
Shandong, China

Y.L. Tan
Key Lab of Mine Disaster Prevention and Control of Ministry of Education, Qingdao, Shandong, China

ABSTRACT: Researching the evolution of anchoring interfacial stress distribution with time is particularly
important to the long-term stability of geotechnical engineering. However, due to the limited experimental
conditions, there is few relevant research on this subject. By using the modified rheological testing machine
RLJW-2000, constant drawing force can be applied to anchorage system for a long time. According to the indoor
pull-out rheological tests on wholly grouted bolts under different magnitude of drawing force, the results indicated
that interfacial stress of bolts had rheological behavior and an unbalanced development in the axial direction.
The significant rheological region constantly transferred with the increase of drawing force. The rheological
region under low drawing force (50% of ultimate load and below) was at the bolt end. But at moderate drawing
force (50% to 80% of ultimate load) the rheological region transferred to the middle. And under high drawing
force (80% of ultimate load and above) the region then back to the bolt end again.

1 INTRODUCTION on mechanical properties of anchorage interface are

Anchorage system consists of bolt, adhesive material
and rockmass. The interface between bolt and adhesive
material is called “the first interface”. And between
rockmass and adhesive material, the interface is called
“The second interface”. The two interfaces are rel-
atively weak in anchoring system (Zeng 2006). For
the relation of interfacial bond strength and interfa-
cial shear stress determining the stability of anchor-
age system, it is particularly important to research
interfacial stress distribution, which is the basis of
establishing relevant design theory and method. In
recent years, with the further study on rock anchorage
mechanism, the hypothesis that shear stress is evenly
distributed along anchorage segment has completely
denied. Canadian scholars propose that shear stress is
power function distributed along bolt (Phillips 1970).
Based on tests and theoretical analysis, Chinese schol-
ars propose that interfacial shear stress presents the
distribution of positive and negative changes (Wang
1983). The research results will advance anchorage
mechanics transfer mechanism and engineering appli-
cation. However, existing experimental studies are
more focused on short-term loading test of anchor-
ing system (You 2004, Wu 2008). The test researches
few. The problem of anchorage theology mechanism
and long-term characteristic of bolting has not been
intensively researched.
As we all know, most instability and failure of rock-
mass engineering is not appeared at the beginning.
The stress adjustment and deformation of surround-
ing rock will last for a long time after excavating.
The time effect on long-term stability of engineer-
ing has been confirmed by a large number of field
measurements. Only based on the rheology theory and
method, support and rockmass time-effect combining
can be given a persuasive reasonable explanation (Sun
2007). By the modified rheological testing machine
RLJW-2000 and indoor pull-out rheological tests, this
paper researches the evolution of anchorage interfacial
stress distribution with time and further discusses the
timeliness of interfacial stress transfer mechanism.
2 TEST SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
2.1 Technical background
As a common testing method of interfacial stress, pull-
out test has been widely used in the laboratory. The test
apparatus is mainly ordinary tensile testing machine

443
Figure 1. Testing system structure.
(Qu 2007), which can not apply long-term constant
tension to anchorage body. With more and more
attention on the properties of rock rheological mechan-
ics, many types of rheological testing machines have
been developed, such as rock triaxial testing machine
TLW-2000 produced by Changchun Zhaoyang Test-
ing Instrument Company Limited, material testing
machine MTS produced by USA MTS Corporation.
However these machines functions are limited to the
tests of uniaxial compression, triaxial compression and
shear. There is no complete test system for anchorage
body pull-out rheological test.
2.2 Development scheme
Based on the hardware facilities and control systems
of rock servo rheological testing machine RLJW-2000,
this test system achieves anchorage body performance
test through transforming oil circuit, adding acquisi-
tion system, making anchorage body and designing
connecting parts (Zhao 2009). Modified test platform
consists of anchorage system, pull-out system and
testing system, as shown in figure 1. Anchorage sys-
tem consists of bolt and matrix. Anchorage matrix
is made of reinforcement concrete. There is a bolt-
ing hole prepared in the center of concrete column.
Pull-out system consists of testing machine and con-
nection device. There are connection devices at the
bottom of testing machine force column and at the
top of host cylinder, including joint bearing, eye nuts,
tensile plate, connecting plate, screw and bolt. Test-
ing system consists of strain meter and dial indicator,
which records anchoring interfacial stress state and
bolt pull-out displacement during the test.
Anchorage pull-out rheological test machine is plot-
ted at figure 2. Screw links every component of
connection device. The end of anchorage body bolt
is connected with cylinder through joint eye nut, bear-
ing and connecting plate. The other end of anchorage
body is connected with matrix tensile plate by screw.
During test, upper tubing of the cylinder is the oil inlet
and down tubing is oil return. Drawing force is applied
to the end of anchorage body bolt by descending stroke
444
Figure 2. Anchorage body pull-out rheological test
machine.
of cylinder. Upper and down joint bearings in the
connecting device play an important role in adjust-
ing force direction, which can apply vertical direction
drawing force to anchorage body. It is convenient for
us to install and adjust anchorage specimen using eye
nut. On the premise of not changing original structure
and performance, the mechanical properties of anchor-
age body can be researched through testing system
conveniently. For easily installing device and simple
operation, it is suitable for researching the anchorage
interface rheological mechanics
3 SCHEME DESIGN OF PULL-OUT
RHEOLOGICAL TEST OF ANCHORAGE
SYSTEM
3.1 Preparation of anchorage body
3.1.1 Anchorage matrix
Use concrete C40 as anchorage matrix, in which the
ratio for cement, sand, 10∼30 mm gravel, 5∼10 mm
gravel and water is 421:721:789:338:181. Matrix is
made of 150 mm, high 300 mm columned module.
Using galvanized steel, reserve a drilling in the center
of matrix. Three 16 mm round steels are pre-buried
symmetrically in the concrete column. Curing time is
not less than 28 days, in the constant temperature and
humidity conditions
3.1.2 Experimental arrangement for bolt loading
measurement
18 mm thread steel is chosen as bolt material. The
total length of the bolt is designed to 350 mm, in which
the length of exposed threaded end is 50 mm and the
length of anchoring section is 300 mm. BX120-5AA
foil resistance strain gauges are pasted in the grooving
and arranged staggeredly. There are 9 strain gauges
Table 1. Bolt bonding style.
Bonding Binder Material Curing
style composition ratio time (day)
Cement mortar Water/Cement/Sand 0.6:1:3 28
Epoxy resin E44 epoxy resin/ 1:1 7
EP curing agent
Figure 3. Pull-out test system.
arranged on each bolt, with the symmetric space of
30 mm.
3.1.3 Anchorage form
Anchorage form is wholly grouted style. Force measur-
ing bolt is inserted into concrete matrix and adhesive
material is poured into the central hole. In order to
make sure that bonding layer thickness is uniform,
force measuring bolt should be in the center of hole.
We can use mortar bonding and resin bonding for the
anchorage between bolt and matrix. Specific bonding
parameters are listed in Table 1.
3.2 Loading test scheme
We use the modified rheological testing machine
RLJW-2000 as the loading system and strainmeter
DH3845N as the testing measurement system of
anchorage interfacial stress. Dial indicator records the
pull-out displacement of the bolt end. Maximum ten-
sile force of the system is 200 kN. The connection
mode of strain gauge is 1/4 bridge. During the test-
ing, temperature compensation gauge is necessary.
Anchorage pull-out rheological test system is shown
in figure 3.
The first load level of pull-out rheological tests is
designed to 10 kN. The second is 20 kN. The third level
is 30 kN. The fourth level is 35 kN. After the fourth
level, increment of each stage load is 5 kN until speci-
men damage. The time for each stage load is 24 hours.
The sampling interval is 1 minute. The temperature of
laboratory is at constant 25◦ and test environment is
independent of all external influence.
445
Figure 4. Rheological curve of anchorage interface top
under low drawing force.
Figure 5. Rheological curve of anchorage interface middle
under moderate drawing force.
4 TEST RESULTS
This pull-out rheological test takes 217.28 hours.
Through the analysis of strainmeter sampling data, we
could get the evolution of bolt-binder interfacial stress
with time under constant drawing force. According to
the size of drawing force, bolt interfacial stress rhe-
ological characteristic is obviously divided into three
stages. (1) When the drawing force is below 50% ulti-
mate load, rheological region is at the top of bolt.
Figure 4 is the strain between measuring point 2 and
3 with time under 10 kN to 30 kN drawing force. The
interfacial stress increases with time, but the increas-
ing extent decreases continuously. Finally, it will be in
stable state, which is called stage 1 of interfacial rheol-
ogy. (2) When the drawing force is 50% to80% ultimate
load, the rheological region is mainly in the middle of
bolt. Figure 5 is the strain between measuring point 5
and 6 with time under 40 kN to 50 kN drawing force.
Early growth of the interfacial stress rheology is faster
and it will be in stable state after 2 or 3 hours, which
is called stage 1 of interfacial rheology. (3) When the
drawing force is 80% ultimate load above and close to
the limit state, the significant rheological characteris-
tic region of interfacial stress is mainly at the top of
the bolt.
Figure 6 is the strain between measuring point 2
and 3 with time under 65 kN drawing force. As time
increases, interfacial stress increases constantly and
has significantly accelerated rheological characteristic
in the later period. This unstable interface rheological
stage is called stage 1.

Figure 6. Rheological curve of anchorage interface top
under ultimate drawing force.
Figure 7. Axial transmission schema of interfacial stress
rheological region.
5 RHEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTIC OF
ANCHORAGE INTERFACIAL STRESS
In the anchorage pull-out rheological test, with the
increase of loading level, anchorage interface goes
through three stages that is visco-elastic, visco-plastic
and visco-off. The rheological region transfers con-
stantly along axis of bolt, firstly from I to II, and then
from II to III. As show in figure 7, I is the rheological
region under low drawing force. II is the rheologi-
cal region under moderate drawing force. III is the
rheological region under ultimate drawing force.
Anchoring system is in the visco-elastic stage under
low drawing force. Because the shear stress of drawing
end is in a high range, the rheological region produced
by interfacial shear stress is near the port. Anchoring
system is in the visco-plastic stage under moderate
drawing force. With the increase of external load, the
peak zone of interfacial shear stress transfers to the
inside along the bolt axis. The rheological region will
be also transferred. When the drawing force is close
to the limit value, anchoring system is in the stage of
visco-off. Because the middle of the anchorage can
not bear too much shear stress, the rheological region
transfers to the end again and the rheological rate is
higher. Finally it will lead to the looseness of the draw-
ing end, and then the interfacial shear failure will be
appeared.
446
6 CONCLUSIONS
1. Based on the rock pressure servo rheological testing
machine RLJW-2000, we develop pull-out rheo-
logical test device of anchorage system through
transforming oil circuit, adjusting control system
and designing key connecting parts. The perfor-
mance of the test system is stable and the maximum
tension can reach 200 kN. It is also can keep con-
stant tension load for a long time, which meets the
requirement of indoor pull-out rheological tests.
Test function can also be further extended.
2. The test shows that the stress of interface between
bolt and binder changes with time under constant
drawing force. Anchorage interfacial stress has rhe-
ological behavior and unbalanced development in
the axial direction. The rheological region is mainly
on the top and in the middle of the bolt. But at the
end, the rheological phenomenon is not obvious.
3. With the increase of loading level, anchorage inter-
face goes through three stages of visco-elastic,
visco-plastic and visco-off. The rheological region
separately corresponds to top, middle and top.
Meanwhile there is also a transfer process between
regions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
National Science Foundation of China Project
(51004068, 51074099); Open Research Project of
State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and
Safe Mining; (Aided by) SDUST Research Fund
(2010KYTD105).
REFERENCES
Cheng, L.K., Han, J. & Zhang, P.W. 2008. Long-term perfor-
mance and safety assessment of anchorage in geotechnical
engineering. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 27(5): 865–872.
Phillips, SHE. 1970. Factors affecting the design of anchor-
ages in rock. London: cementation Research Ltd.
Sun J. 2007. Rock rheological mechanics and its advance
in engineering applications. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 35(4): 63–68.
Wang, M.S., He, X.R. & Zheng,Y.T. 1983. Mechanical model
and application of full-grouted bolt. Metal Mine (4):
21–24.
You, C.A. 2004. Theory and application study on stress-
transfer mechanism of anchoring system. Shandong Taian:
Shandong University of Science and Technology.
Zeng, X.M., Fan, J.Q. & Wang, J.F. 2006. Interaction relation-
ship of anchorage structure various interface shear stress
and research on design method. Prestress Technology (5):
8–16.
Zhao, T.B., Tan,Y.L. & Zhao, Z.G. 2009. Pull-out rheological
test device of anchorage system. Utility Model Patent.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical modeling of hard rock dilation effect on fully

grouted rebar support

X.G. Zhao
Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, Beijing, China

S.L. Lu
Nanning Light Industry Institute of Engineering, Nanning, China

ABSTRACT: Excavation-induced rock failure and deformation near an underground excavation boundary
is closely associated with rock dilation. Fully grouted rebar bolts as the stiff reinforcing elements have been
widely used to prevent dilation of hard rock masses at depth. To evaluate the suppression effect of the fully
grouted rebar bolts on hard rock dilation around a arch-shaped tunnel with brittle failure, numerical modeling
is carried out using a plastic shear strain and confinement-dependent rock dilation angle model in combination
with the cohesion weakening and frictional strengthening (CWFS) model. The simulation results indicate the
proposed dilation angle model can reasonably reveal the behaviors of the fully grouted rebar in hard rock masses
when compared with the constant dilation angle values. The rebar support provides an internal reinforcement
to suppress the large dilation of rock mass near the excavations, and therefore to reduce the displacement at
the excavation boundary. Finally, some suggestions are provided to assist the design of proper ground support
systems for underground excavations.

1 INTRODUCTION the influence of both confining stress and plastic shear

It is recognized that the failure process of rocks is
closely associated with rock dilation, an indicator of
volumetric increase during rock deformation. When
tunnelling or mining in hard rocks under high in situ
stress condition at great depth, the excavation-induced
rock dilation and deformation near the excavation
boundary are often observed. Fully grouted rebar sup-
port has been widely used to prevent rock dilation in
underground excavations. A better understanding of
the mutual influence between rock dilation and fully
grouted rebar support around underground excavation
helps us to assist design of proper ground support sys-
tems. For rock support design, the rock behavior near
the excavation, in a confinement range of 0 to typi-
cally 5 MPa, is most relevant (Kaiser et al. 1996, Cai
et al. 1999). This range of confinement allows rocks
to dilate more than it can do in deeper grounds, where
confinement is high. Hence, rock dilation is governed,
at least from current understanding, by both confining
stress and plastic strain (Detournay 1986, Alejano &
Alonso 2005). A model with confinement and plastic
deformation dependent dilation should be useful for
analyzing the effect of rock support for stabilizing the
rock mass.
In the present study, numerical simulations using
FLAC are performed to investigate the suppression
effect of the fully grouted rebar bolts on hard rock dila-
tion around an arch-shaped tunnel with brittle failure
using an empirical dilation angle model that considers
strain. In addition, the difference of mobilized dilation
and constant dilation on the axial force distributions
of the fully grouted rebar bolts in the rock mass is
discussed.
2 A DILATION ANGLE MODEL FOR ROCKS
In continuum mechanics, the parameter most widely
used to measure dilation is the dilation angle (ψ),
which can be obtained from triaxial compression tests
by calculating plastic axial and volumetric strain incre-
ments (Vermeer & de Borst 1984). For a joint, the
dilation angle is determined, from direct shear tests, as
the ratio of normal to tangential displacements along
a joint (Bandis et al. 1983).
In a previous study, based on published data
(Crouch 1970, Farmer 1983, Hassani et al. 1984,
Medhurst 1996) acquired from modified triaxial com-
pression tests with volumetric strain measurement
performed on seven rocks, we proposed a mobilized
dilation angle model considering the influence of both
confining stress and plastic shear strain (Zhao &
Cai 2010a), as expressed in Equation 1. Based on
the model response and in combination with grain
size description and uniaxial compressive strength of
rocks, the model is generalized for four rock types.
By analyzing the relationship between the peak fric-
tion angle and the dilation angle, the mobilized dilation
angle model is further generalized for rock mass using

447
the Hoek-Brown criterion and the GSI system (Zhao
& Cai 2010b), and the influence of the plastic shear
strain and confining stress-dependent rock mass dila-
tion on the failure and displacement distributions in
the Donkin-Morien tunnel and the Mine-by test tunnel
in Canada is investigated (Zhao et al. 2010a, b). When
dilation angle values are not available, the developed
rock dilation angle model provides a reasonable means
to consider dilation during rock failure in underground
excavations.
where ψ is the dilation angle, ai , bi , and ci (i = 1, 2, 3)
are fit coefficients, γ p is the plastic shear strain in %,
and σ 3 is the confining stress in MPa.
3 NUMERICAL MODELING OF HARD ROCK
DILATION EFFECT ON FULLY GROUTED
REBAR SUPPORT
3.1 Tunnel model and boundary conditions
A tunnel excavation model with a radial grid is made
up of 32,400 quadrilateral elements. The cross section
of the arch-shaped tunnel is 4.9 m in width and 5.95 m
in height (Zhao & Cai 2010b). The outer boundaries
have been modeled at a distance of around six tunnel
widths from the tunnel in both directions to minimize
the boundary effect on the analysis results. A close-up
view of the model, displacement measurement line,
and the distribution of the fully grouted rebars in the
rock mass of tunnel are presented in Figure 1. Each
rebar used in simulation is 2 m in length and 22 mm in
diameter with a general spacing of 1.5 m.
The in situ stress magnitude initialized in the ele-
ments depends on two parameters, vertical stress and
horizontal stress to vertical stress ratio (K0 ). The verti-
cal stress is assumed to be induced by the weight of the
rock mass overlying the excavation with a density of
2500 kg/m3 in the model. The intermediate principal
stress parallel to the opening axis is assumed equal
to the minimum principal stress in the plane strain
analysis. In order to capture rock failure and dilation
occurring on the left arch shoulder of the tunnel, the
maximum and minimum in-situ stresses are 26 MPa
(roughly 1000 m deep) and 13 MPa, respectively (see
Figure 1). The angle between the maximum principal
stress direction and the vertical direction is 30◦ (Zhao
& Cai 2010b).
3.2 Excavation and support methods in simulation
An important issue in the design of supports is the
amount of change in the tunnel load that takes place,
due to the tunnel advancement, before the support is
448
Figure 1. A zoomed-in arched tunnel grid showing the
displacement monitoring line and the fully grouted rebars
installed in the rock mass.
installed. If no change is assumed to occur, the loads
acting on the support will be over-predicted. If com-
plete relaxation at the tunnel periphery is assumed to
occur, zero load will develop in the support at the
installation step, provided that the relaxation state is
at equilibrium. In reality, some relaxation takes place.
However, it is difficult to quantify relaxation with a
two-dimensional program, because this depends on
the distance behind the face at which the support is
installed (Itasca 2002).
In order to simulate the load relaxation under a plane
strain condition, the excavation relaxation approach
(Itasca 2002) is used in simulation. Firstly, the tun-
nel elements are removed from the simulation and
replaced by a set of forces equal to the internal forces
of the group removed. These forces applied to the tun-
nel boundary provide an equilibrium condition at zero
relaxation. Then the equivalent forces are gradually
decreased to a value corresponding to a tunnel closure
value that is related to a specified distance to the tun-
nel face. The support is then installed at this relaxation
state. In this case, the fully grouted rebar support is
installed at an excavation stage corresponding to 10%
relaxation of the tunnel load. A detailed illustration of
the excavation relaxation method and its application
to a practical case can also be found in Ref. (Zhao &
Cai 2010b).
3.3 Rock mass and support properties
A medium-grained hard rock is used to demonstrate
the potential applications of the proposed plastic
shear strain and confinement dependent dilation angle
model in investigating the influence of variable rock
mass dilation on fully grouted rebar support. This dila-
tion angle model (see Figure 2) is implemented in
FLAC for use with the CWFS model (Hajiabdolmajid
et al. 2002, Hajiabdolmajid & Kaiser 2003). The input
strength parameters in the CWFS model are listed in
Table 1 (Zhao & Cai 2010b).
Figure 2. The mobilized dilation angle model for a
medium-grained hard rock.
Figure 3. Conceptual mechanical representation of fully
bonded reinforcement (Itasca 2002).
Table 1. Input parameters in CWFS model for a medium-
grained hard rock.
Table 2. Characteristic parameters of the fully grouted rebar
Initial Residual Plastic used in simulation.
strength strength strain
Rebar Grout
E/ ci / φi cr / φr
Cross- Tensile
GPa MPa /◦ MPa /◦
f
v εcp εp sectional Elastic yield Cohesive Frictional
area modulus strength Stiffness strength resistance
21 0.22 20 0 1 52 0.002 0.005 /m2 /GPa /MN /MN/m/m /MN/m /◦
*E is the elastic modulus; vis the Poisson’s ratio; ci is the ini- 3.8 × 10−4 210 0.7 1.5 × 104 0.8 30
tial cohesion; φi is the initial friction angle; cr is the residual
cohesion; φr is the residual friction angle; εcp and εp are char-
f

acteristic plastic strains in FLAC for cohesion weakening and

friction strengthening, respectively.
The fully grouted rebar is modeled using the FLAC’s
cable element, which is one-dimensional axial element
that may be anchored at a specific point in the grid
(point-anchored), or grouted so that the cable element
develops forces along its length as the grid deforms.
The cable element can yield in tension or compres-
sion, and it also allows the modeling of a shearing
resistance along its length (Itasca 2002). The concep-
tual mechanical representation and the characteristic
input parameters of the fully grouted rebar used in
the simulation are presented in Figure 3 and Table 2,
respectively. It should be noted that a large tensile
strength of the rebar is given to avoid tensile failure
along its length.
3.4 Simulation results
Figure 4 shows that the distributions of axial force on
the fully grouted rebars and variable dilation angles
obtained from the dilation angle model based on the
CWFS model. It is seen that the rock mass dilation
near the excavation plays an important role in the
axial force change along the rebars. In the dilation
zones occurring on the arch shoulder and floor cor-
ner of the tunnel, the larger axial forces loaded on the
rebars can be observed when compared with that in
the elastic zone. Among all the fully grouted rebars,
the one installed on the arch shoulder of the tunnel is
subjected to the maximum tensile load, in which the
largest rock mass dilation exists. On the other hand, the
dilation angle in rocks is not constant in our model, but
varies depending on the plastic straining and confine-
ment condition. Near the boundary of the tunnel, the
confinement is very low. Under such a condition, max-
imum rock dilation may take place when the rock fails.
With an increase of confinement away from the exca-
vation boundary, dilation of surrounding rocks will
decease significantly. In the elastic zone, where there is
no plastic straining, the dilation angles are zero, which
makes more sense physically.
For comparison, simulations using constant dilation
angles are also conducted under the some bound-
ary conditions. Taking the fully grouted rebar in the
arch shoulder of the tunnel for example, it can be
observed from Figure 5 that the axial force distribu-
tion of the rebar obtained by our dilation angle model
shows a large difference with the results by any con-
stant dilation angle model. The axial force of the rebar
obtained from the mobilized dilation angle model
is large near the excavation boundary, and with the
increasing distance away from the tunnel boundary, the
axial force of the rebar significantly decreases to cut
across the axial force distributions from constant dila-
tion angle models. The behaviors of the rebar indirectly

449
Figure 4. Distributions of dilation angles and axial forces
along the fully grouted bolts in the rock mass of the tunnel.
Figure 5. Influence of dilation angle model and constant
dilation angles on axial force distributions of the rebar.
reflect the influence of both plastic shear strain and
confinement on rock dilation. The rock mass dilation
near the excavation leads to the large rock mass defor-
mation, and subsequently the rebar is subjected to the
largest tensile load at the rebar reinforcement end close
to the surface of the opening. The generation of large
deformation near the excavation boundary is attributed
to the existence of low to zero confinements (see Fig-
ure 5). With the increase of confinement, the sharply
decreasing rock mass dilation causes the deforma-
tion towards the opening to decrease rapidly, leading
to the sharply decrease of tensile load on the rebar.
450
Figure 6. Distributions of confining stress near the sup-
ported and unsupported tunnel boundaries.
In fact, a constant dilation angle model with a small
dilation angle may underestimate the axial force of
the rebar at low confinements. On the other hand, a
large constant dilation angle may represent the axial
force distribution near the excavation boundary but
will overestimate axial force of the rebar away from the
tunnel boundary. Hence, our proposed dilation angle
model can describe the axial force distribution of rebar
near the excavation reasonably.
Figure 6 presents the confinement distributions
around the supported and unsupported tunnel bound-
aries under the same boundary conditions. It is seen
that the confining stress on the tunnel boundary is
increased from 0 to 5 MPa when the fully grouted
rebar bolts are installed. Once the confining stress
close to the tunnel boundary is increased, the dilation
angle is decreased at the low confinements, i.e., the
development of rock mass dilation near the excavation
boundary is suppressed due to the increasing confin-
ing stress provided by the support, as presented in
Figure 7. It again illustrates that the rock dilation
depends on both confinement and plastic deforma-
tion, which have been considered in the proposed
dilation angle model. Field observations indicate the
unsupported rock masses easily fail at the surface
of the opening where the largest rock mass dila-
tion associated with the largest deformation generally
exists. The phenomenon is dominantly attributed to
the low confining stresses encountered at the excava-
tion boundary. The fully grouted rebar support used for
ground control at depth is to improve the low confine-
ment environment, and subsequently to control rock
mass dilation, especially for the critical rock masses
close to the excavation boundary.
Figure 8 shows the results of the predicted dis-
placements in the arch shoulder of the tunnel using
the plastic shear strain and confinement dependent
dilation angle model of the hard rock, which has
been implemented in the CWFS model. The obtained

Figure 7. Distributions of the dilation angle near the sup-
ported and unsupported tunnel boundaries.
Figure 8. Distributions of displacement near the supported
and unsupported excavations.
displacement distribution after support is compared
to the displacement distribution obtained from unsup-
ported case. It can be observed that rock mass displace-
ment close to the excavation boundary is decreased
when the fully grouted rebar support is used. With
an increase of distance away from the excavation
boundary, displacement curves from the two cases
are beginning to coincide approximately with each
other, indicating the fully grouted rabar support plays
an important role on suppressing large rock dilation
451
occurring at the excavation boundary, and has a less
influence on controlling the displacement in the low
dilation zone of the rock mass.
4 CONCLUSION
The mutual influence between hard rock dilation and
fully grouted rebar support around an arch-shaped
tunnel is studied using an empirical dilation angle
model implemented in FLAC. This dilation model
considers the influence of both plastic shear strain
and confinement on rock dilation. For the constant
dilation angle values, the axial forces along the rebar
increase with increasing dilation angles, and the gradi-
ent of axial forces shows an increasing trend. However,
the assumption of constant dilation angles cannot
describe the confining stress and plastic deformation
dependent rock mass dilation, leading to the underes-
timate of axial force of rebars near the excavation, and
overestimate of axial force of rebars away from the
excavation boundaries. The established dilation angle
model reveals the large tensile loading on the rebar
at low confinement conditions, and a rapid decrease
of axial forces with increasing confining stresses can
be observed, which is agreement with actual behav-
ior of rebar observed in underground openings. The
rebar reinforcement improves the confining stress near
the excavations, and subsequently suppresses the large
rock mass dilation. In the underground engineering
design, the rock support at low confinement condi-
tions (0–5 MPa) should be considered to effectively
control the rock dilation and failure.
REFERENCES
Alejano, L.R. & Alonso, E. 2005. Considerations of the
diltancy angle in rocks and rock masses. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences, 42(4):
481–507.
Bandis, S.C., Lumsden, A.C. & Barton, N.R. 1983. Funda-
mentals of rock joint deformation. International Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechani-
cal Abstracts, 20(6): 249–268.
Cai, M., Kaiser, P.K. & Martin, C.D. 1999. Comparative
study of rock support system design practice for large-
scale underground excavations in North America, Europe,
Japan and some other countries. Sudbury: Geomechanics
Research Centre, Laurentian University.
Crouch, S.L. 1970. Experimental determination of volumet-
ric strains in failed rock. Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences & Geomechanical Abstracts, 7(6): 589–603.
Detournay, E. 1986. Elastoplastic model of a deep tunnel for
a rock with variable dilatancy. Rock Mechanics and Rock
Engineering, 19(2): 99–108.
Farmer, I.W. 1983. Engineering behaviour of rocks. London:
Chapman & Hall.
Hajiabdolmajid, V., Kaiser, P.K. & Martin, C.D. 2002. Mod-
elling brittle failure of rock. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics & Mining Sciences, 39(6): 731–741.
Hajiabdolmajid, V. & Kaiser, P.K. 2003. Brittleness of rock
and stability assessment in hard rock tunneling.Tunnelling
and Underground Space Technology, 18(1): 35–48.
Hassani, F.P., White, M.J. & Branch, D. 1984. The behaviour
of yielded rock in tunnel design. Stability in Underground
Mining II. Lexington: Kentucky.
Itasca. 2000. FLAC-fast Lagrangian analysis of continua.
Minneapolis: Itasca Consulting Group.
Kaiser, P.K., McCreath, D.R. & Tannant, D.D. 1996. Cana-
dian rockburst support handbook. Sudbury: CAMIRO.
Medhurst, T.P. 1996. Estimation of the in situ strength and
deformability of coal for engineering design. Ph.D. thesis,
University of Queensland.
Vermeer, P.A. & de Borst R. 1984. Non-associated plasticity
for soils, concrete and rock. Heron, 29(3): 1–64.
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model for rocks. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

A numerical study on failure behavior of rock containing

three-dimensional pre-existing flaws

W.W. Zheng, P. Lin, S.Z. Kang & H. Hu

State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Based on mesoscopic damage mechanics and finite element method, numerical code RFPA3D
is employed to simulate the failure process of rock containing 3-D flaws under true triaxial loading condition.
Investigation on the failure behavior of specimens containing a single 3-D flaw with different pre-existing angle,
study on the coalescence mechanism of specimens contained multiple 3-D flaws. The numerical simulation
results showed that peak strength of the rock and the crack propagation was influenced by lateral stress and the
angle of pre-existing flaw. With a small angle, the crack initiation is not occur in the tip of flaw. The coalescence
mechanism of multiple 3-D flaws mainly includes shear mode, tensile mode, mixed mode, and traction mode,
which depend on the distribution of pre-existing flaws.

1 INTRODUCTION researchers carried out lots of numerical simulation of

Natural rock is essentially a kind of heterogeneous
material as it generally contains a mass of defects such
as three-dimensional cracks and pores. The micro-
cracks inside rocks will convert to explicit crack under
the action of an externally applied load. The initi-
ation, propagation and coalescence of cracks would
reduce the stiffness and strength of rock, even trigger
engineering disasters(Lin et al. 2008).Natural cracks
are three-dimensional from both geometric distribu-
tion and mechanical characteristics. China now is
under a boom time of the South-North Water Transfer
Project, super-high arch dams construction and other
large rock structure engineering construction, struc-
tural damage problems often caused by 3-D cracks.
Therefore, conducting the research on failure behav-
ior of rock containing three-dimensional flaws can be
of great academic and engineering significance.
Since Griffith establishing a relationship between
the fracture strength and the crack size based on energy
principal, Many extensive research have been done
to understand and elucidate crack initiation, propaga-
tion, interaction and coalescence by using different
materials and methods under different compressive
direction since twenties century, such as Horri and
Nemat-Nasser(Horii et al. 1985) studied the axial spit-
ting and the behavior of crack growth by using CR39
material; Wong and Lin(Lin 2000, Wong 2002) con-
ducted a serials of uniaxial and biaxial compressive
on rock and rock-like material, with changing the val-
ues of inclination of pre-existing flaws, the bridge
angle, and the frictional coefficient on the surfaces of
the pre-existing flaws; Due to the complexity of 3-D
cracks, a great quantity of difficulties should be con-
quered in theoretical and experimental study. Along
with the rapid development of computer technology,
3-D crack problems using the numerical model devel-
oped by themselves or commercial software during
the past several decades. For example, Zhou, Malla
and Bi (Zhou et al. 2001, Bi et al. 1997) et al ana-
lyzed 3-D crack initiation in specific engineering such
as hydraulic and mining engineering. Browning and
Martha et al attempted to analyze 3-D crack initia-
tion in specific engineering with ABAQUS, FRANC
3D and other commercial software. Jia, and Zhang
(Jia & Zhang 2006) etc suggest to develop 3-D crack
propagation simulation system base on the FEM to
simulate the propagation process of 3-D crack. Liang
and Tang (Liang et al. 2006) simulated the propa-
gation process of internal crack, surface crack and
through crack, and found the conclusion that the mate-
rial microscopic heterogeneity is the essential reason
to generate roughness of the 3-D crack propagation
surface and diversification of propagation mode.
In this paper, the propagation and coalescence mode
of rock specimen containing 3-D flaws is investigated
by employing a code, RFPA3D ,developed by Tang
(2000).
2 BRIEF OF NUMERICAL MODEL
2.1 Brief introduction on RFPA3D code
Heterogeneity is one of the basic physical features
of materials like rock. So far, the efficient method
to describe the heterogeneity of materials is the
numerical method based on microscopic structures,
such as DLNM model, PFC model and Lattice
model(Schlangen & Vanmier, 1992). The finite ele-
ment code RFPA3D code was developed by considering
the deformation of an elastic material containing an
initial random distribution of microcracks to simulate

453
Figure 1. f numerical model.
Table 1. Main mechanical parameters of marble specimens.
Modulus of Compressive Tensile Fracture
Elasticity/ Poisson’s Strength/ Strength/ toughness/
GPa ratio MPa MPa (MPa · m1/2 )
7.28 0.2543 103.36 8.67 1.141
the progressive failure of solids.RFPA3D uses Weibull
Distribution to describe the heterogeneity. Weibull
Distribution was introduced by a Swedish scientist
Weibull, which is a power function with threshold
value and can be defined as follows (Tang 1997, Tang
et al. 2000):
where u is mechanical parameters (strength, Modu-
lus of Elasticity, Poisson’s ratio etc.) of element ; u0
is a parameter that related with average values of all
element parameters; m is the shape parameter of the
distribution function, which can be defined as the
homogeneous coefficient of rock medium and can
determine the shape of Weibull distribution function.
The value of the homogeneous coefficient increase,
the distribution of material microscopic strength will
be more concentrated, and the homogeneity will better.
2.2 Numerical model
The numerical model is a cube geometrically, and the
size is 200 mm × 100 mm × 100 mm meanwhile the
size of the crack is 20 mm × 10 mm × 1.5 mm. The
total element number of the model is 1024000, as the
element size is 1.25 mm × 1.25 mm × 1.25 mm, see in
Figure 1.
In numerical simulation, there exist some relation-
ship between the actual test parameters and the simula-
tive parameters when Weibull Distribution determines
the microscopic properties according to the previ-
ous experience and investigation(Zheng 2011). The
mechanical parameters of marble specimen listed in
the Table 1:
The homogeneous coefficient m = 3.0, the micro-
scopic Modulus of Elasticity Es0 = 9.07 GPa, and the
microscopic strength fcs0 = 334.33 MPa.
454
Figure 2. The process of 3-D crack propagation under
triaxial loading condition.
3 THE GROWTH CHARACTERISTIC
OF 3D CRACK
Figure 2 shows the crack propagation of specimen
contains single flaw with angle equating 45◦ under
true triaxial loading condition. The lateral pressures
upload to σ2 = 20 MPa as well as σ3 = 10 MPa and then
maintain constant. Meanwhile, σ1 increases accord-
ing to displacement control with a step increment of
0.02 mm/step.
The numerical results show the crack growth char-
acteristic under triaxial loading condition, see in Fig-
ure 2: (1) the tiny main shear cracks initiate along the
length of pre-existing flaws.; (2)These cracks grow
approximately equidistant and become few and scat-
tered as they extend outward; (3) Secondary wing
cracks also initiate at the tip of flaw, crack propagation
is very slow; (4) The shear cracks propagation lead the
specimen to failure.
To obtain the 3-D crack propagation law under
different lateral pressure ratio(λ = σ2/ σ3 ), three dif-
ferent loading conditions which determined by value
of λ(λ = 1,2,3) are applied to the specimen contains
45-degree single flaw. The result of the simulation
shows that wing secondary cracks occurred firstly,
even before the radial micro-fractures when λ =1, as
the appear of airfoil secondary cracks lagged and prop-
agation was restrained as well as the size of fracture
became short when λ is much larger (λ = 2, 3).
4 THE FAILURE BEHAVIOR OF SPECIMEN
CONTAINING DIFFERENT FLAW ANGLE
To study the influence that different flaw angle on
the crack initiation, crack propagation, and specimen
failure behavior, specimens contain single flaw with
different angle (15◦ , 30◦ , 45◦ , 60◦ , 120◦ ) are conducted
in the simulation under triaxial loading condition.
The lateral pressures reach to σ2 = 8 MPa as well as
σ3 = 4 MPa and then keep constant. Meanwhile, σ1
increases according to displacement control with a
step increment of 0.02 mm/step. The final shape of
the crack propagation and the acoustic emission are
showed in Figure 3.
Wong and Lin (Wong et al. 2002, Lin 2002)
et al conducted numerical and experimental simula-
tions with rock contain 2D flaw with different angle,

Figure 3. The final failure results of specimens contain
single flaw with different angle.
Table 2. Comparison on crack propagation mechanism
between 2-D crack and 3-D crack.
obtained the relationship between the crack propaga-
tion features, failure peak strength and crack angle. In
this study, comparative analysis is done between the
2-D results and 3-D results, listed in Table 2.
The relationship between the relative extension
value of wing (radical) cracks (l/2a) of specimen
455
Figure 4. The relationship between the relative extension
value of cracks and stress.
containing 3D pre-existing flaw and stress show in
Figure 4, where l is the crack growth length and 2a
is pre-existing flaw length.
Based on the numerical results, some discussion
listed in following:
1) The influence to rock strength, deformation and
other mechanical properties by cracks is realized
through changing the distribution of stress essen-
tially. Stress concentration zone is appeared inside
the rock as a result of the crack. And the form,
distribution, geometric size and other factors of
crack affect the distribution of stress concentra-
tion zone. With regard to specimen containing 3-D
pre-existing flaw under triaxial test, the fracture
beginning position is the middle part or the tip
of the pre-existing flaws when the crack angle is
small(less than 60◦ ) or large (greater than 60◦ ),
respectively. The propagation velocity of radical
shear fractures along the pre-existing crack length
direction is very large, and the phenomenon is more
obvious as the pre-existing crack angle is smaller.
2) The crack angle can greatly affect the 3-D crack
propagation. The curves in Figure 4(a) show that
wing crack propagation is smooth and steady when
crack angle is small, meanwhile, the propagation is
restrained at earlier stage and occurs at later stage
when crack angle is large. The curves in Figure 4(b)
show that when crack angle is small, the radical
crack propagation is smooth and steady, however,
the crack propagation will forcefully take place at
the later stage due to a rapid release of energy in
each case.
5 THE COALESCENCE MECHANISM OF
SPECIMEN CONTAININ MULTI-FLAW
To investigate the coalescence and interaction mech-
anism of 3D cracks, the specimens containing two
cracks with different rock bridge angles(include 45◦ ,
75◦ , 95◦ , 105◦ and 120◦ ) under true triaxial load-
ing condition are simulated. The failure results of
specimens with different rock bridge are presented in
Figure 5.
As seen in Figure 5, we get conclusions:
1) The 3D crack under true triaxial loading initi-
ate independently, mainly the wing crack and the
radical cracks along the pre-existing crack.

Figure 5. The final failure results of specimens contain two
flaws with different rock bridge angle.
Figure 6. The coalescence of 3D crack under true trixial
loading.
2) The secondary cracks on the outside of the pre-
existing crack propagate rapidly, and through the
specimens in the direction perpendicular to the load
as a parcel-like body. Generally, it is earlier than the
coalescence between the pre-existing cracks.
3) The coalescence mechanism of 3D cracks mainly
include shear mode, tensile mode, mixed mode,
traction mode, as shown in Figure 6. The main
features are as follows:
a) Shear mode: The cracks initiate along the axis
of the pre-exiting cracks in 3D space, the dis-
tance between cracks are approximately equal.
Then the radial crack on the crackpropagate
rapidly and through the specimens in the direc-
tion perpendicular to the load. A couple of shear
cracks originated from the internal tips coalesce
in the bridge area, the paths are winding.
b) Tensile mode: The cracks initiate along the axis
of the pre-exiting cracks in 3D space, Then the
radial crack on the crackpropagate rapidly
and through the specimens in the direction per-
pendicular to the load. Wing cracks nucleation
at both the external and internal tips of the
pre-existing flaws. A couple of wing cracks
originated from the internal tips propagate and
coalesce in the bridge area, the coalescence
location is usually not in the middle.
c) Mixed mode: The cracks initiate along the axis
of the pre-exiting cracks in 3D space, Then the
radial crack on the crackpropagate rapidly and
456
through the specimens in the direction perpen-
dicular to the load. The wing cracks originated
from the internal tips of cracks
&propagate
in the bridge area, and coalesced by a shear
crack, the main cracks and the secondary cracks
form a complex stress field.
d) Traction mode: The cracks initiate along the axis
of the pre-exiting cracks in 3D space, Then the
radial crack on the crackpropagate rapidly
and through the specimens in the direction
perpendicular to the load. The wing crack orig-
inated from crack
coalesces with secondary
crack from the external tip of crack, then
the wing crack originated from the internal of
crackcoalesces with the secondary crack from
the internal tip of crack
. Two chief coales-
cence appear, the crack surfaces are not in the
same plane, the coalescence in bridge area is
complex. Traction mode often occurred between
two overlapping flaws.
4) The coalescence mode is closely related to the
position of cracks, while the rock bridge angle is
small(that is, the cracks do not overlap), shear mode
and tensile mode are easy to form; while the angle
is large(that is, the cracks overlap), mixed mode and
traction mode are easy to form.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the simulation of the failure behavior on rock
specimen containing 3D flaws, the initiation, propa-
gation and coalescence mechanism of 3D cracks are
investigated, the main conclusions listed in following:
1) The lateral pressure has a significant impact on the
crack propagation, while the lateral pressure rate is
small(λ = σ2 /σ3 = 1 ), the wing crack initiate early,
while the rate is large((λ = 2,3), the wing crack has
a delay.
2) 3D cracks generally initiate as radial cracks along
the axis with approximate equal distance, with a
small crack angle, the initiation location is in the
central part of pre-existing flaw, With a large angle,
the initiation location is in the tip of flaw, and the
radical cracks propagate rapidly.
3) The coalescence mode of multiple 3D cracks under
true triaxial loading mainly include shear mode,
tensile mode, mixed mode, and traction mode. The
initial propagation is independent; the coalescence
mode depends on the distribution of cracks.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research work was supported by National
excellent State Key Laboratory Foundation of
China(50823005) and Foundation of State Key Lab-
oratory of Hydro science and Engineering(2011-KY-
3,2010-TC-2), Special Foundation for public wel-
fare industry of the ministry of water resources
(2010001035), National Natural Science Foundation
of China (10772095), National Science and technique
support of 115(042601001).
REFERENCES
Bi, S.W., Wang, S.J. & Yang, Z.F. 1997. 3D numerical sim-
ulation on Vertical Shaft deformation. Mine Construction
Technology JJJS. (in Chinese)
Horii, H. and Nemat-Nasser, S. 1985. Compression-induced
microcrack growth in brittle solids: axial splitting and
shear failure, Journal of Geophysical Research. 90(B4),
p. 3105–3125.
Jia, C. & Zhang S.Z. 2006. Simulation of 3D crack propaga-
tion. Journal of System Simulation XTFZ. (in Chinese)
Liang, Z.Z., Tang, C.N., Zhang, Y.B., et al. 2006. 3D numeri-
cal simulation of failure process of rock. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering. (in Chinese)
Lin, P. 2002. Brittle failure behaviour of medium containing
flaws and pores. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering. (in Chinese)
Lin, P., Wong, R.H.C., Chau, K.T., et al. 2000. Multi-crack
coalescence in rock-like material under uniaxial and biax-
ial loading, Key engineering materials Vol.183-187 ,
p.809–814.
Lin, P., Zhou, T.N., Li, Z.C., et al. 2008. Experimental study
on failure behavior of rock containing three-dimensional
457
single pre-existing flaw. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechan-
ics and Engineering. (in Chinese)
Schlangen E, Vanmier J. 1992. Simple lattice model for
numerical-simulation of fracture of concrete materials and
structures. Materials And Structures, 25(153): 534–542.
Tang, C.A. 1997. Numerical simulation of progressive rock
failure and associated seismicity. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min.
Sci. 34(2): 249–262.
Tang, C.A., Lin P., Liu H.Y. and Liang Z.Z. 2000. On failure
modes and strength characterization of brittle disordered
materials under uniaxial compression and tension. Key
Engineering Materials. 183/187. 637–642.
Wong, R.H.C.; Lin, P.; et al. 2002. Creeping damage
around an opening in rock-like material containing non-
persistent joints, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, Vol 69.
p. 2015–2027.
Wong Robina H C, Lin, P., Tang Chunan, et al. 2002. Mech-
anisms of crack coalescence of pre- existing flaws under
biaxial compression. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Engineering. (in Chinese)
Zheng, W.W. 2011. Study on Failure Behavior of Rock
Containing Three-Dimensional Pre-existing Flaws. (in
Chinese)
Zhou, W.Y., Qiang, T.C., Kou, X.D. 2001. Three-dimensional
FEM interface coupled method and its engineering appli-
cation. FINITE ELEMENTS IN ANALYSIS AND DESIGN.
37(9): 739–748.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on the wall rock stability of Yantan hydrologic station’s

underground caverns

J.L. Zhu, H.D. Wang, Y.L. Gao & X.Q. Xue

Center for Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, CGS, Baoding, China

J.F. Lian
China Institute of Geo-environment Monitoring, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Based on the geological investigation, study on evaluation of underground cavern surrounding
rock stability with large span and high side-wall is carried out. Systematical analysis is performed on the
distribution features of the secondary stress field, strain field and plastic zones in the surrounding rockmass
of the underground cavities after the excavation by using of FLAC3D numerical modeling technique. And the
variation characteristics of stress field, strain field and plastic failure zones in the surrounding rock mass of
the underground cavities are summarized. The results of 3DEC and FLAC3D numerical modeling show that the
underground workshop building chambers are whole stable, but parts of them are unstable and the unstable parts
are small and shallow. The results provide basic information and reference for the evaluation of underground
cavities stability and project construction.

1 INTRODUCTON powerhouse cavern group in whole process by FLAC3D

Yantan hydropower station lies in Hongshuihe in Yan-
tan town, Dahua County, Guangxi. Four generating
units of the first phase project of hydropower sta-
tion had been built in 1995, the reservoir’s normal
water level is 223 m. The maximum height of the con-
crete gravity dam is 110 m, the powerhouse at the
dam toe in right bank, and the installed capacity is
1210 MW. The underground powerhouse of second
phase extension project locates in the right mountain of
the first phase powerhouse and dam project, including
diversion tunnel, main powerhouse tunnel, main trans-
former cavern tunnel and tailrace tunnel etc., installed
capacity is 2 × 300 MW. The type of underground
powerhouse is one unit with one tailrace tunnel in
pressure, the maximum excavation width of over crane
beam of main powerhouse is 30.8 m and the length is
129 m, the highest height difference of the powerhouse
is 76.67 m (Yantan extend Feasibility study report,
2004).
The water diversion and power generation system of
extension project is placed in the mountain in the right
bank, the thickness of overlying rocks is 75 m∼120 m
in the underground powerhouse area, and the sur-
rounding rock is hard diabase.The diversion tunnel and
underground powerhouse cavern group located in F48
fault footwall, the rock mass is relatively integrated
and belongs to II class surrounding rock.
The stress-deformation field of cavern surrounding
rock will be changed by excavation of underground
cavern group. On the basic of the excavated geolog-
ical model, to simulate excavation of underground
and analyze the change of stress field and defor-
mation field. Many users at home and abroad have
used the software (Itasca 2002, Huang 1995, Zhu
2005, Lu 2006), the results show that it has enough
reliability and rationality. Particularly, its function is
more powerful in deformation calculation and rock
and soil mass stability analysis than finite element
method.
2 GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS
2.1 Topographical condition
The direction of valley is N160W. The altitude of
low water level is 148 m∼150 m, width of river level
is 100 m and water depth is 18 m∼20 m. The lowest
altitude of riverbed is 129 m, both sides of riverbed
are stone floodplains, the altitude floodplain face is
155 m∼168 m. The two sides of riverbed is flood plain,
flood plain altitude is 155 m∼168 m. The first ter-
race over flood plain whose altitude is 185 m∼200 m.
Landform of two banks is middle-low mountain whose
altitude of crest is 500 m, and its hillside gradient is
27◦ ∼36◦ .
2.2 Lithologic characters
The stratum of dam area mainly include lower Permian
qixia stage(P1q)limestone with siliceous, upper Pale-
ozoic Variscan intrusive rock of diabase (βµ51) and
upper Carboniferous mapping group (C3 m) limestone
with siliceous.

459
2.3 Geological Structure
The characteristics of the structural faults in dam area
are mixed multi-period tectonic deformation, which
are mainly controlled by structural of NNW and EW
trending. The valley locates in south tilted end Gong-
shang syncline which is asymmetric syncline valley.
The structural faults are differentiated 4 group by
the strikes, the first one is NNW∼NW, the second one
is nearly EW, the third one is nearly SN, the last one is
NNE∼NE.
3 ESTABLISHMENT OF MODEL
3.1 Computational Model
The length (X, azimuth = 124◦ , that is positive direc-
tion finger left bank) of model is 550 m, the width
(Y , azimuth = 34◦ , that is positive direction finger
upstream) is 550m too, the height is from 315 m to
504.9 m (Figure 1).
The main influencing factors are F48 fault that con-
sists of central zone and influence zone and alteration
zone etc., and surrounding rock is defined as II class.
The model has 176653 elements and 118748 nodes
by mesh generation.
The step excavation in the natural condition is a
main considering factor in calculation cases. The step
excavation process is basically divided according to
actual rock layer, including diversion tunnel, main
powerhouse(10 steps), main electrical wire hall, main
transformer chamber, 5# tailrace tunnel, 6# tailrace
tunnel, tailrace gate and controlled excavation etc. 16
steps excavation.
3.2 Selecting model parameters
Selecting model parameters is important to numeri-
cal simulation calculation. The parameters are mainly
referring to ‘Yantan extend Feasibility study report 3rd
part Geology engineering’ by Guangxi Electric Power
Industry Investigation Design and Research Institute
(2004), in addition, according to project experience
and analogy method etc, the mechanical parameter
data of the rock and soil are as follows (Table 1).

4 FLAC3D NUMERICAL SIMULATION

RESULT ANALYZING

4.1 Deformation field

Figure 2 shows that the deformation range is basically
identical with distribution of stress field. The verti-
cal section graph reveal the deformation of left side
wall is more than right, rock column, cavern floor and
roof; the maximum deformation is about 9.1 mm. The
transverse section graph reveal the deformation of cav-
ern floor, upstream and downstream side wall is large;
deformation of cavern floor, upstream and downstream
side wall are large, cavern roof is little; the maximum
deformation is about 7.7 mm.
The motion directions of rock point to free face,
that is, the deformation is influenced by excavation
unloading.
Figure 2(a) shows that the deformation value face of
main powerhouse roof is maximum, and deformation
is gradually decreasing with the increase of distance
from cavern wall. There is a deformation discontinu-
Figure 1. Computational Model. ous zone in the position within 2 m∼8 m, displacement
Table 1. Mechanical Parameters of the rock and soil.

Bulk Shear Bulk Internal Tensile

Modulus Modulus Density Cohesion Friction Strength
Lithology (GPa) (GPa) (kN/m3 ) (MPa) Angle (◦ ) (MPa)

II Class Surrounding Rock 11.9 8.2 29 1.2 50.2 1.8

Alteration Zone 8 4.8 28 0.85 42.0 0.8
F48 Central Zone 1.11 0.37 20.3 0.07 24 0.0
Influence Zone 2.5 1.15 28 0.3 33 0.2

460
of cavern wall point is the same as the one of 2 m from
cavern wall, therefore, there is a unloaded zone within
8 m(2 m∼8 m) and the above range is a strong influ-
ence zone of excavation unloading. The displacement
difference between 8 m and 14 m is relative large, so
the zone of approximate 8m is relative strong influ-
ence area of excavation unloading. The deformation of
certain position will reach maximum when cavern is
excavated, and decreases gradually with the increase of
distance (or height difference). Top arch effect caused
by cavern excavation that makes the displacement of
cavern roof appeared a trend of decreases gradually
and finally trend a stable value. After fifth layer being
excavated, deformation of cavern roof is not obviously
influenced, the altitude from the fifth layer to cavern
roof is about 34 m, therefore, powerhouse excavation
isn’t basically influenced on deformation of cavern
roof in vertical direction when height difference is
more than 34m. In the same time, excavation isn’t
obvious influenced in horizontal direction on the place
where distance is more than 14m from cavern wall.
The displacement of cavern roof still has small
development after the main powerhouse’s excavation
Figure 2. Contour of Displacement and Vector
Displacement.
461
finished. The reason is large scale disposable exca-
vation of bus tunnel and diversion tunnel etc. made
the displacement of cavern roof increase. Therefore,
to decrease deformation of cavern that avoid to large
scale excavation.
Figure 3(b) shows that the deformation value face of
main powerhouse side wall, and deformation is grad-
ually decreasing with the increase of distance from
cavern wall. As the same reasons, there is a unloaded
zone within 2 m (0 m∼2 m) and the above range is a
strong influence zone of excavation unloading. The
range (between 2 m and 24 m) is strong influence area
of excavation unloading. The deformation of certain
position will reach maximum when it is being exca-
vated, and decreases gradually (the height difference
of upside influence is 25 m and downside’s is 43 m)
with the increase of distance (or height difference).
The excavation after height difference more than cer-
tain value is not obvious influence on deformation of
cavern wall and finally trend a stable value. There-
fore, powerhouse excavation is not obvious influence
on deformation of cavern wall when height difference
is more than 43 m.
Figure 3. Displacement Histories at Some Points in the
Main Building. Remark: the distances between tracking
points and cavern wall are in order of 0, 2, 8, 14 and 24 m.

Figure 4. Failure Zone Map.
4.2 Plastic zone
Figure 4 shows that the whole stability of surround-
ing rock is good and no appeared large area plastic
zone after the end of excavation. Only the local rock
specimen and cavern floor etc. positions appear plastic
zone, and the failure is main shear failure. The failures
are in the superficial part of cavern and there are no
plastic zones in the internal (deep) cavern.
5 3DEC NUMERICAL SIMULATION
RESULT ANALYZING
3DEC is a numerical modeling code for advanced
geotechnical analysis of soil, rock, and structural sup-
port in three dimensions. 3DEC simulates the response
of discontinuous media (such as jointed rock) that is
subject to either static or dynamic loading.
3DEC has been available for more than 18 years
and is used by engineers, consultants, and researchers
in more than 30 countries around the world.
3DEC is an accurate and efficient geotechnical
analysis tool, using an explicit solution scheme that
gives stable solutions to unstable processes. 3DEC
can model mine-scale operations and large structural
complexes.
462
Table 2. Average occurrence and its scope of 3 groups of
joints.
Relationship
of strike Average Scope of
and river occurrence (◦ ) occurrence (◦ )
Transverse (Q joint) 192◦ ∠77◦ 180∼208 ◦ ∠71∼83◦
167◦ ∠77◦ 160∼172◦ ∠72∼80◦
consequent (S joint) 292◦ ∠81◦ 280∼302◦ ∠76∼88
Low-angle (L joint) 20◦ ∠15◦ 270∼310◦ ∠ 5∼25◦
Note: using the average occurrence and degree individual 15◦
and 20◦ of low-angle joints in the calculating models.
Figure 5. Displacement of blocks using 3DEC software
calculating.
It is assumed that blocks are rigid and discontinu-
ities treated as boundary conditions between blocks
and material models are elastic. The calculating
parameters of joints listed in theTable 2 and calculating
results can be seen from Figure 5 to Figure 8.
The calculating results show as follows:
1. The length of the joint is key to the block in the
crown. The longer of joint’s length is, the bigger
volume of the key block is. And the bigger degree
of low-angle joint is, the higher of the key block’s
height.
2. The stabilities of downstream blocks are better
than the upstream ones and failure probability of
downstream ones are low.
3. The stabilities of right headwall blocks are better
than the left headwall ones and they are stable in
the right ones.
6 CONCLUSIONS
The conclusions are as follows by surrounding rock
stability analysis of Yantan underground power house
cavern group.
1. 80 m High side wall had formed after the end
of underground excavation, the degree of stress
release after large scale excavation, the stress-
deformation field of surrounding rock is changed

Figure 6. Diagrammatic sketch of key block in the crown.
Figure 7. Diagrammatic sketch of key block in the upstream
headwall.
by excavation and produces rebound in free
direction.
2. The distortion range is identical with distribu-
tion of stress field. The deformation of left side
wall is more than right, then rock specimen, cav-
ern floor, cavern roof. The deformation of cav-
ern floor, upstream and downstream side wall are
large, deformation of cavern roof is minimum. The
motion directions of rock are all face free face;
Top arch effect caused by cavern excavation that
made the displacement of cavern roof gradually
decrease and be a stable value after fifth layer
excavation; The position of 2 m from cavern wall
is strong and 2 m∼8 m is weak. The deformation
zones that are more than 34 m∼43 m in vertical
direction and 14 m∼24 m in horizontal direction
are not influenced by excavation.
463
Figure 8. Diagrammatic sketch of key block in the left
headwall.
3. Plastic failure zone mainly appears in the middle
and lower of both sides wall. The failures are main
shear failure that is superficial part of cavern.
In a word, the whole stability of surrounding rock
is good. The high stress concentration and large defor-
mation appears in corners of cavern and middle and
lower of side wall of the underground cavern.
REFERENCES
Huang, R.Q., Xu, Q. 1995. Application of explicit Lagrangian
Finite-difference method in rock slope engineering. Chi-
nese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 14(4):
346–354.
Lu, S.Q., Xu, M. & Ju, N.P. 2006. Numerical Analysis
with FLAC3D on Rockmass Stability Surrounding Cav-
ern Group in the Left Bank Slope of a Hydropower Station
on Lancangjiang River. Journal of Engineering Geology
14(3): 351–355.
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. 2002. FLAC3D (Fast
Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimension) User’s
Manuals, Version 2. 1, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Yantan extend Feasibility study report 2004. The part 3:
Geology Engineering Nanning Guangxi. Guangxi Elec-
tric Power Industry Investigation Design and Research
Institute, Nanning.
Zhu, J.L., Huang, R.Q. 2005a. Study on the Stability of Shui-
wenzhan Slope after Impoundment by Using 3D Numer-
ical Modeling in a Huge Hydro station. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 24(8): 1384–1389.
Zhu, J.L., Huang, R.Q. 2005b. Study on the Talus Slope
in front of a Dam by Using 3D Numerical Modeling in
a huge Hydroelectric Station. Rock and soil mechanics,
Vol.26(8): 1318–1322.
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Information technology, artificial intelligence and
other advanced techniques
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Research on factors influence of deep foundation structured by soil nailing

based on grey system theory

H.F. Dai, X.B. Xiong & M.B. Wu

School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong, China
Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT: Deep foundation pit was affected by several factors, and has become the focus of the geotechnical
engineering. The deformation must be controlled rigorous according to the surrounding environment condition
and safety level of the building. According to the Grey Incidence Analysis method of grey system theory, a
new grey relationship theory model is applied in analyzing of the characteristics of deep foundation engineering
supported with soil nail wall, to attain the relativity affected extent of the factors. After analysis of several
practical engineering examples, to attain the most influencing factors of the displacement of deep foundation
are soil-nail’s interval, length, inclination, internal friction angle, cohesive strength and soil weight. The role of
factors is classified in order to define the extent of the impact and provide guidance for construction design. After
analyzing the data of the information of the field, utilized Grey Incidence Analysis method to make prediction
about the deformation of underground structure and guaranteed the deep foundation pit safety. The security state
of slope can be controlled effectively by predicting deformation using gray model. It shows that gray system
theory can be effectively and practically adopted in the slope stability analysis of deep foundation excavation
and that has a good prospect.

1 INTRODUCTION design of a deep foundation pit bracing structure, but

In recent years, with the development of urban under-
ground space, the number of deep foundation pit
even super deep foundation pit excavation engineering
increases. Soil nailing is a versatile and cost-effective
technique to stabilize excavated steep slopes and can
well control the deformation, thus has developed into
a commonly used supporting structure form of deep
foundation pit (Lin & Xu 2006). Soil-nailing tech-
nique came into being in the 1970s in France, Germany
and the United States and other countries (Plumelle
et al. 1990, Juran 1990). In China, the soil nailing sup-
port technology began to be used to stabilize slopes of
mines in 1980s (Chen & Cui 2000). In 1991 and 1992,
the soil nailing structure was employed in the projects
in Shenzhen and Taiyuan, and that is the earliest appli-
cations of the soil nailing support in deep foundation
pit engineering of China (DBJ/T15-70-2009, Fu &
Yang 2010). Before 1998, the number of deep founda-
tion pit structured by soil nailing account to 10%∼20%
of the total number of deep foundation pits; from 1998
to 2004, the figure reached 55%∼75%; Since 2005,
the proportion is roughly 40%∼50%. The cause of
reduction in proportion(though absolute quantity still
increases) is that excessive deformations appeared fre-
quently in excavation engineering with depth of 18m,
leading to subsidence and destruction of some deep
foundation pit, thus restrict the application of soil nail-
ing in some the central area of the city (Yang 2010, Fu
& Yang 2010, Zeng et al. 2009). Therefore, deforma-
tion control of soil nailing support is the key of the
deformation is influenced by many factors. At present,
finite element method and the artificial neural network
technology are widely used in studies of the deforma-
tion of deep foundation pit supported by soil nailing
(Plumelle et al. 1990, Chua & Anthony 2005, Juran
1990, Zhang 2009).
Because many factors influence the deformation,
the selection of factors causing deformation of deep
foundation pit as input parameters appears particularly
important in the finite element analysis and neural net-
work prediction researches of the deformation of deep
foundation pit supported by soil nailing.
Based on the existing research results of the defor-
mation of deep foundation pit supported by soil
nailing, six major factors are chosen in the grey inci-
dence analysis method to determine the influence
degree of them, thus provides beneficial reference for
engineering practice.
2 ANALYSIS OF STRENGTH MECHANISM
OF SOIL NAILING
For strength mechanism of soil nailing, the main
explanations are friction reinforcement theory and the
apparent cohesion theory.
2.1 Friction reinforcement theory
As a whole, the structure of soil nailing support is
shown in Figure 1, where curve AB is the potential

467
Figure 1. The force analysis of soil-nails. Figure 2. The strength curves of natural sand and reinforced
sand. (a) natural sand, (b) reinforced sand.
sliding surface, dividing soil into active area and sta-
ble area. The horizontal thrust produced by the soil
weight of active area ABC forms the tension in the
nails through the interaction of soil and retaining wall
AC. The tension leads to a trend of plucking the soil
nails out of the soil in stable area, while the frictional
resistance generated by interaction of soil and nails in
the stable area prevents this trend.
If the horizontal thrust generated by the soil weight
of active area is balanced by the friction resistance
generated by interaction of soil and nails in the stable
area, the internal equilibrium of the entire structure of
soil nailing support can be guaranteed.
The cohesive performance of soil and nails can be
represented by cohesive strength τu . Cohesive strength
is commonly generated by the on-site pullout test,
computation formula is as follows: Figure 3. Analysis graph of stress circle of point A.

curve of natural sand goes through the origin of coor-

where, T is the pulling force for extreme resistance,
(kN); D is the diameter of soil nails, (m); L is the
length of soil nails, (m).
The cohesive strength acting on the interface
between soil and nails is not uniform, is big in the mid-
dle and is small in both ends along the length direction.
The cohesive strength distributes more evenly when
the difference between relative rigidity of soil and that
of nails is bigger. The experiment result shows that the
cohesive strength distributes more evenly in soft soil
in comparison with hard clay or close-grained soil.
2.2 Apparent cohesion theory
Based on the directly shear test of reinforced sand, the
apparent cohesion theory is proposed. Then the theory
was introduced to explain the reason of the increase
in stability of the slope reinforced by soil nailing in
comparison with the natural one. The strength curves
of triaxial test of natural sand and reinforced sand are
presented in Figure 2. It can be concluded that the two
strength curves are almost completely parallel, which
indicates that there is almost no change in the inter-
nal friction angle of the reinforced sand; The strength
dinates while that of reinforced one and σ1 -axis do
not intersect at the origin. The intercept of the curve
of reinforced sand is apparent cohesion. Therefore,
the improvement in mechanical performance is due
to some kind of cohesion obtained by new composite
soil. Apparent cohesion is not inherent in the soil, but
the result of reinforcement.
Because of tilt settings of soil nails, it can be
assumed that horizontal binding stress and vertical
binding stress act on nails. Obviously, σ3 should be
the additional horizontal binding stress, σ1 should be
the additional vertical binding stress. The average of
additional horizontal binding stress and additional ver-
tical binding stress can be calculated by the following
experiential equation:
where, T is the tension of soil nails, (kN); α is the soil-
nails inclination (◦ ); Sh is the horizontal interval of
soil-nails, (m); Sv is the vertical interval of soil-nails,
(m); LA is the length of nail in the active area, (m).

468
 Based on the limit equilibrium theory of soil, Qin
Siqing deduced the increment of cohesion as follows:
The tension of soil nails in the slide can be calculated
by the following experiential equation:
where, τu is the cohesive strength in the interface,
(kPa); LA is the length of nail in the active area; (m);
ϕ is the internal friction angle of soil, (◦ ).
3 PRINCIPLE AND STEPS OF GRAY
CORRELATION
Grey relational analysis of gray system theory is an
integral part of its information in the case of limited
data, more precise to find a variety of variables and
reference the relationship between factors. Grey rela-
tional analysis tool is the theory of gray correlation,
which is used to measure the degree of correlation
between the factors.
Gray correlation is between two systems or two
factors measure the size of the association, which
describes the system factors in the development pro-
cess between the relative changes in the situation. If the
two factors in the development process consistent with
the relative change in trend, the correlation between the
degrees of gray; conversely, gray correlation to small.
The process of Grey relational analysis is as follows
(Wang et al. 2007, Liu & Xie 2008).
3.1 Comparative data to determine the data array
and reference array
To changes factors to compare the column X,
X = [X1 , X2 , · · · , Xn ]T with the corresponding ref-
erence factor Y , Y = [Y1 , Y2 , · · · , Yn ]T , among them,
the number of each factor has values of the columns
X and Y .
X, Y can be listed in the matrix form:
469
3.2 Dimensionless matrix
As the number of the factors mentioned above and the
numerical difference between the different classes, it
is not comparable, X i and Y j must be on the matrix,
numerical transform. It is usually the initial value of
the mean of the interval and the relative value of such
normalization method (Yang 2010). The use of a range
of initialization, then to get:
Meanwhile, the reference column Yi also should be
on interval initial value, so that the original sequences
were dimensionless.
3.3 Striking differences in gray relational
information
Differences in sequence matrices  can be obtained
in the difference between the maximum and the
minimum values obtained matrix sequence , that is
3.4 Correlation coefficient matrix for solving
Correlation analysis is the whole point set topological
spatial compared with two points from a combination
of comparison; it is a reference system, a measure of
the overall comparison.
By identifying points of comparison with the ref-
erence point of the distance, an overall analysis to
identify differences between various factors and rel-
evance can be performed. Comparison of the cor-
relation coefficient that factors associated with the
reference factors, correlation coefficient is:
where, ρ is the resolution ratio and its role are to
enhance the difference between the correlation coeffi-
cient ; ρ ∈ [0, 1], under normal circumstances be taken
as: ρ = 0.5.
3.5 Variables to solve the correlation
Correlation coefficient matrix of the scattered infor-
mation available, not facilitate the comparison, as so
often find the average correlation, the relevance of the
 Table 1. Parameters of FEA analysis.

deformation
Series L d α γ c ϕ (mm)

1 15 2.0 10 20 40 20 38.3
2 20 1.6 20 24 30 30 33.8
3 13 2.2 30 18 45 40 34.7
4 9 1.8 0 14 35 10 35.4
5 17 1.2 5 22 20 15 31.1
6 7 1.4 25 12 25 35 39.1
7 11 1.0 15 16 15 25 30.1

Table 2. Degree of grey incidence.

Figure 4. Model of FEA analysis. ξ01 ξ02 ξ03 ξ04 ξ05 ξ06

1.0000 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000

comparison variables. That correlation can be obtained 0.6990 0.9270 0.4837 0.7673 0.8877 0.6290
by the following formula: 0.9638 0.8437 0.3333 0.9943 0.8270 0.4890
0.7635 0.9773 0.5311 0.8236 0.9550 0.7116
0.7652 0.8316 0.7704 0.7843 0.7704 0.9441
0.6528 0.7640 0.4149 0.7120 0.7243 0.5904
0.9522 0.7855 0.5945 0.9867 0.7182 0.6929
where: m is the length of the two compared sequences
(number of data).
Correlation of [0, 1] the change interval. Correla- lateral displacement is as follows: soil-nail’s interval
tion between the size of the interaction of the external d(m), soil weight γ(kN/m3 ), cohesive strength c(kPa),
factors of performance in the association analysis, soil-nail’s length L(m), internal friction angle ϕ(◦ ),
standardized methods of different series, correlation soil-nail’s inclination α(◦ ).
will change, but the order of correlation has not
changed. Therefore, the value of correlation factors
does not mean that the contribution of the safety fac- 5 CONCLUSION
tor, the association is reflected in the order of the
sensitivity of the real factors. In this paper, the grey relationship theory model
Therefore, the value of correlation factors does not was applied in the analysis of the characteristics of
mean that the contribution of the safety factor, the asso- deep foundation engineering supported with soil nail-
ciation is reflected in the order of the sensitivity of the ing. After analysis, to attain the most influencing
real factors. factors of the displacement of deep foundation are
soil-nail’s interval, length, inclination, internal fric-
tion angle, cohesive strength and soil weight. Thus
4 THE GREY INCIDENCE OF SOIL NAILING the sequence of extent of the impact of lateral dis-
placement is as follows: soil-nail’s interval d(m) > soil
According to the above principle, this article will apply weight γ(kN/m3 ) > cohesive strength c(kPa) > soil-
grey relational theory into the analysis of deforma- nail’s length L(m) > internal friction angle ϕ(◦ ) > soil-
tion of a deep foundation pit. Based on the existing nail’s inclination α(◦ ).It shows that gray system theory
researches of deformation of deep foundation pit sup- can be effectively and practically adopted in the slope
ported by soil nailing, six factors are selected initially stability analysis of deep foundation excavation and
for the analysis: soil-nail’s interval, length, inclina- that has a good prospect.
tion, internal friction angle, cohesive strength and The orthogonal design method can be taken in ana-
soil weight. According to the relevant FEA analy- lyzing the influence factors of deformation of deep
sis, parameters of the foundation pit and the lat- foundation supported by soil nailing or it will be the
eral displacement of the observation point is shown next research focus on combination research with the
respectively in Figure 4 and Table 1. Grey Theory System and Neural Networks.
According to Equation above, the data in Table 1
can be handled dimensionless. With the displacement
as the characteristic sequence of the system, grey inci- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
dence matrix can be calculated when ρ = 0.5. The
result is listed in Table 2. This study achieve the finance support from Practice
According to the result of calculation, the sequence Innovation Training Project “Prediction of Deforma-
of degree of grey incidence is γ02 > γ04 > γ05 > γ01 > tion along the Coast Road and Construction of Con-
γ06 > γ03 . Thus the sequence of extent of the impact of trol” for college students at Nantong University and the

470
Introduction of Talent (Natural Science) Start-up Costs
of Scientific Research Project “Research on Defor-
mation based on Intelligent Prediction and Control
Highway at Coastal area” in 2010.
*Xiaobo Xiong, corresponding author, Email:
thongtao2006@163.com.
REFERENCES
Chen, Z.Y. & Cui, J.H. 2000. Soil Nailing Supported structure
and its application in Foundation Engineering. Beijing:
China Building Industry Press.
Chua, C.G., Anthony, T.C. & Goh. 2005. Estimating wall
deflections in deep excavations using Bayesian neural net-
works. Tunneling and Underground Space Technology 20:
400–409.
DBJ/T15-70-2009. 2010. Technical specification for soil
nailing. Beijing: China Architecture and Building Press.
Fu, W.G. & Yang, Z.Y. 2010. New progress and development
prospect in technology of soil nail walls. Chinese Journal
of Geotechnical Engineering, 32(S1): 17–21.
Juran, I. 1990. Design of soft nail retaining structures.
Geotechnical Special Publication, 36(25): 1101–1109.
Lin, M. & Xu, W. 2006. Construction InformationTechnology
of deep foundation Engineering. Beijing: China Building
Industry Press: 2–4.
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Liu, S.F. & Xie, N.M. 2008. Grey system theory and its
application. Beijing: Science Press: 44–71.
Plumelle, C., Schlosser, F., Delage, P. et al. 1990. French
national research project on soil nailing: Clouterre. New
York: Geotechnical Special Publication, (25). ASCE.
Sun, Z.M. 2004. Research on the mechanism of Compos-
ite soil nailing and its design method. Wuhan: Wuhan
University: 12–14.
Wang, S.B. et al. 2007. Research on the sensitivity of factors
for settlement of Dam crests by Grey relational analysis.
Engineering and Construction, 21(2): 123–124, 145.
Yang, G.H. 2010. Application and progress of soil nail-
ing retaining technology in China. Chinese Journal of
Geotechnical Engineering, 32(S1): 9–16.
Zeng, X.M., Zheng, Z.H., Dai, R.Q. et al. 2009. Design and
construct of the composite soil nail walls. Beijing: China
Architecture & Building Press.
Zhan, Y.X. 2004. Research on Mechanism of soil nail-
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University: 18–32.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Application of three dimensional geological models to geotechnical

engineering problems

M. Dong, H. Hu & R. Azzam

Department of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

ABSTRACT: Sophisticated understanding of the subsurface geology is prerequisite for solving engineering
geological and geotechnical problems. Since the 1980s, advanced computer and information techniques have
led to the possibility of generation of highly precise three dimensional (3D) geological models. Compared
with traditional 2D maps, 3D models can not only provide engineers and designers with complete and intuitive
visualization of subsurface condition, but rather are capable of storing diverse information. In this paper, we
introduced the modeling procedures by virtue of two case studies, which are subsurface modeling for the urban
area and surface modeling for a quarry slope. Three typical applications in the field of geotechnical engineering,
i.e. civil engineering constructions, slope stability analysis and numerical analysis, are illustrated by the two
models.

1 INTRODUCTION three applications were illustrated by two case studies,

The cognition of geological structure plays an impor-
tant role in solving engineering geological and
geotechnical engineering problems. In modern con-
struction projects, engineers spend increasing time
for observing and investigating the field condition,
while lack of information on the subsurface may
cause failure of the construction work and waste of
money. Geological modeling in three dimensional
(3D) can provide designer and planner with complete
and intuitive visualization of the subsurface condition,
thus it owns outstanding advantages compared with
traditional 2D geological mapping.
Although the first generation of 3D geological mod-
eling software is mainly designed for the specific
usage in the petroleum reservoir engineering, it is
nowadays extended to include the basic geological
modeling tools alongside the increasing demand in the
interdisciplinary studies, such as engineering geology,
hydrogeology and geotechnical engineering. Geotech-
nical engineers and associations worldwide, such as
the British Geological Survey (Lelliott et al. 2006),
General Inspectorate of Quarries (IGC) of France
(Thierry et al. 2009), the U.S. Geological Survey
(Clarke & Phillips 2003) and Geological Survey of
Canada (Ross et al. 2004), have devoted themselves to
the applications of 3D models to various projects.
In last three years, Department of Engineering
Geology and Hydrogeology (LIH) at RWTH Aachen
University in Germany, has performed several studies
on applying 3D geological models to solve engineer-
ing geological and geotechnical problems (Hu et al.
2010, 2011). In this study, we aim to present our results
involving three typical fields, which are city planning,
slope stability analysis and 3D numerical analysis. The
which are modeling for the urban area and a poten-
tially dangerous slope. Models used in this paper were
constructed by Paradigm GoCAD (Geological Object
Computer Aided Design) 2009, which is developed by
a research group consisting of researchers of geology,
geostatistics, computer science, reservoir engineering
and geophics, hosted by the Research Center of Pet-
rographical and Geochemical (CRPG) and the school
of Geology at Nancy University. With regard to our
aim, Gocad is not only compatible with AutoCAD and
ArcGIS in data sharing, but also capable of modeling
all of geological features by following its sophisticated
workflows. In addition to modeling abilities, GoCAD
productions are capable of storing diverse geotechnical
and hydrogeological attributions.
2 DEVELOPMENT OF 3D GEOLOGICAL
MODEL
The precision and reliability of 3D geological model
is on dependent of the quality and quantity of col-
lected data, which are demonstrated by many case
histories (Culshaw 2005, Kaufmann & Martin 2008,
Spottke et al. 2005). The data formats could be
various, of which the most common used are Dig-
ital Elevation Model (DEM) data, scattered points
extracted from drilling and logging records, 2D geo-
logical maps and geological cross sections. How to
efficiently construct a 3D model by using these data?
Geomodelers have dedicated to addressing this prob-
lem and published their experiences and achievements
on the methodology, quality control and time control
of modeling.
Two kinds of geological model are in general essen-
tial for good understanding of geotechnical engineers,

473
i.e. geometrical model and property model. Geomet-
rical model emphasizes on precisely reconstructing
the position of each geological boundary of inter-
est. In order to achieve this demand, geostatistical
analysis and Kriging interpolation techniques are per-
formed to predict the relief of geological boundary
at unsampled area. With high resolution DEM data,
the real ground surface and even fracture details can
be depicted. Furthermore, geometrical model is a fun-
damental framework for property modeling, which is
generated through adding geotechnical and hydroge-
ological properties to geological units. In 3D model,
we would not simply define each geological unit as
one constant property value, but interpolate the prop-
erty samples to fill the whole modeling area. Thus,
the property values will be continuously distributed.
Actually as the requirement of modeling productions
is raised, uncertainty model is usually built to provide
decision-maker with quantified reliability of each part
of resultant model.
In the following section, two kinds of geological
model with different scale and dataset are built and
their applications are illustrated by three case studies.

Figure 1. City boundary and simplified geological condi-

3 APPLICATION OF 3D GEOLOGICAL MODEL
TO GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
3.1 Civil engineering constructions
3.1.1 Data pre-processing and modeling procedure
Along with long period development of Aachen city
in Germany, abundant drilling records and geolog-
ical maps with different scales have been archived
in the geological survey and RWTH Aachen Univer-
sity. Since the 1990s, the paper records and maps
have been successively digitized and stored in the
Spreadsheet file and ArcGIS. Drilling records located
in the mapping area were used to improve the qual-
ity of 2D geological map. However, when we read
through the borehole database, we found out that they
were recorded by different people with heterogeneous
descriptions, thus to be individual and discontinuous.
In order to broaden the value from these archived data,
we decided to standardize them by using a series of uni-
form classification scheme and furthermore generate
a 3D geological model by virtue of drilling records and
geological maps.
The modeling area is located in the center of Aachen
city (Germany), which is a 5 km by 7 km geologically
complex area (Figure 1).
In terms of geotechnical classification scheme, the
geological structure is divided into Quaternary soil,
Cretaceous soil, folded Carboniferous and Devonian
rocks. In the further work, the sediments will be subdi-
vided into different soil materials. 6900 boreholes with
location, down-hole depth, stratigraphical and litho-
logical descriptions stored in Access database were
collected from Municipality of Aachen and RWTH
Aachen University. Several cross sections covering the
whole modeling area with distance interval of 1 km
were mapped at the length scale of 1:25000 and depth
tion of Aachen, location of modeling area.
scale of 1:5000. The DEM data in cell size of 92 m by
92 m were taken from SRTM remote sensing sensors.
The modeling approach was based on the philos-
ophy that the potential of existed collected data and
maps should be totally dug and the resultant geomet-
rical model has to be capable of adding attributions
in the continuous work. The sediments were mod-
eled by scattered points read from drilling records
and constrained by geological borders interpreted from
2D geological maps. Where the drilling records were
too sparse to depict the geological boundary, detailed
geostatistical analysis and Kriging interpolation were
performed to predict data values at unsampled area.
Beneath sediments, rocks were modeled by digitaliz-
ing boundaries from cross section maps, since drilling
records in urban areas were too shallow to touch the
rock units.
Figure 2 shows the resultant 3D volumetric model
of central Aachen, which indicates the interlaced sed-
iments and folded rocks. In the end of modeling
procedures, the quality of 3D model was verified
through a cross comparison between cross sections
extracted from the resultant model and initially col-
lected. The comparison shows that geological profiles
from two sources are 90% matched.
3.1.2 Application
We can extract geological profiles from any route of
the model. Therefore, when the construction project
is planned to be performed in the city, the subsurface
geology could be extracted and displayed. Thus it is not
necessary to waste time and money on the investigation
stage. If the profile indicates weak soil in construc-
tion site, the reinforce work should be undertaken. For

474
Figure 2. 3D geological model of central Aachen; the depth
is 10 times magnified.

instance, Figure 3 shows the longest profile across the

modeling area.
In addition, the model is accessible not only to fur-
ther extend the modeling area to the whole Aachen
city, but rather to incorporate diverse geotechnical and
hydrogeological attributions.
Engineers can use the geometrical and attribution
models for preliminary site evaluation of construc-
Figure 3. Geological profile extracted from 3D model.
tion or tunnel excavation project. They can assist in
identifying the geological complex area and problem-
atic rocks and soils, thus determine the depth and
type of foundations or excavation and scenario of
reinforcement.
The modeling in urban area is a large scale exam-
ple, which requires reconstructing stratigraphical or
lithological boundaries in a regional area. Large scale
models support the qualified evaluation of an area
and can provide macro suggestions for city planning.
3D geological model has been also extensively con-
structed in small scale area for numerical and analytic
calculations. With higher resolution 3D model, more
precise results could be obtained. In the next section,
we will build a 3D surface model for a potentially
unstable slope based on LIDAR data.

3.2 Slope stability analysis

3.2.1 Data pre-processing and modeling procedure
The study area is a potentially unstable slope, whose
top surface, i.e. transportation bench, is constructed
during backfilling. Due to the perturbation of vehi-
cle and construction, the slope has the potential to
be dangerous. In order to protect workers and smooth
remediation in the quarry, slope stability analysis was
conducted. TLS (terrestrial laser scanning) was used
to scan relief of interest area, which can be precisely
interpreted by the collected HRDEM (high resolution
digital elevation model). The raw point cloud data were
exported as a TXT file including –xyz coordinates after
a succession of pre-processing procedures, such as
gross error elimination, data reduction, multiple scan
alignment and geo-reference. Gocad software has the
ability to accept huge size of point data and then gen-
erate a 3D surface model, which is fine meshed and
virtually reconstructs the topographical feature of the
slope. Figure 4 shows the Gocad-generated 3D surface
model with TIN meshing structure.
Figure 4. High resolution 3D surface model of the objective
slope.
3.2.2 Application
We were required to assess the factor of safety of the
slope in quarry and correspondingly reveal the poten-
tial slip surface. Thus, two typical cross sections were
then extracted from the 3D surface model for slope sta-
bility calculation. The routes of the two profiles AA’
and BB’ are indicated in Figure 5.
To verify the superiority of LiDAR-derived
HRDEM, the two profiles were simplified to perform
the slope stability analysis as well. The profile derived
from LiDAR data was named as TLS profile, while
simplified profile was named as SM profile. The two
cross sections derived from Gocad model could be
saved as point set file, of which the cross section is
represented by continuous points with – xyz coordi-
nates in Spreadsheet or TXT file format. Moreover,

475
Figure 5. Positions of two typical profiles AA’ and BB’.
Figure 6. Simulation results for TLS and SM profile AA’.
the cross section could be saved as polyline in DXF
file format. The three file formats are in general com-
patible with common slope stability analysis software,
e.g. GGU.
In this case, the subsurface geology was defined
as homogeneous soil material, thus we should only
import 2D cross section curve to the analysis software.
The simulation results for profile AA’ are shown in
Figure 6, while for profile BB’ is shown in Figure 7.
The comparisons between high resolution profile (TLS
profile) and simplified profile (SM profile) are listed
in Table 1.
To summarize, the cross section extracted from
HRDEM can reflect the real description of the surface
relief and characterization of geological units and con-
tact boundaries. From Table 1, we can determine that
calculations on TLS profile and SM profile provide
different factors of safety. In general, LiDAR technol-
ogy has remarkable advantages, such as ease use for
engineers, protection for field workers, time-saving
476
Figure 7. Simulation results for TLS and SM profile BB’.
Table 1. Comparison of slope stability analysis based on
TLS model and simplified model.
TLS SM Improved
profile profile precision
Factor of AA’ 1.27 1.22 3.94%
safety BB’ 1.31 1.21 7.63%
and high accuracy. Combining with powerful ability
of data importing and modeling of Gocad software, it
is worth to perform slope stability analysis following
aforementioned procedure.
3.3 3D Numerical modeling
Numerical analysis has since advanced development
of computer technology and corresponding software
been applied to solve real problems in the field of
geotechnical engineering. The case of slope stability
analysis is a 2D numerical analysis. Since 2D analy-
sis has simplified the surrounding conditions of soil
and rock mass, its factor of safety is not as precise as
3D analysis. At present, an obstacle exists during per-
forming a 3D geological numerical analysis, because
the real topographical model is too complex to be
constructed in preprocessor of commercial numerical
software. Complicated geological masses have to be
simplified, which results in the los of important geo-
metric features and geological information. In order
to perform high accurate numerical analysis, 3D geo-
logical models are demanded to be previously built by
sophisticated modeling software and then imported to
the numerical program without los of any information.
In Gocad, the produced volumetric model can be
meshed in hexahedral element, which is the general
element form approved by most numerical platforms.
The topological relations of elements and their cor-
responding nodes could be exported as Spreadsheet
file and are clear and easily understandable to read.

Figure 8. sGrid model generated from GOCAD.
Figure 9. Numerical model converted from sGrid model
generated from GOCAD.
It denotes that Gocad offers the opportunity by which
we can combine 3D geological model with numeri-
cal simulation together. The important point should be
emphasized that more precise model constructed more
reliable analysis result obtained. Figure 8 is a gridded
volumetric model built by Gocad, while Figure 9 is
its manifestation after converting the originally vol-
umetric model to numerical platform. It is obviously
superior that by using the converting tool (designed by
our department) HRDEM has the ability to contribute
in solving geological and geotechnical problems.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In terms of discussions from generation of 3D geo-
logical model and then to three applications, we can
conclude our paper as following:
1. 3D geological modeling has since advanced com-
puter and information technologies been possible
for engineering geologists and geotechnical engi-
neers to “see” their research area in all directions
and at any required positions.
2. In the field of civil engineering construction, we
can build 3D model from archived drilling database
and 2D geological maps. It is a good opportunity
to standardize the drilling database with a series
of uniform classification scheme. Resultant mod-
els could help the city planning and infrastructure
477
construction to identify the underground condition
and then make a decision for the selection of type
of building or foundation.
3. For slope stability analysis, LIDAR scanning com-
bining with powerful 3D modeling software can
reconstruct the surface relief very precisely, thus
leads to more reliable factor of safety.
4. In order to overcome the barrier of modeling in
numerical platform, sophisticated and professional
modeling software is applied to pre-build a 3D vol-
umetric model with hexahedral element for numer-
ical analysis. By using data conversion program,
Gocad productions could be transferred to numeri-
cal platform, thus the analysis could be performed
on high resolution 3D model.
REFERENCES
Clarke, D.D. & Phillips, C.C. 2003. Three-dimensional geo-
logic modeling and horizontal drilling bring more oil out
of the Wilmington oil field of southern California. In Carr,
T.R., Mason, E.P. & Feazel, C.T. (eds), Horizontal wells:
Focus on the reservoir. AAPG Methods in Exploration,
14: 27–47.
Culshaw, M.G. 2005. From concept towards reality: devel-
oping the attributed 3D geological model of the shallow
subsurface. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology
and Hydrogeology 38: 231–284.
Hu, H., Fernandez-Steeger, T.M., Dong, M., Nguyen, H.T. &
Azzam, R. 2010. 3D Modeling using LiDAR Data and
its Geological and Geotechnical Applications, In 18th
International Conference on Geoinformatics, 18–20, June
2010, Beijing, 1–6.
Hu, H., Fernandez-Steeger, T.M., Dong, M. & Azzam, R.
2011. Merging LiDAR data with geophysical data to
automatically generate numerical models. In 18th Confer-
ence for Engineering Geology, 16–19 March 2011, Berlin,
393–396.
Kaufmann, O. & Martin, T. 2008. 3D geological model-
ing from boreholes, cross-sections and geological maps,
application over former natural gas storages in coal mines.
Computers & Geosciences 34: 278–290.
Lelliott, M.R., Bridge, D.M., Kessler, H., Price, S.J. &
Seymour, K.J. 2006. The application of 3D geological
modeling to aquifer recharge assessments in an urban
environment. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology
and Hydrogeology 39: 293–302.
Ross, M., Martel, R., Lefebvre, R., Parent, M. & Savard,
M.M. 2004. Assessing rock aquifer vulnerability using
downward advective times from a 3D model of surficial
geology: a case study from the St. Lawrence Lowlands,
Canada. In Rogriguez, R., Civita, M. & De Maio, M.
(eds), Geofísica Internacional. Special Issue on Aquifer
Vulnerability and Risk 43: 591–602.
Spottke, I., Zechner, E. & Huggenberger, P. 2005. The south-
eastern border of the Upper Rhine Graben: a 3D geological
model and its importance for tectonics and groundwa-
ter flow. International Journal of Earth Sciences 94:
580–593.
Thierry, P., Prunier-Leparmentier, A.M., Lembezat, C.,
Vanoudheusden, E. & Vernoux, J.F. 2009. 3D geological
modeling at urban scale and mapping of ground movement
susceptibility from gypsum dissolution: the Paris example
(France). Engineering Geology 105: 51–64.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Stability analysis of jointed rock based on block theory

Q.F. Guo, J.H. Liu & X. Wang

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
State Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The rock blocks in different scales formed by the excavation face of engineering construction
and discontinuities in rock mass have influence on the whole stability of the rock mass. As the occurrence
of discontinuities in the rock mass is complicated and variable, and distributes randomly, the application of
block theory to the research of rock stability can optimize the analysis and control of the rock stability. After
investigating and statistics of rock joint fissures as well as the dominant structure planes, the spatial position
and geometry of the unstable rock blocks can be analyzed and calculated by the block theory. Considering the
geometric parameters of the rock blocks during the modeling and simulating, the models are much more close
to the realistic situation and the simulations are approached to the real state of rock stress. Therefore, we can
understand the mechanical stability of rock mass more accurately.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 BLOCK THEORY

There are many structure planes or other weak fracture
faces in different scales widely exiting in the engi-
neering rock mass, like faults, joints and fractures.
The shape, occurrence state and stress characteristic
of the structure planes directly influence the rock mass
strength, deformation and failure mode (Zhu et al.
2002). Structure planes make the rock mass discon-
tinuous, anisotropic and non-uniform. So rock mass
is quite different from other engineering mediums.
In jointed rocks, there may be kinds of rock blocks
formed by the structures planes and excavation faces.
Once the artificially excavation unload the rock mass,
these blocks may damage along the structures, and
then destroy the stability of the rock mass, even cause
disaster during the construction.
The rock strength varies with the development
degree and occurrence state of joints in rock mass.
Jiang (Jiang 2003) et al. advanced the preferred struc-
ture, indicating that the preferred structure and pre-
ferred fault have great impact on the stability of jointed
rock. The joints and faults spread with stochastic char-
acter, so we have to find the major joints and faults
leading to the break through tracing the outcrop or
drilling exploration.
In this paper, statistic analysis were carried out on
the joints in the rock slope, and then block theory is
used to identify the rock blocks, including numbers,
scales, shapes and occurrence status, furthermore,
analysis the stabilities of the blocks. All the results
above can be used in the numerical simulation, and
make the simulation much more specific and closer to
real status in rock mass.
Shi (Shi 1977, Shi 1982) and Goodman (Goodman
1985) put forward the conception of block theory
and established its theoretic basis. The block theory
involves the blocks recognition, removability and sta-
bility analysis. Liu (Liu 2000) first entirely introduced
this theory to China. He presented the basic prin-
ciple and analytical method and their application in
rock slope and underground cavern. After that, many
researchers developed application software based on
the block theory, now generally used in hydropower,
mine, road traffic and other jointed rock mass engi-
neering, which have achieved great success in stability
analysis (Liao 2007 & Huang 2001).
2.1 Key block theory
Key block theory advanced by Goodman and Shi G.H.
is the most proven part in block theory. With the help of
topology, set theory, geometry and vector algebra, the
key block theory can be used to identify the unstable
block, evaluate block stability and design the rein-
force scheme. There are some hypotheses in key block
theory:
1) All the discontinuous faces are strict plane, so that
the glide direction of the block can be described by
the plane or vector.
2) All the fractures cut through the research area.
3) All the blocks are formed by the existing structural
planes.
4) All the blocks are rigid body, and leave out the
internal mechanics state of the block.

479
 Figure 2. Rose diagram of the west slope joints trend.

Figure 1. Sketch map of different block type. Table 1. Mechanical parameters of the preferred joints.

Key block theory defines the blocks by half-space Internal

theory, then use the finiteness theorem to distinguish Number Dip- friction
of the direction Dip C angle ϕ
the limited blocks and infinite blocks, finally use joints (◦ ) (◦ ) (Mpa) (◦ )
the mobility theorem to classify the blocks shown in
Figure 1. Blocks that can’t remain stable under the 1 66 42 0.4 32
action of friction and cohesion are key blocks, which 2 114 56 0.4 32
need artificial support. 3 206 43 0.4 32
4 275 40 0.4 32

2.2 General block theory

In order to surmount the limit of key block theory
in engineering application about the infinite fracture
hypothesis, Yu (Yu 2007) presented the general block
theory on the work of predecessors. The general block
theory mainly considers the limited spread of frac-
tures, supposing that all fractures no matter confirmed
by survey or random are limited circle disks, and the
center coordinate, dip, dip direction, radius, cohesion
and friction angle of each fracture circle disk all have
strict mathematical definition.
SlopeBlock and GeneralBlock are developed on the
basis of key block theory and general block theory.
They can conveniently locate the spatial location and
geometry shape, compute the block stability and rein-
force visually, as well as provide the report of the block
parameters, which are necessary and helpful for the
numerical simulation.
3 SLOPE STABILITY ANALYSIS BASED ON
BLOCK THEORY
3.1 Engineering background
Shuichang open-pit iron mine lies in north region of the
Qianan iron mine, and the iron deposit is on the north-
east of the synclinorium in west metallogenic belt. This
synclinorium consists of the North Hill syncline, old
Shuichang anticline and the South Hill syncline. The
fold axis arises from the northeast and overturns to the
southwest with a high structure development degree
in this area. The west slope of the open-pit mine has
9.20 m to 33.10 m weathered layer with average thick-
ness of 21.15 m. There are many structure planes in
this rock mass, which have large effect on the stability
of the rock slope.
3.2 Statistical analysis of the joints
Directive coring was carried out at the K3 drilling on
the 17# exploratory line of the west slope.According to
the directional and inclinometer data, after confirmed
the position of the minimum bus and measured the axis
angles of each structure planes and the angles between
the drilling dip line projection and each structure dip
line projection using the full circle protractor, we
learned the dip, dip direction and strike of each struc-
ture in the west slope. The rose diagram of the joints
trend shows the joints statistical results (Figure 2).
As the west slope range is too large and has a large
number of joints, here we just pick a local key area as
research object. Table 1 shows the preferred joints of
this area, and the mechanical parameters of each joint
plane are defined on the experience data.
3.3 Block monitoring and stability analysis
In key block theory, all the blocks are defined by half-
space, so we have to make sure that one point on the

480
Figure 3. Block formed by the half-space.
block is above or below the plane. Assume the point is
(x, y, z), and the plane equation is:
Here (a, b, c) is the normal vector upwards of
the plane. If ax + by + cz/ + d ≥ 0, the point is above
the plane; if ax + by + cz + d ≤ 0, the point is below
the plane.
In Figure 3, there are 4 fractures, the upper half-
space of F1, upper half-space of F2, lower half-space of
F3 and lower half-space of F4 form the shadow block.
This method is equal to the following inequalities:
A block in three-dimensional slope needs at least 4
intersecting joints. If one block has n surfaces, there
must be n planes intersected each other. In accordance
with the half-space theory, every plane divides the
slope into two parts, thus there are 2n half-spaces. The
intersection of these half-spaces is just the block we
want to research.
There are 4 large joints (shown in Table 1) in the
region we research on. The model of this region was
built by SlopeBlock. Figure 4 shows the traces of each
joint on the slope surface. Each of the joints is not
parallel to others and the traces on the slope surface
are interlaced, so these joints must form blocks in the
slope. Here we just research the blocks in the upper
bench of the slope.
After computing and stability analysis to the model
in Figure 4 using the SlopeBlock, 4 blocks are formed
in the upper bench of the slope. Table 2 lists the
parameters and stability coefficient of each block.
Compared to the block types in Figure 1, 1# block
in Figure 5 is an immovable block similar to the block
(c) in Figure 1, so it can be stable even without the
friction and the viscous force. 2# block is similar to
481
Figure 4. Model of the slope and joints.
Table 2. Results of the block analysis.
Number Sliding
of the Volume power Friction Viscous Stability
blocks (m3 ) (t) (t) force coefficient
1 267.6 0 0 199999 99999.9
2 57.62 63.07 31.88 35.52 1.27
3 180.9 128.7 374.4 191.53 4.39
4 982.7 2037 793.1 190.23 0.48
the block (e) in Figure 1. Its sliding power is close to
the sum of friction and viscous force, so its stability
coefficient is only 1.27, which means that 2# block
is possible to slide along the fractures. It is neces-
sary to support the 2# block using anchor or anchor
cable. 3# block has a large free face on the slope sur-
face, but there are enough supports under its center
of gravity like the (b) block in Figure 1. Even the
stability coefficient of 3# block is up to 4.39 which
means that it’s stable, we have to monitor it as there
are many unknown joints and the concussion of blast-
ing may influence its stability. In this simulation, as
we only consider the upper slope, so the undersurface
of upper slope is supposed to be formed by a plane
cutting through the slope. In this condition, 4# block
lost its bottom supports, which means that its sliding
power is close to its gravity, that is why its stability
coefficient is 0. Here we do not analysis the stability
of 4# block.
3.4 Vertexes of the blocks
Block theory researches on the rock mass with obvious
sliding surface, just considering the shear strength of
the structure but not the strength and deformation of
the rock mass itself (Tan 2009). It’s necessary to carry
out numerical simulation to understand the stress state
of the fracture and the whole stability of the slope.
It’s very important to consider the blocks during the
numerical simulation. The geometric parameters of the
blocks are always needed in the numerical simulation,
so it’s necessary to understand the three-dimensional
coordinate of each vertex of the blocks.

Figure 5. Blocks formed by the joints.
If one block is formed by n fractures, the intersec-
tion points of these fractures are:
In Figure 5, it’s clear that 2# block has 4 vertexes, and
each vertex is formed by three fractures. But when
one block is formed by over 4 fractures, not all the
intersection points are the vertexes as shown in the
Figure 3. These non-vertex intersection points can be
checkout through Formula (2).
The three-dimensional coordinate of one intersec-
tion point can be calculated through the following
formulas:
4 CONCLUSIONS
Block theory is used to analyze the stability of the key
area of the west slope of Shuichang open-pit iron mine
in this paper. The volume, occurrence conditions and
stability of the blocks formed by joints and fractures
are studied through the block theory. The results of the
analysis are instructive to the excavating and stability
control.
482
The analysis results only show the stability of the
rigid block itself, so it is necessary to carry out sim-
ulation analysis on the whole slope. On the base of
traditional numerical analysis to the slope damage,
the results of the block theory analysis can be used
in the numerical analysis to evaluate the possibility of
the damage by blocks as a whole. Thus, the stability
of the rock mass can be researched more accurately.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The work is supported by “major Program of
National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 51034001)”, “Chinese National Programs
for High Technology Research and Development
(No. 2008AA062104),” “The fundamental research
funds for the central universities” and “The national
natural science foundation of China (No. 11002021)”.
REFERENCES
Goodman, R.E. & Shi, G.H. 1985. Block Theory and Its
Application to Rock Engineering. NewYork: Prentice Hall.
Huang, Z.J., Wu, A.Q. & Sheng, Q. 2001. Usage of Block
Theory in the Three Gorges Projects. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 20(5): 648–652.
Jiang, J.P., Wang, M.W. & Luo, G.Y. 2003. Analysis of effect
of structural planes in rockmass and soilmass in under-
ground works. Journal of Engineering Geology 11(4):
349–353.
Liao, G.Y., Wu, Y.L. & Xu, D.S. 2007. Application of Block
Theory in Key Block Identification in Metal Mines. Metal
Mine 5: 21–24.
Liu, J.H. & Lu, Z.H. 2000. The application of block theory in
rock stability analysis. Beijing: China Waterpower Press.
Shi, G.H. 1977. The stereographic method of stability analy-
sis of rock masses. Scientia Sinica 20(3): 260–271.
Shi, G.H. 1982. A geometric method of stability analysis of
discontinuous rocks. Scientia Sinica 25(1): 125–143.
Tan, X., Fu, H.L., Guo, M.X., et al. 2009. Combined Appli-
cation of Block Theory and Numerical Simulation in the
Stability Analysis of Rock Slope with Block Fracture.
Metal Mine 3: 25–27, 68.
Yu, Q.C., Xue, G.F. & Chen, D.J. 2007. General Block The-
ory of Fractured Rock Mass. Beijing: China Waterpower
Press.
Zhu, W.S., Li, S.C. & Chen, W.Z. 2002. Failure mecha-
nism and anchor effect of the jointed rock mass and its
engineering application. Beijing: Science Press.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Comparative analysis of acoustic emission signal frequency characteristics

between packsand and granite

H.G. Ji, Z.F. Hou, Y. Jin & H.W. Wang

The Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines of China Ministry of Education,
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The Acoustic Emission (AE) characteristics of rock materials are affected by lithology, strength
and loading conditions. It is significant for us to do some researches on AE signal frequency characteristics
under different loading conditions and different stages of fracturing in order to select proper AE sensors with
corresponding resonant frequencies for maximum effect through receiving AE signals. During the experiment,
we used double-frequency and double-channel AE detector developed by ourselves to catch AE signals from
rock samples loaded by uniaxial compression machine; and analyzed the frequency characteristics of AE signals
at different stages of fracturing. For granite samples, the results showed that there was no obvious AE signals
before the relative stress achieved 70% level. Between 85% and 100% relative stress level, there were quantities
of AE signals, and the main frequencies concentrated in the bands of 150–180 kHz and 30–60 kHz. For packsand
samples, there were several AE signals between 5% and 30% relative stress level. Between 60% and 100% relative
stress levels, the AE signals were discrete. The dominant frequency concentrated between 60 kHz and 120 kHz.

1 INTRODUCTION frequency. Theoretically, the method provides more

Acoustic Emission (AE) is a kind of instantaneous
elastic wave due to quick release of local strain energy
(Ji 2004). Rock is a kind of fragile material and its
process of destroying is consistent with the evolu-
tionary process of internal microcracks, originating
and expanding of which are mainly shown as fracture
of rock. Originating and expanding of microcracks
are accompanied with release of elastic wave which
releases rapidly and propagates in rock (Zhang et al.
2008). AE occurs in the course of stressing and defor-
mation of rock, while each AE signal enriches infor-
mation about internal varying of rock. Hereby, through
processing and analyzing of AE signals received, and
according to some parameters of AE signals of rock,
such as number, magnitude and frequency, etc, the
deformation course will be understood deeply, which
is capable of providing evidence for prediction and
location of fracture and unstability of rock.
Currently, there are two sorts of methods to col-
lect and process AE signals. One method is that
characteristics of AE signals are shown as several sim-
plified characteristic parameters of wave form which
are analyzed and processed later, the other one is to
save and record wave forms of AE signals and ana-
lyze the frequency spectrum of wave forms (Chen
et al. 2002, Ji et al. 2001, Yang 2005), where wave-
form analysis method is to treat wave forms of AE
signals as the object of study directly, furthermore,
analyze and process data to obtain necessary relevant
information on the basis of wave forms of AE sig-
nals stored and recorded during the whole scope of
information than analysis of characteristic parameter.
Frequency spectrum of AE signals of rock carried vari-
ous information related to characteristics of materials,
mechanism of fracture and structural characteristic on
the propagation path of signals. Accordingly, AE fre-
quency spectrum analysis method becomes one of the
most basis tasks in the process of research on AE
(Wang et al. 2004, Wang & Zhao 1986).
In this experiment, we use double-frequency and
double-channel AE detector developed by ourselves
and utilize AE transducers of different resonant fre-
quency to detect the same AE signal through uniaxial
compression test at the same time. Consequently,
wave forms of AE signals of granite and packsand
at different stages of fracturing are obtained and then
frequency characteristics of AE signals are analyzed
through Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The frequency
spectrum of AE signals of coal rock mass subjected to
loading are not invariable but changing with the pro-
cess of loading and deformation (Yang 2005) when the
fracturing is happening. Therefore, utilizing the instru-
ment is capable of achieving more comprehensive
information of AE signals in much broader frequency
band.
2 EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES AND
EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS
2.1 Experimental facilities
The experimental facility for AE testing is a double-
frequency and double-channel AE detector developed

483
Figure 1. Double-frequency and double-channel AE
detector.
Figure 2. Experimental system.
by ourselves in this experiment. Resonant frequencies
of transducers for two channels are 70 kHz–130 kHz
and 30 kHz–50 kHz respectively, shown in Figure 1.
The loading equipment in the experiment is GAW-
2000 electro-hydraulic servo pressure testing machine.
30-ton pressure tensor made in Germany and 7V07
program control recorder are also utilized to record
data, as shown in Figure 2.
2.2 Experimental details
An overall-process uniaxial compression testing of
rock breaking was carried out to probe on the relation-
ship between frequency characteristics of AE signals
and stress state of rock samples in the whole process,
where the samples were pandsand taken from con-
struction site in one dock in Singapore and granite
taken from one mine in Shandong province of China,
respectively.
All experimental rock samples were processed in
the methods suggested by International Rock Mechan-
ics Testing Methods (IRMTM). Rock specimen was a
50 × 100 mm circular cylinder. The specimen sur-
face was smooth and both ends were polished. Non-
parallelism and nonperpendicularity were controlled
within ±0.02 mm. In order to conduct AE observa-
tion, a small plane was grinded on the side surface of
specimen to guarantee that AE sensor was in contact
with the plane of specimen well. What is more, to avoid
producing noise from abrading of ends, two pieces of
rubber insert were put between ends of specimen and
press ram of press machine.
484
Figure 3. Waveform and frequency spectrum of one AE
signal from No. 1 granite specimen.
Figure 4. Waveform and frequency spectrum of one AE
signal from No. 2 granite specimen.
During the experiment, axial stress control loading
was carried out to loading system, with load speed
of 200N/s; meanwhile loading process synchronized
with AE detection. For AE system, to reduce the distur-
bance of noise as far as possible, high triggering level
of acoustic signal was chosen as 0.5V to ensure that
prominent AE event of rock fractured was monitored
under uniaxial compression.
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULT AND ANALYSIS
Four specimens were selected from granite and pack-
sand samples for testing respectively, data from three
control groups of which was processed and analyzed.
Figure 3 to Figure 5 indicates graphs of waveform
and frequency spectrum of oneAE signal of three gran-
ite specimens respectively, while Figure 6 to Figure 8
indicates graphs of waveform and frequency spectrum
of one AE signal of three packsand specimens respec-
tively. Due to 8000 dots for each graph set up in AE
detecting equipment, it probably shows several full
waveforms in one graph of waveform. Figure 9 to Fig-
ure 14 represent the relational graph between relative
stress and dominant frequency of AE signal of 6 rock
specimens in the whole process of experiment, where
black circle dots indicate values of dominant frequency
obtained by high-frequency transducer; and red ones
indicate values of dominant frequency acquired by
low-frequency transducer.
Figure 5. Waveform and frequency spectrum of one AE
signal from No. 3 granite specimen.
Figure 6. Waveform and frequency spectrum of one AE
signal from No. 1 packsand specimen.
Figure 7. Waveform and frequency spectrum of one AE
signal from No. 2 packsand specimen.
3.1 Waveform of AE signals and characteristics
of frequency
Through analysis of the entire AE waveforms and fre-
quency spectrum of the six groups of rock samples, it
is shown that:
1) Frequency spectrum of AE signals of either granite
or packsand samples is extremely abundant, which
is in agreement with the result by Liu et al. (Liu et
al. 1986), where the range of frequency was from
15 kHz to 180 kHz.
To some degree, it is illustrated that the informa-
tion from AE of rock is very limited and incomplete
on the condition of selecting AE data with the
transducer of narrow resonant frequency.
485
Figure 8. Waveform and frequency spectrum of one AE
signal from No. 3 packsand specimen.
Figure 9. Relational graph between dominant frequency
and relative stress of No. 1 granite specimen.
2) In the graph of frequency spectrum, it is found that
the amplitudes of component of which frequen-
cies differentiate dramatically are very close. In this
case, it is unreasonable to only treat the frequency of
component with the largest amplitude as dominant
frequency of the AE signal.
3.2 Comparison between AE signals waveforms
and frequency characteristics of packsand
and those of granite
The difference in lithology between granite and pack-
sand is very large. Likewise, under the same loading
condition, specimens with the same size appear dif-
ferent characteristics in terms of waveforms of AE
signals and graphs of frequency spectrum. Figure 9
to Figure 14 show that, before relative stress reached
70%, AE signals of granite sample are rare; while rela-
tive stress lies between 70% and 100%, the signals are
gradually increasing and then extremely intensive with
large amplitude until failure. Since structure of gran-
ite is homogeneous and texture is hard and compact,
meanwhile high-strength and high-elasticity, in the
front and middle course of compacting and elastically
compressing, there are few internal fractures, which is
capable of explaining rare AE signals and meanwhile
accumulate amounts of energy. On the later stage and
plastic deformation stage, microcracks start to expand
rapidly and amounts of stored energy release very fast.
That is why there are tons of AE signals with high-
dense and high-amplitude. The range of frequency
Figure 10. Relational graph between dominant frequency
and relative stress of No. 2 granite specimen.
Figure 11. Relational graph between dominant frequency
and relative stress of No. 3 granite specimen.
Figure 12. Relational graph between dominant frequency
and relative stress of No. 1 packsand specimen.
spectrum of high-frequency signals is from 120 kHz
and 180 kHz, and the signals concentrate remarkably
within the range of 150 kHz to 180 kHz and 30 kHz to
65 kHz respectively.
Packsand is sedimentary rock. The structure is not
compact or homogeneous enough. Packsand also con-
tains a certain number of pores and microcracks. On
the early and middle stage of compacting and elas-
tic deformation, due to energy propagation caused by
closure of internal microcracks under stress, continu-
ous AE signals take place. In the later course of elastic
deformation and at the stage of plastic deformation, the
number of signals per unit time is increasing. However,
overall signals distribute homogeneously with stress,
frequency range of which is 40 kHz to 150 kHz.
486
Figure 13. Relational graph between dominant frequency
and relative stress of No. 2 packsand specimen.
Figure 14. Relational graph between dominant frequency
and relative stress of No. 3 packsand specimen.
3.3 Relationship between relative stress and AE
Signals Frequency
TheAE characteristics of rock materials are affected by
lithology, strength and loading conditions. It is signifi-
cant for us to do some research on AE signal frequency
characteristics on different loading conditions and dif-
ferent stages of fracturing in order to select proper AE
sensors with corresponding resonant frequencies for
maximum effect through receiving AE signals. In the
meantime, it plays a reference role in estimating stress
state of rock mass through analysis of characteristics
of AE signals.
In Figure 3 to Figure 14, it is shown that:
1) On the early and middle stage of compacting and
elastic deformation of rock specimen, i.e. the stage
of relative stress lying between 0 and 70%, sig-
nals of AE are much little. Furthermore, among
the signals received by two transducers of different
frequency at the same time, voltage values of low-
frequency signals are commonly higher than those
of high-frequency signals. Due to higher trigger-
ing level, the number of low-frequency signals is
much larger than that of high-frequency as well. It
is indicated that on the early and middle stage of
compacting and elastic deformation of rock speci-
men, the energy of AE signals of rock concentrates
in the range of low-frequency signals, i.e. 20 kHz
to 70 kHz.
2) On the later stage of elastic deformation of rock and
on the stage of plastic deformation to failure, the
 strength and number of low and high-frequency sig-
nals both increase, where those of high-frequency
signals increase so distinctly that reach or exceed
low-frequency signals, which substantiated that the
energy stored inside rock began to release quickly
(Zhang et al. 2008). If an AE transducer is adopted
to detect, the result will be that the strength of
AE signals is enhanced and band of dominant fre-
quency become higher with the increase of rock
loading and degree of rock deformation and failure
(Wang et al. 2004). Through continuous AE wave-
forms and graph of frequency spectrum acquired
by double-frequency transducer, the process can be
understood much more directly.
4 CONCLUSION
1. AE frequency spectrum of rock materials is
extremely abundant. It is limited and partial to uti-
lize single-channel and narrow-frequency resonant
transducer to select AE data. Thus, the method
of applying transducers of different resonant fre-
quency or developing broad-frequency band trans-
ducers is supposed to be considered in order to
obtain internal information of rock transferred by
AE signals as far as possible.
2. In graph of AE frequency spectrum, it is found that
the amplitudes of component of which frequen-
cies differentiate dramatically are very close. In this
case, it is unreasonable to only treat the frequency of
component with the largest amplitude as dominant
frequency of the AE signal. Accordingly, during the
course of evaluating AE signals, it is necessary to
take frequencies and amplitudes of each component
in graph of frequency spectrum into consideration
comprehensively.
3. Due to the diversity caused by different inter-
nal constructions of various kinds of rock, dur-
ing the process of loading to failure, waveforms
of AE signals and change of frequency spec-
trum with pressure perform variously for differ-
ent rocks. In the experiment, the range of AE
high-frequency spectrum of granite is 120 kHz
to 180 kHz, where signals concentrated between
487
150 kHz and 180 kHz specifically; likewise the
range of AE low-frequency spectrum is from
30 kHz to 65 kHz; the range of AE frequency spec-
trum of packsand is from 40 kHz to 150 kHz. What
has been mentioned above may be all regarded as a
reference suggestion to choose a few different AE
transducers of various resonant frequencies in the
future.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research is financially supported by Key Pro-
gram of National High-technology Research and
Development Project (863 project) (project number:
2008AA062104), Project of National Major Fun-
damental Research (973 project) (project number:
2010CB226803) and National Science and Technol-
ogy Support Project (project number: 2008BAB33B03).
REFERENCES
Chen, Y.H. et al. 2002. Spectral and correlation analysis of
acoustic emission signals. Non Destructive Testing 24(9):
395–399.
Ji, H.G. 2004. Research on Characteristics of Acoustic Emis-
sion Properties of Concrete Materials and Application.
Beijing: Coal Industry Press.
Ji, H.G. et al. 2001. Analysis on the acoustic emission param-
eters for nondestructive testing. Non Destructive Testing
23(7): 289–291.
Liu, X.P. et al. 1986. Spectral analysis of acoustic emissions of
rock specimen during uniaxial compression.ActaAcustica
11(2).
Wang, E.Y. et al. 2004. Study on frequency spectrum char-
acteristics of acoustic emission in coal or rock deforma-
tion and fracture. Journal of China Coal Society 29(3):
289–292.
Wang, T.J. & Zhao, S.Q. 1986. Frequency analyzing system of
acoustic emission signals. Seismology And Geology 8(1):
94–96.
Yang, J. 2005. Research on Process and Analytical Technique
of Acoustic Emission Signals. JiLin: Jilin University.
Zhang, S.J. et al. 2008. Study on Precursory Characteristics
of Rock Failure Based on Acoustic Emission Experiment.
Metal Mine 8: 65–68.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

A new methodology of block system construction and visualization

for three-dimensional block-group analysis

Q.H. Lei & Z.X. Zhang

State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT: The construction and visualization of fracture-block system models are of great significance for
simulating large scale rock masses. This paper presents a reasonable and effective methodology which is different
from other traditional block modeling approaches. The new methodology employs object oriented programming
(OOP) technique to organize project data, including input parameters, research objects, graphic information and
analytical results. Furthermore, the visualization of blocks is accomplished based on the theory of computer
aided geometric design (CAGD). The complicated model created by the proposed procedure would be easily
analyzed using the three-dimensional block-group method, which is based on the stereo-analytical block theory.
In addition, a pre-processing program has been completed, and several modeling examples are presented in this
paper to demonstrate the validity and high-performance of this method.

1 INTRODUCTION identification of block system using topological tech-

Rock mass, as the Earth’s outer solid layer, is undoubt-
edly significant for underground constructions; while,
rock mass is also an extremely complex geologic
media born with numerous geologic planes. The geo-
logical planes, which serve as discontinuities and
cut large scale rocks into blocks, could be faults,
joints, cracks, shear zones and intercalated beds. The
discontinuities, especially faults and large joints, con-
siderably affect the stability of rock systems and the
safety of underground facilities.
Blocky rock mass refers to moderately jointed rock
mass. Unlike crushed rock and intact (or almost intact)
rock, blocky rock mass could not be simplified as
continuum. However, the behavior of a blocky rock
system is dominated by the geometrical distribution
and physical properties of those various discontinu-
ities. In order to meet this requirement, a special tool,
called key block method established by Goodman &
Shi (1985), has been widely adopted in solving such
engineering issues. In addition, since 1980s, the block
theory has been continually improved and completed
by many researchers. Stereo-analytical method pro-
posed by Zhang et al. (2003), which is a combination
of the stereographic method and vector method, pos-
sesses the applicability to analyze the removability of
both convex and concave blocks. This new method was
then extended to consider block-groups to evaluate the
stability of large scale rock masses (Zhang et al. 2008).
During the past few decades, many scholars have
put forward a variety of rock modeling theories,
especially on the topics of block data structure, identi-
fication algorithm, and visualization technique. Lin
et al. (1987) described a sophisticated geometrical
niques that is unlikely to detect concave polyhe-
drons. Heliot (1988) designed a block generation
language which is also limited to convex blocks.
Ikegawa & Hudson (1992) presented a novel automatic
identification method for three-dimensional multi-
block systems by applying the directed graph theory.
Jing (2000) improved the boundary representation
approach, which is based on the basic principles of
combinatorial topology. This method employs set the-
ory, boundary chain operation and the Euler-Poincáre
formula to trace blocks and construct fractured rock
models. Lu (2002) proposed a systematic approach
to identify polyhedral rock blocks; a dynamic link
list is used to record the information of block poly-
hedrons during the forming process by topological
identification. Yu et al. (2009) recommended a new
simulation procedure which constructs complex block
models by assembling convex element blocks; how-
ever, concrete data structure and detailed modeling
algorithm have not been presented. Zhang et al. (2010)
presented a new approach for block identification
by combining finite element modeling technique and
block theory; this approach can be comfortably applied
into finite element software, while it might lack com-
putational efficiency for such discontinuous analysis.
Elmouttie et al. (2010a, b) improved the topology
based algorithm and developed a computer program,
which can generate rock blocks and simulate complex
excavations.
In this paper, based on object-oriented program-
ming (OOP) techniques and the theory of computer
aided geometric design (CAGD), a new methodol-
ogy for block system construction and visualization is
suggested. The modeling algorithm presented is much

489
simpler compared with traditional methods. It is there-
fore hopefully more understandable for practicing
engineers.

2 DATA STRUCTURE OF BLOCK SYSTEMS

Before the construction and visualization of fracture-

block system, the data structure for block system
models should be designed and the framework is
produced under two processes successively: object-
oriented analysis of block systems and object-oriented
design of block system models.

2.1 Object-oriented programming

Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a program-
ming paradigm using “objects”, which are composed
of properties and methods together with their interac-
tions, as the data structures to program applications.
An object-oriented program would usually contain dif-
ferent types of objects which are corresponding to
real-world objects with certain attributes and behav-
iors, or perhaps to particular complex data to be
managed, or even to conceptual models conceived by
programmers.
OOP provides an extremely natural way to trans-
late real-world phenomena to program elements. In
addition, this programming methodology is high-
lighted with simplicity, modularity, inheritability, and
extensibility.
2.2 Object-oriented analysis of block systems
Object-oriented analysis of a block system is to obtain
a conceptual model; in other words, researchers in this
stage should recognize all necessary objects in a rock
system and learn the intricate correlation networks
among them.
Rock mass systems, under various changes during
their long formation histories, evolve to become highly
complicated geological bodies. There are a host of
block assemblies partially or fully separated by faults,
joints and cracks with different shapes and extents.
From the object-oriented perspective, a rock system
could be disassembled and abstracted into a series of
mathematic elements. They possess specific attributes
and perform various behaviors. Figure 1 illustrates
some important objects in a rock system.
2.3 Object-oriented design of block system models
The object-oriented analysis in section 2.2 could pro-
duce a rational conceptual model of a rock mass
system. However, in the object-oriented design stage,
researchers must ultimately replace this framework
with one that is more easily supported by implementa-
tion languages and programming tools. In other words,
the goal of the design phase is to generate a description
of how to synthesize software objects that behave in
Figure 1. Objects involved in a typical block system.
accord with analysis models and meet all other system
requirements.
The basic strategy of the object-oriented design is to
collect analysis information describing class features
and tie them together as abstract classes (the blueprints
for objects’ generation). As illustrated in Figure 2, a
series of classes are defined: rock system class, coor-
dinate system class, analysis domain class, joint set
class, geologic plane class, block vertex class, block
face class, element-block class, complex-block class,
and tunnel excavation class. From those classes, dif-
ferent types of objects, such as circular joints, concave
blocks or rectangular tunnel excavations, can be added
into rock models.
3 MODELING ALGORITHM FOR BLOCK
SYSTEMS
3.1 Computer aided geometric design
Computer aided geometric design (CAGD), also
known as numerical computational geometry or geo-
metric modeling, focuses on the study of geomet-
rical algorithms. The primary goal of CAGD is to
develop efficient algorithms and data structures to
solve problems stated in terms of basic geometrical
objects: points, lines, planes, polygons, polyhedrons,
etc. Geometric models derived from those elements
could visually represent the shapes of various objects
and systematically record the spatial relationships of
complex environments.
In this section, several algorithms of CAGD are
applied or improved to cope with corresponding prob-
lems in establishing rock mass system models, such
as checking whether a point is located in the body

490

Figure 2. Data structure of various objects in block systems.
of a polyhedron, gaining directed loops of convex
polygons, dividing a polyhedron into parts through
an infinite plane, judging the concavity of an arbi-
trary polyhedron, combing convex polyhedrons into a
multi-polyhedrons (convex or concave) and interpo-
lating elevation data using Delaunay triangulations to
represent geographic surfaces.
3.2 Main modeling procedure
The main implementation procedures of the suggested
modeling methodology are illustrated in Figure 3.
Instantiate a new block system from the rock system
class. Then establish coordinate systems according to
the user requirements.
Create an analysis domain for different types of
underground projects and convert it into a convex hull
temporarily if concave areas exist. If a tunnel with a
large burial depth would be analyzed, a rectangular
solid is recommended for its simplicity. However, if a
shallow tunnel or a slope is required to be modeled
in the computer, particular geographic information
would be used to reflect the elevation variation on
the earth surface. In this rock mass model, the bound-
ary faces of analysis domains are treated as special
geologic planes.
Generate geologic plane polygons according to pro-
vided tectonic investigation results. In this paper, all
discontinuities are assumed to be planar and they are
characterized by the information of spacing, spatial
distribution, dimension, and occurrence; in addition,
491
Figure 3. Flowchart of rock system modeling procedures.
those location parameters would be converted into the
local coordinate system for image generation and sub-
sequent computation. Three kinds of discontinuities
would be produced: fixed infinite, fixed finite and
stochastic finite geologic planes. Fixed infinite geo-
logic planes have exact positions and orientations; their
graphic representations would be truncated against the
boundary facets of the simulation volume. Fixed finite
geologic planes with definite extents are represented
by circular or regular polygonal faces. A stochastic
joint network could be obtained by conducting tech-
niques of probability theory such as the Monte-Carlo
simulation method. During the generation, the geomet-
ric information, mechanical data and graphic handles
would be encapsulated into corresponding geologic
plane objects.
Decompose the computation domain into convex
element-blocks by provisionally ignoring the finite-
ness of discontinuities and execute the block identifi-
cation algorithm (see section 3.3).
Assemble element-blocks belonging to the same
actual rock blocks to construct a complex-block sys-
tem in consideration of the finiteness of discontinu-
ities. This step is accomplished by executing the block
construction algorithm (see section 3.4).
Add excavation objects into the model by cutting,
modifying or removing influenced complex-blocks.
The simulation purpose could be realized by the block
excavation algorithm (see section 3.5).
3.3 Block identification algorithm
The aim of the block identification algorithm is (1)
to identify convex element-blocks in the simulation
volume which is split by vast quantities of bound-
less discontinuities, and then (2) to categorize those
Figure 4. Create a convex block from the concave analysis Figure 5. A diagrammatic drawing of typical conditions: (a)
domain using an auxiliary region. the face is partially located in the disc region; (b) the face is
entirely located in the disc region; and (c) the face is entirely
element-blocks into corresponding groups by consid- outside the disc region.
ering the finiteness of geologic planes. The particular
implementation procedures are as follows:
Step 1: Convert the analysis domain into a large
intact block which is a convex polyhedron, using
auxiliary regions if necessary, shown in Figure 4.
Step 2: Split the large convex block into element-
blocks. Since the converted domain has a convex
polyhedron shape, a series of infinite planes would
split it into a large number of convex segments
(element-blocks).
Step 3: Remove element-blocks located in the aux-
Figure 6. Combine element-blocks to construct a com-
iliary regions. This step can be accomplished by
plex-block.
examining whether all vertices of an element-block
are in the space of an auxiliary region.
Step 4: Categorize element-blocks into groups. In
this step, element-blocks would be categorized into
corresponding groups by taking shapes and sizes of
discontinuities into consideration. More specifically,
when diminishing the geologic planes to finite circu-
lar or polygonal discs, element-blocks belonging to
the same complex-block would be aggregated together
without any physical modification. It should be noted
that element-blocks are cut perfectly using interpen-
etrated discontinuities before, so there is but one Figure 7. Combine neighboring faces to create a com-
adjoined coplanar face (belonging to another element- plex-face.
block) for each element-block face (except those on the
domain boundaries). A diagrammatic drawing is pro-
vided to illustrate typical conditions of element-block 3.5 Block excavation algorithm
grouping, as shown in Figure 5.
The influence of an excavation on the rock system
model is simulated by executing the block excava-
3.4 Block construction algorithm
tion algorithm, in which complex excavations are
The implementation of the block identification algo- approximated by a series of planar segments.
rithm would combine those element-blocks in the In the algorithm, influenced complex-blocks would
same group to construct complex-blocks, as shown in be identified and classified by their relations with the
Figure 6. excavation space, as shown in Figure 8.
This construction process involves the complicated Those complex-blocks would be temporarily inter-
algorithms of combining neighboring coplanar faces penetrated by excavation faces, which split blocks into
to create complex-faces, as shown in Figure 7. segments; the parts located in the excavation space

492
Figure 8. Typical relations between a block polyhedron and
the excavation space: (a) the block would be removed during
the excavation; (b) the block would be cut by a single face;
(c) the block would be cut by more than one face into one
body; (d) more than one block would be remained.
Figure 9. Modeling examples of rock mass systems: (a) geo-
logic planes and excavation faces of a stratified rock mass;
(b) identified complex-blocks of the stratified rock mass;
(c) exploded view of a rock mass cut by four joint sets; (d)
unexploded view of the rock mass cut by four joint sets and
a rectangular excavation.
should be removed and the remaining components
would ultimately be bonded together.
4 AN EXAMPLE
A pre-processing program has been completed using
the computer development technique. The visualiza-
tion results are shown in Figure 9.
The computer models of rock masses can be estab-
lished under the aforementioned procedure, and those
models are essential for key-block analysis or block-
group analysis based on the stereo-analytical method.
By conducting prudent stability computations, remov-
able and unsafe blocks or block-groups would be
identified. As shown in Figure 10, removable con-
vex blocks surrounding a tunnel excavation have been
recognized by the program.
493
Figure 10. Removable convex blocks of an excavation.
5 CONCLUSION
A new methodology of block system construction and
visualization for three-dimensional block-group anal-
ysis has been presented. This approach employs OOP
technique to design program frameworks, organize
project information, manage graphic objects, and per-
form complicated calculations. Algorithms based on
the CAGD theory are also applied or improved to solve
difficult geometric problems. The proposed method
is competent for issues involving finite discontinu-
ities, filled joints, complex simulation volume, curved
excavations and concave blocks.
Further work will focus on improving the efficiency
of the proposed algorithm, simulating more complex
domains and excavations, and handling more intricate
joint networks. In addition, a robotic stochastic joint
generator and a block-group stability analyzer would
be plugged into the computer program in the future.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research was financially supported by the Open
Research Fund Program of the State Key Laboratory
for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineer-
ing in China (Grant No. SKLGDUEK0912).
REFERENCES
Elmouttie, M. et al. 2010a. Polyhedral modelling of rock mass
structure. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Mining Sciences 47: 544–552.
Elmouttie, M. et al. 2010b. Polyhedral modelling of under-
ground excavations. Computer and Geotechnics 37: 529–
535.
Goodman, R.E. & Shi, G. 1985. Block Theory and its
Application to Rock Engineering. New York: Wiley.
Heliot, D. 1988. Generating a blocky rock mass. Interna-
tional Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences
Geomechanics Abstracts 25(3): 127–138.
Ikegawa, Y. & Hudson, J.A. 1992. A novel automatic identifi-
cation system for three-dimensional multi-block systems.
Engineering Computing 9: 169–179.
Jing, L. 2000. Block system construction for three-
dimensional discrete element models of fractured rocks.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences 37: 645–59.
Lin, D. et al. 1987. Geometrical identification of three-
dimensional rock block system using topological tech-
niques. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences Geomechanics Abstracts 24(6):
331–338.
Lu, J. 2002. Systematic identification of polyhedral blocks
with arbitrary joints and faults. Computers and Geotech-
niques 29: 49–72.
494
Yu, Q. et al. 2009. A generalized procedure to identify three-
dimensional rock blocks around complex excavations.
International Journal for Numerical Analytical Methods
in Geomechanics 33: 355–375.
Zhang,Y. et al. 2010.A new methodology for block identifica-
tion and its application in a large scale underground cavern
complex. Tunnelling Underground Space Technology 25:
168–80.
Zhang, Z. & Kulatilake, P.H.S.W. 2003. A new stereo-
analytical method for determination of removal blocks
in discontinuous rock masses. International Journal for
Numerical Analytical Methods in Geomechanics 27:
791–811.
Zhang, Z. et al. 2008. Block-group method for rock slope
stability analysis. Proceedings of the 10th international
symposium on landslides and engineered slopes, Xi’an.
London: Taylor & Francis Group.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on PSO-GPR intelligent algorithm for saturated uniaxial compressive

strength of rock

C.H. Li, S.H. He & C. Xu

School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The conjugate gradient algorithm embodies the disadvantages of strong dependence of initial
value on optimization effect, difficultly determination of iteration steps, easily falling into local optimum during
the optimization process, so the particle swarm optimization (PSO) was used to optimize the hyper-parameters of
Gaussian process regression (GPR) then formed the PSO-GPR algorithm, and the corresponding source code was
programmed. Furthermore, it was adopted to establish the mapping between the rebound strength and saturated
uniaxial compressive strength of rock for evaluating the σC . The application results show that the algorithm
could describe the relationship between them well and get accurate σC prediction, which boosts the information
feedback during the process of surrounding rock classification and could replace the traditional numerical model
for guiding engineering.

1 INTRODUCTION probability distribution between any set of random

Degree of rock hardness and rock mass integrity are
basic elements of rock mass basic quality classifi-
cation (Ding 2008), degree of rock hardness can be
determined by rock uniaxial compressive strength σC
obtained from rock point load test. However, in the
process of determination of rock mass rapid classifi-
cation in-situ, the information is delayed when σC is
obtained from rock point load test, which restrict the
timely alteration of support design and threaten the
engineering safety and progress.
Due to the alternative distribution of various rocks,
deepening of fault development, obviously low-buried
and unsymmetrical pressure, it is needed to alter rock
mass classification in-situ rapidly in the construc-
tion process of Jixi-Huangshan express way tunnels
in Anhui province. Based on the advantage of conve-
nient instrument and timely feedback of the rebound
test in-situ, this paper presents a new particle swarm
optimization-Gaussian process regression algorithm
(PSO-GPR) to establish the mapping between the
rebound strength σH and saturated uniaxial compres-
sive strength σC of rock (Su 2007, Xiong 2004).
Therefore, rock point load test could be substituted,
which will improve the efficiency and accuracy of rock
mass rapid classification and alter the support design
in time for guiding engineering.
2 GAUSSIAN PROCESS AND THE
REGRESSION ALGORITHM
Gaussian process is also called normal random pro-
cess, any set of finite variables all have the charac-
teristics of the joint Gaussian distribution, that, joint
variables {xi ∈ X, i = 1 . . . n} and its corresponding
state of the process {Y(x1 ), . . . , Y(xn )} subject to
the n-dimensional Gaussian distribution. From the
perspective of function space, all the statistical charac-
teristics of the Gaussian process can be entirely deter-
mined by its mean µ(x) = E[(Y(x)] and covariance
C(x, x ) = E[(Y(x) − µ(x))(Y(x ) − µ(x ))].Therefore,
the Gaussian process is defined as (Rasmussen 2006,
Sofiane 2004, Tao 2007, Williams 1997):
Where x, x ∈ X is any random variable.
2.1 Prediction of Gaussian process
Taking the data set D = {(xi , t i ), i = 1 . . . n} as the
training set of the Gaussian model, assuming that
the observed object t is noisy corroded, the differ-
ence between t and its real output value is ε, then the
Gaussian noise model expression is that:
where xi ∈ X is the d-dimensional input vector, t i is
the output scalar, ε is the independent random variable

according with Gaussian distribution, ε ∼ N 0, σn2 .
Based on the framework of Bayesian linear regres-
sion f(x) = ϕ(x)T w, using a random distribution of
parameter vector w ∼ N(0, ∧), the prior distribu-
tion of the observed object t which can be obtained
by Formula (1) is:

495
The joint Gaussian prior distribution between training
samples output t derived by Formula (3) and testing
samples output t ∗ is:
where C(X, X) is the n × n-dimensional symmetric
positive definite covariance matrix, any of cij mea-
sures the correlation between xi and xj , C(X, x∗ ) is the
n × 1-dimensional covariance matrix on testing sam-
ple x∗ and all input X of the training set, C(x∗ , x∗ ) is
the own covariance matrix of testing sample x∗ .
In the condition of given testing sample x∗ and train-
ing set D, the goal of Bayesian probability forecasting
is to calculate the ℘(t ∗ |D, x∗ ) . It can be obtained
according to Bayesian posterior probability formula
that:
Where the mean and variance of t ∗ are:
2.2 Gaussian process training
The Gaussian process method demands that the covari-
ance function is positive definite in the limited input
point set and which is a symmetric function satisfied
the Mercer condition, therefore, the covariance func-
tion is equivalent to the kernel function, Formula (6)
can be rewritten as :
where α = (C + σn2 I)−1 t = Q−1 t.
The mean of forecasting value is a linear combi-
nation of the kernel function C. In order to convert
a complex nonlinear problem into a tractable linear
problem, the nonlinear relationship date can be con-
verted into nonlinear relationship data by mapping
to feature space. Gaussian process can choose dif-
ferent covariance function; we adopt the following
covariance function NN (Rasmussen 2006):
In which, let θ = ({P}, σf2 , σn2 ) be a vector contain-
ing all hype-parameters, {P} = −2 I is the product of
hype-parameter −2 and unit matrix I , parameter σf2
is the signal variance of the kernel function, and it is
used to control the degree of local relevance and shape
parameter of kernel function α, x̃ is augmented matrix
of x, namely, x̃ = (1, x)T , σn2 is variance of noise.
Optimal hyper-parameter θ can be obtained by max-
imizing the logarithm likelihood function of training
samples, as follows:
496
3 INTRODUCTION OF PARTICLE SWARM
OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM
Abstracting from foraging behavior of birds, Profes-
sor Kennedy and Eberhar proposed a new stochastic
global optimization algorithm—particle swarm opti-
mization (PSO) algorithm in 1995. In PSO algorithm,
each solution of optimization problem is considered
as a “particle” in the searching space, each particle
flies according “flying experience” of its own and
other particles so as to search optimal solution in
global space. The specific searching process is that
each particle updates and evolves itself by tracing
two extremum pbest i and gbest of its own in solution
space, pbest i = [pi1 , pi2 , . . . , pij ] is individual opti-
mal solution (the solution corresponding to the min-
imum fit value) of particle i, gbest = [g1 , g2 , . . . , gj ]
is global optimal solution (the solution corresponding
to the minimum fit value of entire particle swarm in
successive searching progress).
According to the above thought of bionic evolution-
ary, the algorithm can be described using mathematic
language as (Zeng 2004):
where xi represents the current position of particle i,
j represents particle dimension.
where vij represents the current flight velocity of
particle.
Update and evolution of particles are determined
by:
where c1 is the individual evolution factor, c2 is social
evolution factor, r1 and r2 are two independent random
numbers evenly distributed between 0 and 1.
where wm i represents the inertial weight, tmax repre-
sents the maximum iteration step.
4 ESTABLISHMENT OF PSO-GPR
ALGORITHM AND ITS ENGINEERING
APPLICATION
4.1 PSO-GPR algorithm
In existing research literature, GPR algorithm deter-
mined the optimal hyper-parameters by calculating
the maximum logarithm likelihood of training samples
using conjugate gradient algorithm (Rasmussen 2006,
Williams 1997). The conjugate gradient algorithm
embodies the disadvantages of strong dependence of
Table 1. Comparison table between σH and σC .

Mileage YK24+798 YK24+826 YK28+263 ZK27+953 YK24+832 ZK24+459 YK24+861

Date 2009-3-24 2009-4-3 2009-4-4 2009-4-4 2009-4-5 2009-4-9 2009-4-12

σH (MPa) 32.7 26.9 21.5 22.6 29.3 19.8 37.2
σC (MPa) 44.10 37.73 31.29 32.65 40.43 29.16 48.68

Mileage YK24+885 YK28+216 ZK27+846 YK28+196 YK25+056 YK25+203.5 YK25+226

Date 2009-4-18 2009-5-1 2009-5-5 2009-5-5 2009-5-20 2009-6-17 2009-6-22

σH (MPa) 32.4 14.6 24.1 16.7 41.3 23.8 33.1
σC (MPa) 43.83 22.30 34.46 25.14 52.60 34.10 44.52

Mileage ZK24+875 YK25+235 YK25+242 YK25+259 YK27+972 ZK24+946

Date 2009-6-22 2009-6-25 2009-6-27 2009-7-2 2009-7-7 2009-7-10

σH (MPa) 28.6 36.7 33.2 33.0 23.7 28.1
σC (MPa) 40.10 48.49 44.62 44.41 33.98 39.09

Table 2. The optimal hyper-parameters obtained by PSO-GPR algorithm during the each training process.

Kernel parameters of covariance Extrapolated predictive

Number of
function NN optimized by PSO value (Mpa) Relative errors (%)
training
samples θ1 θ2 θ3 Mileage σC (Mpa) PSO-GPR GPR PSO-GPR GPR

1∼16 0.1374 100.3034 0.5621 YK25+242 44.62 44.616 45.321 0.01 1.57
1∼17 0.8751 12.5623 0.6520 YK25+259 44.41 44.449 45.062 0.09 1.46
1∼18 0.7612 6.5215 0.3785 YK27+972 33.98 34.772 35.111 2.33 3.33
1∼19 0.9011 1.1691 2.2977 ZK24+946 39.09 38.637 38.669 1.16 1.16

initial value on optimization effect, difficultly deter-
mination of iteration steps and easily falling into local
optimum during the optimization process, thus its
application effect is not ideal in practice. The greatest
feature of PSO are convenient procedural treatment,
less parameters, simply implemented algorithm and
memory function particles, while gbest can unidirec-
tionally transfer information to other particles, such
information sharing mechanism is more advantageous
for the algorithms fast converging to the global opti-
mal solution. In order to overcome the above defects
of the conjugate gradient algorithm, the PSO algo-
rithm was used to search the optimal hyper-parameters
in samples training process, and then the PSO-GPR
algorithm was formed. The algorithm implementation
steps are as follows (Xu 2008):
1. Initialize the network parameters of PSO algorithm
including particle swarm scale, iteration number,
particle random solution, particle initial veloc-
ity and position, in which, each particle vector
represents a GPR network model.
2. Train and test samples by GPR network, then
calculate the fitness value fi of each particle.
3. Compare fi calculated in step 2 with optimal
solution f (pbest i ) calculated in previous iteration
history, if fi < f (pbest i ), then replace f (pbest i )
with the new fitness value and substitute previous
particle by new particle.
4. Compare each individual optimal solution f (pbest i )
with global optimal solution f (gbest), if f (pbest i )
< f (gbest), then replace original global optimal
solution with the new individual optimal solution,
meanwhile, save the current state of the particles.
5. When the network satisfies the preset iteration step,
end the program and return the particle with current
minimum fitness value to find the optimal solution.
If the conditions are unsatisfied, update particle
position and velocity using Equations (14), (15) and
(16), then return to step 2 and start a new iteration
until maximum iteration step satisfied.
In the program, particle range is [wmin , wmax ] = [0.3,
0.9], learning factor c1 and c2 is valued 2, particle
swarm scale is valued 20, the maximum iteration step
is 50, the fitness function is given by:
where g(xi ) is the predictive value of testing sample i
in network training, yi is the sample value of testing
sample i.
4.2 Engineering application
In the construction process of Jixi-Huangshan express
way tunnels in Anhui province, 20 groups of rebound
tests and point load tests of rock were carried in-situ.
The rebound strength σH and saturated uniaxial com-
pressive strength σC of rock are listed in Table 1.

497

Figure 1. Fitness value curve with iteration step.
First 16 groups of data were learnt with PSO-GPR
algorithm advanced in this paper and last 4 groups of
data were used to predict, the predictive results and
optimal hyper-parameters of GPR searched by PSO
are listed in Table 2, fitness value curve is shown in
Figure 1.
Judging from Table 2, we found that PSO-GPR
algorithm has better extrapolating performance than
GPR algorithm. Using PSO-GPR algorithm, the maxi-
mum relative error is 2.33%, the average relative error
is 0.90%. These show that the PSO-GPR algorithm
could satisfy the requirement of engineering appli-
cation and provide a favorable theoretical basis for
alteration of rock mass classification in-situ. Figure
1 shows that the fitness value vibrated quickly before
iteration step 20 and converged gradually after itera-
tion step 20. So the higher precision global optimal
parameter could be found after iteration step 50 when
the program finished.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Comparing with GPR algorithm without parameter
optimization, PSO-GPR algorithm is higher on gener-
alization performance, which can effectively improve
the prediction accuracy.
498
PSO algorithm, which has the characteristics of
simple programming operation and less network
parameters, avoids the defects of the conjugate gradi-
ent algorithm in searching optimal hyper-parameters
of Gaussian processes. So, it is more effective in
parameter optimization design of GPR.
Verified by practical examples, the PSO-GPR algo-
rithm proposed in this paper can be applied to predict
rock uniaxial compressive strength when rock mass
classification rapidly changing, also, it provides a
favorable basis for alteration of support design.
REFERENCES
Ding, H.P., Nie, L., Zhang, Z.Y. 2008. The correlation study
of rock strength between point load test and rebound test.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Stability classification of mine roadways surrounding rock using genetic

algorithm neural network

P.X. Li, Z.X. Tan, L.L. Yan & K.Z. Deng

China University of Mining and Technology, Key Laboratory for Land Environment and Disaster Monitoring
of SBSM, Xuzhou, China
China University of Mining and Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information
Engineering, Xuzhou, China

ABSTRACT: In order to obtain reasonable layout and support parameter, a mine roadways stability classifi-
cation model based on BP neural network was established. After trainings using a large number of measured
samples, a mathematic relationship between stability category and factors affecting it was established. Genetic
algorithms were used to optimize the initial weights of BP neural network which can select the initial weights
work effectively, and improved the generalization performance of BP neural network, to avoid training from
falling into local minimum. Test results show that mine roadway surrounding rock stability can be classified
correctly and validly. Through this model factors affecting the stability of surrounding rock can be considered
comprehensively and a high-dimensional nonlinear mathematical model which matches the reality can be estab-
lished with accurate and reliable results, it can meet the requirements of coal mine roadway support. The research
provides a scientific basis for roadways selection of support parameters.

1 INTRODUCTION neural network or its variations are the most widely

To give a reasonable evaluation on roadway stability
and provide a basis for selection of roadway support
parameters is the main purpose of coal mine tunnel
stability classification. The stability of mine road-
way is affected complexly by engineering geological
condition such as strength and structural characteris-
tics of surrounding rock, coal seam dip angle, ground
water; and mining technical conditions, such as coal
pillar size of roadway, section area of tunnel, and
support ways of roadway and so on. At present, pro-
todyakonov coefficient of rock strength, rock quality
designation (RQD), comprehensive classification of
rock mass based on elastic wave and rock structural
weight classification method are mainly used to clas-
sify stability of roadway surrounding rock (Ma et al.
2004). Factors affecting the stability of roadway are
complex and relationship between roadway stability
classification and its affecting factors has ambigu-
ity, uncertainty and highly non-linear characteristics.
There is no clear dividing line between categories of
it. Weights of classification methods are often selected
with subjective and objective factors, and it leads a
result based on traditional surrounding rock stability
classification method lack of consistency and objec-
tivity (Zhang & Zhao 2002). Artificial neural network
(ANN) is a highly nonlinear calculation method simi-
lar to biological nervous systems developed in recent
years. It has great advantages in automatic control,
signals processing, pattern recognition and artificial
intelligence (Xia et al. 2011, Zhao et al. 2010). BP
used method of neural network application. It is the
core part of feed forward neural networks. From the
angle of theory, Kolmogorov theorem has proved that
a three-layer BP neural network can fit of arbitrary
rational function with arbitrary precision. With com-
prehensive analysis of the factors affecting the stability
of roadway surrounding rock, and we adopt genetic
algorithm which can optimize the initial weights of the
BP neural network, so that to establish a stability clas-
sification model of roadways surrounding rock based
on genetic algorithm BP neural network (GA-BP).
Genetic algorithm the optimization to the initial
weights of BP neural network, the defects of hard to
determine the initial weights and falling into the local
minima, and has made a great progress. The roadway
surrounding rock stability can be classified correctly
and effectively with the BP model, the research also
provides a scientific basis for selection of roadway
support parameters.
2 FUNDAMENTAL THEORY OF GA-BP
2.1 Theory of BP neural network
BP neural network trained the network with the method
of back propagation to get the network weights. The
main idea is modifying the weight or threshold to
make the error function decline along the negative
gradient direction (Yuan et al. 1999). Signal transmis-
sion and error back-propagation are the two process

499
procedures of BP neural network learning. In the for-
ward propagation, the signal is inputted from input
layer, and propagated to output layer after processed
by hidden layer. Each neuron only could affect the
neurons state of the next layer. The error propagates
backward if desired output has not been got. As the
basis to modify the neurons weight, output error back
propagate backward into the input layer through hid-
den layer, repeating until output error permitted (Xing
et al. 2005).
Assume that there are n neurons in the input
layer of a three feed forward BP neural network
which have one hidden layer, which are X ∈ Rn ,
X = (x1 , x2 , . . . , xn )T , there are n1 neurons in the sec-
ond layer, which are X ∈ Rn1 , X = (x1 , x2 , . . . , xn1
 T
) ,
and m neurons in the output layer, which are Y ∈ Rm ,
Y = (y1 , y2 , . . . , ym )T . Weight between the input and
hidden layer is wij , threshold is θj . Weight between
the hidden layer and output layer is wij , thresh-
old is θ j , in which (i = 1, 2, . . . , n; j = 1, 2, . . . , n1 ;
k = 1, 2, . . . , m), all output of the neurons should
satisfy the Equations (1) & (2).
The purpose is to get connection weights (wij , wjk)
and threshold (θ j , θ k ) between neurons by training
of P samples like (x1 , y1 ), (x2 , y2 ) . . . (xp , yp ),
and make the mapping successful. If the training
samples x1 , x2 , . . . , xp are known as input data, and
t 1 , t 2 , . . . , t p known as expected corresponding out-
put.The learn algorithms is to modify their weights and
thresholds with error of actual output y1 , y2 , . . . , yp
and expected output t 1 , t 2 , . . . , t p , and making it
as closely as possible. If the pl sample input into
the network and yl obtained as output, in which
l = 1, 2 . . . , m. Sum of all output unit error can be cal-
culated by Equation (3). And if training with all P
samples, total error can be calculated by Equation (4).
According to the gradient algorithm, general principle
to modify the weights of connections is to make the
total error always decreasing until it meets the condi-
tions. Through derivation calculation of error, all layer
weights can be calculated by Equations (5) and (6).
where δPjkl = (tlPl − ylPl )ylPl (1 − ylPl ), and η is step
length.
500

Pl  Pl Pl
where δPijl = m k=1 δjk wjk xj (1 − xj ).
Formulas given above are the basis ones to modify
the weight for a three-layer BP neural network. The
entire network learning process contains two phases:
the first stage is calculating from input layer to output
layer. Output of all neurons can be calculated by train-
ing samples by initial structure and weight; the second
stage is to modify the weights and threshold. It start
from output layer to input layer, and weight of neurons
connect to output can be modified according to error
of output, and also hidden layer weight can be mod-
ified too. The two stages are iterative processes and
will repeat until convergence. Essentially speaking,
BP neural network is a nonlinear optimization from
a set of input and output samples. It can be seen as a
mapping from n-dimensional to m-dimensional.
2.2 Theory of genetic algorithm
Genetic algorithm is an adaptive heuristic random
global and direct circulation search method based on
the imitation of nature biological evolution mech-
anism. Its essence is an efficient, parallel, global
search method made up of replication, selection,
crossover, mutation operator. Its implementation pro-
cesses include encode, create population, fitness cal-
culation, replication, crossover, mutation and so on.
The basic idea of genetic algorithms originates from
evolution theory developed by Darwin and inheritance
theory developed by Mendel. The most important of
evolution theory is survival of fittest theory which
believes that all species will become more adaptable to
their environment with development. Basic character-
istics of each species individual can be inherited by its
descendants, but there will be some new changes that
are different from parents. And only those characteris-
tics which adapt to the environment can be preserved
when environment changes. The most important point
of inheritance theory from Mendel is theory of genetic
gene. He considered that inheritance exists by means
of genetic exist with genetic code in the cell and con-
tained as genes in the chromosomes. Each gene has
a special position and control a special characteristic
of the individual, so individual with a special gene
has a certain adaptability of the environment. Gene
mutations and genetic hybrids can produce offspring
more adaptable to the environment. High adaptability
of gene structure can be preserved after natural selec-
tion procedure which selects the best and eliminates
the worst.
The genetic algorithm encodes the solutions of
the problems with “chromosome” to implement with
encode string. A group of “chromosome” which is
assumption solution must be given before implemen-
tation of genetic algorithms. First, put the assumption
solution in the context of the problem, and follow-
ing the principle of survival of the fittest, so that
the much more adaptive “chromosome” can be cho-
sen to replicate, and then a group of next-generation
“chromosome” can be produced through crossover and
mutation. In this way, to evolve from generation to
generation, finally it can converge to the “chromo- is a complex continuous optimization, it will
some” which is the most adaptive to the context of the be too long to use traditional binary encoding
problem, and it is the optimal solution of the problem. method, and it will also affect the accuracy and
Genetic algorithm has three basic operations: computational efficiency of evolution algorithm.
Real-number encoding method suits for genetic
(1) Selection
algorithms with a large span and high precision,
The purpose of selection is to select the excel-
so real number encoding method is selected in the
lent individuals from current population, so that
article. All layers of BP neural network weights
they will have the opportunity to act as parent to
are encoded to GA chromosome in accordance
propagate descendants of next generation. Fitness
with order. Each gene in the series represents a
value is the basis to select the individuals much
BP neural network weights and a threshold.
more adaptive to the environment.The GA embod-
(2) Fitness Function.Take the reciprocal value of error
ies the principles of Darwin’s theory of survival
sum of squares as fitness function value, calcu-
of the fittest by selection, which indicates adapt-
lated by BP neural network, the bigger of fitness
able individuals have higher rate to contribute
value, the smaller of error sum of squares will be.
descendant for next-generation.The common used
Fitness value of all individuals in the group must
operators are roulette selection, random competi-
be calculated and ordered from largest to smallest,
tion selection, best reserved selection, stochastic
eliminating small individual fitness individuals.
sampling with replacement selection, etc.
Selection operator is roulette method.
(2) Crossover
(3) Individuals with larger fitness value were chosen
Crossover is the most important genetic manip-
to give next generation directly. Current genera-
ulation of the genetic algorithm (Lei et al. 2005).
tion groups should be treated by crossover and
Crossover algorithm will exchange genes from
mutation operations, and then we can get a new
two different individuals selected at the same
next-generation group.
location, then a new entity created. By crossover
(4) Repeat steps (2) and (3), and keep the initial
operation, the individual of new generation would
BP neural network weights optimized constantly
combine the individual characteristics of its par-
until the result meet the termination condition. A
ents. Crossover operation embodies the idea of
group of BP neural network weights were acquired
the information exchange. The common used
after decoding of the genetic code, which can
crossover operators are single-point crossover,
be regarded as the initial weights of BP neural
two-point crossover, uniform crossover and arith-
network.
metical crossover.
(5) After training of BP neural network use with initial
(3) Mutation
network weights, the BP neural network model can
First, an individual should be selected randomly
be established to predict the time series ground
from the group by mutation operation and then
movement caused by mining.
change the value of a string structure data from
selected individual with small probability, which
is to change one or a number of values to the other
3 SELECTION OF INDEXES AND ITS
allele with a certain probability for all individuals
SAM-PLES OF MINE ROADWAY
in the group. Mutation provides an opportunity
SURROUNDING ROCK STABILITY
to create new individual for the new genera-
CLASSIFICATION
tion. The common used mutation operations are
simple mutation, uniform mutation, non-uniform
Stability of mine roadway surrounding rocks is under
mutation and Gaussian mutation, et al.
influence of several factors, such as geological con-
ditions and production technology. Deformation of
2.3 Method to optimize the neural network with roadway is the concentrated reflection of the sur-
genetic algorithms rounding rock stability, and the results are affected by
multiple factors comprehensively (Zou 1995).
There are three ways to optimize the neural network
with genetic algorithms which are neural network
weights optimization, network structure optimization 3.1 Strength of roadway surrounding rock
and learning rules optimization (Guo et al. 2000, Lu
Strength of roadway surrounding rock is one of the
1999, Miao et al. 2005, Yao 2004, Wang et al. 2004).
main factors affecting the stability of roadways. It
This article takes genetic algorithms to optimize the
should be evaluated comprehensively with multiple
initial weights of the BP neural network. The steps are
indexes. During the production process of coal mine,
as follows:
the strength of rock mass can be simplified as result
(1) Genetic coding. In order to optimize the initial of combined action of two reasons: they are compres-
weight of the BP neural network, all layers of sion strength and rock integrity index with effect of
BP neural network weights and thresholds should weak plane. Uniaxial compressive is the physical and
be encoded as chromosome structure. Due to the mechanical reflection of rock materials, and plays a
neural network weights and thresholds parameters decisive effect on roadway deformation and failure. In

501
the paper, uniaxial compressive strength of roof σ R ,
coal seam σ C and coal seam floor σ F were selected as
the evaluation indicator of roadway surrounding rock
stability. There are a lot of indexes of rock integrity,
with the characteristics of coal seam strata considered,
first caving distance D was selected as the compre-
hensive index to reflect the integrity of rock (Cai
2002).
3.2 Other indexes
Study of mine pressure shows that the strata behav-
iors is different in varying location of main roof.
Baosheng, Z. (1999) pointed out that main roof pres-
sure can be reflected through ratio of basic roof
thickness to mining height N, and N can be seen as the
classification indicator to reflect the impact of advanc-
ing bearing pressure (Zhou 1999). Original rock stress
can be thought as the self-weight stress of the rock.
Original rock stress is proportional to the roadway
depth H, so the roadway depth H can be seen as an
index effect on stability of surrounding rock.
According to law of mine strata behaviors, lateral
residual support pressure caused by mining of adja-
cent working face is another key factor affecting the
stability of roadway surrounding rock. Lateral sup-
port pressure is under the influence of covering basic
roof strata movement more and more with the advance
of the working face. Therefore, Xizheng, Z. (1995)
pointed out that distance of roadway and the adjacent
mining face along with the coal seam( that is width
of roadway coal pillar) X can be used as a factor to
reflect the lateral residual support pressure of adjacent
section working face (Wang 2005, Shen et al. 2008).
To sum up, We choose the following indexes, uni-
axial compressive strength of roof strata σR , uniaxial
compressive strength of coal seam σC , and uniaxial
compressive strength of floor strata σF , first caving
distance of roadway D, ratio of basic roof thickness to
mining height N, roadway depth H and width of road-
way coal pillar X as the index of roadway surrounding
rock stability classification.
A large number of measure samples data were
needed to establish the GA-BP classification model
of roadway surrounding rock stability. In process of
research, measured data of roadway surrounding rock
stability from mainly mine in China were collected
and arranged as training and testing samples, as shown
in Table 1. In the table, 1-129 samples were training
samples and 130-134 samples were selected as test-
ing samples. The surrounding stability is divided into
five general types, and I denote the surrounding rock
is stability, II denote the basic stability, III denote the
poor stability, IV denotes unstable, and V denotes the
very unstable surrounding rock.
4 MINE ROADWAY SURROUNDING ROCK
STABILITY CLASSIFICATION MODELLING
METHOD BASED ON GA-BP
A three layer BP neural network, which with a sin-
gle hidden layer include, was chosen to establish the
function model of roadway surrounding rock stabil-
ity indicators and its categories. There are 7 factors
arranged as input vector and output layer is the marking
vector of roadway surrounding rock stability cate-
gory, in which (1 −1 −1 −1 −1) remarking the I
kind surrounding rocks, (−1 1 −1 −1 −1) remark-
ing the II kind, (−1 −1 1 −1 −1) remarking the III
kind, (−1 −1 −1 1 −1) remarking the IV kind, and
(−1 −1 −1 −1 1) remarking the V kind. Accord-
ing to kolmogorov theory, number of neurons in the
hidden layer is selected 8, and then a 7-8-5 struc-
ture BP neuron network was established, as shown in
Figure 1.
The initial weights and threshold of BP was selected
by genetic algorithm, which the population size is 100
and the generation number is 200. The fitness func-
tion is the reciprocal value of error sum squares. The
GA-BP neural network was trained with training sam-
ples in Table 1. Comparison between trained results
and desired output is shown in Figure 2; trained result
with a 100% correct. Proportion of Results show that
the structure of BP neural network is reasonable; initial
weights of BP neural network can be optimized effec-
tively with genetic algorithm and avoid classification
error falling into local minimum.

Table 1. Training and testing sample of roadway surrounding rock stability classification.

Serial Number σR (MPa) σC (MPa) σF (MPa) N H (m) X (m) D (m) Stability category

1 68 15 60 0.20 263 100 30 I

2 78 15 70 0.00 654 100 40 I
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
126 50 30 50 4.00 387 0 7 IV
127 38 13 13 3.70 256 30 10 V
128 44 27 27 4.00 250 100 13 II
129 57 15 15 2.80 403 100 14 III
130 75 30 56 0.17 317 100 45 I
131 47 15 41 0.80 235 100 17 II
132 30 10 10 2.30 530 100 14 III
133 15 12 28 2.61 480 100 2 IV
134 29 12 12 1.21 455 4 15 V

502
5 TESTING RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Training results of BP neural network only shows the
ability fitting with training samples, while we pay
much more attention to prediction ability for unknown
samples which known as the generalization perfor-
mance of network. 5 testing samples No. 130-34 in
Table 1 are used to test the GA-BP network. Test results
are shown in Table 2.
As data shown in Table 2, the stability classifi-
cation results calculated by BP neural network is
fitting for the results actually measured.Variety factors
affecting the stability of roadways can be considered
comprehensively as the stability indicator of roadway
with the BP neural network, to avoid defects of sin-
gle index classification, with a simple data modelling
method, he research provides a scientific basis and
an effective calculation method for the mine roadway
surrounding rock stability classification and road-
way design. With increasing of the measurement data
increase and sample sizes, the calculation accuracy
of roadway stability classification model will also be
improved constantly.
BP neural network is a commonly used method in
pattern recognition under the highly nonlinear uncer-
tain condition in recent years, but there is still no
effective theory and method to determine the initial
weights of the BP neural network, to avoid the network
model falling into a local minimum easily. Genetic
algorithm does the macro search with biological evo-
lutionary theory which can optimize the problem
globally. Genetic algorithm model can not only choose
the initial neural network weights correctly and avoid
the network falling into a local minimum, but also
can improve the learning and prediction performance
effectively.

6 CONCLUSIONS

1. Theory, method and procedures are introduced in

details to optimize the initial weights of BP neural
Table 2. Comparison between expected output and actual
output category of test samples.

Serial Expected Actual

Number Output Vectors of GA-BP output output

130 1 −1 −1 −1 −1 I I
131 −1 1 −1 −1 −1 II II
132 −1 −1 1 −1 −1 III III
133 −1 −1 −1 1 −1 IV IV
134 −1 −1 −1 −1 1 V V
Figure 1. Structure of neural network.

Figure 2. Comparison of training results.

503
 network with genetic algorithm. Genetic algorithm
model can not only choose the initial neural network
weights correctly and avoid the network falling into
a local minimum, but also can improve the learning
and prediction performance effectively.
2. Factors affecting the coal mine roadway rock sta-
bility are analyzed and 7 factors were selected as
the input index to roadway stability classification;
5 dimension vectors were used to remark the sta-
bility category. A three layers BP neural network
model which structured 7-8-5 were established and
trained with training samples. Training and testing
results show that the model established is correct
and reliable, which can meet the needs of field
engineering.
3. To adopt BP neural network, multiple factors affect-
ing the stability of surrounding rock can be consid-
ered comprehensively, mathematical models with
high-dimensional, nonlinear relationship which
match the realistic can be established with a sim-
ple modeling method, modeling results are accurate
and reliable, limitations of single index classifica-
tion can be avoided effectively, which just meet the
requirement of analysis about mine roadway sup-
port. The research provides a scientific basis for
roadway support parameters determination.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to express appreciation for the
project supported by Research and Innovation Pro-
gram for College and University Graduate Students
in Jiangsu Province under Grant No. CX10B_141Z &
National Natural Science Foundation of China under
Grant No. 41071273.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Weights determination of tendency indexes of coal bumps and hazard

evaluation

J.G. Lu, Y.D. Jiang, Y.X. Zhao & J. Zhu

State Key Lab of Coal Resources and Safe Mining, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: In order to accurately reflect the tendency of coal bumps, a lot of experimental data has been
consulted and the paper adopted method of the genetic algorithm to optimize the BP neural network to determine
weight coefficient of three indicators and made use of the method of expert scoring to correct weight coefficients.
And according to statistic analysis of three indicators, we respectively established their fuzzy membership
functions and formed the system of comprehensive fuzzy evaluation of tendency of coal bumps. Finally, we
used a large number of experimental data to test. The results show that this method combines virtues of the
subjective and objective analysis method. Determining the weights has a good credibility. To some extent,
forming evaluation system solved defaults of the oversize error and large dispersion of tendency of coal bumps.

1 INTRODUCTION situations. Tendency of coal bumps of different regions

The ability that coal and rock mass produces bumps
break called tendency of coal bumps. It is the inher-
ent property of coal and rock medium, the internal
factor of producing coal bumps and the capacity of
recognizing the break of coal and rock mass. The
research of tendency of coal bumps in the mecha-
nism of coal bumps is a very important. And it is
the basis of prediction and prevention of coal bumps
(Jiang et al. 2009, Qi & Dou 2007). According to this
mind, many scholars who are at home and abroad pro-
posed tendency indicators of coal bumps, including
four aspects of energy storage, time to rupture, defor-
mation and stiffness of coal and rock mass. Other
indicators in every country have also been more in-
depth study and application of different levels. These
indicators aim at different objects, and take different
experiments, analytical methods and different param-
eters to reflect the tendency of coal bumps. At present,
there are main three indicators applied in our country,
including indicators of elastic energy, dynamic break
time and bumps energy.
The above three tendentious indicators of coal
bumps reflect different aspects of tendency of
coal bumps. However, people often think that rel-
ative importance of each indicator is the same in
comprehensive evaluation. When we make use of
three indicators to comprehensively revise the ten-
dency of coal bumps, the results of evaluation are
often inconsistencies and large discreteness. In order
to accurately analyze tendency of coal bumps and
aim at contradiction of single indicator, it is consid-
ered that each indicator influence degrees of bumps
tendency to be different. In other words, three indi-
cators should be given different weight coefficients.
Tendency of coal bumps is largely affected by actual
of same coal seam is different (Zhao 2006). So
weight coefficients distributed by experience are often
subjectively speculated, which has rich subjectivity.
However, methods of quantitative objective analysis
are usually difficult to achieve the expectative goals
and make evaluation results have large discrepancies.
Therefore, based on the basis of previous experimental
data, the paper utilized the method of genetic algorithm
optimizing BP neural network to determine the three
indicators weights. And make use of the method of
fuzzy statistics to determine the membership functions
of bumps tendency of three indicators. consequently
realize the system of fuzzy comprehensive evalua-
tion. To a certain extent, it can improve the subjective
judgment which brings great difference.
2 BASIC PRICIPLE OF DETERMINING
INDICATORS WEIGHTS BASED ON
GENETIC ALGORITHM OPTIMIZING
BP NEURAL NETWORK
Nowadays, we commonly use BP neural network for
three layers. Under the conditions of enough hidden
nodes it can precisely approximate any nonlinear map-
ping. Therefore, it is necessary to select input and
output variables to build and train BP neural network.
We can get the true relationship of input factors rel-
ative to output factors by linkages among neurons
(William 1997). One of the input variables respectively
increase and decrease, keep other variables constant,
respectively input the original network which has been
trained. And then results of the two output variable val-
ues subtract each other and seek for the average MIV.
If the absolute value of MIV is greater, the indicator
of this factor impacting on the output results will be

505
Figure 1. Flow chart of determination of indicators weights of genetic algorithm optimizing BP network.
greater. And respectively get the degree of influence
of each input variables relative to output variables by
this method.
Xi0 is variable value after increasing input variable
Xi0 ; Xi0 is variable value after reducing input vari-
able Xi0 ; Xi (i = i0 ) is the variable values constant
except Xi0 ; Y  and Y  are training results in keep-
ing the same situation as the network structure after
increasing and reducing; n is the sample data count of
input variable Xi0 .
But in the application BP algorithms are mostly
based on the gradient descent algorithm. There are
low of convergence speed, poor stability and so on.
Although there have been a variety of improving algo-
rithms, they still appear to fall into local minima,
non-convergence and oscillation in the training pro-
cess. However, genetic algorithm based on global
search techniques to find and optimize best individ-
ual groups for achieving the optimal solution which
can meet the requirements. It has the global conver-
gence. So make use of genetic algorithm to optimize
506
BP neural network weights and thresholds in the
network training. And it can be helpful for getting opti-
mum network structure. Consequently, this method
can improve the generalization ability of the network,
as shown in Figure 1.
3 DETERMINATION OF INDEX WEIGHT OF
BUMPS-PRONE COAL
3.1 Initial determination of indicator weights
of bumps-prone coal
In order to accurately reflect tendency of coal bumps,
the article selected three indicators of elastic energy
index, impact energy index and dynamic break time.
And review 85 sets of experimental data from the refer-
ences. The three indicators act as input variables. The
results of comprehensive assessment of coal bumps
tendency which has been known as output variables.
Without bumps tendency, weak and strong bumps ten-
dency are respectively recorded for −1, 0 and 1. By this
method to build BP neural network and make use of
genetic algorithms to optimize it. And then determine
the weights of three indicators.
W1 = (0.4383 0.2409 −0.3208)T. It can be seen
that the weight of elastic energy index is the largest,
dynamic break time take second place and bumps
energy index is the minimum in the results obtained by
comparing the absolute value of three weights. Among
them, the positive sign that the relation of impact on

Figure 2. Genetic optimization algorithm.
Figure 3. Method of genetic algorithm optimizing BP
network.
the results of such indicators is positive correlation
and a negative sign is opposite. Figure 2 and Figure 3
are the training process of the genetic algorithm BP
optimizing neural network.
3.2 Weights amendment of coal bumps tendency
Tendency of coal bumps was influenced greatly by
actual situations. Bumps tendency of different regions
of the same coal seam was different, especially when
the sample data is inadequate, the weight results which
make use of the method of the genetic algorithm
BP optimizing neural network to determine are the
larger deviation then actual results. From the physical
meaning of 3 indicators, it can be seen that elas-
tic energy index reflects properties of energy storage
phase and discrete is smaller. However, the index of
bumps energy reflects properties of energy storage
and releasing phase and discrete is greater. Simi-
larly, the dynamic break time reflects properties of
damage phase of coal. In this phase appearance of
507
Figure 4. Scheme of fuzzy membership function of bumps
tendency.
Table 1. Parameters of membership function of indicators
of bumps tendency index membership function.
Elastic energy Bumps energy Dynamic
Parameters index index break time
a 1.5 1 30
b 2.5 2 70
c 4.5 4.5 400
d 5.5 5.5 600
damage characteristics is not the same and the differ-
ence is greater. If deviation is large, discrete is greater.
Therefore, weights of tendency of coal bumps have
to make an appropriate adjustment according to the
actual situation. In order to more accurately reflect
the tendency of coal bumps, it is necessary for us to
make use of expert scoring method to re-determine
its weights. Weight coefficients are: W2 = (0.27 0.33
−0.4)T. Combine the genetic algorithm BP optimizing
neural network and expert scoring method to amend
its weight coefficients:
α is usually real number of (0, 1) Interval and
EXP at here, taking 0.6 and Weight coefficients are
W  = (0.3710.2765-0.3525)T at last.
4 DETERMINATION OF FUZZY
MEMB-ERSHIP FUNCTION OF COAL
BUMPS TE-NDENCY
This paper utilize fuzzy statistical method to draw the
frequency distribution (Zhang et al. 2009, Wang et al.
1992), observe distribution method, combine with sub-
jective assignment, and use trapezium distribution to
approximately express fuzzy membership function of
coal bumps tendency according to the experimental
data. As Figure 4 and Table 1 are shown.
where
Table 2. Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation of bumps tendency.

Elastic energy Bumps energy Dynamic break Fuzzy calculation Comprehensive

Number index index time (ms) Tendency results evaluation

1 2.2 1.5 461 Weak (0.25,0.64,0.11) Weak

2 2.1 2.4 537 Weak (0.16,0.60,0.24) Weak
3 2.2 2.5 674 Weak (0.10,0.55,0.35) Weak
4 2.2 1.4 409 Weak (0.29,0.69,0.02) Weak
5 1.1 2.2 2943 Noting (0.37,0.28,0.35) Nothing
6 5.2 69 33 Strong (0.33,0.13,0.54) Strong
7 4.9 112 3.75 Strong (0.35,0.24,0.41) Strong
8 4.8 96 7.25 Strong (0.35,0.26,0.39) Strong
9 0.9 0.5 2040 Nothing (0.65,0,0.35) Nothing
10 5.9 67 6.9 Strong (0.35,0,0.65) Strong

6 CONCLUSION

The paper determine the weight coefficients of elastic

energy index, bump energy index and dynamic break
time based on the genetic algorithm optimizing BP
neural and using the expert scoring method further
corrects the weight coefficients, this method combines
subjective and objective the advantages of analysis,
which has good reliability.
Utilize the fuzzy statistical method to draw the
frequency distribution according to the experimental
data, combine with the subjective assignment method,
make use of trapezium distribution to approximately
express fuzzy membership function of three indicators
of coal bump tendency. And select the comprehen-
sive evaluation results known of bump tendency of 10
groups to re-valuate by the above methods.

5 FUZZY COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF REFERENCES

COAL BUMPS TENDENCY
Make use of the above methods to determine mem-
bership function and weight coefficients of three indi-
cators of coal bumps tendency. And it can be adopted
primary, secondary or tertiary fuzzy comprehensive
evaluation. Applying the methods can overcome the
traditional evaluation which could appear to contradic-
tions that the test average of three indicators belongs
to different levels of bumps tendency and can improve
that the subjective judgments brought more bias.
Table 2 shows the comprehensive evaluation results
known of bumps tendency of 10 groups. And take
advantage of the above methods to re-evaluate. And by
the results of comparative analysis to examine the cred-
ibility of weights coefficients of bumps tendency and
fuzzy membership function. It can be seen from table 2
that the final result of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation
is more reliable, but because of limited data only 10
groups of data were selected to test and not fully reflect
the accuracy of indicators weights of coal bumps ten-
dency (Guo & Su 2009, Pan et al. 2010). Therefore,
this method needs to continue to improve. It gradually
improves weight coefficients and fuzzy membership
function.
Guo, J.Q. & Su, C.D. 2009. Analysis on experimental results
of rock burst tendency of different coal samples. Journal
of China Coal Society, 34(6): 898–901.
Jiang, Y.D., Zhao, Y.X., Liu, W.G. & Zhu, J. 2009. Inves-
tigation on the mechanism of coal bumps and relating
experiments. Beijing: Science Press.
Pan, Y.S., Geng, L. & Li, Z.H. 2010. Research on evalua-
tion indices for impact tendency and danger of coal seam.
Journal of China Coal Society, 35(12): 1976–1980.
Qi, Q.X. & Dou, L.M. 2007. The theory and technol-
ogy of burst. Xuzhou: China University of Mining and
Technology Press.
Wang, S.K., Zhang, W.B. & Wu, Y.K. 1992. Research on the
fuzzy of comprehensive judgement of the outburst liability
of coal seam. Ground Pressure and Strata Control, 01(18):
76–79.
William, C.C. & Margerry, E.H. 1997. Guidelines for the
selection of network architecture. Artificial Intelligence
for Engineering Design Analysis and Manufacturing,
11(4): 395–408.
Zhang, X.Y., Feng, G.R., Kang, L.X. & Yang, S.S. 2009.
Method to determine burst tendency of coal rock by resid-
ual energy emission speed. Journal of China Coal Society,
34 (9): 1166–1168.
Zhao, Y.X. 2006. Investigation on the mechanism of coal
mine bumps. Beijing: China University of Mining and
Technology.

508
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Application of improved AHP method and variable weight theory

to rock mass quality evaluation

S.Y. Peng, G.J. Li, S.W. Qin & J.Q. Ma

College of Construction Engineering, Jilin University, Jilin Province, China

ABSTRACT: Rock quality evaluation is a multi-factor integrated decision-making problem. It is crucial to

determine the weight of factors in the process of evaluation. Result of constant weight model may not conform to
the actual conditions. However, variable weight theory can overcome the shortcomings of constant weight model.
It not only reflects essential attribute of factors and adjusts the weights according to the value of factors, but also
includes the function of “punishment” and “stimulation”. Therefore, an evaluation model based on combing the
Improved Analytic Hierarchy Process (IAHP) and Variable Weight Theory (VWT) for assessing the rock mass
rating is presented. Finally take evaluation of dam foundation rock mass as an example. Result demonstrates
that variable weight model is more reliable than constant weight model.

1 INTRODUCTION AHP method. Then this method is applied to quality

Rock quality evaluation is the basic research of rock
mass. There are many factors affecting the quality of
engineering rock, such as lithology, geological struc-
ture and structure of rock mass. Meanwhile, relation-
ship between factors is complicated. Therefore, rock
quality evaluation is a multi-index synthetic decision
problem.
There have been many studies on rock mass quality
evaluation in the past years. Methods include single
element assessment method and multi-factor evalu-
ation method. Multi-factor evaluation methods have
been widely studied recent years. For example, egres-
sion analytic method represented by RMR with Q
classifying system, grey theory method (Feng 1996),
extension and fuzzy method (Wang 2002, Shao et al.
2004, Yuan et al. 2005, Zhu et al. 2007), neural
network (Qiu et al. 2008.), support vector machine
(Wang et al. 2009) and weighted distance discrimi-
nant method (Yao et al. 2010). Among these methods,
constant weight is the mainly way used to express
weight of factors. This means that weight is invariable
for different rock mass however value of the evalu-
ation factor changes. In reality, the weight assigned
to each factor is relatively small as there are always
many factors for a multi-factor evaluation. Therefore,
poor state of some factors is often disguised when
value of some factor is low or even very low yet its
constant weight is small. Take a jointed rock mass as
an example. As the weight of factor joints is small,
grade of this rock mass is III, but its actual grade
should be V. In order to eliminate the limitation of
constant weight evaluation method, the final weights
of factors are defined by using variable weight theory
after the constant weights are determined by improved
evaluation of dam foundation rock mass.
2 PRINCIPLE AND PROCEDURE OF IAHP
2.1 Principle of IAHP
In the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), consis-
tency check is always indispensable for the reason
that result of the binary comparison is not necessarily
objective consistency. If it cannot pass the test, adjust
judgment matrix through the roughly estimation. In
process of adjusting judging matrix, original informa-
tion might be distorted and deviation (Aguaron et al.
2003). To improve the analytic hierarchy process is
very necessary. Among numerous improved AHP, it is
a simple and effective way to improve the analytic hier-
archy process by using the optimal transitive matrix
(Pan et al. 1988), the optimal transitive matrix make
judgment matrix natural meet requirements and do not
need consistency check (Xie et al. 2002).
A, B and C are real matrixes and aij is the element
of matrix A, bij is the element of matrix B, cij is the
element of matrix C.
Principle 1: If aij = 1/aij and aij = aik /ajk , then A is
reciprocal and consistent matrix.
Principle 2: If bij = −bji and bij = bik − bjk , then B
is anti-symmetric and transfer matrix.
Principle

3:
If there is a transfer matrix C mini-
mizing ni=1 nj=1 (cij − bij )2 , then C is the optimal
transfer matrix of B and if B is an anti-symmetric
matrix, then

509
 From the above-mentioned principles, it is easy to
get the conclusion that if A is a reciprocal matrix, then
B = lg(A) (bij = lg(aij )) is a transfer matrix. If C is the
optimal transfer matrix of B, then matrix A* = 10c is
a optimal transfer matrix of A and it is consistent.
2.2 Procedure of IAHP
(1) Step 1. Establishment of judgment matrix
There are m factors for evaluation and the fac-
tor sets X can be expressed to be (x1 , x2 , . . . , xm ).
Comparative matrix D = [dij ]m*m is constructed by
comparison between two factors.
Where dij = 0 when xi is less important than xj ;
dij = 1 when xi is as import as xj ; dij = 2 when xi is
more important than xj . dii = 1 means that it is of the
same importance when xi is compared with itself.
Judgment matrix A is constructed on the basis
of the comparison matrix. The element of A can be
determined by the following formula:
Obviously A is a reciprocal matrix.
(2) Step 2. Establishment of the optimal transitive
matrix
Construct matrix B = lg(A) (bij = lg(aij ) and C


n
n
(cij = n1 nk=1 (bik − bjk )) to minimize i=1 j=1
(cij − bij )2 . Then C is the optimal transfer matrix of B.
(3) Step 3. Establishment of quasi-optimal transfer
matrix and calculation of weights
Construct matrix A* = 10c (aij = 10 cij ), A* is
quasi-optimal transfer matrix of A, and it naturally
meets with consistent requirements.
Maximum value vector of A* obtained by square
root method corresponds to the weights vector of
factors w0 = (w1 , w2 , w3 , . . . , wm ).
3 VARIABLE WEIGHT THEORY
Variable weights theory (VWT) is relative to constant
weight theory. Prof. Wang Peizhuang put forward its
concept firstly (Wang 1985). Prof. Li Hongxing and
other researchers fulfilled a few valuable works in
this field (Li 1995). Variable weights theory mainly
includes variable weight vector, state variable weight
vector and balance function. With the change of
time/space and environment, the role and effect of the
factors (elements) which determine the whole system
adjust dynamically. In such case, the weights are called
as variable weights. Variable weights vector is decided
by the Hardarmard product of constant weights vector
and normalized state variable weights vector.
510
Gradient vector of balanced function is the state
variable weight vector Sj (X).
These three parts constitute complete theoretical
system for VWT which provides an important sci-
entific comprehensive evaluation model for many
practical problems.
This paper adopts local state variable weight vec-
tor constructed by Mu Fu-ling (Mu et al. 2003) which
highlights balance of each factor and reflects the actual
situation in the assessment. This can make it more
scientific and reasonable to solve practical problems.
Calculation procedure is as follows:
(Step 1). Normalize the original data and then get
the factor sets X(x1 , x2 , . . . , xm ).
(Step 2). Calculate the constant weights of fac-
tors W0 = (W10 , W20 , W30 , . . . Wm0 ) by using IAHP
mentioned above.
(Step 3). Establish local state variable weight vector
Sj (X).
where, j = 1, 2, 3, . . . , m, a is negative level, b is pass-
ing degree, c is stimulation level, d is adjusting level,
e is amplitude ratio of stimulation and punishment
when Wj0 = 1/m, a, b, c, d, e ∈ [0,1].
(Step 4). Calculate variable weights vector Wi (X)

0
where, m j=1 Wj (X) = 1, Wi is constant weights vec-
tor, Sj (X) is local state variable weights vector that
reflects the dynamical change of X.
(Step 5). Comprehensive evaluation value calcula-
tion
(Step 6). Determine quality grade of rock mass
according to the value of V(X) calculated by the for-
mula above. Rock mass quality hierarchy is as shown
in the Table 1.
4 APPLICATION OF IAHP AND VWT TO ROCK
MASS QUALITY EVALUATION
In the case of a rock mass, the example of a dam
foundation rock quality data supplied by Liang Guilan
(Liang et al. 2010) may be used, where rock compres- factors need to be normalized (as shown in Table 2).
sive strength, RQD value, volume joints, sonic p-wave Constant weight of each factor can be obtained with
velocity, number chimeric degree and integrity coef- IAHP.
ficient are the evaluation factors. Original values of
W 0 = (0.102, 0.122, 0.335,0.048, 0.122, 0.271)
Table 1. Rock mass quality hierarchy.
Then evaluation values with constant weight vi (x)
Comprehensive are calculated and shown in Table 2.
Grade evaluation value Explanation Extreme degradation of individual factor situation
will lower grade of rock mass. Therefore, punishment
I 0.8 < V(x) ≤ 1 intact rock mass should be relatively increased and stimulation should
II 0.6 < V(x) ≤ 0.8 comparatively complete rock be relatively decreased during establishing local state
III 0.4 < V(x) ≤ 0.6 comparatively fractural rock mass variable weight vector. In the Sj (X) formula, take
IV 0.2 < V(x) ≤ 0.4 fractural rock mass a = 0.4, b = 0.7, c = 0.9, d = 0.18, e = 0.8. And rock
V 0 < V(x) ≤ 0.2 extremely fractural rock mass quality evaluation for local state variable weight vector
can be expressed as:
Table 2. Values of factors for dam rock mass and evaluation
values with constant weight.

F/ RQD/ VP /
No Mpa % JV (m/s) G KV vi (x)

W0 0.102 0.122 0.335 0.048 0.122 0.271

B1 0.094 0.263 0.7 0.417 0.111 0.222 0.370
B2 0.329 0.526 0.83 0.592 0.444 0.354 0.554
B3 0.443 0.726 0.88 0.745 0.778 0.667 0.740 According to local state variable weight vector
B4 0.530 0.842 0.93 0.783 0.889 0.737 0.814 established above, rock mass variable weight val-
ues and the comprehensive evaluation values can be
Note: F is rock compressive strength; RQD reflect the size obtained on the basis of W0 determined by IAHP and
and complete degree; Jv is volume number of rock joints,
evaluation data from Table 2. All the results are shown
reflecting complete degree; Vp is acoustic p-wave velocity
value, reflecting the quality of engineering rock body quality; in Table 3.
G is chimeric degree; Kv is integrity coefficient. Contrasting vi (X) and Vi (X), It can be found that
the overall factor of B1 is average, but values of G and
Table 3. Variable weights and comprehensive evaluation F are too low, so that evaluation value drops from 0.370
values. to 0.249. It proves that the local variable weight vector
is to punish purpose. On the contrast, the average factor
No W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 Vi (x) values of B4 are higher, and two factors are very high,
so that the final evaluation value rises from 0.814 to
B1 0.122 0.157 0.098 0.032 0.157 0.433 0.249 0.843.
B2 0.136 0.105 0.110 0.016 0.150 0.484 0.438 Abscissa denotes six factors and ordinate denotes
B3 0.222 0.078 0.216 0.031 0.078 0.374 0.679 weight including constant weight and variable weight
B4 0.119 0.064 0.583 0.025 0.064 0.143 0.843
in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Contrast between constant weight and variable weight.

511
Table 4. Calculation results contrast.
No Results got by Liang Guilan Results of this paper
B1 IV IV
B2 III III
B3 II II
B4 I I
In Figure 1, for the factors whose constant weight
is relatively higher (such as Jv and Kv , the abscissa
is 3 and 6), variable weight is very sensitive to varia-
tion. For example when Jv is relatively lower, its weight
changes from 0.335 to 0.098 and when Jv is relatively
higher, its weight changes from 0.335 to 0.583. On
the other hand, for the factors of small weight (Vp ,
the abscissa is 4), variable weight is insensitive to
variation.
In Table 4, comparison between calculated results of
method in this paper and results got by Liang Guilan.
Analysis shows that calculated results of method
in this paper are in exact accordance with results
got by Liang Guilan. That is, results of this paper
match actual measured values very well. Therefore,
method proposed in this paper is reliable. Meanwhile,
it can be clear from the results got by method in this
paper not only comprehensive evaluation value but
also comparison between rocks of the same grade.
5 CONCLUSIONS
A methodology for the assessment of rock mass quality
with specific application to dam foundation rock mass
is presented. Judgment matrix established according
to IAHP naturally meet requirements of consistency.
It is rapid, effective, simple and clear to determine the
constant weight of evaluation factors by IAHP. Vari-
able weights theory can adjusts the weights according
to the value of factors, but also includes the function
of “punishment” and “stimulation”, which make the
weights of factors contains information for different
values of the factors. As to the same factor, weight is
different for different rock mass.
Rock quality evaluation system established based
on IAHP and VWT can show a different result when
individual factors appear to be extremely good or
bad, which reflected more consistent with the actual
situation.
512
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study of seepage generation technology in excavation process based

on 3D geo-mechanical model

K.Z. Wang
College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Z.K. Li, L.J. Cheng & Z.Z. Zhang

State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

F. Lin & Q.Y. Cheng

College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

ABSTRACT: Seepage is one of the key factors which affect the stress and deformation of surrounding rock
in excavation process. By combining 3D geo-mechanical model test for the diversion tunnel of Jinping II
Hydropower Station, two hydraulic servo-controlled water supply schemes are designed. The discrete holey tube
seepage generation system is optimized and selected for solving the percolating water question among the test
bench retaining plate system, the mini-type multi-point extensometer transfer rod and the support sleeve. Based
on discrete multi-principal stress plane, a new loading technology which has waterproof function is brought
forward to make sure to generate the initial stress field while no seepage in assembly airbag steel sleeve and the
wire hole of data collection equipment. The high simulation of seepage field is realized.

1 GENERAL INSTRUCTION
3D geo-mechanical model test is one of the key meth-
ods to study underground engineering (Wang et al.
2008, Li et al. 2003, Li et al. 2004). As underground
engineering is located in underground rock or even
below the ground water level, seepage simulation
becomes one of the inevitable problems in the model
test (Kim & Burd 1988,Yang & Ding 2001, Li & Wang
2005). But seepage simulation hasn’t been involved
in the past massive physical model test. One reason
is that seepage generation technique is difficult; the
other is that leakage within the enclosed box affects
the authenticity of the seepage field as all of the data
lines cross out of the box (Li et al. 2002, Chen 1996,
Song & Xu 2004). In this paper, by combining 3D
geo-mechanical model test for the diversion tunnel of
Jingping II Hydropower Station, the seepage genera-
tion technique is studied and a set of integral seepage
generation system is designed.
At last, some methods to solve the problem of box
leakage are put forward. The authenticity of seepage
simulation is actualized furthest.
2 SEEPAGE SYSTEM APPLIED TO MODEL
TEST
The diversion tunnel of Jingping II Hydropower Sta-
tion is located in a special geological environment with
the crustal stress of 65 MPa and the external water
pressure of 10 MPa. Each of the 4 diversion tunnels
simulated is 16.67 km in length and 13 m in diameter.
The normal depth is 1500∼2000 m and the maximum
depth reaches 2525 m. The external water pressure of
diversion tunnel is 10 MPa. So the original test frame
system no longer meets the need of test and it has to
be improved to simulate the long tunnel where such a
high geo-stress and seepage pressure.
2.1 Optimization design of seepage generation
system
The seepage simulation is quite hard to control and
implement in the model test (Ji & Wang 2005, Zhou
et al. 2005, Al-shayea et al. 2000). During the pro-
cess of preparation, three different pressurized seepage
generation systems are designed to simulate the orig-
inal seepage field and the variational seepage field
in excavation process, to control seepage discharge of
each tunnel and to adjust water pressure in the water
tank. The systems are shown in Figure 1, Figure 2 and
Figure 3 respectively.
Scheme I: As Figure 1 shows, the water tank is set
in a high position and water pressure is supported by
hydraulic pressure differently. There are two tributary
pipes converging to the main pipe out of the water
tank and several tiny copper tubes inside the model
material.

513
 Scheme II: As Figure 2 shows, water supply main
pipe is jointed to tap water pipe. Water pressure and
discharge are controlled by the limit value and flow
meter. There are two tributary pipes at the top of model
box linking to the main pipe and several tiny copper
tubes inside the material.
Scheme III: As Figure 3 shows, two water supply
tanks are set at the bottom of both left and right side of
the model box. Two main pipes are jointed to 32 tiny
copper tubes inside the material for supplying water to
t internal material.
As in-situ stress simulated reaches 0.65 MPa (stress
scale is 1:100, maximum stress of the real engineering
is 65 MPa), it has to be loaded at the top of model
material. In addition, considering the displacement
measurement and data wires crossing through the top
of box, scheme III is selected rather than scheme I
or scheme II. The pressurized water supply scheme is
shown in Figure 3.
Figure 1. Seepage generation at the top tank model
(Scheme I). 2.2 Seepage Simulation of Model
The model size of this test is length × width × height =
4.2 m × 1.83 m × 2.4 m, at the bottom of each side of
the model lies a water tank and the place occupied
by the water tank is shown in Figure 4. In order to
simulate the seepage of rock realistically, the water
supply pipe out of the tank is linked to 6 mm inner
diameter’s copper pipe with holes which are buried
inside the model material. Each hole of the copper
pipe is served as the source of the seepage to supply a
given mass of pressurized water to the model material
in a sustained and steady manner for generating steady
seepage field, shown in Figure 5 and Figure 6And then,
the copper pipe is wrapped with gunny to prevent tiny
holes from clogging as Figure 7 shows.

3 PIERCING OF DATA WIRES AND

ANTI-LEAKAGE OF BOX

3.1 Displacement transducer and piercing

anti-leakage

Figure 2. Water supply at the top which can control tap of Measurements of this test consist of the displace-
water pressure (Scheme II). ment measurement of monitoring points, variation

Figure 3. Seepage generation by water supply of tanks which are set at two sides of model (Scheme III).

514
Figure 4. Lateral steel plate and the tank at the bottom of model.
Figure 5. Connections of main pipe and distributing
branches linked out of tank.
Figure 6. Seepage generation of ting copper tubes in model.
measurement of soil pressure during excavation pro-
cess and measurement of hydraulic seepage pressure.
Multi-point extensometer-KTGC displacement mea-
suring system is applied to measure the deformation
of rock mass during excavation process; vibrating-
wire soil pressure transducer is applied in the
515
Figure 7. Infiltrating prevention technology by wrapping
gunny of copper pipe with holes.
variation measurement of soil pressure; vibrating-
wire hydraulic pressure transducer is applied in the
measurement of seepage pressure inside the material.
DWG-40 displacement transducer of measuring
system DWG-2000 is generally installed on the moni-
toring platform out of the test bench as Figure 8 shows.
The part through test bench is the displacement transfer
rod and its external pipe protection. The pipe protec-
tion is a hollow pipe and the transfer rod can slide
freely in the hollow pipe. Butter is poured into the
space between them to prevent leakage. The transfer
rod tensile test has been carried out to inspect transfer
rod’s sliding condition after the butter poured into the
space as Figure 8 shows. In addition, rubber nut collar
is squeezed to steel plate to be sealed by blind nut to
prevent leakage of the space between the hollow pipe
and the steel plate of box.
3.2 Piercing anti-leakage of the data wires
The section of soil pressure measurement data wires
piercing across the steel plate of the test bench can be
fixed up and the space between data wires and steel
plate is sealed by rubber.The section can be twined into
Figure 8. Prevention pipe of displacement transducer and
transfer rod through steel plate.
Figure 9. Transfer rod sliding in the hollow pipe filled with
yellow dip.
Figure 10. Fixation of prevention pipe and installation of
seal ring.
Figure 11. Burying of upper soil pressure cell anddata lines
through steel plate.
an awl shape by rubber and then squeezed into the hole.
As the diameter increases, the rubber strip of awl shape
is compressed through so that the hole is completely
sealed. The rubber strip can be seen at both sides of the
516
Figure 12. Infiltrating prevention technology by rubber of
data lines through steel plate.
Figure 13. Various data lines of loading system and reverse
thrust cover-plate.
steel plate as Figure 11 and Figure 12 show. The middle
red data wire is the osmometer sensor data wires. The
anti-leakage technology of the seepage pressure data
wires is the same.
3.3 Infiltrating prevention technology of discrete
loading system
As Figure 13 shows, discrete loading system consists
of high-pressure airbag, reverse thrust cover-plate,
spacing jack, vertical column, annular steel frame,
crossbeam and air pressure machine. Spacing jack
is connected to the annular steel frame by vertical
column, then reverse thrust cover-plate is pushed by
spacing jack to control its displacement. High-pressure
airbag lies inside the reverse thrust cover-plate and is
in touch with the plate directly. But its undersurface
is in touch with model material directly rather than

Figure 14. Combination of steel faucets at the top of model
material.
the plate. Then it creates downward pressure through
pressurized by air pressure machine. Thus in-situ stress
field is generated in the model material.
Date wires pierce out of the channel steel which is
used to connect steel faucets and its sealing mode is in
line with the method above. The space has been sealed
by 5 mm rubber no matter it’s between two adjacent
steel faucets, steel faucet and steel frame or steel faucet
and steel plate of model box.
4 CONCLUSIONS
1. The water supply system of automatic compression
and distribution seepage is designed. Two water
tanks are set at both sides of the model test bench
and each tank can supply water upward through
two main pipes. 16 distributing branches and 32
branching pipes are designed. Water supply is real-
ized from the branching pipes to the internal model
by the copper pipes with holes which pierce the hole
of lateral steel plate into model material. Thus, even
seepage inside the model is guaranteed.
2. The infiltrating prevention technology of data wires
fixed with rubber which pierce the hole of steel
plate is put forward and carried out. The infil-
trating prevention technology with butter has been
used in the space between displacement transfer
rod and prevention pipe. The infiltrating prevention
technology by rubber blanket has been actualized
between prevention pipe and copper pipe fixed on
the steel plate.
3. Airbag is restrained by combined steel faucet which
is at the top of the model so that high in-situ stress
realizes. The assembling connection is applied
between two adjacent steel faucets. The rubber strip
is used to seal up water between the steel faucet
and the steel plate. Multi-point displacement trans-
fer rod crosses out of channel steel’s buckling from
the bottom of inverted channel steel.
517
The even seepage of water inside the model and
the authenticity of seepage simulation are actualized
by a series of infiltrating prevention technologies.
Seepage simulation in 3D geo-mechanical model test
would be helpful to predict and prevent potential geo-
hazards efficiently and it has directive significance to
the optimization design and construction.
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of confining pressure and temperature on mixed-mode
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Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 37(4):
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Chen, H.K. 1996. Review on seepage researches of fissured
rock mass(I). Journal of Chongqing Jiaotong University
15(1): 55–59.
Huang, T. & Yang, L.Z. 1999. A prediction study of water-
gush yield in fractured tunnels under coupling between
seepage and stress. Journal of the China Railway Society
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on concealed excavation system for 3D geomechanical
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Li, Z.K., Lu, D.R., Nakayama, H. et al. 2003. Development
and application of new technology for 3D geomechanics
model test of large underground houses[J]. Chinese Jour-
nal of Rock Mechanics and Engineerin 22(9): 1430–1436.
Li, Z.K. & Wang, A.M. 2005. Research on the displace-
ment transfer pattern and error analysis for mini-type
multi-point extensometer. Research and Exploration in
Laboratory 24(6): 21–26.
Li, Z.K., Xu, Q.J., Luo, G.F. et al. 2002. 3D geomechani-
cal model test for large scaled underground hydropower
station. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering 33(5): 32–36.
Ji, X.M. & Wang, Y.H. 2005. Hydromechanical coupling
analysis of tunnel excavation process. Chinese Journal
of Underground Space and Engineering 1(6): 848–852.
Kim, S.H. & Burd, H.J. 1988. Model testing of closely spaced
tunnels in clay. Geotechnique 48(3): 375–388.
Song, X.C. & Xu, W.Y. 2004. A study on conceptual models
of fluid flow in fractured rock. Rock and Soil Mechanics
25(2): 226–231.
Wang, K.Z., Li, Z.K., Wang, A.M. et al. 2008. Study on physi-
cal model test and deformation law of surrounding soil for
shallow metro station chamber. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 27(Supp.1): 2715–2720.
Yang, L.D. & Ding, W.Q. 2001. Back analysis of a test tun-
nel of pumped storage power station in Yixing of Jiangsu
Province. Shanghai: Tongji University.
Zhou, Q.C., Li, H.B., Yang, C.H. et al. 2005. Experimental
study on thermo-mechanical and hydro-mechanical cou-
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Engineering 24(20): 3639–3645.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Three-Dimensional joint modeling and stability analysis of rock blocks

around tunnel

S.H. Wang, X.J. Mu, Y. Xu & H. Yang

School of Resource and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China.

S.H. Wang
State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics & Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining
and Technology, Xuzhou, China

ABSTRACT: A three-dimensional statistical joint modeling technique is put forward to analyze stability of
rock blocks. The deterministic structures of rock mass can be measured by adopting digital photogrammetry
measurement technology, and the model can be built by three-dimensional structural network simulation. A new
method is proposed, in which rock mass is divided into mesh and small block units are formed, then structure
surface is added orderly, block units are cut, after that mesh is removed and small block units are united, finally
complex blocks are formed. The rock blocks generated from the joints were analyzed for their volume, location,
perimeter, safety factor and probability of occurrence. All these procedures were programmed into the computer
program GeoSMA-3D. On this basis, analyze the unstable blocks of the engineering example in China. The test
results show its strong commonality and reliability, and it also can be used for advanced prediction of rock tunnel
excavation process and reinforcing scheme optimization.

1 INTRODUCTION are given, The distribution of all key blocks and the
quantitative data are analyzed by means of the newly
Underground excavations have been constructed developed program-GeoSMA-3D.
recently. Nearly all underground excavations undergo
localized “overbreak” as the desired dimentions of the
2 MONTE CARLO METHOD
opening readjust themselves to geological realities.
Within a certain domain of rock mass, identification
In rock mass, structural planes are the weak region for
of all blocks cut by three-dimensional finite random
most rock failure process begins with these planes, so
or fixed discontinuities is a critical basic problem in
structural planes are the key point to study stability. But
jointed rock mass researches. There has been growing
in the real site, most structural planes can not be inves-
interest in numerically modeling of the brittle fracture
tigated since some of which are invisible in rock mass,
process in rock.
further, the number of structural planes around a tunnel
The design is so far mostly empirical. It assumes that
is huge so it is impossible to investigate them. So in this
the block is rigid and is located in the other fixed body
research, the famous Monte Carlo method is adopted
of rock and bounded by a combination of flat disconti-
to simulate tens of thousands structural planes.
nuities and excavation surfaces. In common with most
Monte Carlo method is on the basis of probabil-
other solutions for three-dimensional blocks, possi-
ity and statistics, which solves the realistic problem
ble block movements are assumed to be limited to
by means of stochastic simulation and statistical test.
translation only, and rotation is excluded.
Among that process, the computer plays a very impor-
In this paper, a new approach to model analy-
tant role. The basic concept for Monte Carlo method
sis structural stability of rock mass opening based
is like this:
on geometric stochastic blocks theory is proposed.
According to the typical block theory and reliability (1) Establish a statistical model and make sure the
analysis, new developed program named GeoSMA- parameter is the answer for realistic problem;
3D (Three-dimensional Geotechnical Structure and (2) Carry out the sampling test to find out the exact
Model Analysis) for simulating rock structural planes value of statistical characteristic;
in rock mass is developed. Based on general method of (3) Generate the random numbers following the sta-
spatial block topological identification with stochastic tistical model and rebuild up that model by means
discontinuities cutting, the block identification on cav- of computer;
ern rock mass is studied. The main analysis procedures (4) Work out the precise value of the object parameter.

519
Table 1. The experimental distribution for parameters of
structural planes.
Dip and Dip The length of
Author direction trace lines
Fisher (1953) Uniform
Mardia (1970) Uniform Negative exponential
Herget (1978) Gaussian Negative exponential
Grossman (1985) Double Gaussian
Kulatilake (1990) Double Gaussian Gaussian
McMahon (1974) Logistic Gaussian
The key process for Monte Carlo method is the gen-
eration of the random numbers which follow the given
statistical model. With the development of the com-
puter science, this process becomes more and more
easy than the past.
3 SIMULATION FOR STRUCTURAL PLANES
The exact position of structural plane can be estab-
lished by its dip and dip direction. In this paper, the
structural planes are treated as infinite planes, accord-
ing to the definition of dip and dip direction, the
normal vector can be obtained.
where α is the dip of the structural plane and β is the dip
direction. Another simulation object is the trace lines,
which is the intersection between structural planes and
other object planes.
For the real rock mass, the structural planes can be
divided into some groups, and in most common situ-
ations, the number of the group will not exceed 5. In
each group, there may be different distribution, so in
order to provide distribution type and statistical char-
acteristic, previous investigation is necessary. Then by
means of Monte Carlo method, we can rebuild the
distribution model using GeoSMA-3D.
4 STABILITY ANALYSIS OF ROCK BLOCKS
AROUND TUNNEL
In general, the analysis of tunnel stability using block
theory is classified into two parts, the kinematic analy-
sis and the stability analysis. In the kinematic analysis,
discontinuities of rock masses are analyzed to deter-
mine whether they could result in instability of the
tunnel using the spherical projection technique. How-
ever, this analysis is restricted because it does not
consider the loading conditions. Once it has been
determined that a kinematically possible failure mode
is presented, a limit equilibrium stability analysis is
performed to compare the resisting forces with the
resultant forces. The stability analysis of a tunnel
depends on several conditions, such as failure modes,
loading conditions, block morphology, and analytical
methodology.
520
According to the parameter, there will be two steps
for the block searching process. First, three groups of
structural plane parameter will be selected at random
and their normal vector and point of intersection will
be calculated, if there is no point of intersection, the
analysis process will be stopped and check out another
combination. Second, if there do exist the intersection
point, we will calculate the intersection of the struc-
tural planes and test out whether it can intersect the
excavation face of the tunnel. If not, the program will
be stopped. In this way, we will find out all rock blocks
around a tunnel and then can estimate the stability.
The computational procedure is based on the vector
analysis of a block’s stability. Part of the computation
tests the geometrical configuration of the fixed faces
initially in contact with the block to find whether they
permit the block to move or not. If they do, then the
procedure can determine the nature and direction of
the attempted movement and can calculate a safety
factor indicating the likelihood that such movement
will be prevented by friction.
In order to model the deformation of a discontin-
uous zone, we adopt a non-linear mechanical model
for discontinuities. For the case of compression, the
behavior of a discontinuous zone can be divided into
three stages:
It is of elastic behavior on the first stage, once
the strain of the discontinuous zone meets the value
larger than the allowed maximum elastic strain, the
zone becomes failure, Then, it enters the second plas-
ticity stage. It should be noted that the second stage
is just an instantaneous one, the zone gets hardening
very quickly and the strain is remained as the perma-
nent deformation in this stage. Then the zone enters
the third stage, which is of elastic behavior again but
with very strong rigidity.
In the case of tension, at first, the discontinuous
zone is of elastic behavior, once tension force gets
larger than the tension strength of the zone, the dis-
continuous zone will be broken completely. Then the
two contacted blocks can be moved apart freely and
there should be no longer normal contact force act-
ing on the discontinuity. After broken, criterion of no
tension is adopted also.
In the case of shearing, the shearing rigidity of the
discontinuous zone was used in the new model instead
of penalty spring used. Therefore, shearing deforma-
tion from the zone can be simulated before shearing
failure. Mohr-Coulomb’s law is used for shearing
failure of two coupled blocks. If the shearing force
calculated from the tangential spring gets larger than
shearing strength τm of the discontinuity, the tangen-
tial spring will be removed, and then, friction force
takes the place of the spring. τm is calculated by the
following formula:
where C and ϕ are cohesion and friction angle of the
discontinuity respectively, and fn is the compressing
force from the normal spring.
 According to this law, the safety factor F is calcu-
lated below.
Formula (3) is the situation of slipping along one
side and Formula (4) is along two sides.
where Q is the weight of the key block, α the dip of
the slipping plane, S the area of the slipping plane and
Ni , Nj are the normal force of the slipping planes.
where α is the dip of the intersection of the slipping
plane i and j. αi and αj are the angle between the
upper normal of the plane and the vector of the weight
vertical to the intersection.
5 APPLICATION OF THE BLOCK STABILITY
ANALYSIS MODEL
5.1 Brief description
Based on the above block model, a new software
is developed by Northeastern University (China).
One example is demonstrated to check the capa-
bility of the current model. The interested area is
100 × 50 × 100 m3 with horizontal and vertical joints
intersecting in the Dayaogou tunnel area.
Dayaogou Tunnel, the first large-span tunnel in the
northern area of Liaoning province, China, is sched-
uled to be completed in 2003. This tunnel is 460 m in
length, 21.242 m in width and 15.52 m in height (Wang
2009). The rock formation of this tunnel is composed
of thick-bedded muddy sandstone, thin alternations of
sandstone and shale. The sandstone and shale alter-
nation is less weathered and is not severely stained.
However, the stability of this large-span tunnel is
affected by faults or joints located nearby. Hence, a
better understanding of the mechanics of influence,
especially regarding the risk assessment of faults, is
required. The influence of faults on the stability of
underground openings has been investigated using
our block stability analysis code in the following
application.
5.2 Geology joint survey and tunnel parameter
The joint survey is carried out in two sides in the
entry of the tunnel and 93 structural planes are found.
According to the field observation, the up-faulted rock
is cut by joint sets very densely, that forms a crushed
521
Figure 1. Tunnel face of Dayaogou Tunnel.
Figure 2. Distribution of key blocks.
band. Figure 2 shows the distribution of key blocks
near and in the crushed band. Based on the survey, the
discontinuities are divided into 4 groups (Table 2).
5.3 Results obtained from the block stability
analysis software
Based upon the above analysis, here we will use the
new code to search and identify the key blocks around
the tunnel. The discontinuities parameter used to anal-
ysis are listed in the Table 2. According to the result
obtained by the software, there are 286 combinations
around the tunnel which must be carefully treated,
including the situation of falling, slipping along one
side, slipping along two sides. The number of the dis-
continuity is marked like this: 1#5 means the 5th plane
of the 1 group.
From these results, It can be found the difference in
size of blocks is also rather large than measured results,
it is more reality, because the joint planes are not
extended infinitely and are cut each other. Obviously
the failure of tunnel causes the nearby rock blocks
sliding.
The material is assumed as made of blocks, which
are jointed by a series of normal and tangent springs.
Each block in this model is assumed to be built up
by particles, which are arranged by a specific way
and jointed by the same method of blocks. The gen-
eral functional expression is obtained to solve stiffness
of springs jointing the particles in blocks. By using
 Table 2. The discontinuities around the tunnel.
Group# Dip (◦ ) Dip Direction (◦ )
1 60 68
2 78 343
3 60 273
4 84 248
Figure 3. Numerical model of the tunnel simulated.
the variance of the function, the stiffness of springs
could be obtained. Based on this, the result calculated
by one block is compared with the theoretical result
to validate and confirm new model parameters. The
compression strength in uniaxial compression test and
pure shear test are simulated with the current model in
multi-blocks simulation. The deformation and failure
processes agree well with theoretical ones and exper-
imental observations. This example verifies that the
current model has reasonable precision and can be
used to study the cracking process of materials. Of
course, further research is necessary to develop a set
of cracking rule which is not from continuum but from
the discontinuous mechanics.
6 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, using the technique of joint size estima-
tion and the program GeoSMA-3D, the factors have
been studied and to be enhanced to understand blocks
failure around a tunnel.
1. It has been also demonstrated that the newly key
block modeling technique is a tool to analysis
blocky rock fracture deformation and failure fol-
lows a reasonable trend, the magnitude of the
fracture deformation computed is in general larger
than that of measured.
2. The test results show its strong commonality and
reliability, and it also can be used for advanced
prediction of rock tunnel excavation process and
reinforcing scheme optimization.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research has been supports jointly by the Liaon-
ing Natural Science Foundation of China (20092011),
Max joint Standard Deviation Standard Deviation
trace (m) of dip (◦ ) of dip direction (◦ )
15.3 6.25 4.63
20.6 3.45 5.54
22.5 10.3 7.66
14.7 7.9 8.56
National Natural Science Foundation (NNSF) of
China (751074042), National College Basic Science
Research Special Foundation of Ministry of Edu-
cation, China(N090401008), State Key Laboratory
for Geomechanics & Deep Underground Engineer-
ing of China (SKLGDUEK1009) and “985 project” of
Northeastern University (China); all of are gratefully
acknowledged.
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dimensional numerical modeling for structural planes
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522
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

GIS-based 3D wedge stability evaluation of a high rock slope

Z.F. Wang, M.W. Xie & X.Y. Liu

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

N. Jia
Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

ABSTRACT: Because of the spatial complexity of rock and soil slopes in space, the three-dimensional analysis
of slope has been one of the most important research topics in the geotechnical engineering field. In recent years,
the development of GIS (Geographic Information System) technology provides powerful tools for the three-
dimensional spatial analysis of slopes. Taking the high slope of a hydropower station as the research object, the
slope three-dimensional limit equilibrium stability analysis method has been adopted in the stability analysis
of the wedge body. The process of GIS data and the three-dimensional limit equilibrium model have also been
introduced in this paper. Moreover, three stages of slope stability analysis based GIS, geological data processing,
modeling and model application, are presented in detail. Throughout the method mentioned above, the safety
factor of the slope is 0.919, and the safety factor is 1.212 in the case of the designed anchor supporting. The
results show not only the safety factor of slope, but also the distribution of the slip force on the crucial slip
surface. It may provide explicit data support for the slope reinforcement design, three-dimensional simulation
and optimization.

1 INTRODUCTION of slope is very complex. In engineering practice,

Slope stability analysis is an important subject in
geotechnical engineering. Because of the power-
ful ability of spacial analysis, GIS is becoming a
very important means in scientific research. Many
researches in slope project and slope equitation had
make use of GIS (Hovland 1977, Chen et al. 2005).
A GIS database was built and composed with finite
element analysis, which shows the ability of special
data management (Hungr 1987). A program based
GIS statistician with Bayes got a well result (Hungr
1989). Regional stability evaluation which focuses on
the parameter of CF was conducted within GIS (Lan
et al. 2002). To forecast landslide stability, earthquake
and rain were taken as Predispositions (Li et al. 2005).
Using the program developed with Avenue, the stabil-
ity coefficient of each raster cell was obtained (Yao
2004).
There are many methods to analyze Slope stabil-
ity, for example, limit equilibrium method, numerical
analysis method, stochastic analysis method, fuzzy
analysis method and so on. Among them, limit equi-
librium method has the most extensive use. Because
of the side pressure, the three-dimensional effect of
slopes is significant. So slope stability analysis in 2D
is over-conservative, and the differences of the result
can be up to 30% (Hovland 1977, Chen et al. 2005).
Sliding force map is hard to draw but very impor-
tant. According to the map, a reasonable design
could be made. Three-dimensional Stability Analysis
there are two steps: (1) calculating the safety factor;
(2) search the sliding surface[8] . Some researchers have
gotten the safety factor, e.g. paper 1, 2, 9, 10. How-
ever, that is not enough for engineering practice. It is
possible to reserve the intermediate result in which the
sliding force of each raster cell could be easily found.
Taking the high slope of a hydropower station as
the study object, a three-dimensional limit equilib-
rium analysis method has been adopted in the stability
analysis of the wedge body. With the process of
data acquisition, data conversion, model building and
numerical analysis, this paper offered not only the
safety factor, but also a map of the slipping force which
would be necessary for the reinforcing design.
2 BUILDING THE 3D MODEL OF THE SLOPE
IN GIS
GIS Raster data type is suitable for the three-
dimensional limit equilibrium stability analysis. The
impact factors of the slope stability (terrain, formation,
soil mechanics parameter, underground water and so
on) are difficult to be modeled in normal software, but
easily in GIS. The data of the influencing factors can
be converted to raster data which compose the cylinder
unit model of the three-dimensional limit equilibrium
stability analysis method. And the result of analysis of
cylinder unit is reserved and used to make a map later.

523
 The Geological structure of the landslide has been
obtained by means of the in site investigation and
drilling data. The model of slope in GIS is made
up of varies layers, like terrain, formation, under-
ground water, that has its own soil mechanics param-
eters which we can find in the report of geological
investigation. After processing data conversion and
interpolation, the information is stored in the model.
The software of 3DSlopeGIS[1] which makes use
of the Raster data can offer four models of the
three-dimensional limit equilibrium stability analy-
sis method to analysis the safety factor of slope.
They are Hovland, Bishop, Janbu and ReHovland.
The 3DSlopeGIS can also save the data which can be
converted to a map of slipping force.
3 ENGINEERING EXAMPLE
3.1 Engineering situation
After cutting, some cracks appear in the spillway slope.
This will affect the whole project.
There are three preferred structural planes. The first
plane is a weak layer between carbonaceous shale and
argillaceous sandstone with a depth between 0.1–1 m.
Its attitude of stratum is N60◦ E/NW∠21◦ . Possible slip
surface can be formed within this layer. The second
plane (LX1) is composed by cranny, which is parallel
to surface. Its attitude is N20◦W/NE∠86◦ . The third
plane (LX2) is a set of joints which is perpendicular to
the surface. Its attitude is N58◦ E/SE∠56◦ . The block
that is formed by three structural planes has potential
to fail.
3.2 Building of GIS database
This paper presents a study of the project with
3DSlopeGIS which is programmed under ArcGIS. As
shown in Figure 1, a GIS database is built and this
Figure 1. Flow chart of project analysis.
524
system is engineering application oriented. The base-
ment of this system is available data processing, the
core technology is spatial model and attribute model
of engineer, the goal is model application. In this paper,
the analysis procedure is divided into three parts: geo-
logical data processing, system modeling and model
application.
Geological data processing is a procedure that
extracts useful data from some available data and uses
the extraction data to create a series of geological infor-
mation database of study region. The available data
include topographic contour, surface drainage pattern,
surface modeling, slip range of slope mass and so
on. All these data is the basement of slope stability
analysis.
Spatial modeling is very important for slope
research, which is complicated and need coordinate
transforming, spatial interpolation and so on. Three-
dimensional geological information in slope mass is
gained by geological materials which include drill
records and geological profile.After three dimensional
modeling, GIS data is extracted.
GIS data packet includes spatial data model and
attribute model. Spatial data model is able to be divided
into ground surface model and sliding surface model.
Based on the topographic contour and design draw-
ing of project region, ground surface digital model
information (point, line, polygon) can be extracted.
Make vector diagram by using the extraction infor-
mation and then convert the vector diagram into gird
DEM.
According to the report of engineering geology
which makes a collective report of deformation and
fracture distribution schematic diagram and geologic
sketch map, superiority structural surfaces can be
located and the three dimensional digital model of slid-
ing surface can be built. After comprehensive analysis
of several combinations of superiority structural sur-
faces, we can get the worst cuneiform slippery body
which is composed of JC1, LX1 and LX2 as is shown
in Figure 2.
Figure 2. The 3D slide of critical wedge block. (slide
direction: N18.3◦ W)
 As is shown in Table 1, a variety of mechanical
parameters can be determined by engineering geo-
logical survey data. Meanwhile, attribute database is
created and its relations with vector database can be
established in GIS. where SF 3D is the 3D slope safety factor, A is the area
of the slip surface, C is the effective cohesion, W is
the mass of one column, P is the vertical force acting
3.3 Analyzing for the 3D safety factor on each column, θ is the dip(the normal angle of slip
Hovland 3D model is used to calculate the 3D safety surface), U is the pore pressure acting on the slip sur-
factor of slope. It is equation is shown as follows: face of each column,  is the effective friction angle,
θAvr is the apparent dip in the main inclination direc-
tion of the slip surface, Jand I are the numbers of rows
and columns in the grid in the range of slope failure,
k is the horizontal earthquake acceleration factor, E is
the resultant of all horizontal components of applied
Table 1. Parameters of combined sliding body. point loads, Pslide is sliding stress, CellArea is area of
each column.
Saturated 3DSlopeGIS can calculate 3D safety factor in dif-
Sliding Density density Volume ferent conditions: (1) considering excavation only, the
surfaces C (kPa)  ( ) (KN/m ) (KN/m3 ) (m3 )
◦ 3
3D safety factor is 1.138; (2) considering excavation
and earthquake, the 3D safety factor is 0.919.
LX1 12 12 22.25 22.85 80,926.02 Through the 3D stability analysis of critical mass,
LX2 15 15 not only the 3D slope safety factor in different con-
JC1 80 18
ditions but also force condition of each column and
sliding force distribution of the sliding surface can be
obtained, which would provide detailed reference for
designing supporting scheme in 3D perspective.

4 EVALUATION ON SUPPORT

The result shows that the total sliding force of the

Figure 3. The critical block stereographic diagram of sliding
surface, sliding force and direction of critical slide body.
critical mass is 327007.500 kN, anti-sliding force is
372222.700 kN, and safety factor is 1.138. According
to specification of China, the required safety factors of
this project is 1.350, without regard to the earthquake
coefficient. So the critical mass needs to be imposed
anchorage force which values 69237.425 kN. If the
reinforcement force of each anchor rope is 1000 kN,
70 anchor ropes are needed at least.
According to spatial information and mechanical
parameters information of anchor ropes in Figure 1
and the calculation results mentioned, the distribution

Figure 4. The plan sketch of anchor design.

525

Figure 5. The 3D distribution of critical block, slide surface
and anchors.
of anchor ropes is shown as Figure 4. There are 124
anchor ropes whose reinforcement force is 1000 kN.
Moreover, according to the 3D distribution of sliding
force and structural surface showed in Figure 5, some
design in length and direction is modified to achieve
the best support effect.
After reinforcement, the safety factor of the critical
mass can reach 1.483 which meets the design require-
ment. Meanwhile, if considering the earthquake coef-
ficient (0.05), the safety factor of the critical mass is
1.212 which still meets the stability requirement.
5 CONCLUSION
Three-dimensional limit equilibrium analysis of the
critical mass shows that 3DSlopeGIS can be used in
aided design of complex slope and stability check.
By showing sliding force distribution of 3D geologi-
cal structural surface, sliding mass and sliding surface
and spatial feature of anchor ropes, 3DSlopeGIS can
design anchors distribution reasonably in a visual and
effective way.
GIS, as a powerful data processing platform, has
wide data resource and will be widely applied in
geotechnical engineering field.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Failure mode classification and control for surrounding rock of large-scale

cavern group

T.B. Xiang
HydroChina Kunming Engineering Corporation, Kunming, China

X.T. Feng, Q. Jiang & J. Chen

State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: For analysis and regulation of large underground caverns by a quick way, a new failure mode
classification method for surrounding rock of large-scale cavern group is proposed. Based on the three lev-
els, “control factors” ⇒ “failure mechanism” ⇒ “generation conditions”, 18 typical failure modes have been
summarised. The corresponding stability analysis methods and control measures are recommended for each
failure mode. Furthermore, a new method is also proposed for dynamic recognition of failure modes and the
corresponding control measures according to dynamic updating of geological conditions and characteristics of
surrounding rock revealed during excavation. The new methods have been applied to the large-scale cavern group
of Jinping II hydropower station successfully.

1 INTRODUCTION it’s difficult to make both safe and economical deci-

With complicated geological condition and cavern
structure, various modes of local failure of surround-
ing rock occur in large-scale cavern group during
excavation. Failure types, such as rock burst, bulk
mass collapse, rock fall, serious cracking, oversize
deformation and loosing zone, have appeared in many
underground caverns of hydropower station, some of
which lead to serious consequences (Yang 2008, Li
2008, Lan 2008, Xie 2010, Ouyang 2010). Therefore,
it is significant to study the failure modes and control
methods of large-scale cavern group.
Currently, studies of rock failure mode focus on
tunnel engineering and simple caverns. For example,
Hoek (1986) summed up surrounding rock failure
modes as block failure, fracture, fault slip, bending
failure, and so on. Martin (1999) divided the mechan-
ical responses and potential failure modes into 9 types
according to geo-stress level, rock mass strength and
development density of structure plane. Yu (1983) and
other researchers (Wang 1984, Zhang 1994) also stud-
ied failure modes classification and control methods
of rock mass.
Failure modes of large-scale cavern group are more
complicated than single tunnel and cavern because of
the following characters: large size and obvious space
effect; complicated cavern group structure and interac-
tion; surrounding rock stability effected by excavation
sequence and bench height; complicated engineer-
ing geological condition, and so on. There have
been no systematic failure modes classification and
corresponding regulation methods until now. Then,
sion without exact understanding of failure mode and
mechanism.
Aiming at real-time analysis and control of sur-
rounding rock of large-scale cavern group, a classi-
fication system including 18 typical failure modes
and corresponding regulation methods have been pro-
posed, based on three levels: “control factors” ⇒
“failure mechanism” ⇒ “generation conditions”. Fur-
thermore, a new method is also proposed for dynamic
recognition of failure modes and the corresponding
control measures according to dynamic updating of
geological conditions and characters of surrounding
rock revealed during excavation. The methods have
been applied to dynamic construction of Jinping II
hydropower station successfully which provides an
effective way for on-site designers, geologists and con-
structors to carry out excavation control and support
design optimization of surrounding rock.
2 FAILURE MODE CLASSIFICATION
Considering the particularities of large-scale cavern
group, its failure modes are divided into 3 levels
consisting of 18 typical types (Figure 1).
The classification basis of the first level are gov-
erning factors, which mean structure features of rock
mass and stress level. According to their influences
on rock failure, the first level modes contain “stress
control failure”, “rock structure control failure” and
“stress-rock structure control failure”. “stress-rock
structure control” means both redistribution stress and

527
rock structure features have significant effect on the
failure of surrounding rock.
The classification basis of the second level is failure
mechanism, namely generating process and mecha-
nism of rock failure under given condition of structure
and stress. The result of this level is summary of special
failure forms, including 8 general types.
The classification basis of the third level is occur-
rence condition, namely combination relation of the
governing factors. Lithology, project position, spatial
relationship, and excavation and support process are
all considered to make farther division. 18 types are
summarized in this level, all of which are quite normal
Figure 1. Classification system of typical failure modes for
surrounding rock of large-scale underground cavern group.
Table 1. Typical failure modes of surrounding rock for large-scale underground cavern group and their guidelines of analysis
and control measure recognition.
528
or have remarkable influence on general or local
stability.
What is more, it doesn’t mean that the other fac-
tors except governing factor are not important, but
less important relatively. Especially, for some kinds
of failure as collapse, redistribution stress can’t be
overlooked. However, the structure features of rock
mass are required case, but stress not. In order to make
the classification concise and universe, collapse talked
in this paper mainly refers to “rock structure control
collapse”.
Furthermore, corresponding occurrence condition,
failure mechanism, stability analysis methods and
engineering regulation measures, failure sketch and
typical pictures are given in Table 1, which is useful to
grasp even predict local instabilities and adopt proper
excavation and support strategies.
3 DYNAMIC RECOGNIZATION OF FAILURE
MODE AND REAL-TIME REGULATION
Reasonable excavation and support is closely con-
nected with failure mode. Potential failure mode pre-
diction and initial design are needed before excavation,
which are mainly determined by information obtained
from exploratory tunnel, geological survey, and lab-
oratory test. During construction, the failure modes
are calibrated, rerecognized and modified according to
the revealed actual geological conditions, and proper
excavation and support strategies are adopted. Many
rock mechanics experts as Hoek (1977), Bieniawski
(1993), especially J. A. Hudson (2007), have proposed
various thoughts and flow charts for rock engineering
design.
Table 1. Continued

(Continued)

529
Table 1. Continued
A new method is also proposed for dynamic recog-
nition of failure modes based on failure mode classi-
fication system established above (Figure 2).
4 APPLICATION
The new methods in this paper have been applied to
dynamic construction of Jinping II hydropower station
530
successfully (Project profile refers to X. T. Feng 2011).
A typical case, collapse recognition and regulation at
sidewall of main transformer chamber, is shown as
follows.
(1) Prediction of failure mode: Bus tunnels intersect
with the third layer of main transformer chamber.
Considering that structure planes are quite devel-
oped in the upper 2 layers and stress relaxation
 Figure 4. Geological conditions of upper stream sidewall of
transformer chamber near No. 3 bus tunnel.
Figure 2. Flow chart for dynamic recognition and real-time
control of surrounding rock for large cavern group.
Figure 3. Collapse at intersection of upper stream sidewall
of transformer chamber and No. 3 bus tunnel.
is obvious indicated by numerical calculation,
we preliminarily decided that the most possible
failure mode of this position is rock structure
controlled collapse during excavation of the third
layer.
(2) Recognition of failure mode on site: Forming of
the whole sidewall of main transformer chamber is
poor after excavation of cable gallery.About 12 m3
rock mass collapsed at the intersection of upper
stream sidewall and No. 3 bus tunnel on February
17, 2009, which made anchor bolts pulled out
(Figure 3).
According to geological sketch, rock integrity is
bad in this area, with intensively developed struc-
ture planes. Also, some faults and fractured zone
are revealed, as f16, f21, Pz7, Pz16∼18, and so on
(Figure 4). The collapse was mainly influenced by
Pz17 and intensively developed structure planes.
531
Generally, collapse appears at cavern inter-
section with several free surfaces. Surrounding
rock loses constraints by multi-unloading, which
makes structure planes loose and open, and col-
lapse under gravity finally. Therefore, considering
geological condition and stress state, this failure
is recognized as structure controlled “collapse at
fault and fractured zone”, according to Table 1.
(3) Failure mechanism analysis: “stress relaxation
index” is proposed in Formula (1). Use the first
stress tensor invariant I to reflect stability of stress
relaxation area (Superscript I represents initial
stress, S represents redistributing stress; positive
sign represents compressive stress, and negative
sign represents tensile stress). The smaller the
absolute value is, the bigger the degree of stress
relaxation is. Positive value means tensile stress
exists. According to calculation, stress relaxation
at the intersection of side wall and No. 3 bus tunnel
is obvious after excavation of cable gallery, and
tensile stress exists in most area. So, instability
risk is quite considerable (Figure 5).
(4) Advices of engineering controlling measures:
Aiming at this collapse, regulating suggestions
were proposed as follows: reinforce system sup-
port of side wall of transformer chamber at eleva-
tion of bus tunnel to improve integrity and stress
relaxation state; add 2 rows of system prestressed
anchor cables; repair concrete and add prestressed
anchor bolts for area of collapse. These sugges-
tions were adopted by designers and the finally
supporting measures are shown in Figure 6.
(5) Recheck of failure mode and local stability: No
more rock and supporting structure failure hap-
pened until all of excavation and support fin-
ished because of timely engineering controlling
measures (Figure 7).
 method for surrounding rock of large underground
cavern group is proposed, which also considers the
particularity of large underground cavern group.
Based on the three levels, “control factors” ⇒ “failure
mechanism” ⇒ “generation conditions”, 18 typical
failure modes have been summarised. Furthermore,
a new method is also proposed for dynamic recogni-
tion of failure modes and the corresponding control
measures.
Aiming at local instability analysis problems during
construction a real-time dynamic regulating method
and flow chart is proposed, based on deformation
and failure mechanism of rock mass. Proper excava-
tion and support measures for corresponding failure
modes are given to do dynamic, real-time, circula-
tory and positive regulation, which is connected with
various information obtained during excavation and
calculation closely.
Figure 5. Contour of stress relaxation index.
The new methods have been applied to dynamic
regulation of local instability problems in the large-
scale cavern group of Jinping II hydropower station.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The work is financially supported by important

direction of CAS creation engineering (No. KZCX2-
EW-110), National Natural Science Foundation
of China (No. 40902090) and National Special
Funds for Major State Basic Research Project (No.
2010CB732006).

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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

The design of WebGIS-based real-time visual analysis and forecasting

system of landslides

M.W. Xie & X.Q. Chai

School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: This paper inquired into the design of WebGIS-based real-time visual analysis and forecasting
system of landslides. Firstly, with the internet and GIS technologies, the system can make the online storage,
management, visualization and analysis of various data relevant to the occurrence of landslide; then the landslide
deformation stage can be judged accordingly. Secondly, on the basis of fully considering of processors’ studies
on landslide prediction models such as Saito’s method, exponent smoothing prediction model, Verhulst grey
model, trend prediction, growth curve model, etc, a library is proposed to be built with multi-models agreeing
with different deformation stages of a landslide so as to forecast its sliding time. Thirdly, by comprehensive
evaluation of the multiple predicted results, the forecasting result is to be concluded and published through the
net. It is expected to be an efficient tool of real-time decision support for landslide hazard prediction.

1 INTRUDUCTION spatial data, has attracted significant attention for the

Landslides can result in enormous property damage
and human casualties on an annual basis, only after that
of volcanoes and earthquakes. According to incom-
plete statistics, the average yearly economic losses are
up to 3 billion of US dollars approximately in China.
Therefore, it is of great importance to do prediction of
landslides for disaster prevention and mitigation.
From the 1960s when the Japanese scholar Satoiu
proposed empirical formula of landslide time fore-
cast on, through many scholars’ concentrating on this
field, the forecast theories and the methods have made
significant development. Especially in terms of quan-
titative prediction, many prediction models have been
researched. Here are some representative ones: Saito’s
model (Yu 1992), HOCK method (Wang 2008) and Su
Aijun’s model (Su & Feng 1990) based on creep the-
ory of rock and soil; grey model (Liao et al. 1996)
and growth curve model (Li et al. 1999) based on
modern mathematics theory; coordination prediction
model (Huang & Xu 1997), mutation theory model
(Qin et al. 1993) and the dynamic fractal dimension
tracking prediction model (Liao et al. 1996) based on
nonlinear theory. These results significantly advance
the research process in this field, and certain land-
slides like Xintan and Huangci landslides in China
were successfully predicted using intelligent systems
integrated some of the above theories. However, these
systems, on one hand, can’t meet the need of man-
agement of the ever growing monitored data; on the
other hand, they fail to provide information concerning
spatial aspects of monitored objects.
In recent years, the Geographic Information Sys-
tem (GIS), with its power and versatility for processing
assessment of natural disasters (Zhou 2002). A GIS is
both a database system with specific capabilities for
spatially referenced data, and a set of operations for
working with the data (Poku & Arditi 2006). Thereby
many institutes and individuals did a lot of attempts
on applying GIS technique to landslide prediction.
Zhou et al. (2009) established the landslide prediction
system for a certain highway based on the powerful
functions of AreGIS, Matlab and Visual C++. The
chief functions of this system were to achieve the
landslide hazard information management, spatial pre-
diction and time forecast. Liang et al. (2008) used GIS
to develop a visual analysis system of slope monitored
data. The developed system encompassed spatial visu-
alization and query, analysis and prediction of moni-
tored data. Wu et al. (2004) developed a GIS-based
management and analysis system for landslide mon-
itoring information which can integrate spatial and
monitoring information of a landslide to implement
functions such as data management, search and mul-
tiple visual analyses. Integrating landslide monitoring
and three-dimensional (3D) Geographic Information
System, Li et al. (2004) proposed the 3D system of
landslide deformation prediction. Subsequently, the
synthetic expression of in-situ monitoring information
and 3D geographic information were implemented in
the system. The deformation predicting model based
on the idea of time series is embedded into it as
well. In recent years, Web-GIS based on Internet stan-
dards and communications protocols have developed
rapidly. With Internet, data collection, updating and
sharing become more convenient and faster. Some
experts and scholars at home and abroad have begun
to explore its application on analysis and prediction of

535
landslide monitored data. Kunapo et al. (2005) devel-
oped a Web-based geotechnical information system
that can perform online spatial queries, generation
of professional bore logs and various geotechnical
analyses such as generating cross section along an
arbitrary line, building of 3D images, soil maps, etc.
Zhang et al.’s (2005) Web-GIS based regional geolog-
ical hazard warning system realized the connection
with the meteorological department through internet
and implemented the realtime release of the extent
of landslide disasters according to real-time rainfall
data. Salap et al. (2009) used WebGIS to develop a
monitoring and management system for underground
mine safety. The developed system encompassed spa-
tial visualization and query. Some spatial analysis were
implemented as well, such as vividly displayed the
changes and trends of measured values and found
emergency route analysis based on spatial location.
Feng et al. (2009) introduced a system framework of
issuing early-warning information of landslide haz-
ards based on WebGIS. The system which embedded
the proposed SPV-ANN (artificial neural network)
model, can predict landslide (debris flow) probability
during the next 24 hours in the extent of 1 km × 1 km.
These studies provide a valuable experience for the
warning system. However, due to the limitation of
technology, there are still some deficiencies, mainly
including the following aspects:
(1) The type of monitored data which is the basis
of the landslide forecast is relatively simple;
therefore, the forecast accuracy is limited.
(2) The successful cases mostly did experimental
forecast based on a single theoretical model and
critical sliding phenomena. However, due to the
limitation of a single model, it is difficult to meet
the prediction requirements of a complex land-
slide. Although there are some systems embed-
ding multiple models, they can only analyze and
predict the displacements of a single point math-
ematically. Apparently, the spatial characteristics
of the landslide are largely ignored not integrating
the spatial display and analysis functions of GIS,
lack of versatility and practicability.
(3) The current landslide prediction systems can’t
well identify the distribution of data in space
because of rarely considering the spatial visual-
ization of monitoring information, being of a little
blindness in selection of key points the timing data
of which is used to do prediction.
Therefore, to establish a real-time visual prediction
system suitable for landslides is not only necessary
but urgent. In this paper, the author proposed the
framework of a real-time analysis and prediction sys-
tem of landslides based on WebGIS. It is designed
to integrate network technology, information manage-
ment system, monitoring technology and professional
landslide prediction models effectively to forecast
the landslide situation dynamically. On the basis of
spatial information visualization, it can analyze and
predict the deformation of the landslide based on
536
multi-model library and is expected to be an efficient
tool of real-time decision support for landslide hazard
prediction.
2 THE DEVELOPMENT IDEA OF SYSTEM
The main idea of this research is to use network
technology, geographic information technology and
computational intelligence methods to achieve real-
time visual intelligence forecast of landslide disasters.
First, to the monitoring of landslides, besides the con-
ventional methods such as clinograph, groundwater
level monitoring and so on, a variety of new monitor-
ing technologies such as remote sensing, laser scanners
and GPS have been successfully introduced. All the
basic data related to landslides, including geological
survey data and a variety of monitored data, are man-
aged base on the database technology. Also, using the
spatial display and analysis functions of GIS, landslide
scene and its monitored data can be visualized with
geographical coordinates; and then visual analysis and
forecast can be done. Moreover, due to the complexity
of a landslide and the limitations of a single predic-
tion method, the system intends to integrate multiple
traditional models as a library to do comprehensive
analysis. Finally, all of the above functions will devel-
oped on the Web-GIS platform. As a result, the online
data management, display, analysis and forecasting
can be implemented.
Therefore, the overall design idea of the system is
to combine the characteristics of landslide evolution
and forecasting process to develop a fully functional,
reasonably structural, easily operational network sys-
tems in accordance with the requirements of modular,
structured design ideas in software engineering. The
component-based system is designed to use Skyline,
and ArcGIS Server as the basic platform, Asp.NET
as the programming tool and Oracle as database to
store landslide information. Based on modular ideas,
the system will include five modules: the data man-
agement module, the visualization, query and analysis
module, the data preprocessing module, the prediction
module, the output and print module. It can forecast
a landslide in any deformation stages (short-term and
temporary slip forecasting, medium-term forecasting,
long-term prediction). When the system is imple-
mented, users only need to go to the corresponding
site, enter the monitored data, then analyst the land-
slide’s deformation stage and predict its sliding time
based on appropriate models. If needed, the forecast
conclusion can also be released through the net.
3 THE DESIGN OF SYSTEM STRUCTURE
AND MODULES
3.1 The design of system structure
The system will be built based on browser/server (B/S)
structure as shown in Figure 1. Spatial data is provided
by the data layer which includes the data in Oracle

Figure 1. The system network architecture.
relational database accessed through ArcSDE or file-
typed data (Personal Geodatabase, ShapeFile, MPT,
etc.). Business layer comprises Web application layer
and GIS Sever layer. The former is responsible for
shifting a request sent by user through the Web browser
to the latter, and then return corresponding results from
the latter to the client. GIS Server layer, consist of two
component libraries: ArcGIS Server from ESRI and
TerraExplorer Pro from EastDawn, is to achieve the
system’s main functions based on data from the data
layer. The presentation layer, as the browser of the B/S
architecture, is mainly calling the functions developed
by the GIS Server layer.
3.2 The design of system modules
The five functional components of the system are the
data management module, the spatial visualization,
query and analysis module, the data preprocessing
module, the prediction module, the output and print
module, as depicted in Figure 2.
3.2.1 Data management module
The module is to do online management of various
information, including data input, output, edit and
query. It is the database format that is the basis of effec-
tive management. First of all, we need to classify all
the information because their storage formats will vary
among different data types. The information can be
divided into two types: timing information (monitored
data) and non-temporal data according to the relation
to time. Furthermore, the former one can also contain
various formats like file-based, table-based and text-
based data. According to the characteristics of each
type of data, the system designed different formats to
store them respectively.
The static content which does not change with
time, such as survey data and prediction criterion,
537
Figure 2. The functional construction of the system.
is stored as a table with sub-item description in the
database. For example, the survey data table can con-
tain the following fields: landslide name, location,
geological structure, type of sliding zone, sliding bed
characteristics, the possible induction factors, etc.
The file-based timing information named to stan-
dard rule is saved in a specific location on the server
and the related information is preserved as a table in
the database. For instance, the differential interference
results of SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) images
can be obtained by operating to 2, 3 or 4 images of
different dates, therefore, the table related to the differ-
ential interference results of SAR (Synthetic Aperture
Radar) images contains necessary fields as follows:
the file ID, the file name, the number of differenti-
ated images, the date of first image, the date of the
second image, the date of the third image, the date of
the fourth image, storage path of the file, etc. The cus-
tomized naming rule of the files is RS plus the file ID
and the number of images. These files are stored in a
specific location on the server.
The table-based monitored data which usually rep-
resents a certain physical quantity like GPS displace-
ment, underground water table and rainfall contains
monitored point attributes and their corresponding
measured value. Accordingly, the table-based moni-
tored data of a certain monitoring type can be respec-
tively stored in a monitored point table and a measured
value table. The two tables are joined by the point
ID as a key field. Furthermore, the value table must
also contain monitoring time and measured value. Tak-
ing GPS displacement monitoring as an example, the
monitored data can be put respectively in GPS point
table and GPS displacement table. The former contains
fields like point ID as a key field, point name, coordi-
nates, etc. and the latter contains fields such as point
ID, monitoring time, measured value, etc. to facilitate
management. Data of different monitoring types are
put in different tables separately.
Text-based data refers to macroscopic signs which
are also time-related data and qualitative description
Table 1. The database format of the landslide information.

Table Name: Landslide geological information

Field Names: Landslide name, Location, Shape features, Size, Slip bed, Slip Zone, etc.
Table Name: Remote Sensing monitoring
Field Names: Result file name, The date of the first image, The date of the second image, Storage path of the file, The date
of the third image, The date of the fourth image, etc.
Table Name: Laser scanning monitoring
Field Names: Result file name, The date of the first image, The date of the second image, Storage path of the file, etc.
Table Name: GPS points
Field Names: Point name, Point ID, X coordinate, Y coordinate, Z coordinate, etc.
Table Name: GPS displacement monitoring
Field Names: Point ID, Monitoring date, ‘X displacement, Y displacement, Z displacement, Unit, etc.
Table Name: Clinograph points
Field Names: Point name, Point ID, X coordinate, Y coordinate, Z coordinate, Depth
Table Name: Clinograph monitoring
Field Names: Point ID, Monitoring date, X displacement, Y displacement, Displacement unit, Azimuth, Azimuth unit
Table Name: Underground water points
Field Names: Point name, Point ID, X coordinate, Y coordinate, Z coordinate, Depth, etc.
Table Name: Underground water monitoring
Field Names: Point ID, Monitoring date, ‘Water-table, Unit, etc.
Table Name: Prediction criterion
Field Names: Landslide name, Displacement limitation, Rainfall limitation, Crack width limitation, etc.
Table Name: Macroscopic signs
Field Names: Landslide name, Crack characteristics, Spring burst, abnormal behavior of animals or plants

of the landslide deformation. This kind of data is

deposit in a single table with fields such as monitored
time, several sorts of macroscopic signs like cracks,
abnormal behavior of animals or plants, etc.
To sum up, the database format of the information
is shown in Table 1.
Monitoring data can be input into database one by
one or by batch. When the data quantity is small, the
records can be input one by one. While if the data is
accumulated for at least a month, it is suggested use the
batch entry which request the source file is an excel
format document containing columns corresponding
to the fields in the database. The users only need to pair
the columns and fields correctly, and then the input can
be executed automatically.
Data query can call the appropriate information
from database according to the searching conditions.
In this system, on one hand, we can inquiry measure-
ments of a certain point in a certain period and view
the value trend over time; on the other hand, we can
inquiry measurements of all points in a certain day and
analyze the layout of the values.
On the basis of query, we can do necessary edit or
delete to the inquired records.
3.2.2 The visualization, query and analysis module
The graphic expression of data is the basis of spatial
query and analysis. Three-dimensional (3D) visualiza-
tion of landslide information provides a new perspec-
tive to view data, which can give us much additional
information the table-based one is difficult to directly
reflect. In this system, the visualization of information
mainly contains two aspects in the following:
The visualization of geological investigation data
By fusing the high-precision RS image and the 3D
terrain which is generated from contour line obtained
Figure 3. The 3D on-situ virtual scene model.
by geological investigation, the 3D virtual scene can be
modeled and visualized as depicted in Figure 3. Addi-
tionally, other geological factors like stratum, fault,
scarp and groundwater and engineering factors such
as the stress piles, drilling can be overlain and dis-
played in the scene as layers or objects respectively. In
addition, slope and aspect information can be extracted
from the terrain, and then be displayed.
The visualization of monitoring data.
The traditional data processing techniques such
as historical charts, in-site photos, result maps of
measured values in computer-aided drafting (CAD)
program, fail to provide information concerning spa-
tial aspects of monitoring data. While the instrument
location and surrounding environment have greatly
influences on evaluating the performance and stability
of monitored objects.The same measured values in dif-
ferent locations may lead to totally different results. In
this system, all kinds of monitored data, table-based
or file-based will be visualized in the map accord-
ing to their characteristics respectively. For example,

538
the differential results of SAR images can be directly
superimposed on the map based on their geological
coordinates, showing clearly the distribution of dis-
placement in the study area. GPS points can be located
based on their coordinates, and their displacements
can be expressed as three-dimensional arrows. The
discrete values of underground water points can be
interpolated to get the continuous water table surface
and monitoring values of drilling inclinometer can
be interpolated to predict the slip surface. In all, the
graphical expression of monitoring data is the premise
of visual prediction of landslides.
Based TerraExplorer, the system will provide var-
ious modes to browse the 3D map, such as pan-
ning, rotation, underground mode, flight mode, zoom
and so on. You can easily view the complex spatial
relationship between monitoring data and the sur-
rounding, facilitating the comprehensive analysis and
forecast.
Based on the idea of GIS, the interact query between
the attributes or table-based data and the spatial data
can be implemented. On one hand, the attributes or
table-based data can be called out selectively when you
click the spatial objects. What’s more, the trend line of
measurements can be drawn. On the other hand, it can
fly to the spatial object when you click the record in
tables. Meanwhile, the online edit can also be taken.
Furthermore, a cross section can be created with clicks
on the start and the end point of a section line.
The premise to comprehensive forecasting of land-
slides is visual analysis of spatial data: spatial anal-
ysis, trend analysis, section analysis and scientific
computing analysis.
By spatial analysis feature, the cloud of slopes
and aspects, and the contour lines can be abstracted
from the terrain and then overlapped on the map as
layers respectively. As a result, a detailed and vivid
terrain will be gotten. Furthermore, the water table
and slip surface can also be interpolated by values of
the underground water and the borehole clinometers
respectively, and then displayed in the map. When the
displacements such as GPS measured values which
are visualized as 3D arrows and RS results files
are overlapped, the key points influencing the land-
slides stability and its overall sliding direction can be
identified to do further prediction.
Trend analysis is used to draw the trend line of tim-
ing data of a certain monitored type. Especially, it is
used to analyze the timing data of displacement of
selected key points to judge the phase of landslide
deformation which is the basis of prediction model
selection.
Section analysis provides the visual display of the
related points, values, water table and slip in the section
view, which is another auxiliary way for prediction.
Scientific computing visualization can be used to
adjust the parameters of prediction models interac-
tively. At first, based on the timing data of selected
points, enter the initial parameters and generate an
initial prediction curve which will be used to compare
with the practical curve, and then adjust the parameters
539
based on the comparing results. Through repeated try,
an optimized set of parameters can be obtained to do
more accurate prediction.
3.2.3 Data processing module
Using the functions of visual display, query and anal-
ysis module, the representative monitoring points
timing information which reflect the performance of
landslides can be chosen as the basis of forecasting.
This module is devoted to process the table-based
data by means of interpolation, filtering, accumulated
generating operation (AGO), and normalizing. The fil-
tering method includes uniform filter, non-uniform
filter and compound filter. The normalizing method
means equalization. The selection of data processing
methods must be based on the analysis of quantita-
tive monitoring information and landslide mechanism,
coupled with requirements of the specific forecasting
model.
3.2.4 The prediction module
Due to the complexity of a landslide and the limitations
of a single prediction method, this module intends to
build a model library to integrate and manage multi-
ple typical long-term, mid-short-term and temporary
prediction models. Therefore, according to the per-
formance of a specific object, you can choose the
corresponding models, select or edit the parameters
and physical quantity limits stored in the database to
do long-term, mid-short-term or temporary predic-
tion accordingly. The results of the forecasting will
be stated as a period from now to the occurrence or a
time point of the occurrence. The multiple results com-
puted by different models will be dealt with optimum
weighted composition. Then the final will be given
at a time. As the monitoring information is regularly
updated by the data management module, this mod-
ule can be used to do real-time tracking prediction.
Online edit of forecast criterion can also be taken to
fit the specific landslide. On the other hand, accord-
ing to final forecast time, the corresponding physical
value can be computed inversely and analyzed visually
coupled with other geological factors. This step can
check the reliability of the result. If reliable, the result
can be forecast, or it will be reviewed by repeating the
computing process above until it is checked out.
In summary, the prediction can be taken by the
following steps:
(1) Select the key points representing the deformation
of the landslide based on spatial relationship of
various monitoring data and geological factors.
(2) Identify the deformation phase of landslide by
analyzing the tendency chart of the displacement
time series data of the key points.
(3) According to the landslide deformation stage,
select the appropriate forecasting models with the
corresponding parameters and criteria limits to
predict the sliding times; then get the final by inte-
grating the multiple forecast results with optimum
weighted composition.
(4) Back calculate and visualize the physical value,
assess the stability of landslide comprehensively.
Accordingly, public the result or review the cri-
terion to repeat the computer process above until
the result is checked out.
3.2.5 The output and print module
This module is intended to output or print the table-
based, file-based or picture-base reports. The table-
based report refers to the landslide information stored
in the database, such as geological data, monitoring
data. The file-based one means the calculation sheet
of prediction. Picture-based one includes the curves of
prediction, maps during the visual analysis and so on.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This research concerns the design of WebGIS-based
real-time visual analysis and forecasting system of
landslides. The network architecture and functional
structure of the system are introduced in detail. There
are five modules in this system: the data manage-
ment module, the spatial visualization, query and
analysis module, the data preprocessing module, the
prediction module, the output and print module. In this
study, all kinds of landslide information: geological
information, results of the traditional monitoring tech-
nologies or the advanced technologies such as RS, 3D
laser scanning and Global Positioning System, are con-
sidered to be managed and 3D visualized distinctively
according to different perspectives. In addition, online
analysis such as spatial analysis, profile analysis, trend
analysis, and prediction with multiple models are
proposed as well as the integrated feedback analysis.
In comparison with current methods, this system
has created a new way of representing monitoring data
in graphical term, extending the prediction analysis
method to a spatial manner. What’s more, the net-
worked system provides an effective platform for the
sharing of the data and real-time tracking prediction
of landslide.
The study of the system proposed in this paper is
undertaking and it is anticipated to become commonly
available in the near future. It’s recommended that
such prediction systems should be developed under
WebGIS environment.
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© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

GIS-based three-dimensional real-time dynamic construction management

system for expressway pavement

M.W. Xie, L.W. Wang, R. Ma, N. Hao & J. Sun

Civil and Environmental Engineering School, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Expressway is an important kind of infrastructure of a country, and it is the inevitable product
of economic development. The situation of construction demonstrates the level of development the traffic as,
well as the overall level of economic development of a country or a region. This project set up the 3D real-time
dynamic expressway pavement construction management system based on GIS, from the practical engineering of
a expressway in China, with ASP.NET, SQL Server, WMS, SFS. It makes online interaction and data management
the perfect combination, and we achieve the purpose of displaying construction management data by visualization
platform from many aspects. This paper introduces the main functions and technology of the system, also the
expected objectives and results.

1 INTRODUCTION management. Timely information and comprehensive

Expressway is an important kind of infrastructure of
a country, and it is the inevitable product of economic
development. The situation of construction demon-
strates the level of development the traffics, well as the
overall level of economic development of a country or
a region. Since the 1970’s, China has achieved rapid
development of expressways. As of the end of 2009,
the total mileage of expressways in China is about 6.5
million kilometers, and that effectively support our
country’s rapid economic development.
This research is on the background of the express-
way from Tumu to Jiaoniwan, which is the key
project of Zhangjiakou City, meanwhile, is one of
the important projects of Hebei Province. With Jing
Zhang Expressway, State Road 110 together, it con-
stitutes transport corridor which connecting North
Shanxi Province, West Inner Mongolia and Zhangji-
akou region with Beijing and Northeast. As the second
channel between Beijing and Zhangjiakou, it is a vital
link which attaching the Northern with Central region,
meanwhile connecting the east coast and the western
hinterland, and it undertakes strategic responsibili-
ties to built Zhangjiakou City to be the transport hub
city facing Beijing and Tianjin, connecting the coastal
region, communicating with the market of interna-
tional. Taking the road as the research object, we
established its digital construction schedule manage-
ment information systems by its construction process,
for efficient, convenient, fast data management.
The traditional construction schedule of express-
way projects, presented in the form of charts, reports
and tables, which is difficult to establish direct links
with the specific location and skate number of the
project. The design, construction, operation and man-
agement of expressway pavement involve various data
application of these dynamic data are not only valu-
able for the road construction process, but also helping
the expressway information management laying a solid
data basement for the future.
This study is based on three-dimensional GIS plat-
form. After three-dimensional high-precision image
and terrain visualization system and GIS Database
established (Clark et al. 1986, Pilout et al. 1994),
we build up pavement construction dynamic infor-
mation system and relational database system. And
then depending on the design and actual construc-
tion conditions, we make the dynamic analysis and
display of the pavement schedule and completion
in different time, different units and different sub-
district project progress. Finally, it accomplishes visual
dynamic pavement construction schedule manage-
ment of the entire expressway pavement project and
its segments.
2 SYSTEM STRUCTURE
This system uses Multi-layer structure as its architec-
ture: SQL Server Database is selected to be its database
layer; Internet System Web server is based on Skyline
platform as an interchangeable web server; application
client is constituted by software named Terra Explorer
or Terra Explorer Pro. Technical architecture roadmap
is shown in Figure 1.
Oracle database is a large commercial database that
can run on all major platforms, and it has high secu-
rity, while most companies are using it. But the visual
construction management system is developed under
the Windows XP platform, and also running mainly in
the Windows operating system, meanwhile the amount
of data has not reached the extent of massive data,

541
Figure 1. Technical architecture roadmap.

Figure 2. DEM of the area surrounding expressway. Figure 3. The 3D scene graph around expressway.

so the system uses Microsoft’s SQL Server database

systems.
Data of the system database are from construction
design documents, construction organization docu-
ments, and actual construction information data. In
order to facilitate database design and management,
we make the key work as a unit, and each unit
divided into segment projects according to the type
of projects, to do data input and management based
on each segment. At the same time, in order to
express the construction schedule and fill-excavation
situation vividly, the image of that foundation to facil-
itate Construction progress and fill the excavation Figure 4. The key project entities in 3D scene.
conditions, we respectively make the sub-grade and
fill-excavation project as a single unit for data. tenders information data files, GIS data files, three-
Basic contour lines data should be through a series dimensional road entity models and key projects solid
of pretreatment (including: elevation values checking, models, etc. shown in Figure 3–4, eventually establish
broken line connections, duplicate lines and cross- a complete three-dimensional GIS platform (Sun et al.
line treatment, etc.), then we use the contour lines to 2000).
produce TIN (triangulated irregular network), finally
obtain DEM (digital elevation model) data in project
area by bilinear interpolation from TIN, shown in 3 SYSTEM FUNCTION
Figure 2.
With treated satellite images and aerial remote For the pavement construction, we developed a special
sensing images, we create visual three-dimensional 3D-visual dynamic pavement construction schedule
simulation system (Li et al. 1996), load road management system for the pavement construction

542
project, based on the 3D-visual construction manage-
ment system. The construction management system
has been designed and developed into a network
version, then construction schedule query and con-
struction progress data update remotely are realized.
There are manual tools specifically for the three-
dimensional images and terrain in the main interface
of management system, realize the three-dimensional
system operation of orientation, size, angle and
aspects, etc. Figure 5 shows the main function as
follows:
Through the system database, the system adminis-
trator updates data to the latest progress of data, so
that project managers can keep abreast of the actual
progress of the current situation.
Since the pavement project is a relatively inde-
pendent construction project after the construction of
embankment and the key projects, in order to facili-
tate road construction and management users to input
Figure 5. Basic system function.
Figure 6. Management users bar chart query.
Figure 7. Management users three-dimensional query.
543
and query, the network version of the system separates
the three-dimensional visual pavement construction
schedule management subsystem from the expressway
pavement schedule management system, to user input
and query independently.
There are two types of system user, progress entry
staff and project administrator. The progress entry staff
is for the express construction workers, who can login
in the system with user name and password, to add
mileage and process content of pavement construction,
and also the construction photographs of this section.
Meanwhile they can query the completion status of
their own construction. The project administrator is for
the express management staff, who can login in the sys-
tem with user name and password, to know the status of
expressway pavement construction schedule through
form query, bar chart query and three-dimensional
query. Form queries have three forms Including by
current schedule, by construction enterprises, and by
progress of project. Bar chart query can inquiry the
construction status of the overall express, also by con-
struction enterprises (Figure 6). Three-dimensional
query shows the whole actual expres construction
situation (Figure 7).
Jinghua pavement schedule management system
shows the progress of pavement construction by time
vividly, achieving another breakthrough in 3D visual
management of expressway pavement construction.
4 CONCLUSION
This system based on GIS as its development platform
(Wu et al. 2005), shows topography, geology, hydrol-
ogy, transportation, economic, cultural and natural
landscape, ecological environment and other infor-
mation around expressway pavement construction
site vividly and directly, and combines the construc-
tion progress seamlessly to achieve three-dimensional
real-time dynamic expressway pavement construction
management overall express.
We put the system into practice while it is still devel-
oped, so that it shows the construction progress status
in real time by the actual project progress, and then we
make up the shortfall and improve the performance of
the system.
This system provides real-time data to support the
design, management and construction of expressway
pavement (Yang et al. 2002). With facilities data along
the pavement, it also provides data to support the
operation and management of pavement. This system
544
provides data and decision support to overall design,
construction and management process of expressway
pavement.
REFERENCES
Clark. 1986. Recent Trends in Geographic Information Sys-
tem. Research Geo-Processing 3:1–15.
Li, R. 1996. Data Structure and Applications in Geo-
logical Subsurface, Modeling. International Archive Of
Photogrammetry And Remote Sensing 31(4): 508–513.
Pilout, M., Tempfli, K. & Molenaar, M. 1994. A tetrahedron-
based 3D vector data model for geoinformation. Ad Geogr
Data Model 40: 129–140.
Skyline Programer’s Guide. Skyline Software System.Inc.
2009.
Sun, M. & Chen, J. 2000. Research on data modeling for
3D landscape entities based on geometry primitives (in
Chinese). Wuhan Technical Univ Survey Map (Wtusm) 25:
233–237.
Wu, Q., Xu, H. & Zou, X.K. 2005. An effective method for 3D
geological modeling with multi-source data integration.
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71–73.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Slope stability evaluation based on projection pursuit

and attribute mathematics

F. Xu & J.D. Su
Hainan Highway Survey and Design Institute, Haikou, China

W.Y. Xu & Z.B. Liu

Research Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Hohai University, Jiangsu, China

K. Liu
Chengdu Hydroelectric Investigation and Design Institute of CHECC, Sichuan, China

ABSTRACT: Evaluation of slope stability is a complex system problem of uncertainty. A new model for slope
stability evaluation was established based on the Attribute Recognition Model (ARM) and the Projection Pursuit
(PP) optimized by the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), which was named as Attribute Recognition Model
based on Projection Pursuit Weight (ARM-PP). Based on the analysis of main influencing factors of slope
stability, thirteen indices were chosen as the evaluation indices. The attribute measurement of single index was
computed through constructing the attribute measurement functions, and the synthetic attribute measurement
was calculated by the weight of PP optimized by PSO. Confidence criterion was used to recognize the slope
stability. The attribute mathematical theory could successfully resolve the comprehensive evaluation problem
with a number of fuzzy attribute. Furthermore, the model adopted the PP to determine weight, avoiding the
subjectivity and randomicity, and ensuring objectivity and accuracy of the evaluation. Case study showed that
the result of attribute recognition model was in good agreement with that of the matter-elements model, which
indicated that the model was feasible and precise in slope stability evaluation.

1 INTRODUCTION extension method usually adopts the interval midpoint

High rock slope is a complex open system whose
stability is affected by a variety of factors both inside
and outside. The system could be characterized by
uncertainty, randomness, ambiguity, variability and so
on. Slope stability is a typical nonlinear problem for
it has highly nonlinear relationship with influencing
factors, which is hard to be described clearly by sim-
ple mechanics or mathematical models. The ambiguity
and complexity are likely to cause different under-
standing of the nature or the stability of the slope,
leading to difficulty in assessing the slope stability.The
traditional slope stability analysis is mostly determin-
istic analysis with hardly any consideration of actually
existed uncertainty. The safety coefficient couldn’t
reflect the safety and reliability of the slope in the
real world. In response, scholars have proposed many
comprehensive evaluation methods based on plenty of
slope stability indicators. There are fuzzy evaluation
method (Huang et al. 2007), gray correlation analysis
method (Zhu & Mo 2004), catastrophe theory (Zhao &
Xu 2007), element extension method (Li et al. 2007),
neural network method (Feng et al. 1995), support vec-
tor machine (Zhao & Feng 2003), and so on. But all
these methods have disadvantages. Fuzzy method is
unable to distinguish two types of adjacent. Element
as the optimum during the correlation calculation with
important constraint missing possibly, which might
lead to differences between the calculated results and
the actual circumstances. Neural network has a bot-
tleneck in practice when it is restricted by limited
knowledge. In addition, the determination of weights is
difficult. Analytic hierarchy process, expert evaluation
method and centralization statistical method are not
suitable to be applied when there are plenty of indices.
Besides, they couldn’t exclude the errors caused by
subjective judgment.
The evaluation of the slope stability can be con-
cluded as the measurement of the qualitative and
quantitative descriptions, which is the identification of
orderly partition classes. Attribute mathematics could
realize certain types of comprehensive evaluation with
multiple fuzzy properties. According to the orderliness
of evaluation set, the confidence criterion is selected as
the recognition criterion, which enhances the reliabil-
ity of evaluation results. Projection pursuit technique
is a new statistical method that could deal with high
dimensional data, especially non-normal data. In this
paper, attribute mathematics is adopted to established
the slope stability evaluation model, while projection
pursuit based on particle swarm optimization tech-
nique is used to determine the weight of each index.

545
The attribute recognition model based on projection
pursuit (ARM-PP) is proposed to evaluate the slope
stability. After the introduction of the principles and
algorithms of the model in detail, the cable-crane plat-
form of Jinping I site hydropower plant slope is studied
by the new model as the case study.

2 ATTRIBUTE RECOGNITION MODEL BASED

ON PROJECTION PURSUIT
where k = 2, 3, · · · , p − 1.
Attribute recognition theory (Cheng 1997a, 1997b) If dj = ajk0 − bjk0 , k0 > 1, then
is mainly used for the measurement of qualitative
descriptions as well as the relationship between dif-
ferent qualitative ones. The theoretical framework is
as follows.
X presents the evaluation object space; the eval-
uation object xi (i = 1, 2, · · · , n) has m indices
Ij (j = 1, 2, · · · , m). Each index has p levels
Ck (k = 1, 2, · · · , p). As to xij , the measured value of
the evaluation objection xi ’s single index Ij , its level
could be determined. Therefore, attribute mathematics
can be used on the comprehensive evaluation of xi to
determine its overall level.

2.1 Single index attribute measurement

The attribute measurement µxjk = µ(xij ∈ Ck )
of property Ck is determined by its attribute mea-
surement function which calculates how the attribute
measurement µxjk = µ changes with xij . The attribute
measurement function is created in the case shown in
Table 1.
In Table 1, ajk satisfies aj0 < · · · < ajk < · · · <
ajp or aj0 > · · · > ajk > · · · > ajp .
Assume that aj0 < · · · < ajk < · · · < ajp , and
xij presents the jth index value of evaluation object
xi . The single index attribute measurement function is
as follows:
2.2 Comprehensive multi-attribute measurement
Comprehensive multi-attribute measurement µxk is
calculated as follows:
where k = 1, 2, · · · , p; ωj presents the weight of the

m
jth indicator which satisfies ωj ≥ 0, ωj = 1.
j=1
In the comprehensive evaluation, it is mainly the
choice of weights that determines the accuracy of the
evaluation results. In this paper, projection pursuit is
used to determine the weight of evaluation indices,
which effectively avoid the impact of subjectivity and
arbitrariness.

2.3 Weight setting based on projection pursuit

The projection pursuit (PP) (Li 1997) is a new statisti-
cal method that could deal with high dimensional data,
especially non-normal data. The basic philosophy is
Table 1. The level subdivision of single index.

Level

Index C1 C2 Cp−1 Cp

I1 a10 − a11 a11 − a12 … a1p−2 − a1p−1 a1p−2 − a1p

I2 a20 − a21 a21 − a22 … a2p−2 − a2p−1 a2p−2 − a2p
… … … … … …
Im am0 − am1 am1 − am2 … amp−2 − amp−1 amp−1 − amp

546
that the model projects the high dimensional data to
lower dimensional subspace by some kind of combina-
tion. And it seeks the projection value that can reflect
the original high dimensional construction or the char-
acteristic of data through minimizing some projection
index, so that the data construction analysis could be
conducted within the lower dimensional, making the
studies of the high dimensional data feasible.The tradi-
tional PP technology is complex while the accuracy is
uncontrollable, which limits the in-depth research and
the widespread application of PP. Therefore, this arti-
cle uses particle swarm optimization shown as follows
to determine the indices weight.
Construction of projection data
The data xij∗ (i = 1, 2, · · · , n; j = 1, 2, · · · , m)
of n samples and their relative levels yi(i = 1, 2, · · · , n)
are generated randomly. To eliminate the inconsis-
tencies of dimension xij∗ is normalized into xij as
follows:
where xjmax , xjmin are the maximum and minimum
values of the jth index.
Projection calculation
Set the projection direction (i.e. weights)


m
ω = (ω1 , ω2 , · · · , ωm ), ωj = 1, 0 ≤ ωj ≤ 1.
j=1
PP projects xij to ω in order to get one-dimensional
projection value.
Establishment of projection objective function
During the comprehensive projection, it is required
that the projection value zi be as large as possible to
extract the variation information of xij , that is, the
standard deviation Sz and the absolute value Rzy of
the correlation coefficients Rzy of zi and yi should
be as large as possible. Thus the projection objective
function f(ω) is:
where Sz is the standard deviation of zi , Rzy is the
correlation coefficient of zi and yi .
Optimal projection direction.
The objective function f(ω) changes with the pro-
jection direction ω, the optimal projection direction ω
can be obtained by solving the maximum value of the
objective function:
The function above is a nonlinear optimization
problem with weight ω = (ω1 , ω2 , · · · , ωm ) as the
547
optimization variables. Particle swarm optimization
(Shi & Eberhart 1998) is adopted here to realize the
optimization. The process of optimization is intro-
duced with a case study.
2.4 Attribute recognition
The purpose of the slope attribute recognition is to
make judgments on the level of the evaluated objection
xi from the comprehensive attribute measurement µxk .
During the comprehensive evaluation, the confidence
criterion is used for attribute identification.
Confidence criterion: the evaluation set
(C1 , C2 , · · · , Cp ) is an ordered set which meets
C1 > C2 > · · · > Cp or C1 < C2 < · · · <
Cp ; λ presents the confidence level (generally 0.60∼
0.70). If
Then xi is considered at Ck0 level or in Ck0 class.
3 PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION
PSO uses the velocity - position search model. Each
particle represents a candidate solution of the solution
space. A fitness function is defined to evaluate each
particle solution. The velocity vi = {vi1 , vi2, · · · , vin }
determines the ith particle’s distance of each iteration
in the solution space. A group of random particles is
initialized, among which the location of ith particle
in the n-dimension solution space could be repre-
sented by xi = {xi1 , xi2 , · · · , xin }. Particles update
their velocity and position through tracking the indi-
vidual extreme values fi = {fi1 , fi2 , · · · , fin } and the
global ones g = {g1 , g2 , · · · , gn } dynamically. The
formula is as follows:
where w is the inertia weight factor; r1 , r2 present the
random number uniformly distributed in the interval
(0,1) ; c1 , c2 are the learning factors; i = 1, 2, · · · , N,
N is the number of particles; vkid , xidk
are the ith parti-
cle’s d-dimensional component vector of the velocity
vector and the position one respectively; fidk , gdk are the
ith particle’s d-dimensional component vector of the
optimal individual location and the global optimiza-
tion one, d = 1, 2, · · · , n; n is the dimension number
of the solution dimension.
4 THE ENGINEERING APPLICATION
4.1 Evaluation index selection and classification
criteria
The factors which affect the rock high slope stability
are very complex. The main factors are types, nature
Table 2. Standard for indices classification of surrounding slope stability.

Extremely Basically Extremely The slope Index

Level stable (i) Stable (ii) stable (iii) Unstable (iv) unstable (v) for evaluating weight

Evaluation indices
Rock quality designation 90–100 75–90 50–75 25–50 0–25 85 0.079
Rock-mass integrity index 0.75–1 0.55–0.75 0.35–0.55 0.15–0.35 0–0.15 0.72 0.084
Rock uniaxial wet 90–100 70–90 50–70 30–50 0–30 105 0.072
compressive strength/mpa
Cohesion/mpa 0.32–0.22 0.22–0.12 0.12–0.08 0.08–0.05 0.05–0 0.02 0.064
Internal friction angle/° 27–45 29–37 21–29 13–21 0–13 16.7 0.067
Slope height/m 0–30 30–45 45–60 60–80 80–100 110 0.063
Slope angle/° 0–10 10–20 20–30 30–40 40–90 48 0.059
Supporting conditions 0.8–1 0.6–0.8 0.4–0.6 0.2–0.4 0–0.2 0.8 0.085
Drainage condition 0.8–1 0.6–0.8 0.4–0.6 0.2–0.4 0–0.2 0.8 0.076
Max daily rainfall/mm 0–20 20–40 40–60 60–100 100–150 45 0.085
Max ground stress/mpa 0–2 2–8 8–14 14–20 20–25 21.49 0.064
Appearance deformation 0–0.2 0.2–0.3 0.3–0.5 0.5–1 1–2 0.12 0.107
rate/mm/d
Deep deformation rate 0–2 2–3 3–5 5–8 8–10 0.34 0.095
/mm/m

and features, geological structure, hydro-geological

conditions of the slope rock, etc. In addition, there
are other factors such as rock differentiation, surface
water, atmospheric water, human engineering activi-
ties and so on. Through consulting norms and literature
(Li 1997, Liu 1996, Shen et al. 2002, Hong et al. 2005),
13 factors (see chart 2) are selected as slope stabil-
ity evaluation indices covering four aspects including
geology condition, engineering impact, environmental
conditions and monitoring performance. According to
the five-level stability system, the stability of the slope
is classified into level I (extremely stable), level II
(stable), level III (basically stable), level IV (unstable)
and level Vl (extremely unstable) corresponding to the
5 levels (C1 ∼ C5 ). Referring to existing research as
well as some analogy high rock slop analysis in the
hydropower engineering both at home and abroad, the Figure 1. Picture of cable-crane platform slope.
classification standards of the evaluation indices on
the slope are given in Table 2. The qualitative indices
such as supporting conditions, drainage condition have
already been quantized. relaxed by tension crack is exposed when excavating
the slope on the upstream in line II2, spreading deep to
the slope on the upstream. The whole left bank cable-
4.2 Stability evaluation of Jinping I site crane platform slope of Jinping I site hydropower plant
hydropower plant is shown in Figure 1.
Jinping I site hydropower plant is located in the middle The evaluation procedure of attribute recognition
and lower reaches where the hydropower resources is model based on projection pursuit (ARM-PP) is as
quite enriched. The dam is over a 1.5 km-long river follows:
between Pusiluo Ditch and Shoupa Ditch.The left bank 1. Selection of evaluation indices. Based on the anal-
cable-crane platform slope is about 360 m along the ysis of geological characteristics of the study area,
river. The height of excavated slope is about 90-150 m. the geological impact on the quality of the engi-
The natural slope angle is from 40° to 50°. The slope neering rock mass, the mechanics test results, stress
lithological property is mainly sand slate whose trend and deformation monitoring results are consid-
is nearly parallel with the river stream. The slope is ered comprehensively to select the indices of the
a typical reverse one. The main structure plane of the left bank cable-crane platform slope as shown in
slope rock mass is small faults represented by f5, f8 and Table 2.
f42∼9, interlayer extrusion crushing belts, the deep 2. According to the single index attribute measure-
cracks represented by SL44–1, and unloaded fractures. ment function, the single index attribute is calcu-
The lamprophyre veins which is strong weathered and lated and shown in Table 3.

548
Table 3. The indices’ attribute measurement.

Evaluation indices C1 C2 C3 C4 C5

Rock quality designation 0 1 0 0 0

Rock-mass integrity index 0.35 0.65 0 0 0
Rock uniaxial wet compressive strength /Mpa 1 0 0 0 0
Cohesion/Mpa 0 0 0 0 1
Internal friction angle/° 0 0 0 0.962 0.038
Slope height/m 0 0 0 0 1
Slope angle/° 0 0 0 0 1
Supporting conditions 0.5 0.5 0 0 0
Drainage condition 0.5 0.5 0 0 0
Max daily rainfall/mm 0 1 0 0 0
Max ground stress/Mpa 0 0 0 0 1
Appearance deformation rate/mm/d 1 0 0 0 0
Deep deformation rate/mm/m 1 0 0 0 0

Table 4. Synthetic attribute measurement. Table 5. The comparison of the results.

C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 The element The extension

Methods ARM-PP method assessment
0.384 0.299 0.000 0.064 0.253
Results II II II

3. Using projection pursuit based on particle swarm
optimization, the evaluation indices’ weights are
calculated. The result is shown as follows:
A. Setting the initial parameters of particle swarm
optimization: the number of particles is 20; the
learning factor is 2.05; the maximum iterating
times is 300; the inertia weigh w decreases linearly
with iteration times from 0.95 to 0.4.
B. The fitness value of each particle could be calcu-
lated through the function (10). The fitness value
and the value of the optimal location where expe-
rienced are compared. The former would replace
the original optimal location if it is superior.
C. Each particle’s fitness value of the optimal loca-
tion and the group optimal one are compared. If
the former is superior to the latter, it will replace
the original optimal value.
D. Whether the terminal condition is satisfied is
judged. If it not met, the particle would update
its location by Function (13) and (14), and then
return (B). Otherwise the procedure is ended with
the optimal particle position exported. Then the
evaluation indices weight of projection pursuit is
calculated. The result is listed in Table 2.
4. According to Function (7), the comprehensive
attribute measurement value µxk is calculated and
listed in Table 4.
5. Given λ = 0.65, attribute recognition is conducted
according to Function (12). The comprehensive sta-
bility evaluation result of the left bank cable-crane
platform slope of Jinping I site hydropower plant
shows that the stability is at level II (stable).
6. The results of model ARM-PP is compared with
the one of the matter-element extension evaluation
method (Liang 2008, Tan et al. 2009), as shown
in Table 5. The new method agrees well with the
results of other evaluation methods, which demon-
strates the reliability of the model. Therefore the
application of ARM-PP on comprehensive stability
evaluation slope is feasible.
5 CONCLUSION
1. With the combination of the projection pursuit
method based on particle swarm optimization and
mathematical properties, the attribute recognition
model based on projection pursuit (ARM-PP) is
proposed to evaluate the slope stability. Case study
shows that ARM-PP is scientific, reliable and could
be applied to the comprehensive evaluation of slope
stability. The new model has value in both theory
and practice.
2. The evaluation of slope stability is indeed the
identification of orderly split classes. Attribute
mathematics could realize certain types of compre-
hensive evaluation with multiple fuzzy properties.
According to the orderliness of evaluation set, the
recognition criteria are proposed to be the con-
fidence criteria, which enhance the reliability of
evaluation results.
3. The application of projection pursuit method on the
determination of the weight could well overcome
the shortcoming of subjectivity and arbitrariness,
ensuring the reliability of evaluation results. Par-
ticle swarm optimization is used to improve the
projection pursuit that avoids the objective func-
tion is trapped in local optimum, thus enhancing
the accuracy, the objectivity and the reliability of
slope stability evaluation.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Method of fuzzy synthetic evaluation for safety of operating railway

tunnel lining

Y.Q. Yang & S.H. He

School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

F.L. Qi
Institute of Infrastructure Testing, China Academy of Railway Sciences, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: There are many qualitative indices and quantitative indices which have characteristics of uncer-
tainty, ambiguity and complexity for the safety evaluation of the operating railway tunnel lining. In order to
obtain more reasonable assessment results, all the indices are divided into three levels, and the three-level fuzzy
synthetic evaluation method for the safety of the operating railway tunnel is proposed in accordance with the
fuzzy mathematics theory. Furthermore, the evaluation process by means of this method is illustrated by an
engineering example. The results show that the evaluation result obtained by this method is correspondent with
the results by the evaluation method based on empirical judgments, which proves that this evaluation method is
feasible and reasonable. This method combines with multi-level indices organically, reflects the different effect
of the indicators on the safety evaluation, and provides feasible ideas and methods for the safety evaluation of
the operating railway tunnel lining.

1 INTRODUCTION slab beneath the highways, the types of the railway

Since the evaluation for the safety of operating railway
tunnel requires a number of qualitative and quantita-
tive indices characterized by uncertainty, ambiguity
and complexity, it has been difficult issues for the tun-
nel lining examination. Furthermore, with the rapid
development of China railway, the train speed sub-
stantially increases, and gross rail load on axle of
locomotive car and vehicle increases, thus it requires
more comprehensive inspection on the technical state
of the tunnel lining. In order to accurately evaluate the
technical state of the tunnel lining, the railway manage-
ment has carried out extensive research and developed
the relevant codes, standards (The Ministry of Rail-
way of the People’s Republic of China 1997, 2004,
2010). However, these studies only carry out classifi-
cation and evaluation for single index, but the relations
and importance between the evaluation indices are
paid less attention to. Therefore, in order to obtain
more reasonable and synthetic evaluation results for
the operating tunnel lining safety, making use of the
fuzzy mathematics theory, the fuzzy comprehensive
evaluation method is presented, and its reasonability
has been verified by engineering examples in accor-
dance with the research (China Academy of Railway
Sciences 2010, Yang 2009), the relevant codes and
standards for the evaluation of the tunnel lining safety.
Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is suit-
able for dealing with complex, multi-index, multi-level
problem, by which good evaluations of the stability
of roadbed in karst areas, the stability of karst top
tunnel surrounding rock and other aspects have been
obtained (Zhang 2011, Cheng 2003, Liu 1995). There-
fore, we believe the safety evaluation for the operating
railway tunnel by means of the fuzzy comprehensive
evaluation method is feasible and reasonable.
2 FUZZY SYNTHETIC EVALUATION MODEL
FOR OPERATING RAILWAY TUNNEL
SAFETY
2.1 The fuzzy synthetic evaluation model
According to the fuzzy theory, the evaluation of many
complex systems involves a variety of factors char-
acterized by fuzzy and multi-level that some factors
may be affected or determined by a number of other
factors. For example, the assessment for the operating
railway tunnel safety involves the contact state between
the surrounding rock and the lining, deterioration of
the surrounding rock, lining rhegma, leakage, freezing
injury, deterioration of the lining materials, etc. Some
of the factors contain multiple levels, for example,
the evaluation for the contact between the surrounding
rock and the lining is determined by the factors, such
as the cavity behind the lining, uncompacted backfill
behind the lining and longitudinal uncompacted basal.
Then some factors at this level are decided by other
factors, for example, the evaluation for cavity behind
the lining is affected by two kLc of the longitudinal
crown and the side wall (see Fig. 1). In summary, it is
good choice to adopt the method of multi-level fuzzy

551
Figure 1. Three-level fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model.
synthetic evaluation to the evaluation for the multi-
factor multi-level system. It means that by this method
the various factors at the lowest level are comprehen-
sively evaluated, and then the various factors at the
upper level are evaluated, followed by evaluation for
the next level, then continuously evaluating to the high-
est level until the overall evaluation results are obtained
(Li 2004, Chen 1994).
In accordance with the multi-level fuzzy synthetic
evaluation method, combining various factors affect-
ing the safety of the operating railway tunnel with
current research results, the three-level fuzzy com-
prehensive evaluation model is performed, as shown
in Figure 1. There are 21 factors selected for the
552
evaluation of the 10 secondary level factors which are
cavity behind the lining, uncompacted backfill behind
the lining, crown crush, cracks, leakage of construc-
tion joints, cracks leakage, leakage of lining concrete,
drainage function of the drainage systems, icicle, frost
heaving on the surrounding rock, respectively. The
10 secondary factors mentioned above and 17 new
factors are selected for the evaluation of six third fac-
tors which are contact between the surrounding rock
and the lining, lining rhegma, leakage, freezing injury,
material deterioration, lining deformation and insuffi-
cient clearance, respectively. The six factors and two
new factors are selected for the third evaluation that is
the comprehensive evaluation for the operating railway
tunnel safety. The three-level evaluation results are of boundary value for the two levels are the same. If
divided into five gradations, namely, security, basic the membership is assumed 0.5, which
security, more insecurity, unsafe and very unsafe. In
Figure 1, kLc is assumed the measuring line continu-
ous length at the segment of cavity behind the lining,
sLc is the measuring line continuous length at the sec-
tion of uncompacted backfill behind the lining, dLc is
the measuring line continuous length at the section of where, x1 and x2 are the upper and lower range
uncompacted basal. limit, respectively, which the security level corre-
sponding to the evaluation Pij (or Pijk ) belongs to.
2.2 The selection of the main parameters
5
If Ak (x)  = 1, the memberships should be
The three-level fuzzy synthetic evaluation model is as k=1
follows: normalized.
The quantitative indices involved in the fuzzy syn-
thetic evaluation of the tunnel lining security and
the values of its corresponding level are determined
by comprehensive research in the literature (China
Academy of Railway Sciences 2010, Yang 2009), as
shown in Table 1.
The qualitative indices are determined by the mem-
bership value table. In Figure 1, all the qualitative
indices are discrete single factor, and their values are
assigned by membership values (see Table 2). Table 2
is established by expert scoring according to the fuzzy
statistical theory. All qualitative indices are classified
into minor, serious, severe and very severe, in accor-
dance with their influence on the tunnel lining safety.
The principles of the ranking of all indices are deter-
mined by the research in the literature (ChinaAcademy
of Railway Sciences 2010, Yang 2009).
where, A is assumed the weight vector for the third
evaluation, Ai (i = 1, 2, . . . , n) is the weight vector
for the second evaluation, Aij (i = 1, 2, . . . , n; j = 2.2.2 Weight vectors
1, 2, . . . , m) as the weight vector for the first eval- The weight vectors of fuzzy synthetic evaluation of all
uation. R is assumed the fuzzy evaluation matrix levels determine that how various factors impact on
for the third evaluation, Ri (i = 1, 2, . . . , n) is the the safety of the railway tunnel lining, and the weight
fuzzy evaluation matrix for the second evaluation, distribution directly affect evaluation results. Here we
Rij (i = 1, 2, . . . , n; j = 1, 2, . . . , m) as the fuzzy use the expert scoring system theory for the distribu-
evaluation matrix for the first evaluation. B is assumed tion of the weight of each factor. The average values
fuzzy comprehensive evaluation for the object. "◦" of the scores played by the experienced experts from
is assumed the fuzzy matrix composite operator. In a number of engineering and scientific research units
Formula(1), the weight vector A, Ai , Aij , fuzzy eval- according to different effect of various factors on the
uation matrix of all levels R, Ri , Rij and fuzzy matrix security of the operating railway tunnel lining, are set
composite operator “◦” need to be determined. for the weights of the fuzzy evaluation, as shown in
Table 3.
2.2.1 The fuzzy evaluation matrix
Table 1. Division of values of quantitative indices.
The quantitative evaluation indices are calculated by
the membership function. If the membership function Single Basic More Very
of quantitative indicators for the security level of the factor Security security insecurity Unsafe unsafe
lining is the normal distribution model, the member-
ship of the evaluation index Pij and Pijk on the security P13 /m 0∼3 3∼9 9∼15 15∼18 >18
level N is P35 /cm 0∼1 1∼3 3∼5 5∼10 >10
P111 /m 0∼3 3∼5 5∼7 7∼L2 L2 *
P112 /m 0∼3 3∼5 5∼7 7∼L2 L2
P121 /m 0∼3 3∼5 5∼7 7∼L2 L2
P122 /m 0∼3 3∼5 5∼7 7∼L2 L2
where, x is assumed the index value of index Pij (or P311 /m2 0∼0.2 0.2∼1 1∼3 3∼5 >5
Pijk ), a is the average value of the upper and lower P312 /cm 0∼1 1∼3 3∼5 5∼10 >10
limits of value interval [x1 , x2 ] which the security level P322 /m 0∼3 3∼5 5∼10 10∼15 >15
corresponding to the evaluation of Pij (or Pijk ) belongs P323 /mm 0∼3 3∼5 5∼10 10∼20 >20
to, namely, a = (x1 + x2 )/2. When boundary value of
the indices is between the two levels, the memberships ∗ L2 indicates the length of construction section (m).

553
Table 2. The value of membership function of discrete single factor (quantitative indices).

Basic More Very

Single factor Value Security security insecurity Unsafe unsafe

P1 ∼ P8 P11 ∼ P12 P31 ∼ P34 P41 ∼ P45 minor 0.35 0.30 0.20 0.10 0.05
P51 ∼ P57 P61 ∼ P63 P71 ∼ P73 serious 0.20 0.20 0.40 0.10 0.10
P321 P411 ∼ P412 P421 ∼ P422 severe 0.10 0.25 0.30 0.20 0.15
P431 ∼ P432 P441 ∼ P442 P511 ∼ P512 very severe 0.05 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.35
P551 ∼ P552

Table 3. Weight vectors of fuzzy evaluation.

Level relations Weight vectors Level relations Weight vectors

B←P1 ∼P8 A=[0.15 0.10 0.20 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.15 0.10] P31 ←P311 ∼P312 A31 = [0.40 0.60]
P1 ←P11 ∼P13 A1 =[0.40 0.40 0.20] P32 ←P321 ∼P323 A32 = [0.40 0.30 0.30]
P3 ←P31 ∼P35 A3 = [0.25 0.25 0.10 0.20 0.20] P41 ←P411 ∼P412 A41 = [0.55 0.45]
P4 ←P41 ∼P45 A4 = [0.20 0.20 0.20 0.25 0.15] P42 ←P421 ∼P422 A42 = [0.55 0.45]
P5 ←P51 ∼P57 A5 = [0.20 0.20 0.10 0.10 0.10 0.20 0.10] P43 ←P431 ∼P432 A43 = [0.55 0.45]
P6 ←P61 ∼P63 A6 = [0.30 0.40 0.30] P44 ←P441 ∼P442 A44 = [0.45 0.55]
P7 ←P71 ∼P73 A7 = [0.20 0.30 0.50] P51 ←P511 ∼P512 A51 = [0.60 0.40]
P11 ←P111 ∼P112 A11 = [0.60 0.40] P55 ←P551 ∼P552 A55 = [0.45 0.55]
P12 ←P121 ∼P122 A12 = [0.60 0.40]

2.2.3 Synthesis operation of fuzzy matrix
In order to retain all the useful information of the
model, fuzzy matrix synthesis operator uses M(•, +)
operator based on fuzzy theory. The operator has no
upper limits for both the evaluation matrix coefficients
of weights and weight coefficient, which meets the
requirements of this project.
3 ANALYSIS OF PROJECT CASE
3.1 Engineering overview
An operating railway tunnel in North China is 1230 m
long, built in 1960. A section 200∼250 m away from
the hole is built by monolithic concrete composite lin-
ing, the tunnel lining section is the curved line wall
lining, the surrounding rock grade is III, and the lining
construction segment length is 12 m. To find out the
technical state of tunnel lining, the tunnel is inspected
by GPR, the lining surface imaging, measuring gauges
and other equipment and field investigations. The
results are as follows: (1) The continuous length of
measuring lines at the segments of cavity behind the
lining of the longitudinal crown and the side walls is
8 m, 10 m, respectively. The continuous length of mea-
suring lines at the segments of uncompacted backfill
behind the lining of the vertical crown and side walls is
7 m, 2 m, respectively. The continuous length of mea-
suring line at longitudinal segment of the uncompacted
base is 5 m. (2) The surrounding rock type is block
structure, and the block of upper crown apparently
slides off. (3) The crown crush range is 1.0 m2 , the
thickness of the peeling off block is 2.0 cm, the crack
length of the lining surface is 3 m, and the crack width
is 5 mm. The crack continues to widen rapidly, and
some cracks are leakage. The slipping off width at the
crown and side wall junction is 2.0 cm, in summary
the lining rhgma has fast loss. (4) There is a small
amount of leakage at crown construction joints, a cer-
tain amount of flowing at the side wall construction
joints, water dripping following the crown crack line,
a certain amount of flowing at the side wall cracks,
a small amount of leakage from the crown concrete
lining, a certain amount of flowing from the concrete
lining side wall. In addition, the blind ditch behind the
lining basically blocks, the drain ditch has more severe
deformation, and the local track bed takes water, mud
pumping. (5) In winter, a larger slip (not intrude limit)
can be seen on the crown, more icicle can be seen on
the side wall (some large icicle intrude limit), the rail
surface is covered with diffuse-type ice pick (seriously
affect traffic), as well as more severe ice jam (affect
the drainage). There is certain ice wedge at pools zone
behind the blind ditch and the lining, certain frost on
the surrounding rock of the cavity body (freezing and
thawing results in the deformation and the cracking of
the lining), rock frost at the tunnel bottom and the bal-
last results in the track deformation (freezing makes
the track bed more serious mud pumping). The repet-
itive freezing and thawing of some parts crown makes
the lining surface crisp, small pieces peeling off, small
amount of ring shrinkage cracks in the lining. (6) The
crown lining peels off more seriously, and the material
has deterioration. The effective thickness of lining is
4/5 of the design thickness, and the strength of con-
crete lining greatly reduces. (7) The tunnel crown is
sinking, but without further deterioration, thus it has

554
no effect on the tunnel operation. The clearance con-
vergence rate is slower, thus having no effect on the
tunnel operation. The clearance is deficiency (intrude
into loading gauge of super off-gauge goods). And (8)
the diseases have deterioration, not yet have effect on
driving safety.

3.2 The process and results analysis of fuzzy

evaluation
In accordance with the above investigation results of
the technical state of the tunnel lining, the values of
qualitative and quantitative indicators can be obtained
combined with the literature (China Academy of Rail-
way Sciences 2010, Yang 2009), as shown in Table 4
and Table 5. The value of each single factor will be
substituted into the membership function or member-
ship value table, to get fuzzy evaluation matrix, then
to evaluate by the calculation model mentioned in
section 2.2.
The third evaluation

The second evaluation

Table 4. Value of quantitative indices.

Quantitative Quantitative
indices Value indices Value

P111 /m 8 P311 /m2 1.0

P112 /m 10 P312 /cm 2.0
P121 /m 7 P322 /m 3
P122 /m 2 P323 /mm 5
P13 /m 5 P35 /cm 2.0

Table 5. Value of quantitative indices.

Qualitative Qualitative Qualitative

indices Value indices Value indices Value

P2 serious P441 very P56 serious

severe
P321 severe P442 severe P57 severe
P33 serious P45 serious P61 serious
P34 severe P511 serious P62 serious
P411 minor P512 severe P63 severe
P412 serious P52 very P71 minor
severe
P421 severe P53 serious P72 serious
P422 serious P54 serious P73 very
severe
P431 minor P551 serious P8 serious
P432 serious P552 severe

555

The first evaluation
According to the principle of maximum degree of
membership, the safety level at this section of the tun-
nel in the example is more insecurity and tends to basic
security, thus the tunnel lining diseases need to main-
tain (some diseases need large maintenance, such as
the cavity behind the lining and the drainage func-
tion of drainage systems, etc.) due to the literature
(The Ministry of Railway of the People’s Republic
of China 2010). The evaluation results agree with the
results obtained by empirical judgments in the litera-
ture (China Academy of Railway Sciences 2010, Yang
2009), consequently, this fuzzy evaluation method is
reasonable.
In order to verify the reliability and accuracy of the
fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method, a “procedure
of the fuzzy synthetic evaluation of the safety of the
operating tunnel lining” is developed. By means of the
procedure a large number of state tunnel test results are
evaluated, and the evaluation results agree well with
those evaluated by the traditional method.
4 CONCLUSIONS
1. The fuzzy synthetic evaluation method for the
safety of the operating railway tunnel lining is first
proposed. By this method the level relations and
the importance of so many factors involved in the
556
evaluation are taken into account, and the qualita-
tive and quantitative indices are allowed to combine
organically, thus makes up the deficiencies of tra-
ditional evaluation methods based on empirical
judgments.
2. Through many engineering examples, the results
obtained by the method proposed in the article are
consistent with those obtained by the traditional
evaluation method based on experience, which
indicates that the method is reliable.
3. For the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method, the
weight and the membership function (or member-
ship value table) of the single factor impacts on
its evaluation result, thus this method needs to
keep optimization and improvement by practical
engineering applications in order to obtain more
reasonable and reliable evaluation results.
REFERENCES
Chen, S.Y. 1994. Theory and applications of fuzzy decision
on system. Dalian: Dalian University of Technology Press.
Cheng, Y., Cao. W.G, Zhao, M.H. 2003. Synthetic judg-
ment on the two stage fuzzy of the stability of karst top
slab beneath expressway. China Journal of Highway and
Transport 16(4): 21–24.
China Academy of Railway Sciences. 2010. Research Report
on Detecting Technology and Equipment for State of Rail-
way Tunnel Lining. Beijing: China Academy of Railway
Sciences.
Li, S.Y. 2004. Engineering fuzzy mathematics with applica-
tions. Harbin: Harbin Institute of Technology Press.
Liu, Y.J. 1995. Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation of rail-
way tunnel surrounding rock classifications. Journal of
Shijiazhuang Railway Institute 5(4): 80–88.
The Ministry of Railway of the People’s Republic of China.
1997. TB/T 2820.2-1997 Standards for evaluation of dete-
rioration of the railway bridge and tunnel – Tunnel.
Beijing: The Ministry of Railway of the People’s Republic
of China.
The Ministry of Railway of the People’s Republic of China.
2004. Temporary provisions for safety-rating evaluation
of the operating railway tunnel. Beijing: The Ministry of
Railway of the People’s Republic of China.
The Ministry of Railway of the People’s Republic of China.
2010. TG/GW103-2010 Repair rules of the railway bridge
and tunnel. Beijing: China Railway Publishing House.
Yang, Y.Q. 2009. Safety evaluation of operating railway
tunnels. Journal of Northeastern University (Natural
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Prediction of roof subsidence in metal mine goaf based on BP neural network

K. Zhao
School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou,
Jiangxi, China
School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

J.A. Wang
School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

S.N. Chen
School of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou,
Jiangxi, China

ABSTRACT: Metal mine is quite different from coal mine in aspects of mineralization mechanism and ore
body’s stratigraphic configuration, etc. The present mature law of overlying strata movement and ground surface
subsidence mechanism in coal mine are not adaptable to metal mine. The roof subsidence of goaf in metal mine
is the primary factor which leads to overlying strata movement and ground surface deformation. This paper
focused on the study of this issue based on BP neural network with its characteristic that it could approach to any
non-linear mapping. Firstly, the principle and features of BP neural network were briefly introduced. Then time
series prediction model was established, which was based on the measured data of roof subsidence in the goaf of
metal mine, and the tested sample data were trained and tested by many times. Finally the predicted value of the
BP neural network was compared with the measured value, which showed that the prediction model achieved
good accuracy and high precision, and could be adopted in the engineering application. The model could be used
for the trend prediction of future development on roof subsidence of goaf in metal mines.

1 INTRODUCTION overlying strata movement and ground surface defor-

The catastrophe mechanism of ground surface and
overlying strata movement in metal mine is not clear
at present, which is obviously different from relative
mature law and mechanism in coal mine. The law
of overlying strata movement and surface subsidence
mechanism of metal mine with fractured blocky rock
mass is much different from that of coal mine with
layered rock mass, which shows discontinuity and
irregularity, meanwhile large differences also exist in
stratum structure, ore body shape, geological condi-
tion and mining methods, so the influential factors in
metal mines are complex and volatile (Yuan & Zhao
2011, Yuan et al. 2008).
In order to fully explore the law and mechanism
of the overlying strata movement and the ground sur-
face deformation in metal mines, research work should
be started with the essential cause of overlying strata
movement. Plenty of goafs come into being as ore
was mined, and the empty volume increases with
time. The stress balancing factor eventually leads to
overlying strata movement and ground surface sub-
sidence. So the movement and subsidence of the
roof in goaf is the first reaction chain leading to the
mation. Further research of this issue would have
great significance in the study of overlying strata
movement.
The rock of underground mine itself has characteris-
tics of heterogeneity and nonlinearity, while there are
also some other uncertain factors, such as fractures,
joints and faults in overlying strata, and the hole and
empty area caused by the goaf in the surrounding rock,
etc. All these factors would cause the fuzziness and
randomness of overlying strata movement and ground
surface deformation. Artificial neural network (ANN)
is an intelligent computing system of simulating bio-
logical neural network. It possesses characteristics
of self-learning, self-organizing, nonlinear dynamic
process and high fault-tolerance. Meanwhile, it also
possesses associative inference and adaptive capac-
ity. Especially, it can be applied to processing various
kinds of nonlinear problems (Hu et al. 1993; Tomam &
Goran 2003). Therefore, roof subsidence of the goaf
was studied based on neural network method in this
paper, expecting to provide some inspiration to the
research of the law and mechanism of overlying strata
movement and ground surface deformation in metal
mines.

557
2 CHARACTERISTICS OF BP NETWORK AND network structure, increasing the training time of the
ITS ALGORITHM network weights. Another way to improve accuracy is
to increase the number of neurons in hidden layer, the
2.1 BP network characteristics effect of which is easier to observe and adjust than
that of the previous (Song 2004; Zhang 2009; Guo
BP network is a neural network containing a structure
2006; Zhang 2004). In order to simplify this model
of 3 or more than 3 layers, including input layer, mid-
and improve computing speed, under the condition
dle layer (hidden layer) and output layer. The network
of completing the training purpose and achieving the
is fully connected from the upper to the lower layer,
computing accuracy in a single hidden layer, 3-layer
but not between each neuron connection (Figure 1).
network model with one hidden layer has been chosen
When subjects of studying samples are provided to
for study.
the network, the activation values of neurons would
S-type logic nonlinear function was applied in this
spread from the input layer to output layer through the
paper, and its algorithm is as follows:
middle layer, obtaining network output response from
each neuron of the output layer. Back-propagation pro-
cess includes error comparison and connection weight
updates, modifying the connection weights layer by
layer from the output layer by way of each middle
layer, and finally back to the input layer. This algo-
1. Firstly, weight W and threshold θ were initialized,
rithm is called error back propagation algorithm, i.e.
with a randomly given initial value to all the weights
BP algorithm. The transfer functions of BP network
and neuron threshold.
are required to be differentiable, among which sigmoid
2. Take the research objects as learning samples (input
type logarithmic functions, tangent functions or linear
value and expected output value), namely the input
functions are commonly used (Martin 2002; Research
vector Xi = (x0 , x1 , …, xn−1 ) and expected out-
and development center of Feisi 2007).
put vector Di = (d0 , d1 , …, dm−1 ), in which the
subscript i represents each sample or input mode.
2.2 BP networking and its algorithm 3. Apply S-type function and the following formula
to calculate the output xj of each hidden layer and
The research object of this paper is the roof subsidence
output yk of output layer. The output value of the
of goaf in the middle of a gold mine 390m underground
input layer node equals to its input value, if the
at the point of line-25 to line-26. The rock mass have
hidden layer contains n1 units, output layer contains
fissures, and many faults and fracture zones, posing a
m units and input layer contains n units.
great threat to the stability of the surrounding rock. The
surface construction of the mine is very close to the
goaf, thus, the stability of the roof and overlying rock of
the goaf is the key factor determining the safety of the
surface buildings. As the geological structure of metal
mine and relevant influential factors are very complex,
the strata movement is nonlinear and fuzzy. Thus, it is
difficult to quantify or apply a mathematical model to
study it. Therefore, the data of roof subsidence mea- 4. Starting from the output layer to amend weight,
sured in the field could be used to predict the future errors are transmitted reversely from the output
stability of the roof by neural networks. layer to the first hidden layer by using recur-
During the process of roof subsidence predicting, sion algorithm, and apply the following formula
the first step is to build the BP network. Different to adjust the weight, minimizing the error.
aspects should be taken into consideration, such as
the network layer, the number of neurons in each
layer and the activation function and learning rate, etc. where, wij (t) is the weight from hidden layer node
To improve the technical accuracy, the hidden layers
i to j at time t; η is gain; xi is the output of the node
/
should be increased. But this would complicate the
i; δj is the error term of nodes j. If node j is an
output node, the formula is as follows:

where, dj is the expected goal of node j, yj is the

output value of calculation. If j is an internal hidden
node, the formula is:

Figure 1. Structure of BP neural network. where, k is the node in previous layer of node j.

558
 Similar approach can be used to adjust the thresh- Table 1. Measured data of roof subsidence.
old of hidden nodes. If adding a momentum a and
making weights change slowly according to the fol- Measured Measured
Time/ subsidence Time/ subsidence
lowing formula, the convergence of the process may mon. value/mm mon. value/mm
be more rapid.
1 1.4 10 4.4
2 1.2 11 5.0
3 2.0 12 3.8
4 2.5 13 3.2
5 3.1 14 4.8
5. Calculate the average errors of the system, and 6 2.0 15 4.3
make sure the results reach the requirements of 7 3.5 16 5.0
error precision or cycling times. The square error 8 4.0 17 5.1
of i in each (input and output) mode is: 9 5.4 18 5.0

The system average error is (if there are p

samples):

3 EXAMPLE PREDICTING AND TRAINING

RESULTS ANALYSIS

3.1 Sample data selection

As the impact factors of strata movement and surface
deformation are complex, possessing a complicated
nonlinear and ambiguous feature, the stability of the
goaf roof is an important factor. Taking the advantage
of neural networks that it can solve nonlinear prob-
lems, data of the roof subsidence were measured in the
goaf in the middle of a gold mine 390m underground,
which were taken as studying and training samples for
future roof dynamic subsidence law research, so as
to provide reference to the mining support of mines.
Upon the roof of the goaf, a subsidence gauge was
laid for continuous monitoring of 18 months, the
data of which are showed in the following table (see
Table 1). Through long-term monitoring, the dynamic
data displayed that the total roof subsidence gradually
stabilized (see Figure 2).
The learning of neural network can be studied under
guidance, by providing neural network some learning
samples (input and output) and learning algorithm to
modify network connection weights. That is, the sam-
ples (experimental data) were divided into two parts,
a large part of samples were taken for neural network
learning, while the small part of them were for the
neural network testing after learning. New input data
were predicted by tested neural network, then its learn-
ing effect was evaluated, and the effect of learning
sample database was judged. In the research, “Time”
was taken as the input value and “measured cumu-
lative subsidence” as expected output value, which
composed sampling pair in the research. The moni-
toring data of the first 15 months were the training
samples, and data of the last 3 months were regarded
as network testing samples.
Figure 2. Curve of roof subsidence measurement and time.
3.2 Neural network parameter setting and results
analysis
According to the actual monitoring data in the mine,
the monitoring results of the first 15 months were taken
as input node samples, and the input node was also 1
neuron, and the monitoring values of the last 3 months
were target values. The output node was also 1 neuron.
In order to speed up the network convergence speed,
the samples were normalized and mainly distributed
in the range of 0 to 1. It is not so easy to choose the
proper number of hidden nodes. Too few nodes of hid-
den layer will reduce network fault tolerance, while if
the number is too large, it could increase learning time,
but errors may not be minimized. Therefore, 5 nodes
of hidden layer are the best by repeatedly calculating.
Learning rate is 0.2 and expected error is 0.005. The
code of the neural network was programmed by using
network toolbox of the matlab software, and the cre-
ated model was trained and tested to check whether it
was correct or not. After 6324 times’ iterative calcula-
tion, the model had achieved the desired accuracy of
0.005, which proved the success of network training
(see Figure 3).
Function prediction of Neural Network was judged
by the relative error between predicted value and
measured value.
Roof subsidence of the last 3 months was predicted
by well-trained samples, measured value and predicted
value were compared as shown in Table 2. The results

559
 geological conditions of the mine, the mined-out
region size and shape parameters and rock mechanical
parameters, the roof subsidence prediction of the goaf
in the metal mine was studied, and the results were
compared between the predicted and the measured
one, which showed a good consistency. All these testi-
fied the superiority of the neural network. Time series
prediction model of neural network established in the
paper could accurately predict the roof subsidence of
the goaf, which can provide some references for future
development trend of roof subsidence in metal mines.
Figure 3. The variation relation of training error and times.

Table 2. The comparison of measured value and predicted

value. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Measured Predicted Absolute This work was supported partly by: the National Basic
Time/ subsidence subsidence error/ Relative Research Program of China (973 Program) under
mon. value/mm value/mm mm error/% Grant 2010CB731501; the National Natural Science
Foundation of China under Grants 51064010 and
16 5.0 4.96 0.04 0.8 50464002.
17 5.1 5.04 0.06 1.18
18 5.0 4.88 0.12 2.4

Figure 4. Fitting curve comparision of measured samples
and predicted samples.
show that the predicted value of the 16th month has
a good consistency with the measured value, as the
absolute error is only 0.04 mm and relative error is
0.8%. The biggest relative error for the 18th month
is 2.4%. Compared with other theoretical calculation
results, the calculating results of this network model
has fewer error and higher accuracy, fully meeting
the actual needs of engineering. Figure 4 is the fit-
ting comparison of measured samples and predicted
samples.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the great function of neural network that it
can handle nonlinear problems, without knowing the
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Subsidence Factor in Strip Mining and Neural Network
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560
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Application of EH-4 in field investigation of engineering geology

for strongly weathered slope

W. Zhong, Z.Y. Tan & Y. Li

State Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines, University of Science and Technology
Beijing, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China

X.J. Li
Beijing General Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: EH-4 electromagnetic imaging system is a combination of CSAMT and MT, which is a dual-
power electromagnetic geophysical detection system for auto date acquisition and processing. The principles,
characteristics, procedures and data analysis of EH-4 are described here. Field investigation for a strongly
weathered slope was carried out and the spatial distribution of low resistance strata was analyzed. Based on
borehole data and geological analysis, the distribution of weak interfaces was determined by interpretation of
formation lithology. The results of engineering practice show that EH-4 can provide advanced identification for
weak interface in the strongly weathered slope.

1 INSTRUCTION of 500 Hz∼100 kHz (Kaufman et al. 1981, Xu et al.

The geomagnetic field influences the formation of dif-
ferent reflecting waves of a magnetic field. Therefore,
we can derivate inversely geomagnetic difference char-
acteristics for different formation lithology through
measuring the reflecting magnetic field for the forma-
tion at different depth. EH-4 electromagnetic imaging
system acquires conductivity or resistivity sounding
through gathering electromagnetic wave of geomag-
netic field, and works to find out anomalous body by
analyzing. This system based on the basic theory of
geomagnetic field, is a combination of CSAMT and
MT belong to magnetotelluric sounding system and
it is the most advanced method for electromagnetic
investigation method at present (Kaufman et al. 1981).
There is positive and long-term meaning for stability
analysis of the strongly weathered slope that identifi-
cation for distribution of unknown weak interface in
the strongly weathered slope by EH-4.
2 PRINCIPLES AND CHARACTERISTICS
2006). When it is launched a new type of portable
low-power transmitter, realized gathering and pro-
cessing for the natural and artificial signal source,
can effectively penetrate the overlay layer of dif-
ferent thickness, and make a high precise inver-
sion for electrical structures of the geological body
underground 0 m∼1,000 m. Continuous sounding
bitmap can form imaging of 2-d resistivity section
underground, even 3-d resistivity. The basic assump-
tions of EH-4 include that, the earth is a level
medium, and the geomagnetic field is a plane elec-
tromagnetic wave vertically projected onto the under-
ground, then orthogonal electric field components
(Ex, Ey) and magnetic field components (Hx, Hy)
are observed on the ground. If the ratio of horizon-
tal components of surface natural electric fields and
magnetic fields is defined as the surface impedance
Z, the impedance Z has nothing to do with the inci-
dent field polarization, but only connected with earth
resistivity and frequency of geomagnetic field. From
the above we note that:

2.1 Principles where Z = surface impedance; ρ = resistivity, units:

EH-4 electromagnetic imaging system is a combi-
nation of CSAMT and MT, which is a dual-power
electromagnetic geophysical detection system of auto
date acquisition and processing. In deep formation,
imaging by MT has the signal source frequency of
10 Hz∼1 kHz. In shallow formation, it makes up
natural signal insufficiency through artificial electro-
magnetic signal (CSAMT) which has the frequency
·m; µ = magnetic permeability; and f = frequency.
The resistivity value of the media can be determined
by measuring orthogonal electric field components
and magnetic field components and is expressed as
follows:

561
Figure 1. EH-4 electromagnetic imaging system.
where ρ = apparent resistivity; f = frequency; E = elec-
tric field component, units: mv/km; and H = magnetic
field component, units: nT.
This expression is still applied to the horizontal
stratified earth’s layer. But the resistivity is calculated
using the above expression with regard to a change
with frequency, because the earth penetration depth of
geomagnetic wave or skin depth relate to frequency. It
can be expressed as follows:
where δ = skin depth, units: m.
The calculated result of equation (2) is apparent
resistivity, so we can work out apparent resistivity
value and phase by measurement of E and H in a
same broadband, followed by electrical and geologi-
cal structure of underground strata which are defined
by inversion calculation.
2.2 Characteristics
EH-4 is made of host system, sensor unit, antenna
and other basic unit. Compared with other geophysical
exploration methods, the EH-4 has many advantages
as follows (Kaufman et al. 1981):
1. Possesses both the natural source and controlled
source joint reception.
2. Unique means of vertical magnetic dipole trans-
mission, antenna deft and agile, low power con-
sumption – only 12V deft automobile accumulator
is sufficient.
562
3. Short measuring time, high accuracy, installed FM
receiver, both are convenient enough and also have
the characteristic of high resolution in time domain.
4. It utilizes two-dimensional structure because it
explains joint x-y conductivity tensor profile.
5. It has a frequency range of 0.1 Hz – 100 kHz,
exploration depth as far as 1,000 m.
6. It is the most ideal instrument with comprehen-
sive exploration. It combines measurement, expla-
nation and furthermore, seismic and electrical
prospecting.
7. Exhibits real-time processing, real-time dis-
play, forthright data interpretation, direct image
recording.
3 COMPONENTS AND PROCEDURES
3.1 Components
EH-4 consists of three parts: the launching system, the
receiving system and controlling system (Figure 1).
The launching system consists of the transmitter,
antenna and controller; receiving system consists of
pre-amplifier, electromagnetic sensors and accessory
equipment; and controlling system consists of mas-
ter control and system software. System software has
two main functions. They are data acquisition con-
trolling and data processing. The sketch of EH-4 data
acquisition unit is illustrated in Figure 2.
3.2 Procedures
In field detection process, we first determine the mea-
suring lines and survey stations through geological
survey followed by drawing measuring map. Then we
Figure 2. The sketch of EH-4 data acquisition unit.
construct a coordinating system oriented from survey
station, the Ex0 − Ex1 is x-height and the Ey0 − Ey1
is y-height; the electrode spacing is 30 m between
Ex0 −Ex1 and Ey0 −Ey1 .The bar magnet Hx0 −Hx1 and
Hy0 − Hy1 are laid vertically in any quadrant of coor-
dinating system posed electrodes; the distance is more
than or equal to 2 m between bar magnet Hx0 − Hx1
and Hy0 − Hy1 ; the distance is more than or equal
to 5 m between joint of magnetic pole and analog
front end; the distance is more than or equal to 200
m between transmitting antenna and analog front end
and the distance between two survey stations, as shown
in Figure 3.
4 INTERPRETATION
Different time detection results are relatively stable
based on the same or similar circumstances in the
same geographic location on the earth.This theory pro-
vides scientific basis with the geomagnetic method for
investigation. Generally speaking, the resistivity has
much to do with the moisture content because water
is a good conductor. The higher the moisture content
and the salts in water, the lower the resistivity is, and
vice versa. Apparently due to the strongly weathered
broken loose rock rich in water, the resistivity is con-
clusively low. Thus for loose formation, water fill or
563
mud fill geological structure, the resistivity is usually
low, but for karst cave without other medium fill or
water fill, the resistivity is usually high (Chen 2005,
Sha et al. 2005, Yu 2004). Therefore, we can judge the
abnormalities of the underground geological structure
qualitatively if we analyze the detection data of abnor-
mal area including low resistivity and high resistivity.
The judgment on lithology based on resistivity depends
on drilling data. Normally we compare according to the
drilling bar chart with the sounding–resistivity section
of drilling position. Then we judge the formation of
lithology with corresponding sounding–resistivity.
However, because the geomagnetic detection depth
usually reaches down as far as 1,000 m, deep hole
drilling is prone to drilling deflections at certain stages
along deep depths. This has a tendency to causes flaws
the interpreted results dependent on deep drilling data.
Therefore, information obtained on shallow borehole
data is more reliable than those at greater depths.
5 CASE STUDY
Chengmenshan copper mine is a multi-metal open-
pit mine which predominantly mines for copper and
sulfur. In mining area, the terrane weathering activity
is strong. The fracture structure includes drape, fault,
fissures, etc. Because mining area near the lake, there
Figure 3. The measuring map of field detection by EH-4.
Figure 4. The measuring line schematic.
is surface water, limestone groundwater is rich and
there are intrinsic factors of engineering geology dis-
aster in mining area which include quaternary loose
cover, karst cave, weathering fracture zone and other
bad geographic geological environment.
The slope of detection is located to the northeast of
stope, the trend of slope is north-south, the dip direc-
tion of slope surface is situated westward, and slope
angle of practical steps is about 70◦ . The engineering
geological rock group type of slope is granodiorite-
porphyry. Because of the strong weathering activity
in the exposed upper slope, the Kaolinite present is
564
mostly a loose structure. The potential failure mode
of the slope is circular in nature and because there are
karst caves in the slope, the karst collapse is locally
visible.
This measuring line is arranged with #3 geological
exploration line in mining area, there are twelve survey
stations altogether. The coordinate of survey station
1 is (3285860.9, 383417.6, and 8.5); the azimuth
angle is NW328◦ , and the measuring point spacing
is 30 m. The main components of the fill soil within
measuring area contain all kinds of weathered products
of rock, ore and quaternary loose cover. The under-part
Table 1. The statistics of the resistivity with calibrating sections along the measuring line.

ZK310 ZK311 ZK312 ZK992

Depth Resistivity Depth Resistivity Depth Resistivity Depth Resistivity

m ·m m ·m m ·m m ·m

0∼10 26 0∼62 13 0∼10 13 0∼20 51

10∼30 51 62∼108 26 10∼244 51 20∼42 26
30∼42 26 108∼116 51 244∼360 13 42∼58 51
42∼76 13 116∼200 13 360∼610 51 58∼100 100
76∼80 26 200∼244 7 100∼130 193
80∼180 193 244∼288 51 130∼170 100
180∼280 51 288∼348 26 170∼190 193
280∼290 100 348∼388 51 190∼820 100
290∼388 51 388∼390 100 820∼870 193
388∼390 100

Table 2. The statistics of abnormalities resistivity.

Nearby slope Intermediate locations Nearby lake

Depth Resistivity Depth Resistivity Depth Resistivity

m ·m m ·m m ·m

0∼80 <51 0∼610 <51 0∼58 <51

180∼280 <51 – – – –
299∼388 <51 – – – –

is deposits of lacustrine clay. The bedrock includes
granodiorite-porphyry, quartz porphyry and limonite.
The measuring line schematic is illustrated in Figure 4.
According to mine data, effective drilling which can
be adopted for this detection calibrating basis consists
of ZK310, ZK311, ZK312 and ZK992. The idea is
to assign some sections in drilling path as calibrating
sections. The distribution of the resistivity with cal-
ibrating sections along the measuring line is shown
in the following Table 1 and Figure 5. The resistiv-
ity of calibrating sections along the measuring line
ranges from 7 ·m to 193 ·m. Although the resis-
tivity is small, the change of the resistivity is great in
the formation. Thus a complex 2-d resistivity section is
constituted to expose complex weak interface on every
calibrating section.
Note from the Table 2, the resistivity located in the
intermediate locations of measuring line is lower and
less than 51 ·m. There are abnormalities in the parts
nearby slope; their resistivity is above 100·m with
subsequent range of depths of 80 m to 180 m, 280 m
to 299 m and 388 m to 390 m.The resistivity of sections
nearby lake is less than 51 ·m with the depth range of
0 m to 58 m. Through interpretation, the low-resistance
parts located in shallow formation are mainly of com-
pound clay, clinosol, alluvial mild clay and alluvial
clay. The low-resistance parts located in other for-
mation comprise mainly of weathered dacite, quartz
porphyry, limestone and granodiorite-porphyry. The
higher-resistance sections consist mainly of pyritiza-
tion quartz porphyry, moderately weathered quartz
porphyry and granodiorite-porphyry.
Despite all resistance being generally low, there
are still substantial differences worth noticing. Resis-
tance to weathering is different because of difference in
lithology. It thus forms a particular formation config-
uration which alternates from shallow low-resistance
to deeper low-higher-resistance, while the higher-
resistance formation is mainly due to the influence
of quartz porphyry. So in potential failure modes for
the slope, besides main circular failure, there are still
local small-scale collapse sections including polyline
landslide, etc. The interpretation section diagram of
geological formation is illustrated in Figure 6.
6 CONCLUSION
According to the practical application of the EH-4
for engineering geological investigation in Chengmen-
shan copper open-pit mine, we knew that the EH-4 can
get better detection effect in strong weathering com-
plex topography and geology conditions. Among the
deep engineering geophysical exploration methods,
the EH-4 has many advantages over other geophys-
ical prospecting methods. They are deft instrument,
low demand of terrain environment and measurement
speed. The EH-4 can find out all of anomalous
high-resistivity or low-resistivity formations includ-
ing those with a larger difference in depth ranging
from 1 m to 1500 m. Interpretations can be drawn by
using EH-4 system software for various types of weak
interfaces, and also, can be a benchmark for further
prospective study of slope stability.

565
Figure 5. Resistivity-depth relational graph.
Figure 6. Interpretation section diagram of geological formation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work is financially supported by National
Key Basic R & D Program of China (973)
(No. 2010CB731501).
REFERENCES
Chen, Q.K. & Xi, Z.Z. 2005. Study of date processing
procedure of EH4 electromagnetic imaging system. Non-
ferrous mining and metallurgy 21(5): 7–9.
566
Kaufman, A.A. & Keller, G.A. 1981. The magnetotelluric
sounding method. New York: Elsevier Scientific Pub. Co.
Sha, C.M & Wang, E.D. (eds) 2005. The frequency spectral
analysis of EH-4 signals in exploration of geotechnical
engineering.Chinese journal of geotechnical engineering
27(2): 193–197.
Xu, B.S. & Wang, E.D. (eds) 2006. Determination of coal
mine gob edges by EH-4 system. Journal of northeastern
university (natural science) 27(7): 810–813.
Yu, A.J. & Huang, H. (eds) 2004. Date statement of EH-4
successive electrical conductivity survey. Gold geology
10(4): 66–69.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Research on meso mechanical parameters determining method of

rock-soil material

Y. Zhou & S. C. Wu
School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

X. Q. Wang
School of Civil Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjing, China

J.F. Ding
Shandong Gold Mining Co., Ltd., Laizhou, Shandong, China

ABSTRACT: Particle Flow method is widely applied in meso mechanical research field. Codes such as PFC3D
program generate calculation model with particles. Meso-scale mechanical parameters can only be obtained by
varying them until the macro mechanical parameters of the numerical sample match that of the laboratory rock-
soil mass sample. The corresponding parameters may be then used in a simulation of problem containing the same
solid material as the sample. Based on PFC3D program, a nonlinear network model linked macro mechanical
parameters and meso-scale mechanical parameters is founded by adopting BP neural network, so meso-scale
mechanical parameters can be inversed rapidly and accurately by inputting macro mechanical parameters. Some
studying results are drawn as follows: (1) Precision of macro mechanical parameters calculated by inversed results
is generally over 90%; (2) Inversion performance of BP neural network model is best when Resolution(RES)
equals 10 and the hidden layer has six neurons.

1 INTRODUCTION determination of meso-scale mechanical parameters

Particle Flow method was proposed by P.A. Cundall
on the basis of Discrete Element Method theory. This
method beseems to the study for mechanical properties
of inhomogenous materials, such as rock-soil mass, so
it is widely used in the numerical research of rock-soil
mechanics experiments, underground chamber, slope,
foundation, mining, etc (Potyondy et al. 2004, Ren
et al. 2008, Liu et al. 2004, Liu et al. 2008, Wang et al.
2008 & Zheng et al. 2008).
Meso-scale mechanical parameters are used to char-
acterize the physical properties of rock-soil mass in
Particle Flow method. Codes such as PFC3D program
generate calculation model with particles. Meso-scale
mechanical parameters can only be obtained by vary-
ing them until the macro mechanical parameters of the
numerical sample match that of the laboratory rock-
soil mass sample. The corresponding parameters may
be then used in a simulation of engineering problem
containing the same solid material as the sample.
The determination of meso-scale mechanical
parameters implements all by this adjustment pro-
cess currently (Wang et al. 2007, Wu et al. 2008 &
Liao et al. 2002). This process is inefficient with
some blindness, so a new method should be intro-
duced to establish the relationship between macro
mechanical parameters and meso-scale mechanical
parameters, and provides an effective approach for the
in Particle Flow simulation.
BP neural network exhibits an excellent ability of
nonlinear dynamic process, possessing quite strong
characteristics of learning, storage, calculation and
error tolerance. So it can implement the nonlinear
mapping between input samples and output samples
(Hagan et al. 1996). Based on PFC3D program, BP
neural network is established and trained by random
data samples in this paper, so the nonlinear mapping
between macro mechanical parameters and meso-
scale mechanical parameters of the rock-soil mass is
achieved. By use of the trained BP neural network
model, contraposing to different macro mechanical
parameters, the corresponding meso-scale mechanical
parameters can be inversed rapidly and accurately.
2 PARAMETERS ANALYSIS
The mechanical calculation model adopts laboratory
standard cylinder specimen of rock-soil mass with
height of 100 mm and diameter of 50 mm.
In Particle Flow method, two types of bond models,
contact bond and parallel bond, can be used to describe
bond at ball-ball contacts.
Contact bond model approximates the physical
behavior of a vanishingly small cement-like substance
lying between and jointing the two bonded particles.

567
The complete set of meso-scale mechanical parame- Figure 2 shows the specimen data and linear
ters that characterize a contact bond material are given fit function of Ec, − EC , σ ucs − σ c and kn /ks -υ,
as follow: Ec , kn /ks , µ, σ c , τ c . Ec is the Young’s mod- respectively. We can see that, σ ucs and σ c , kn /ks and
ulus at each particle-particle contact; kn /ks is the ratio υ, keep highly linear characteristic along with the
of particle normal to shear stiffness; µ is the particle increase of meso-scale mechanical parameters repec-
friction coefficient; σ c and τ c are the normal and shear tively, whereas the linear characteristic between Ec
strengths, respectively, of the material lying between and EC decreases evidently. Based on training sam-
two particles joined by a contact bond. ples of the BP neural network, Pearson Correlation
Parallel bond model can reproduce the effect of coefficient between macro mechanical parameters and
additional material deposited after the balls are in meso-scale mechanical parameters (see Table 2), can
contact. The complete set of meso-scale mechanical also be calculated by:
parameters that characterize a parallel bond material
are given as follow: λ, Ec , kn /ks , EC , kn /ks , µ, σ c , τ c . λ
is the radius multiplier; Ec is Young’s modulus at each
particle-particle contact; kn /ks is the ratio of particle
normal to shear stiffness; EC is theYoung’s modulus of
where COV(X,Y) is the covariance between X and Y ;
each parallel bond; kn /ks is the ratio of parallel-bond VAR(X) and VAR(Y) are of X and Y, respectively.
normal to shear stiffness; µ is the particle friction coef- The results are as follows: (1)The correlation
ficient; σ c and τ c are the normal and shear strengths, between Ec, EC and Young’s modulus E is relatively
respectively, of the cement-like material represented
by a parallel bond. strong as well as that between kn /ks , kn /ks and Pois-
This paper uses the parallel bond model. The ratio son Ratio υ; Therefore, it indicates that Ec , kn /ks , EC ,
of maximum to minimum particle size (Rmax /Rmin ) kn /ks determine the material deformation properties.
is 1.50 and λ is 1.0. The study meso-scale mechanical (2)Similarly, the correlation between σ c , τ c and uniax-
parameters are Ec , kn /ks , EC , kn /ks , µ, σ c , τ c . For sim- ial compressive strength σ ucs is relatively strong and
it shows that σ c , τ c determine the material strength
plified analysis, Ec and EC , kn /ks and kn /ks , σ c and
properties; (3)The correlation between µ and macro
τ c , are equal respectively. By combination of different
mechanical parameters is rather low; Hence, µ influ-
meso-scale mechanical parameters, the correspond-
ences the material pre-peak mechanical properties
ing macro mechanical parameters of the calculation
slightly.
model, such as Young’s modulus E, uniaxial compres-
sive strength σ ucs and Poisson Ratio υ, can be obtained
by using PFC3D program.
The number and size of particles in the calculation
model influence the macro mechanical parameters, so
the Resolution (RES), which means the number of par-
ticles across the minimum scale of the model, must be
considered (Mas et al. 2008). RES are given by:

in which L is the minimum scale of calculation model;

Rmax is the maximum diameter of particles; Rmin is the
minimum diameter of particles.
Contraposing to the model with diameter of 50 mm,
the number and size of particles do little influence on
the macro mechanical parameters when
RES ≥ 10 (see Figure 1). Therefore this paper
selects RES = 10 in later analysis.

3 BP NEURAL NETWORK CONSTRUCTION

3.1 Training samples construction

400-group random combination specimens of meso-
scale mechanical parameters are generated and several
runs of models are performed to calculate macro
mechanical parameters of cylindrical samples in uni-
axial compression tests from them. Values range Figure 1. Relation curves between macro mechanical
of macro mechanical parameters and meso-scale parameters and RES. (a. Elastic modulus E; b. Uniaxial
mechanical parameters are illustrated in Table 1. compressive strength σ ucs ).

568
 Table 1. Values range of macro mechanical parameters and meso-scale mechanical parameters.

Input samples Output samples

Macro Meso-scale
mechanical mechanical
Calculation model parameters Range parameters Range

E/GPa 9.01–94.49 µ 1–5

σ ucs /MPa 11.79–146.93 Ec /GPa 10–70

υ 0.102–0.360 kn /ks 1–5

σ c / MPa 10–110

Figure 2. 400-group random combination specimens of meso-scale mechanical parameters and corresponding macro
mechanical parameters. Linear fit functions of Ec , σ ucs and υ, are also shown, respectively. (a. Ec ,–EC ; b. σ ucs − σ c ;
c. kn /ks –υ).

Table 2. Pearson correlation coefficient. where q is the unnormalized value, qn is the output
value, qmax and qmin are the maximum and minimum
µ Ec /GPa kn /ks σ c /MPa for the output values.
The learning algorithm used to train the BP neu-
E/GPa −0.023 0.912 −0.047 0.010
σ ucs /MPa 0.023 0.000 −0.083 0.983 ral network was trainlm function; Tansig function and
υ −0.012 −0.071 0.910 0.050 logsig function were used as the transfer function for
the hidden layer and the output layer, respectively; Mse
function was used as performance function.
3.2 BP neural network construction There were three neurons in input layer and four
Construction, learning and training of BP neural net- neurons in output layer. The number of neurons in hid-
work was implemented in the Neural Network Toolbox den layer plays an important role in the performance
of Matlab. During training, the inputs were normalized of network and is difficult to determine. In order to
to values between 0 to +1. Normalizing the input val- investigate how the number of neurons in hidden layer
ues helps in the simplification of the error surface, influenced the performance of network, the number of
therefore, allowing for faster training and better per- neurons in hidden layer were selected from 5 to 8, so
formance of the neural network. The normalization four type BP neural networks were constructed.
function for each input is:

4 INVERSION RESULTS ANALYSIS

4.1 Test samples construction

where pn is the normalized value, p is the input value,
pmax and pmin are the maximum and minimum values
for the input values.
Likewise, the simulated outputs have to be unnor-
malized to the actual output units as follow:
On the basis of the values range of macro mechanical
parameters, 10-group random combination specimens
were generated as test samples (see Table 3). The
test samples were normalized and then input into the
trained BP neural network model to inverse meso-scale
mechanical parameters.

569
Table 3. Test samples of BP neural network model. Table 4. Residual mean-square error analysis of macro
mechanical parameters.
Test samples
Residual mean-square error Total residual
Test schemes E/GPa σ ucs /MPa υ Hidden mean-square
neurons E/GPa σ ucs /MPa υ/×10−4 error
1# 45.57 114.85 0.232
2# 15.67 64.00 0.305 5 2.45 3.51 1.40 5.96
3# 31.66 74.54 0.245 6 1.17 2.19 1.48 3.36
4# 14.67 88.29 0.237 7 1.56 5.71 1.44 7.27
5# 42.61 57.52 0.263 8 0.59 4.22 1.45 4.81
6# 37.13 62.41 0.198
7# 9.88 18.60 0.280
8# 44.63 38.04 0.315
9# 63.28 81.41 0.211 Mean residual error is given by:
10# 32.73 74.72 0.223

4.2 Inversion results

10-group test samples of macro mechanical parame-
ters were respectively input into the four type trained
BP neural networks model for inversing the meso-scale
mechanical parameters. For the sake of investigating
the precision of inversion results, the inversed meso-
scale mechanical parameters were used to calculate
the macro mechanical parameters by PFC3D program
and compared with the actual values. The inversion
precision is given by:
in which b is the macro mechanical parameters calcu-
lated by inversed meso-scale mechanical parameters
in PFC3D ; B is the test samples of macro mechanical
parameters.
The inversion precision of four type trained BP
neural network models, including E, σ ucs and υ, was
generally over 90% (see Figure 3). Some inversion
precisions of test samples were lower owing to the
lack of corresponding learning mode. Obviously, the
inversion precision of BP neural network model can
be improved by increasing the type and quantity of
training samples of BP neural network model.
Figure 3 illustrated that the inversed meso-scale
mechanical parameters were generally satisfied inspite
of some errors. It is reasonable and effective to inverse
meso-scale mechanical parameters of rock-soil mass
based on BP neural network model. Meanwhile, this
method can greatly improve the adjustment efficiency.
4.3 Error analysis of inversion results
For evaluating the inversion performance of the four
type BP neural network models, residual mean-square
error is used as a criterion. It is assumed that actual
data sequence is um (i) and inversed data sequence is
uc (i). Residual error is given by:
So residual mean-square error can be obtained:
Based on 10-group test samples, the residual mean-
square errors of macro mechanical parameters in
different BP neural network models were analyzed (see
Table 4).
Calculation results showed that the total residual
mean-square errors of macro mechanical parame-
ters were the smallest when the hidden layer has six
neurons. With increasing or reducing the number of
neurons in hidden layer, the total residual mean-square
errors were all enhanced. So it can be concluded that
the inversion performance of BP neural network model
is best when the hidden layer has six neurons. The
residual mean-square errors of E and σ ucs are larger
than that of υ. This is caused by the larger inversion
values range of E and σ ucs .
5 CONCLUSIONS
Based on PFC3D program, a nonlinear network model
linked macro mechanical parameters and meso-scale
mechanical parameters of rock-soil mass is founded by
adopting BP neural network. By use of the trained BP
neural network model, contraposing to different macro
mechanical parameters, the corresponding meso-scale
mechanical parameters can be inversed rapidly and
accurately. The main research results are drawn as
follows:
1. BP neural network model is applicable to extract
characteristic and procure knowledge; It can
implement the nonlinear mapping between macro
mechanical parameters and meso-scale mechanical
parameters of the rock-soil mass.
2. The precision of the macro mechanical parameters
calculated by the inversed meso-scale mechanical
parameters is generally over 90%.

570
Figure 3. Inversion precision of different BP neural network. (a. Elastic modulus E; b. Uniaxial compressive strength σ ucs ;
c. Poisson ratio υ).

571
3. Inversion performance of BP neural network model
is best when RES = 10 and the hidden layer has six
neurons.
4. By increasing the type and quantity of training
samples of BP neural network model, the inver-
sion precision can be improved, but the relationship
between amount of training samples and inversion
performance of BP neural network model still need
further research.
Application results show that BP neural network
model exhibits an excellent inversion ability of meso-
scale mechanical parameters of rock-soil mass and
provides a new technical approach for application of
Particle Flow Theory.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (51074014).
REFERENCES
Hagan, T., Demuth, H. & Beale, M. 1996. Neural Network
Design. Boston, MA: PWS-Publishing.
Liao, X.H., Zhou, J., Wu, S.M. & Lin, L.M. 2002. Simulation
of Plane Strain Test of Clay by Means of Particle Flow
Code. SHUILI XUEBAO 12: 11–17.
Liu, W.B. & Zhou, J. 2004. Particle flow code numerical sim-
ulation of extended foundation under the action of uplift
loading. SHUILI XUEBAO 12: 1–10.
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Liu, Y., Wu, S.C. & Zhou, J. 2008. Numerical simulation of
sand deformation under monotonic loading and mesome-
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joint contact model. Proceeding 8th World Congress on
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ing 2735-2742. Venice: B. A. Schrefler and U. Perego,
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model for rock. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
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Wang, C.B. & Zhu, H.H. 2008. Tunnel collapse mechanism
and numerical analysis of its influencing factors. Chinese
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Wang, T., Sheng, Q. & Xiong, J. 2007. Research on numeri-
cal simulation of natural caving method based on particle
flow method. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 26 (supp. 2): 4202–4207.
Wu, S.C., Zhang, X.P. & Liu, Y. 2008. Analysis of fail-
ure process of similar soil slope with weak intercalated
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Mechanics 29 (11): 2899–2904.
Zheng, Z.N., Zhang,Y.X., Dong, Q. & Ling, T.Q. 2008. Visual
simulation of rock-fall of slope based on particle flow
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Control 3 (9): 46–49.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Format analysis of surpac solid model and its input-output algorithm design

J. Zou & H.G. Ji

State Key Laboratory of Hydrosciences and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education of China for High Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines,
Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: According to different types of Surpac solid model file, the data storage formats are analyzed.
Then, not only key structure and its specific meaning are made certain, but also Surpac solid model’s essence is
pointed out. For both two formats of DXF and DTM file, the concise input methods are respectively presented,
and direct output algorithm for DTM model file is also designed on the basis of its fine structure. At last,
reliability of the analysis and design is verified by several practical cases.

1 INSTRUCTION

Surpac is one of the most common modeling soft-

ware in mining engineering. With its strong and rich
modeling functions, it is an important tool in the pro-
cess of digital mining model construction. As one of
the important model format, analyzing Solid model
(DTM file)’s structure and reading the data, or refining
loaded designated Surpac model, are undoubtedly sig-
nificance works in practical engineering. Some other
commercial softwares such as 3Dmine can input Sur-
pac model of DTM format, but due to the source
file protection, it is hard to obtain specific algorithm. Figure 1. Structure of text string file.
Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the structure
model file and then design corresponding input/output
algorithm.

2 FORMAT ANALYSIS OF SURPAC SOLID

MODEL FILE

Surpac’s solid model can be saved as type of “DTM”

or “DXF”. The DTM type contain a string file (str)
and a solid file(DTM). both of them ha text or bi-nary
format respectively. Concrete structures of these file
kinds are just as follows.

2.1 Format of text DTM file

Specific structure of text string file is shown in Figure
1. The core data is point coordinate values with single
precision and “Y, X, Z” order. It is separated to lines
by words "0.000, 0.000, 0.000".
The specific structure of text solid file is shown
in Figure 2, its key data is vertex numbers and adja-
cent triangle numbers, arranged in the same order
(pointed inside or outside). The identifier in the file
header stands for point amounts of the string file,
and it is an encrypted or obfuscated ten-digit integer
Figure 2. Structure of text solid file.
(filled with 0 when it is insufficient in the front). Solid
file usually only saves triangle information, some-
times saves certain points data in the file head. Key
word “OBJECT” means beginning of the solid, while
“TRISOLATION” stands for origin of the section.Typ-
ical attributions recorded in the file include neighbors
(=yes), validated (=true), closed (=yes), direction
(=solid), etc.

573
Figure 3. Structure of binary string file.
Figure 4. Structure of binary solid file.
2.2 Format of binary DTM file
Binary and text types of DTM files have the same basic
structure, but the structure of the former one is more
compact and its data is more accurate. It is shown in
Figure 3 and Figure 4. It is worth noting that, except
the string of data required, all of the bytes need to be
reversed to get the correct result, with bytes "00" as
separator of the data segments. Different from single-
precision numbers of point coordinates in text format,
the binary format is more precise by using double-
precision number with the effective number of decimal
places of 6. While complex or multiple Boolean oper-
ation is executed, the accuracy is often significant.
Surpac models, in which Boolean operations need to
be performed, are proved more appropriate to save as
binary format.
It is the best to first retype the first words manually
and then to paste the correct text behind. When the new
file contains all the text, the old tags in the text should
be replaced by the new Balkema tags (see Section 3).
Before doing this, automatic formatting (AutoFormat
in Format menu) should be applied.
2.3 Format of text DXF file
DXF file takes “3DFACE” as the key word, and its core
data is the three vertices’ coordinates of the triangle,
and repeat the coordinates of a point to ensure the
line is closed with the string “0\n” at end. The whole
574
Figure 5. Valid structure of DXF file.
DXF file is composited by multiple “3DFACE” data
segments, with each segment representing a triangle.
String “ENDSEC\n” stands for the end section, while
string “EOF\n” represents the end of DXF file, as
shown in Figure 5.
From the specific structure of DTM documents
shown above, it is shown that the solid model in Sur-
pac is essentially triangulated irregular network (TIN)
(Alias 2007). With the incidental feature of ordered
adjacent triangles number, we can guess that DTM
means the abbreviation of digital terrain model (Dig-
ital Terrain Model) (Alias 1994, Litwin et al. 2007).
3 INPUT ALGORITHM PROGRAMMING
In order to facilitate the relevant data reading of tri-
angulated irregular network (TIN), the data structure
is set up shown as Figure 6. Thus, the input algorithm
for Surpac solid model can be summarized as follows.
3.1 Input algorithm for DTM files
The input method or process steps of DTM model,
whether text or binary format, can be shown as follows,
with a few differences in the type of data reading.
(1) Read the lined string file, count up the number of
vertices.
(2) Relocate the file, construct vertex array, read the
vertex coordinate values one by one.
(3) Read the solid file, filter redundant vertex, count
up the number of solid and their corresponding
triangle.
(4) Relocate the file, construct solid array and corre-
sponding triangular array, read the vertex number
one by one.
3.2 Input algorithm for DXF files
DXF file inputting is characterized by a large num-
ber of repeated node coordinates. The array of nodes
needs to be tightened in order to remove those dupli-
cated nodes. Specific steps for documents input can
be shown as follows:
(1) Read DXF file, count up the number of “3DFACE”
keywords.

Figure 6. Setup of data structure for TIN.
(2) Construct vertex array as long as three times of
the number of “3DFACE”, relocate file and read
vertex coordinates values one by one.
(3) Tighten the vertex array, remove duplicate nodes,
and re-schedule its serial number.
(4) Construct triangle array in accordance with the
number of structures “3DFACE”, fill triangle
array with the re-scheduled vertex number.
3.3 Super number tightening method for nodes
We can compare the nodes and delete the duplicated
node one by one directly with fewer nodes, but this
conventional approach may be stalled with thousands
or even hundreds of thousands of nodes because of
too large calculation amount. At this point, simple
contraction algorithm as follow can be used:
(1) Sort node array using fast sort algorithm, com-
pare each node with the next one from the head.
If the coincidence of node coordinates is found,
mark the location as memory address of the first
node.
(2) Rotate the of node coordinates, repeat step 1.
(3) Rotate the of node coordinates, repeat step 1.
(4) Collect all the node numbers for the first occur-
rence, recover the original order of coordinates and
node. Find and fill node number after tightening
by the repeated node address.
The algorithm is used to crunch numbers of a node
array longer than 8 million, which time-consuming in
debug mode only cost tens of seconds, and the total
final node numbers is compressed to 2 million or less.
In contrast, even tightening approach with bounding
box from GTS package is used, tightening an array of
8 million nodes also consumes several minutes, which
will cost more time for the conventional approach.
Thus, the contraction algorithm is very efficient.
4 OUTPUT ALGORITHM PROGRAMMING
Output algorithms for both DXF and DTM format
can be obtained only by reversing their input algo-
rithm. Structure of DXF format is relatively simpler.
575
Figure 7. Identifying code gain method.
It can be freely input and output in Surpac, but has too
much irrelevant data. Although data in DTM format is
concise, it cannot be directly loaded to Surpac except
having the correct identifying code and adjacent tri-
angles numbers. The key output algorithm of DTM
format can be expressed as follows.
4.1 Simple determining method of verification code
for string files
The identifying code is a digital number length for
10, which is needed to validate whether data of the
string files is generated by Surpac while reading DTM
model. It can trigger an input interruption with tip:
"line file does not match!", if Surpac algorithm finds
the number does not agree with requirements. This
number is one of the keys for inputting DTM model
file into Surpac, and it is discovered that the number
has relationships with node length, X and Y values
through testing, but does not concern with Z values
and rank of X or Y values. The exact algorithm types
and its realizing method are not clear, but it is known
that some different string files can share a number.
However, it is found by practicing that simple method
of obtaining identifying code for specific string files
can be shown as Figure 7.
Duplicate this identifying code to the correspond-
ing position of solid file, so long as the neighbor
tri-angle number’s value and order are correct, then
the model can be smoothly loaded into Surpac, then
use its formidable modeling function.
4.2 Flow of adjacent triangle numbers determine
process
Under the premise of knowing triangular irregular net-
work data, brief operation flow to gain its neighboring
triangle serial number is as follows:
(1) Construct serial number array for triangle lines,
decompose triangle line segment one by one to
gather line array. Record triangle serial number in
the line array, fill line serial number in the triangle
line serial number array.
(2) Contract line array and delete redundant lines,
record two triangle serial number connected by
each line, renew serial number in the line serial
number array synchronously.

Figure 8. Adjacent triangle numbers tightening method.
Figure 9. Wireframe chart of Surpac standard cube model.
(3) Traverse triangle line serial number array, inquiry
line array according to the line serial number, find
number different with its own to fill the neighbor
triangle array. Its core process may be indicated as
shown in Figure 8.
5 APPLIED CASES
In order to verify the correctness of the above analysis
and design, three following examples can be especially
enumerated as validation basis.
5.1 A standard cube
Surpac model’s wireframe of unit cube is shown in
Figure 9. Beginning with (0, 0, 0) point, all its length,
width and height are 1 m.
The model’s string file ‘block.str’ shall be:
Block,09-Nov-09„ssi_styles:autocad.ssi
0,0.000,0.000,0.000,0.000,0.000,0.000
1, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, ,1
1, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, ,1
1, 1.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, ,1
1, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, ,1
1, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, ,1
1, 1.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, ,1
576
1, 1.000000, 1.000000, 1.000000, ,1
1, 0.000000, 1.000000, 1.000000, ,1
0, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000,
0, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, END
Solid file ‘block.dtm’ shall be:
Block.str,4448400000;algorithm=standard;fields
=x,y
0, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000, END
OBJECT, 1,
TRISOLATION,1,neighbours=yes,validated=true,
closed=yes,direction=solid
1, 1, 6, 5, 2, 11, 8,
2, 1, 2, 6, 9, 3, 1,
3, 2, 3, 6, 9, 4, 2,
4, 3, 7, 6, 5, 12, 3,
5, 3, 8, 7, 6, 12, 4,
6, 3, 4, 8, 10, 7, 5,
7, 4, 1, 8, 10, 8, 6,
8, 1, 5, 8, 1, 11, 7,
9, 1, 3, 2, 10, 3, 2,
10, 1, 4, 3, 7, 6, 9,
11, 5, 6, 8, 5, 12, 8,
12, 6, 7, 8, 11, 4, 5,
END
5.2 A terrain model
The overall size for a terrain model is 1500 m ×
1000 m × 1500 m, its size for terrain triangular net-
work is 10 m × 10 m, and its triangular number
amounts to 38250. This model is created in form of
DEM grid by contour interpolation, then transferred
to triangle grid and downward stretched certain dis-
tance to complete model formation. To reduce the
triangle quantity as far as possible, grid density at
bottom surface is reduced to half of the top. The
size is also relaxed to 20 m × 20 m. It is too diffi-
cult to directly operate in Surpac that programming
method is needed to derive the complete DTM file.
After being inducted to Surpac with correct identi-
fying code, the obtained triangular network graph is
shown as Figure 10(a). Taking the maximum size of
block body as 30 m × 20 m × 30 m and its minimum
size for 7.5 m × 5 m × 7.5 m, the manufactured block
phantom is shown as Figure 10(b), with hundreds of
millions of blocks. Then a Flac3D computation model
is derived according to the method by LUO (2008)
and LIN (2008). The cloud chart of vertical stress sec-
tion to the dead weight stress field simulation after
computation balanced is shown as Figure 10(c).
5.3 An ore body model
When ore body model is constructed by cross section
in Surpac, it will usually present to twist or distort for
triangular network, if cross section quantity are too
small. These questions will hinder Boolean calculation
and finite element grid division directly.
The simple solution is to restructure or optimize the
triangular network. Approximate process is shown in

Figure 10. Terrain model chart.
Figure 11. Firstly, load the cross section data firstly
from the string file, make it optimized to be con-
sistent with point’s number, even with position, and
approximately aligned line sequence. Secondly, inter-
polate suitably to seek mid section according to cross
section’s distributed density situation, At last, use tri-
angulation to form both sides triangular network again,
connect correspond.
577
Figure 11. Flow of TIN optimization.
Figure 12. Example for optimization of ore body model.
Figure 13. Tetrahedron calculation mesh of ore body.
The optimal process for an ore body model from
actual project is shown in Figure 12 The finite element
grid can be obviously shown in Figure 13. Because of
limitation of the Surpac script explanation function
and attached Java virtual machine, the algorithm is
optimized to realize outside Surpac by C++, initially
load the string file produced by Surpac, and finally
output DXF file which can be inducted into Surpac.
6 CONCLUSION
From the above application example, both input and
output for Surapc solid model file are proved basically
normal and without data failure. It is shown that both
input and output algorithms are feasible, and the given
model structures are fit for actual situation. So, we
can easily make full use of Surapc’s modeling func-
tion, and also can load external model into Surapc
to compensate its functional deficiency of modeling.
Besides, the research can also accelerates or simplifies
develop-ment process for similar software.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is supported by the national 863 program of
China (2008AA062104), the national 973 program of
China (2010-CB226803) and the program under the
11th five-year plan of China (2008BAB33B03).
578
REFERENCES
Alias, A.R. 1994. Digital Terrain Model Data Structures.
Buletin Ukur. 5(1), 61–72 ISSN 0128–4274.
Alias, A.R. & Morakot, P. 2007. Spatial Data Modeling for
3D GIS. Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York, p 28–30.
Lin, H., Cao, P., Li, J.T., Jiang, X.L. & He, Z.M. 2008.
Automatic Generation of FLAC3D Model Based on SUR-
PAC. Journal of China University of Mining &Technology
37(3), 339–342.
Litwin, U. & Izabela, P. 2007. Differential Digital Terrain
Model Applied to Evaluate Changes in the Relief Features.
Romanian Review of Regional Studies 2(3), 63–72.
Luo, Z.Q., Wu, Y.B., Liu, X.M., Liu, W.P. & Yang, B. 2008.
FLAC3D modeling for complex geologic body based on
SURPAC. Rock and Soil Mechanics 29 (5), 1134–1138.
Underground and surface excavation and reinforcement techniques
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Stability analysis and optimum design of high and steep slope in a

deep-concave open pit mine

M.F. Cai, M.W. Xie, J.A. Wang, C.H. Li, L. Qiao & W.H. Tan
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: To ensure mining safety and save production cost, it is necessary to make the design of slope
optimized for the deep-concave open pit mines, in which the slope angle is increased as large as possible
under a prerequisite condition to ensure the safety of mining operation. Combined use of limit equilibrium and
numerical modeling analysis methods realized reciprocal comparison, verification and supplement of analysis
results obtained by several relevant but different methods, which greatly increased reliability and accuracy of the
stability analysis and optimum design of the slope. With the optimum design, the slope angle in Shuichang iron
mine has been increased 1◦ –6◦ for 11 typical sections respectively, which will remarkably reduce the amount of
striped waste rock and save production cost.

1 INTRODUCTION Table 1. Permeability coefficient (k) of rock mass.

Shuichang iron mine is the main supplier of iron ore Lithological

for the Capital Steel Corporation and also the largest Sign Rock type k (cm/s)
open-pit metal mine in China. Since beginning of this
century, the mining operation in Shuichang iron mine ArS2−5 Silicon line biotite plagioclase 5.0×10−7
gneiss
has been conducted at deep position below the sur-
E2 x Lava conglomerate 5.0×10−5
face level, which is called “deep-concave mining” (Cai Fe Magnetite quartz 3.5×10−5
2001). According to the newest mining programme Mr Migmatite granite 4.0×10−5
of Shuichang iron mine, the height of final slope of Z1 C Arkosic sandstone breccia 3.1×10−4
the mine is 760 m and the deep-concave mining depth Q Quaternary and artificial deposits 1.0×10−3
is 540 m. Along with increase of mining depth, the ArS2−3 Perrila biotite plagioclase gneiss 5.8×10−7
slope of the mine is continuously getting higher and ArS2−2 Pyroxene plagioclase gneiss 5.0×10−5
higher, which causes that the stability and safety of Mp Migmatite gneiss 1.0×10−6
the slope are getting worse and worse, and the min-
ing excavations are getting more and more difficult.
1600 m. The slope rock mass is composed of differ-
However, on the other hand, increasing slope angle,
ent kinds of granite, gneiss, quartzite, conglomerate,
i.e. making the slope steeper is also an important way
pyroclastic rock, igneous rock, tektonite, etc.
to decrease the amount of the striped waste rock and
Fault structures are very developed in the mine area.
consequently to reduce production cost. For a large-
According to orientation, the faults are divided into 6
scale open pit mine, increasing the slope angle by 1◦
sets. There are 3 big faults which extend more than
will reduce more than 10 million tons of the striped
10 km width fracture width of tens to hundreds of
waste rock and, consequently, save the mining cost
meters in E-W or NE direction (Wang 2004 & Cai
about 100 million ChineseYuan for stripping the waste
2005).
rock, which is a big economical benefit. To solve this
contradict problem, it is necessary to make the slope
2.2 Hydro-geological conditions
design optimized in which the slope angle is increased
as large as possible under a prerequisite condition to In order to understand the hydro-geological condi-
ensure the safety of mining operation (Cai 2004). tions, especially the seepage field in deep slope rock
mass, investigation was conducted at 3 exploration
boreholes with length of 270 m–350 m. From the
2 INVESTIGATION OF SLOPE ROCK MASS investigation, the permeability coefficients of the rock
CONDITIONS FOR MINING DESIGN mass were obtained, as shown in Table 1 (Wang 2003).

2.1 Engineering-geological conditions 2.3 Engineering zoning of the slope rock mass
Shuichang iron mine has a range of 5.76 km2 with Because the range of the mine slope is very large,
length of 3600 m in NE-SW direction and width of the structures, properties, engineering-geological

581
 Table 2. Mechanical parameters of slope rock masses.

Lithology γ E C φ T n
Type (kN/m3 ) (GPa) υ (MPa) (◦ ) (MPa) (%)

ArS2−5 26.30 3.93 0.21 3.26 37 0.82 20

Fe 28.50 12.50 0.23 2.99 35 0.94 5
Ma 26.09 3.81 0.25 2.97 42 0.75 15
Mr 26.04 5.35 0.24 3.39 47 1.16 15
ZC 27.00 9.63 0.26 0.62 37 1.68 10
E2 X 24.77 3.50 0.23 0.56 20 0.54 25
Q 20.00 0.02 0.3 0.13 18 0.01 30
Mp 26.29 4.26 0.27 3.88 38 0.54 15
Figure 1. Engineering zoning of the slope in Shuichang N 25.98 4.00 0.16 0.56 32 0.65 15
mine.

conditions and so on of the rock mass are different Table 3. Mechanical parameters of faults.
at different sections of the slope. For convenient and
reliable analysis and design of the slope, the slope is Kn (MPa) Ks (MPa) C (MPa) φ (◦ ) T (MPa)
divided into 5 engineering zones from I to V, in which
zone I is further divided into two sub-zones of I-A and 1500–3000 800–1000 0.28–0.40 28–32 0.0001
I-B, as shown in Figure 1.

2.4 In-situ stress measurement on rock mass conditions, especially discontinuities

Both hydraulic fracturing technique and stress relief
by overcoring technique were used for in situ stress
measurement in the mine. The hydraulic fracturing
stress measurement was conducted at 3 exploration
boreholes for hydro-geological investigation as men-
tioned above, which were noted as KB, KD and KE
in Fig. 1. In the 3 boreholes, hydraulic fracturing
tests were performed at 5, 3, 3 points, respectively.
The measurement by overcoring technique was per-
formed at a belt transport tunnel, which is the only
one underground engineering in the mine. The hori-
zontal projection of the 3 measuring points (1# , 2# ,
3# ) is also shown in Figure 1 (Cai 2004 & Li 2004).
Based on the measuring results at 14 points, the
linear regression model of in situ stress state in
the mine was established, as expressed by formulae
(1)–(3).
where σh.max , σh.min , σv are maximum horizontal prin-
cipal stress, minimum horizontal principal stress, ver-
tical principal stress; H is burying depth with unit of
m.
2.5 Physical and mechanical properties of slope
rock mass
For stability analysis of the slope and optimum design
of the slope angle, comprehensive laboratory tests with
267 rock specimens were carried out. Based on the
laboratory test results of rock specimens, the mechan-
ical parameters of the slope rock mass were obtained
by proper discounting method which is dependent
and deterioration degree of the rock mass. 7 physi-
cal and mechanical parameters of the slope rock mass,
i.e. density (γ), Young’s modulus (E), Poisson’s ratio
(υ), cohesion (c), internal frictional angle (φ), tensile
strength (T) and porosity ratio (n), are shown inTable 2.
In the Table, “Ma” is gneiss and “N” is basic rock, the
others are the same as in Table 1.
The mechanical parameters of faults, including nor-
mal stiffness (Kn ), shear stiffness (Ks ), cohesion (c),
internal frictional angle (φ), tensile strength (T), are
shown in Table 3.
3 STABILITY ANALYSIS AND OPTIMUM
DESIGN OF THE SLOPE
3.1 Techniques for the analysis and design
For stability analysis and optimum design of the slope,
the limit equilibrium analysis and numerical modeling
techniques are jointly used, in which the limit equilib-
rium analysis uses three methods of simplified Bishop,
precise Janbu and Sarma, and numerical modeling
uses two methods of FDM and DEM. Combination
of limit equilibrium analysis and numerical modeling
analysis to make reciprocal comparison, verification
and supplement of analysis results of several relevant
but different methods will greatly increase reliability
and accuracy of the stability analyses and optimum
design.
Because the mine slope presents a closed-oval shape
and its range is very large, 3D analysis for the whole
slope is difficult and unnecessary. The best way is
to choose 1-3 typical sections in each engineering
zone and 2D analyses using 2 numerical modeling
methods and 3 limit equilibrium analysis methods are
successively carried out for each section. Based on
practical condition and importance of each engineer-
ing zone, 3, 3, 1, 3 and 1 sections are chosen for the

582

Figure 2. Computation model of section I-2.
engineering sections of I to V, respectively, as shown
in Figure 1.
For optimum design of the slope angle, 4 to 11 com-
putation plans are made for analysis of each section.
Based on numerical modeling results of all computa-
tion plans, through systematic comparison of stress,
displacement, shear sliding, tensile failure, plastic
area, displacing velocity and final stability tendency
in slope rock mass, an optimum plan is recommended
for slope design of each section. For limit equilibrium
analysis, optimum plan is chosen by comparison of
safety factors of all computation plans.
Among 5 engineering zones, zones I and II must
be put much attention due to their engineering impor-
tance and complicated geological conditions. There-
fore, after 2D analyses for all engineering zones,
both 3D limit equilibrium analysis with 3DSlopeGIS
and 3D numerical modeling with FLAC3D are used
for stability analysis of these two zones, which plays a
role to check reliability and safety of the 2D analysis
and design.
As the rock types and properties are different at
upper and lower parts of the slope, commonly the lower
part is stronger than upper part, so the slope is designed
as broken line shape, in which the slope angle at lower
part is bigger than that at the upper part.
3.2 Analysis and design results
3.2.1 Analysis by numerical modeling with FLAC2D
Because the computation plans are too many to show
all their detailed analysis results, section I-2 is taken
as an example to show the computation results by
FLAC2D .
Figure 2 shows Computation model of section I-2,
in which, 1# –4# are 4 monitoring points of displace-
ment during the computation process. F8, F11, F36
are three faults whose length is 550 m, 100 m, 600 m,
respectively.
The analysis results are shown in Table 4, in which,
plan 1 is the originally designed plan. From the Table it
583
can be seen that the values of the maximum displace-
ment and displacing velocity at 4 monitoring points, as
well as the maximum bench horizontal displacement
for plan 5 is almost the smallest. Only the horizontal
displacement and displacing velocity at 4# point is lit-
tle bit larger, which is easily to be controlled because
4# point is at bottom of the slope and will no much
influence on stability of the slope. Therefore, the plan
5, i.e. 43◦ /45◦ plan, is chosen as the optimum design
plan for section I-2.
3.2.2 Analysis by 2D limit equilibrium analysis
Three commonly used limit equilibrium analysis meth-
ods, i.e. simplified Bishop, precise Janbu and Sarma
methods are used for stability analysis and optimum
design of the slope. In analysis conditions, gravity,
water and earthquake are considered. The analysis
results for section I-2 are shown in Table 5.
Based on safety requirement of the engineering, the
minimum value of safety factor is decided as 1.15. It
can be seen from Table 7 that in conditions of only
gravity or gravity plus one of water or earthquake,
the safety factors for all plans calculated by all three
methods are larger than 1.15, which means the slope
is stable. However, in conditions of gravity plus both
water and earthquake, the safety factors calculated by
simplified Bishop and precise Janbu are larger than
1.15 only for the first 5 plans, but that calculated by
Sarma method for plan 6 is also larger than 1.15. For
such high and steep large scale slope of Shuichang
mine, water and earthquake should be together con-
sidered and only the identical analysis decision made
by all three methods can be accepted (Tan 2001 & Tan
2003). So plan 5 to be recommended as the optimum
design plan for section I-2.
3.2.3 Analysis by numerical modeling with UDEC
For analysis of computation results made by UDEC,
the magnitude and characters of displacement and fail-
ure area in slope rock mass are taken as the assessing
indexes. The computation results of 9 plans by UDEC
for section I-2 show that the maximum horizontal dis-
placement is 200 mm for the first 5 plans, but it reaches
to 250 mm for plan 6 and 300 mm for plan 7; the out-
wards sliding and number of failure elements in slope
rock mass are sharply increased from plan 6. So, the
UDEC analysis results also recommend plan 5 as the
optimum design plan for section I-2.
3.2.4 Recommended optimum design of the slope
angle
The above analysis results obtained by two numerical
modeling methods and three limit equilibrium analy-
sis methods all recommend the plan 5 as the optimum
design plan for section I-2. Based on the analysis
results for 11 typical sections performed as the same as
for section I-2, the recommended optimum design of
the slope angle for all the slope is provided, as shown
in Table 6.
Table 4. Computation results by FLAC2D for section I-2.

Bench
Horizontal displacement (cm) Final displacing velocity (10−6 m/s)
Slope angle displacement
Plan No (upper/lower) 1# 2# 3# 4# 1# 2# 3# 4# (cm)

1 41◦ /41◦ 12.0 14.0 29.0 13.5 0.0 0.0 15.0 5.0 30.0
2 41◦ /43◦ 9.0 15.0 30.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 30.0
3 43◦ /43◦ 9.0 14.5 30.0 9.8 0.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 30.0
4 42◦ /45◦ 7.0 13.5 25.0 7.5 0.0 5.0 2.0 5.0 25.0
5 43◦ /45◦ 7.5 13.0 25.0 7.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 15.0 25.0
6 44◦ /45◦ 7.5 13.5 25.0 7.5 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 25.0
7 45◦ /45◦ 7.5 13.5 25.5 7.5 0.0 5.0 10.0 10.0 25.0
8 45◦ /47◦ 11.0 19.5 35.0 11 5.0 0.0 20.0 2.0 32.5
9 47◦ /47◦ 30.0 14.0 35.0 11.5 0.0 0.0 2.0 2.0 35.0

Table 5. Safety factor computation results by limit equilibrium analysis for section I-2.

Bishop Janbu Sarma

Plan Slope angle
No. upper/lower A B C D A B C D A B C D

1 41◦ /41◦ 1.7980 1.5615 1.3766 1.1970 1.6280 1.5244 1.3709 1.2251 1.6806 1.5768 1.5012 1.2349
2 41◦ /43◦ 1.6546 1.5051 1.2850 1.1968 1.6032 1.5179 1.2823 1.2016 1.6650 1.5374 1.3643 1.2138
3 43◦ /43◦ 1.6111 1.4882 1.2618 1.1780 1.5857 1.5057 1.2517 1.1954 1.6118 1.5006 1.3315 1.2103
4 42◦ /45◦ 1.5947 1.4784 1.2554 1.1772 1.5755 1.4858 1.2499 1.1850 1.5904 1.4933 1.3232 1.1986
5 43◦ /45◦ 1.5917 1.4713 1.2426 1.1600 1.5732 1.4729 1.2475 1.1716 1.5867 1.4858 1.3124 1.1865
6 44◦ /45◦ 1.5793 1.4551 1.2494 1.1323 1.5695 1.4657 1.2464 1.1459 1.5776 1.4693 1.2934 1.1682
7 45◦ /45◦ 1.5661 1.4460 1.2426 1.1073 1.5561 1.4561 1.2423 1.1278 1.5708 1.4538 1.2898 1.1435
8 45◦ /47◦ 1.5634 1.4328 1.2399 1.1378 1.5475 1.4525 1.2334 1.1285 1.5694 1.4408 1.2637 1.1275
9 47◦ /47◦ 1.5590 1.4294 1.2359 1.0648 1.5296 1.4379 1.2157 1.1031 1.5554 1.4229 1.2295 1.0986

* analysis condition: A-gravity; B-gravity and earthquake; C-gravity and water; D-gravity, earthquake and water.

Table 6. Recommended optimum design of the slope angle. to magnitude of the displacement to judge stability of
the slope, but there is still no available standard for the
Slope angle Upper/lower Original judgment. Therefore, displacing velocity, especially its
Zone Section (Upper/lower) dividing level design final value and tendency are taken as a judging index
in this paper. The analysis results show that the final
I I-1 50◦ /50◦ 46◦
displacing velocity are zero or tending to zero at nearly
I-2 43◦ /45◦ +50 m 41◦
I-3 43◦ /49◦ +10 m 41◦ all monitoring points except 2 points which are located
in Quaternary layer and artificial deposits. There are
II II-1 45◦ /47◦ −50 m 46◦
some small local shear and sliding failure areas near
II-2 45◦ /48◦ −111 m 46◦
II-3 48◦ /50◦ −112 m 46◦ the slope surface, but they are not linked up and
less dangerous. However, the shear and sliding fail-
III III-1 48◦ /48◦ 42◦
ure is remarkable in the Quaternary layer and artificial
IV IV-1 41◦ /41◦ 40◦ deposits. Moreover, some shear stress concentrations
IV-2 44◦ /48◦ +10m 42◦ are found at the bottom of the slope. Therefore, it is
IV-3 46◦ /48◦ −50 m 42◦
necessary to take proper support and reinforcement
V V-1 46◦ /46◦ 42◦ measures to control the Quaternary layer with artifi-
cial deposits and the bottom of the slope before and
during excavation of the slope.
3.2.5 Verification of the recommended design plan As overall comment, the 3D numerical analysis with
of the slope by 3D analysis methods FLAC3D shows that the whole stability of the slope in
Due to engineering importance and complicated geo- 6 sections of zone I and II is quite well and the rec-
logical conditions of the engineering zone I and zone II ommended optimum design of the slope is feasible
as mentioned above, both 3D limit equilibrium anal- (Cai 2006).
ysis and 3D numerical modeling are used to check (2) 3D limit equilibrium analysis with 3DSlopeGIS
reliability of the recommended design plan for the two A computational program called 3DSlopeGIS, in
zones. which a GIS Developer kit is used to fulfill the GIS
(1) 3D numerical analysis with FLAC3D spatial analysis function and effective data manage-
Displacement is an important index to assess sta- ment has been developed by the authors. By using the
bility of the slope. Traditional assessment is according spatial analysis functions, the data management and

584
the visualization of GIS for processing the complicated
slope-related data and the 3-D slope stability problem
are easier by a friendly visual graphical user interface
(Xie 2006).
In 3DSlopeGIS, three 3D-models based on col-
umn elements for slope stability analysis are used,
which are: M1: classical model based on 3D-column
elements; M2: 3D-expending of Bishop model; M3:
3D-expansion of Janbu model. In order to search most
dangerous sliding surface of the slope, the oval-shaped
sliding surface is first supposed, then Monte-Carlo
method is used to search the sliding surface whose
safety factor is minimum as the influence of various
discontinuities is considered. At last, the most danger-
ous sliding surface with its safety factor is found (Xie
2004).
Using this method, 19 dangerous sliding surfaces in
engineering zones I and II with the recommended opti-
mum slope angles are found. Among the 19 dangerous
sliding surfaces, 3, 1, 3, 3, 4, 5 sliding surfaces are
located in I-1, I-2, I-3, II-1, II-2, II-3 sections, respec-
tively. The smallest safety factor for all 19 dangerous
sliding surfaces is 1.33, which is jointly calculated by
M1, M2 and M3 three models in conditions of both
water and earthquake. Therefore, the recommended
optimum design of the slope is reliable (Cai 2007).
4 CONCLUSIONS
1. For deep-concave open pit mine, in order to ensure
mining safety and reduce production cost, it is nec-
essary to make the slope design optimized. In the
optimum design, the slope angle is increased as
large as possible to reduce the amount of striped
waste rock and the production cost under condition
that the mining safety is absolutely ensured.
2. Combined use of limit equilibrium and numerical
modeling analysis techniques can realize recipro-
cal comparison, verification and supplement of the
analysis results obtained by several relevant but dif-
ferent methods, such as Bishop, Janbu and Sarma
three limit equilibrium analysis methods and FDM
and DEM two numerical modeling methods used
in this paper, which will greatly increase reliability
and accuracy of the analyses of the slope
3. With the optimum design, the slope angle in
Shuichang iron mine has been decreased 1–6◦ for
11 typical sections respectively, which will reduce
striping waste rock of 80 million tons and save cost
of about 500 million Chinese Yuan (RMB).
585
REFERENCES
Cai, M.F. 2001. Optimization of mining design and control of
ground pressure in metal mines. Beijing: Science Press.
Cai, M.F., Hao, S.H., & Li, J. 2004. Study on high efficiency
haulage techniques in deep open-pit mines. China Mining
Magazine (10): 10–13.
Cai, M. F., Qiao, L., Li, C., et al. 2004. In situ stress measure-
ment with hydraulic fracturing technique in deep slope
rock mass of Shuichang iron mine. Mining Research and
Development 24(4):11–13.
Cai, M.F., Wang, P., Zhao, K., et al. 2005. Fuzzy-means cluster
analysis based on genetic algorithm for automatic identi-
fication of joint sets. Mining Research and Development
24(3): 371–376.
Cai, M.F., Feng, J.Y & Wang, J.A. 2006. Three-dimensional
solid-hydraulic coupled stability of a high steep open pit
slope, Journal of University of Science and Technology
Beijing 28(1): 6–11.
Cai, M.F., Xie, M.W & Li, C. L. 2007. GIS-based 3D limit
equilibrium analysis for design optimization of a 600 m
high slope in an open pit mine. Journal of University of
Science and Technology Beijing (English edition) 14(1):
1–5.
Li, J.C., Cai, M.F, Wang, S.H., et al. 2004. In-situ stress Mea-
surement and Analysis by Stress Relaxation Method in
Deep Slope Rockmass. Metal Mine (7):16–17.
Tan, W.H, Cai, M.F & Wang, J.A. 2001. Flak-Monte Carlo
method for determining the critical slip surfaces of slope.
Metal Mine (3): 7–9.
Tan, W. H, Cai, M & Zhou, R. D. 2003. Numerical simulation
of water flow in a joint slope by the dispersed element
method and reliability analysis of the slope. Journal of
University of Science and Technology Beijing 25(2): 99–
102. (in Chinese)
Wang, P., Qiao, L., Li, C.H., et al. 2003. Equivalent continuum
method and its application on seepage analysis of rock
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Xie, M., Esaki, T & Cai, M. F. 2004. A GIS-based method for
locating the critical 3D slip surface in a slope. Computers
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dimensional slope stability limit equilibrium method and
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Chinese)
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Theoretical analysis on influencing factors of fault activation on

mining floor

W.K. Bu
State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics & Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining &
Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China
Jiangzhen Electromechanical Engineering Institute, Heze University, Heze, Shandong, China

H. Xu
Jiangzhen Electromechanical Engineering Institute, Heze University, Heze, Shandong, China

ABSTRACT: By using the method of theoretical analysis, a new mechanical model of fault activation was
established and the analytical expression of shear stress on fault was obtained. The influencing laws of main
factors on shear stress and on fault activation on mining floor were analysed by using numerical procedure. The
results explain the common reasons of water inrush from fault in coal mine engineering, which demonstrate the
rationality and validity of the new mechanical model.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the extension of coal mining depth and the

increase of coal mining intensity in recent years, water
inrush disaster occurs frequently again and brings
more hazard in mine. Engineering examples show that
about 79.5% water inrush disasters happen on mining
floor with fault structure (Miao et al. 2004). Previous
researchers have already made a lot of researches on
the mechanism of fault activation and water inrush in
mine (Galybin 1997, Wu et al. 2004, Shi et al. 2000,
Wu et al. 2002, Li et al. 2002, Wu et al. 2003, Zhang,
1997), which have played an important role in improv-
Figure 1. Mechanical model.
ing situation of mine safety. The mechanical model
with biaxial stress was used in researching on fault
activation in previous results (Shi & Han 2004). In
factor, all of the abutment pressure in stope act upon and the abutment pressure situated on mining floor is
the fault activation. Therefore, it is very necessary to considered as in-plane stress in the mechanical model.
use a new mechanical model with the whole abut- The in-plane stress is simplified to linear distribution
ment pressure to research on the mechanism of fault shown in Figure 1.
activation. The fault is assumed to be a plane which is named
fault plane, and the angle between fault plane and
x-axis is denoted by θ. The working face is situated
on point d, and the stress concentration coefficient on
2 MECHANICAL ANALYSIS ON FAULT
the right side of working face is denoted by K1 . The
ACTIVATION
peak stress on the right side of working face is pro-
jected to mining floor on point c, and the intersection
2.1 Mechanical model of fault activation
point of stress decreasing region and in-situ rock stress
According to the theories centered by strata movement, on the right side of working face is projected to min-
such as theory of mining pressure and strata control ing floor on point b. The interconnection is situated
(Qian & Shi 2003) and theory of key stratum in ground on point e, and the stress concentration coefficient on
control (Qian et al. 2003), a new mechanical model for the left side of interconnection is denoted by K2 . The
researching on fault activation is shown in Figure 1. peak stress on the left side of interconnection is pro-
The rock mass on mining floor is assumed to be semi- jected to mining floor on point f , and the intersection
infinite elastic body by applying theory of elasticity point of stress decreasing region and in-situ rock stress

587
on the left side of interconnection is projected to min-
ing floor on point g. The intersection point of fault
and coal seam is situated on point a. The distance of
line ab, bc, cd, de, ef and fg is denoted by S1 , S2 , S3 ,
S4 , S5 and S6 respectively. The vertical distance from
any point O on the fault to coal seam is denoted by
z. The symbol θ 1 (θ 2 , θ 3 , θ 4 , θ 5 and θ 6 respectively)
represents the angle between line Ob (Oc, Od, Oe, Of
and Og respectively) and the inner normal of mining
floor, which will be considered positive (negative) for
counterclockwise (clockwise) rotation from the inner
normal of mining floor.

2.2 Analytical expression of shear stress on fault

The analytical expression of stress components σ z
(normal stress of z-direction), σ x (normal stress of x-
direction) and τ zx (shear stress) on point O can be
expressed as :

588

where xb , xc , xd , xe , xf and xg representsx-coordinate
of point b, c, d, e, f and g respectively; x and z is the
x-coordinate and z-coordinate of point O respectively;
q0 = γH, where γ is the overburden severe and H is
the mining depth; ξ is the variable.
The analytical expression of shear stress τ N on fault
can be written as:
where the expression of σ z , σ x and τ zx is shown in
Equations 1, 2, 3 respectively.
3 INFLUENCING FACTORS ON FAULT
ACTIVATION ON MINING FLOOR
3.1 The effect of advance distance on fault
activation
The distribution law of the shear stress on fault is cal-
culated in Figure 2 in which the symbol L denotes the
advance distance.
It is obvious that there is additional shear stress on
fault, which leads to the variation of shear stress
on fault. The influencing law of advance distance on
shear stress on fault and on fault activation is mainly
in three aspects. Firstly, before the working face pass-
ing through the fault, with the working face being
advanced the situation of peak shear stress is continu-
ous close to coal seam and the direction of shear stress
on fault is constant alternate on the depth between 0 m
and 90 m. It can be concluded that the additional stress
can easily cause fault activation, as the reference (Li
et al. 2002) representing, “The additional stress can
not be ignored.” The additional stress makes the shear
fracture evolution or generates new shear fracture in or
nearby the fault zone, which can explain the reason that
water inrush sometimes happens in coal mining due
to the fault activation when the working face doesn’t
pass the fault and the coal pillar is still remained. Sec-
ondly, after the working face passing through the fault,
with the working face being advanced the situation of
peak shear stress moves continuously toward to the
deep position of mining floor and the value of peak
shear stress decreases gradually, which indicates that
the effect of advance distance on fault activation is
only a little after the working face passing through
the fault. Finally, in the process of working face being
advanced, the value of shear stress on fault changes
more greatly on the depth between 0 and 90 m than
589
Figure 2. The distribution of shear stress on fault with
different advance distance.
Figure 3. The distribution of shear stress on fault with
different mining depth.
other position, which shows that the advance distance
mostly makes the shallow fault activation and effects
only a little on the deep position of the fault.
3.2 The effect of mining depth on fault activation
The distribution law of the shear stress on fault with
different mining depth is shown in Figure 3.
The effect of mining depth on fault activation is
mainly in two aspects. Firstly, with the increasing
of mining depth, the value of shear stress on fault
increases gradually and the value of peak shear stress
is also increasing continuously for the same fault. It
indicates that the easier of fault activation with the
deeper of mining depth. Secondly, the distribution law
of shear stress on fault can’t be changed with the
variation of mining depth. As shown in Figure 3, the
distribution of shear stress and the position of peak
shear stress are the same with the different mining
depth when the values of other parameters are given.
3.3 The effect of fault dip on fault activation
The distribution law of the shear stress on fault with
different fault dip is obtained as shown in Figures 4–5.
The distribution of shear stress on fault is shown
in Figure 4 with the parameter θ between 0◦ and
90◦ , which is corresponding to the angle of fault dip
with the circumstance of mining on the hanging wall.
The conclusion is mainly in two aspects according to
Figure 4. Firstly, the variation of shear stress on fault
is very acute for the low angle of fault dip. This result
shows that the fault with low dip angle can be acti-
vated more easily than the fault with high dip angle.
Figure 4. The distribution of shear stress on fault with
different fault dip (0◦ ≤ θ ≤ 90◦ ).
Figure 5. The distribution of shear stress on fault with
different fault dip (90◦ ≤ θ ≤ 180◦ ).
Secondly, for the fault with high dip angle, the varia-
tion of shear stress on fault slows down and the peak
of shear stress decreases continually in the process of
working face advancing. It indicates that the fault with
high dip angle can’t be easily activated, which is cor-
responding to the engineering practice that the fault
with low dip angle is more easily activated and led to
water inrush than with high dip angle in the case of
mining on the hanging wall.
The distribution of shear stress on fault is shown in
Figure 5 with the parameter θ between 90◦ and 180◦ ,
which is corresponding to the circumstance of mining
on the footwall. The relationship between the angle of
fault dip and the parameter θ can be written as:
where β represents the angle of fault dip. Thus, the
angle of fault dip is decreasing while the parameter θ
is increasing.
According to Figure 5, the situation of peak shear
stress on fault is inclined to be close to coal seam and
the value of peak shear stress is decreasing with the
decreasing of the angle of fault dip. This conclusion
shows that the fault with low dip angle can’t be eas-
ily activated with the circumstance of mining on the
footwall, which is similar with the conclusion in ref-
erence (Shi et al. 2000) that water inrush could not
happen on mining floor in the case of mining on the
footwall of normal fault when the angle of fault dip is
less than 65◦ .
590
Figure 6. The distribution of shear stress on fault with
different stress concentration coefficient.
Therefore, the effect of fault dip on fault activa-
tion is mainly in three aspects. Firstly, the fault would
be more easily activated when the fault dip is lower
in case of mining on the hanging wall, otherwise the
fault wouldn’t be activated easily. Secondly, the fault
would be more easily activated when the fault dip is
higher in the case of mining on the footwall. Finally,
when the working face encounters the normal fault, the
excavation should be on the hanging wall as possible
for avoiding the fault activation and water inrush.
3.4 The effect of stress concentration coefficient on
fault activation
The distribution law of the shear stress on fault with
different stress concentration coefficient is obtained
as shown in Figure 6.
The effect of stress concentration coefficient on
fault activation is mainly in three aspects. Firstly, the
value of peak shear stress on fault increases continually
with the increasing of stress concentration coefficient,
at the same time, the situation of peak shear stress is
inclined to move toward to the deep position of min-
ing floor, which is inapparent. It can be concluded
that the fault would be more easily activated with the
higher value of stress concentration coefficient. Sec-
ondly, the distribution of shear stress on fault varies
gradually with the increasing of stress concentration
coefficient. It indicates that the range of fault activa-
tion will increase with the increasing of the value of
stress concentration coefficient. Finally, the variation
of stress concentration coefficient is mainly causing
the variation of shear stress on shallow fault and a
little influence on the deep fault.
3.5 The effect of compaction degree on fault
activation
The distribution law of the shear stress on fault with
different compaction degree is obtained as shown in
Figure 7.
The effect of compaction degree on fault activation
is mainly in three aspects. Firstly, with the increasing
of compaction degree on gob area, the value of peak
shear stress on fault is decreasing while the situation
of peak shear stress has little change. This result indi-
cates that the probability of fault activation would be

Figure 7. The distribution of shear stress on fault with
different compaction degree.
Figure 8. The distribution of shear stress on fault before
working face encountering fault (L = 30 m).
reduced with the increasing of compaction degree α.
Secondly, the distribution of shear stress on fault would
be changed with the increasing of compaction degree
on gob area. This shows that the increasing of com-
paction degree α will effect the distribution of shear
stress on fault. Finally, comparatively speaking, the
variation of compaction degree on fault is mainly caus-
ing the variation of the value of shear stress on deep
fault, especially on the depth above 45 m.
3.6 The effect of advance direction on fault
activation
According to the mechanical model of fault activation
and the advance direction of working face in engineer-
ing practice, it can be concluded that the working face
is advanced from hanging wall to footwall when the
parameter θ equals to 45◦ , which is used in researching
on the effect of advance distance on fault activation.
Therefore, for researching on the effect of advance
direction on fault activation, it can be considered that
the working face is advanced from footwall to hanging
wall when the parameter θ equals to 135◦ .
Given that θ = 135◦ , the distribution of shear stress
on fault can be obtained with different advance dis-
tance. Compared with θ = 45◦ , the effect of advance
direction on fault activation is shown in Figures 8–10.
The effect of advance direction on fault activation
is mainly in two aspects. Fistly, before the working
face encountering the fault, the working face being
advanced from hanging wall to footwall would cause
fault activation more easily than being advanced from
591
Figure 9. The distribution of shear stress on fault while
working face encountering fault (L = 110 m).
Figure 10. The distribution of shear stress on fault while
working face passing through fault (L = 130 m).
footwall to hanging wall. For the former, the varia-
tion range of shear stress on fault is great, and the
peak shear stress is large and the effect range is
wide. This is the reason that fault activation and water
inrush always happen when the fault is not seen. Sec-
ondly, when the he working face is encountering the
fault or passes through the fault, the working face
being advanced from footwall to hanging wall would
cause fault activation easily. This can explain the rea-
son that fault activation and water inrush also happen
after the working face passing through the fault.
4 CONCLUSIONS
1. A new reasonable mechanical model is built for
researching on the fault activation and water inrush
from mining floor. The expression of stress com-
ponents on fault are derived by considering all of
the abutment pressure on mining floor, further-
more, the expression of shear stress on fault is
obtained. The results show that the shear stress on
fault is determined by mining depth, advance dis-
tance, advance direction, the distribution character
of abutment pressure, fault dip and so on.
2. The variation laws of shear stress on fault effected
by main factors is analysed with the quantitative
research. The research results can explain some rea-
sons of water inrush in engineering practice, which
demonstrate the rationality and validity of the new
mechanical model.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Financial support for this work, provided by the
National Basic Research Program of China (973
Program) (No. 2007CB209400) and the Postdoc-
toral Subject Foundation of State Key Laboratory
for Geomechanics & Deep Underground Engineer-
ing (No. PD1005) and the Research Foundation
of Heze University (No. XY10BS04) are gratefully
acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Galybin, A.N. 1997. A model of mining-induced fault slid-
ing. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Sciences 34(3–4): 91–103.
Li, X.Z., Luo, G.Y., Chen, Z.S. 2002. Mechanism of defor-
mation and water conduction of fault due to excavation
in water-inrush in underground engineering. Chinese
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 24(6): 695–700.
Miao, X.X., Liu, W.Q., Chen, Z.Q. 2004. Dynamics of systems
of seepage flow in surrounding rock affected by mining.
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trol. Xuzhou: China University of Mining & Technology
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Shi, L.Q., Han, J. 2004. Floor water-inrush mechanism
and prediction. Xuzhou: China University of Mining &
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical study on GMZ bentonite

S.F. Cao & L. Qiao

School of Civil and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

Y.M. Liu, J.L. Xie & L.K. Ma

Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: In deep geological disposal for high-level radioactive waste, bentonite is a kind of ideal
buffer/backfill material. Buffer and backfill materials between waste tank and the surrounding rock mass are the
last artificial barrier neighbouring waste. During the operation and closure of repository, the bentonite that works
as a buffer/backfill material will suffer complex coupled effects of high temperature, geo-stress, hydraulic, and
chemical process, which comes from heat of the nuclear waste radiation, mechanical stress from parent rock
mass and seepage action of groundwater. This mock-up test developed the methodologies for coupled test of
GMZ bentonite and then we acquire some basic parameters under Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical (T-H-M) coupled
conditions, which will be helpful for the future design of engineered barrier system of mock-up. The charac-
terization of GMZ bentonite related to swelling pressure, relative humidity and temperature are presented and
interpreted. Now the test is on going.

1 INTRODUCTION other features. The behavior of HLW repository is

Safe disposal of high level radioactive waste is a
challenging task facing the scientific and technolog-
ical world (Wang & Chen 2006). The long-term and
reliable insulation from the human environment has
raised worldwide attention for the countries who build
nuclear power stations. In order to safely dispose of
the high-level radioactive waste generated from the
nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities, a
number of disposal concepts have been developed
in many countries, and results show that the deep
geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste
is considered worldwide as the most safe and feasi-
ble method to protect human being and environment
for tens of thousands years (Zhang & Wang 2006).
The concept of deep geological disposal of high-level
radioactive waste in China is based on a multi-barrier
system as other countries, which comprises the nat-
ural geological barriers and the engineered barriers.
The design of high level radioactive waste reposito-
ries in deep geological media includes the construction
of a barrier around the waste containers constituted by
a buffer/backfilling material. The basic requirement
for the buffer is to retard radionuclide migration by
restricting groundwater movement, providing a high
sorption capacity for dissolved nuclide and acting as
a filter for radionuclide-bearing colloids. Bentonite
has been chosen as the buffer/backfill material in
most disposal concepts because of its low permeabil-
ity, swelling capacity and retention properties, among
determined, to a large extent, by the characteristics
of the design and construction of the engineered bar-
riers and especially by the changes that may occur
in the mechanical, hydraulic, and geochemical prop-
erties as a result of the combined effects of heat
generated by the radioactive decay and of the water
and solutes supplied the surrounding rock (Villar
2009). Therefore it is considered of important for the
long-term behavior under the coupled thermo-hydro-
mechanical (THM) conditions. In order to prove the
behavior of the buffer/backfill material under coupled
T-H-M-C conditions, a great number of experiments
have been performed at underground research labo-
ratories, for example the Sweden Pilot Parcels test,
the Canada Tunnel Sealing test, the Japan Big Ben
test, the Czech Mock-up test et al. Comprehensive
knowledge about the security and stability of the
buffer/backfill material have been achieved. In China
a comprehensive investigation has been conducted for
the bentonite deposits, and the Gaomiaozi (GMZ) ben-
tonite has been selected as the buffer/backfill material.
As a whole, the physical and chemical characteris-
tics have been identified, but a number of the T-H-M
tests need to be carried out. In this paper, several
mini-mock-up test have been installed to evaluate the
properties of the GMZ bentonite, and some basic
parameters under thermo-hydro-mechanical coupled
conditions have been acquired. It will be helpful
for the future design of engineered barrier system
of mock-up.

593

Figure 1. The coupled THM-compacted bentonite-granite
test facility.
2 COUPLED THM-COMPACTED
BENTONITE-GRANITE TEST
2.1 Description of the test design
In order to verify the installation and test procedure,
and to confirm the reliability of sensors used in the
China-Mock-up, coupled THM-compacted bentonite-
granite test facility was built and run. This test
include two phases: the first is the test of bentonite
under coupled Hydro-Mechanical condition, and after
that is the test of bentonite under coupled Thermo-
Mechanical condition. The coupled THM-compacted
bentonite-granite test facility is consists of hydration
system, granite container and data acquisition system,
as shown in Figure 1.
2.2 Material and test equipment
The bentonite used for the coupled THM-compacted
bentonite-granite test is Na-bentonite which comes
from the GMZ-bentonite deposit located in Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region. The mineralogical
composition of GMZ001 has been quantitatively ana-
lyzed by X-ray diffraction analyses. The results show
the major mineral include: montmorillonite 75.4%,
quartz 11.7%, crystabalite 7.3%, feldspar 4.3%,
calcite 0.5%, kaolinite 0.8%, The methylene blue
exchange capacity of GMZ-001 is 102 mmol/(100 g).
The CEC (cationic exchange contents) is about
77.6 mmol/(100 g). The bulk chemical component
of GMZ001 is SiO2 67.43%, Al2 O3 14.2%, P2 O5
0.02%, TiO2 0.12%, TiFe2 O3 2.40%, FeO 0.29%, CaO
1.13%, MgO 0.10%, MnO 0.02%, K2 O 0.73%, Na2 O
594
1.75%, loss of ignition 11.38%. The natural water
content is 8.7%, approximately.
A computer-controlled triaxial test machine in com-
bination with specially designed stainless steel molds
are used to compact the GMZ bentonite into com-
pacted blocks with Semicircular shape. Small holes
and slots are carved on or inside the bentonite blocks
in order to place sensors. The granite container is made
by excavating a cylindrical hole with 200 mm diameter
and 230 mm height in a granite cubic with a dimen-
sion of 260 mm × 260 mm × 300 mm. The hydration
system is composed of a flask, rubber plug, rubber
pipe, clip, two steel pipes with three rows of small
holes at interval of 1 cm (the angle between each row
is 90◦ ). Deionized water is used in this test and the
water inflow is measured by electronic balance. Data
acquisition system include UDAQ portable data acqui-
sition unit, SQP-12 constant voltage adapter, a needle
type temperature probe and two stress sensors with
maximum rang of 10 MPa and 5 MPa respectively.
2.3 Installation of the test facility
The rugged bottom of the granite container was cov-
ered by a layer of sand which passed no.500 sieve.
The inevitable spaces between buffer layers and blocks
may provide the preferential paths for water penetra-
tion, resulting in a negative impact on the inner HTM
environment and sensors’ working performance. To
reduce or eliminate the effect of adverse penetration
paths, bentonite blocks were arranged perpendicularly
layer by layer, and each layer include two blocks. Space
between the bentonite blocks and the granite container
wall was filled in by sand.
2.4 Experiment results
After one day’s water injection, three of the four walls
of the granite container each had a fissure, and even-
tually the whole container was broken. Since it was
the first time that this kind of stress sensor was used
and the researchers were lack of installation expe-
rience, the larger range stress sensor failed because
of signal transmission blocking. Fortunately the other
stress sensor was functional and the swelling pressure
of bentonite was measured and presented in Figure 2.
The results show that, with water inflow at the bottom
of the samples, the swelling pressure increase imme-
diately, as expected, and after about 15 hours reaches
a peak of 3.04 MPa which probably exceed the ten-
sile strength of the granite container. Afterwards, the
swelling pressure drop to 0 and remain ever since
because of stress release resulting from the rupture
of the container.
It should be noted that, one day after the container
was broken, the data acquisition system was turn on
again and the container was heated by an oven. A rela-
tionship between swelling pressure and temperature
was obtained, as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4.
When the temperature rises, the swelling pressure
decreases slightly and drop to a minimum value of
0.05 MPa while the temperature is 27◦ . Later the

Figure 2. Evolution of swelling pressure.
Figure 3. Influence of temperature on the swelling pressure.
Figure 4. Evolution of swelling pressure after the container
was broken.
swelling pressure starts to increase slowly and reaches
a maximum value of 0.059 MPa when the temperature
gets to 31◦ . Afterwards, the swelling pressure drops
abruptly to 0.028 MPa which probably caused by the
stress release resulting from the movement of the ben-
tonite blocks under unconfined condition. During the
595
Figure 5. Evolution of swelling pressure and temperature
versus time respectively after heating and cooling.
cooling period, the swelling pressure increases slightly
and remains 0.03 MPa approximately.
As can be seen from Figure 5, the swelling pres-
sure increases slowly and reaches a maximum value
of 0.059 MPa during heating, and decreases slightly
and remains 0.03 MPa after the oven was turned off.
The reason for the abrupt decline of swelling pressure
is mentioned above.
Figure 5 shows the evolution of swelling pressure
and temperature versus time respectively after heating
and cooling.
It can be seen from Figure 6, after heating the
broken granite container by an oven, the swelling pres-
sure reaches 0.059 MPa when temperature gets to 31◦
instead of the highest value 35◦ , because there was no
water provided to the bentonite blocks, and the dis-
placement of the blocks results in stress release. In
general, when temperature rise, the swelling pressure
increases.
3 COUPLED THM-COMPACTED
BENTONITE-STEEL TEST
3.1 Description of the test design
In the test mentioned above, the granite container is
very brittle, in order to acquire more measurements
data, the stainless steel material is chosen as the main
container in this test. The material and equipment are
the same as mentioned above. The coupled THM-
compacted bentonite-steel test facility is consists of
hydration system, stainless steel container and data
acquisition system, as shown in Figure 6.
3.2 Experiment results
The whole dry density of the bentonite is very low, and
the swelling pressure is not obvious, experiment data
is about the temperature distribution in the container.
The relationship between the temperature and time was
obtained, as shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8.
In integrity analysis of engineering barriers, it is
necessary to consider many phenomena, such as the
aging of the buffer material, the redistribution of

Figure 6. The coupled THM-compacted bentonite-steel test
facility.
Figure 7. Evolution of temperature in the container.
Figure 8. Temperature distribution around the heater.
moisture in the barrier, and possible corrosion of the
canister. Knowledge of the temperature field around
the canisters is vital to understand these phenomena,
and therefore it is important to acquire the temperature
distribution. Figure 7 shows the whole test process
in the container, it experiences heating and cooling
phases. Figure 8 shows the temperature distribution
596
around the heater. As can be seen from the figures, the
compacted bentonite has proper thermal conductivity.
However more thermal data are needed for different
dry density and water content.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In current disposal concepts for high-level radioac-
tive waste, the behavior of compacted bentonite under
coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical conditions is very
important for the design and construction of high-
level radioactive waste repositories in deep geologi-
cal media. Therefore, it is considered of fundamen-
tal importance for the evaluation of the long-term
behavior of the compacted bentonite under coupled
THMC condition. In this paper, several mini-mock-
up test have been installed to evaluate the properties
of the GMZ bentonite, and some basic parameters
under thermo-hydro-mechanical coupled conditions
have been acquired and the evolution of temperature
during the mock-up test at different location are also
achieved. It will be helpful for the future design of
engineered barrier system of mock-up.
REFERENCES
Gens, A. & Olivella, S. 2006. Coupled thermo-hydro-
mechanical analysis of engineered barriers for high-level
radioactive waste. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Engineering 25(4): 670–680.
Li, X.L., Bernier, F. & Bel, J. 2006. The Belgian HLW repos-
itory design and associated R&D on the THM behaviour
of the host rock and EBS. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 25(4): 681–692.
Liu, Q.S., Zhang, C.Y. & Liu, X.Y. 2006. Numerical mod-
elling and simulation of coupled THM processes in task-D
of DECOVALEX-IV. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Engineering 25(4): 709–720.
Liu, Y.M., Wang, J. & Cai, M.F. 2008. Long-term stability of
the near-field about high-level radioactive waste reposi-
tory in thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling action condi-
tion. The second symposium on underground disposal of
waste technology: 267–274.
Romero, E. & Li, X.L. 2006.Thermo-hydro-mechanical char-
actization of OPHELIE backfill mixture. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 25(4): 733–740.
Villa, M.V. & Gomez-Espina, R. 2009. Report on thermo-
hydro-mechanical laboratory tests performed by CIEMAT
on Fbex benonite 2004–2008.
Wang, J., Chen, W.M. & Su, R., et al. 2006. Geological
disposal of high-level radioactive waste and its key sci-
entific issues. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 25(4): 801–812.
Wang, J., Su, R. & Chen, W.M., et al. 2006. Deep geological
disposal of high-level radioactive waste in China. Chi-
nese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 25(4):
649–658.
Ye, W.M., Wan, M. & Chen, B. 2008. Advances on study
of temperature effect on hydro-mechanical behavior of
densely compacted bentonite. The second symposium on
underground disposal of waste technology: 237–244.
Zhang, C.L., Wang, J. & Su, K. 2006. Concepts and tests for
disposal of radioactive waste in deep geological forma-
tion. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
25(4): 750–767.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Analysis of distance between underground caverns in a water-sealed

underground oil tank engineering

X. Chen & H. He
School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

X.B. Qi
China Institute of Geo-Environment Monitoring, Beijing, China

J.Z. Sun & J.K. Zhang

School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The distance between underground caverns, which has great influence on the stability of under-
ground caverns, is an important design parameter of underground engineering. At present, it is common that the
distance between underground caverns is determined by the width of caverns and the quality of the country rock
masses, but there is lack of reasonable explanations. In the paper, the construction processes of underground
caverns were simulated by numerical method. The influence on the deformation of the adjacent cavern during
the excavation of a cavern was analyzed in detail in order to determine the reliable influence distance. Then
the reasonable distance between underground caverns was suggested. The Huizhou water-sealed underground
oil tank which is one of the state strategic oil store bases was taken as an example, and 8 models with differ-
ent distances between caverns were analyzed. The results can provide a guide for the design of the Huizhou
water-sealed underground oil tank.

1 INTRODUCTION mathematical model and the optimization algorithm

International petroleum storage is divided into ground
oil tanks and underground oil tanks, the major large-
scale petroleum storage is underground oil tanks.
Water-sealed rock caverns and Halite underground
caverns are two kinds of underground oil tanks. The
principle of oil storage of Water-sealed underground
oil tank need to excavate a certain volume in a cer-
tain depth below the stable water table, sealing the oil
by groundwater. The distance between underground
caverns, which gets great influence on the stabil-
ity of underground caverns, is an important design
parameter of underground engineering. At present, it is
common that the distance between underground cav-
erns is determined by the width of caverns and the
quality of the surrounding rock masses, but there is
lack of reasonable explanations.
Recently, following the rapid development of
underground engineering construction, the scale
of underground caverns are more and more large.
Many scholars made lots of study on the stability of
caverns and the distance between underground cav-
erns. Qiu Xiang-bo, Galli, Du ju-hong, Chu B.L.
et al. accomplished detail numerical simulation analy-
sis of large highway tunnel cavities. Melejnekh, Yang
wan-bin, Wang Hou-yu et al. showed the distance
between underground caverns and the characteristics
of section with unified design variables, presented
of cavity design. Li yun-peng, Li ning, Hwang et al.
also used dynamic finite element numerical simulation
method to study the influence of blasting vibration on
nearby existing surrounding rock masses and lining
structure in different situations. Wu meng-jun et al.
performed three-dimensional physical simulation of
long-span flat, multiple-arch tunnel’s dynamic con-
struction process by using “Highway tunnel structure
and surrounding rock integrated experiment system”.
Taking the Huizhou water-sealed underground oil
tank which is one of the state strategic oil store bases
as an example, this paper adopted Flac3D numerical
analysis software to analyze 8 models with differ-
ent distance between caverns. the distance from types
1 to 8 are 5 m, 10 m, 15 m, 20 m, 25 m, 30 m, 35 m,
40 m respectively. The influence on the deformation
of the adjacent cavern during the excavation of a cav-
ern was analyzed in detail in order to determine the
reliable influence distance, then the reasonable dis-
tance between underground caverns was put forward.
The results can provide reference for the design of the
Huizhou water-sealed underground oil tank.
2 GENERAL SITUATION OF ENGINEERING
The storage capacity of Hiuzhou water-sealed under-
ground oil tank is 500 × 104 m3 , the project includes

597

Figure 1. The section of caverns.
five 100 × 104 m3 individual crude oil tanks and the
corresponding supporting facilities. Five individual
oil tanks are split into 10 caverns. The single cavern
storage capacity is about 50 × 104 m3 . The cross-
section shape of the caverns is shown as Fig. 1.
The span, width, and length are 20 m, 30 m, 880 m
respectively.
The rock in the engineering area mainly is gran-
ite. The outcrop area is about 38.3 km2 . According to
the hydraulic crack stress tests, the maximum hori-
zontal principal stress of the engineering site is about
10 MPa, the minimum horizontal principal stress of
the engineering site is about 7 MPa, the vertical prin-
cipal stress influenced by the gravity. The direction of
the maximum horizontal principal stress is N53◦W.
3 CALCULATING METHOD AND PRINCIPLE
FLAC3D is a large explicit finite-difference pro-
gram for engineering mechanics computation, which
was developed by Itasca Consulting Group .in 1986.
Lagrange method is used to solve equation by the
dynamic relaxation method in FLAC3D. Because
no matrices are formed, large three-dimensional cal-
culations can be made without excessive memory.
It is convenient to solve large-scale engineering
problems.
When making a simulative calculation analysis with
FLAC3D, three basic elements should be confirmed:
grid model; material constitutive relation and param-
eters of the model; boundary and initial conditions.
FLAC3D apply accurate time step to solve algebraic
equations. After a series of calculation, the best cal-
culation answer will be got. In FLAC3D, the time
step can be controlled automatically by the code or
the user himself. When analyzing the cavity stabil-
ity, the surrounding rock mass are generally regarded
as the homogeneous isotropic medium, and reflect
the impact of fracture by weakening the rock mass
parameters.
598
Figure 2. Numerical model with 5 m net space.
4 NUMERICAL CALCULATION
4.1 Calculation model
In the paper, the cross-section shape of the caverns
is straight wall with round arch. The height is 30 m,
and the width is 20 m. The different influence of eight
different distances between underground caverns, 5 m,
10 m, 15 m, 20 m, 25 m, 30 m, 35 m and 40 m respec-
tively. During the simulation, the symmetry of the
geological model and the boundary conditions was
used. So only the half of the model should be ana-
lyzed. When the net space between caverns is 5 m, the
model was shown as Fig. 2. The middle blue section
represents the cavern, and the around yellow repre-
sents the surrounding rock masses. The size of the
model is 225 × 200 × 155 m. The x-axis is perpendic-
ular to the direction of cavity axis, the y-axis parallel
to the direction of cavity axis, and the z-axis is the ver-
tical direction. The model take the plane of y = 0 for
symmetry plane. The model did not calculate from the
ground surface. The weight of the rock masses from
the earth’s surface to the top of the model had been
loaded on the top surface boundary. In the x-axis direc-
tion, the distance between the boundary of the model
and the outdoor wall of the cavern is 90 m. In the y-axis
direction, the overall length of the model is 200 m.
4.2 Material constitutive and parameters
The finite different method belongs to the numeri-
cal analysis of continuous media, so the surrounding
rock masses were treated as isotropic elastic-plastic
medium in the calculation, and the material damage
rule obeyed to the mohr-coulomb criterion. According
to the survey report and the statistics of the drilling
core, the rock masses in the deep engineering area are
integral and less fissure. The physical and mechan-
ical parameters which were listed in table 1 were
determined by in-situ and indoor rock test.
4.3 Boundary conditions
The displacement boundary conditions and the stress
boundary conditions are two kinds of boundary
Table 1. The parameters of rock masses.

Shear strength
Elastic Tensile
Density modulus strength c ϕ Poisson’s
kg/m3 GPa MPa MPa ◦
ratio

2600 30 4 8.6 42 0.21

Figure 4. The relation between the cube of y-displacement

of the center of the end wall and the net space.

Figure 3. The relation between the cube of x-displacement

of the center of the right side wall and the net space.

conditions in numerical analysis. In the static prob-

lems, the infinitely distant and the plane of symmetry
can be defined as the fixed boundary conditions. In this
numerical analysis, we defined the model bottom and
the plane of symmetry (y = 0) as the fixed boundary, Figure 5. The relation between the cube of z-displacement
then limited the displacement of the boundary node of the center of the base plate and the net space.
in the direction of x-axis and y-axis respectively. The
two outer boundary (x = −100 and x = 125 or 130
or 135 or 140 or 145 or 150 or 155 or 160) which
perpendicular to the x-axis direction and the outer
boundary (y=200) which perpendicular to the y-axis
direction were exerted the stress boundary conditions.
According to the in-situ stress test re-sults, 10.0 MPa
compressive stress was exerted on the direction of
the x-axis and 7.0 MPa compressive stress on the
boundary of y = 200.

5 RESULTS ANALYSIS

The distance analysis between underground caverns

simulated the practical construction simply. The two
caverns were excavated in turn. The left cavern was
excavated firstly, then the right cavern. Each cavern
was excavated in three steps. The analysis emphasis is
about the influence on surrounding rock masses’ sta-
bility after excavation of adjacent cavern. Therefore,
the following analyses mainly introduced the defor-
mation of left cavern surrounding rock mass after
excavation of the right cavern.
In order to know the displacement of surrounding
rock masses of the left cavern after excavation of the
right cavern, the displacements of the left cavern’s
surrounding rock massed were monitored in differ-
ent directions. The displacement of the left cavern’s
Figure 6. The relation between the cube of z-displacement
of the apex of arch and the net space.
right sidewall (the x-axis direction) after the excava-
tion of the right cavern is the largest, followed the
displacement of vaults and the floor surrounding rock
(the z-axis direction).The displacement decreases with
the increase of cavern space. Meanwhile, the decrease
degree also decreases with the increase of cavern
space. In order to show the relation between decrease
degree and cavern space more directly, the relation
curves between the cube of displacement and the net
space were put forward, as shown in the Fig. 3∼Fig. 6.
According to the fig-ures, the cube of displacement

599
decreases quickly with the increase of the net space
at the beginning, but when the net space is more than
20 m, the cube of displacement does not reduce too
much. Accordingly, considering the stability of sur-
rounding rock masses and economical rationality, the
net space was advised to be set as 20 m.
6 CONCLUSIONS AND ADVICES
Through the analysis of different net space caverns, the
excavation of later cavern made the deformation of the
excavated cavern surrounding rock masses increase,
and the increasing degree decreased with the increase
of cavern space. According to comprehensive anal-
ysis to the calculation results of 8 kinds of model
with different cavern net space, the deformation of the
excavated cavern’s sidewall surrounding rock masses
is the largest after the excavation of the other cav-
ern, followed by the displacement of vaults and the
floor surrounding rock (the z-axis direction), and
the influence is very small in the y-axis direction.
The displacement decreased with the increase of cav-
ern space, meanwhile, the decrease amplitude also
decreased with the increase of cavern space. The cube
of displacement decreased quickly with the increase of
the net space at the beginning, but when the net space
was more than 20 m, the cube of displacement did not
reduce too much.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper was sponsored by Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (41002092).
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study of key technique of double-arch tunnel passing through

water-eroded groove

Y. Chen
China Construction Eighth Engineering Division, Shanghai, China

X.B. Liu
School of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China

ABSTRACT: During the excavation of double-arch tunnel, there exists a big water-eroded groove. A method
of elastic foundation beam is used to cope with the situation. According to the relationship between foundation
beam with tunnel structure and scene case, the mechanical behavior of double-arch tunnel passing through water-
eroded groove is studied by using finite element numerical simulation method. The research result shows that
the interface of two different foundation media is the weakest point of foundation beam, where cutting damage
and ripping damage easily happened, the physical property of filling matter in water-eroded groove has distinct
influence on the foundation beam. To fully consider the carrying capacity of filling matter is reasonable and
setting invert is good to improve internal force state of tunnel structure, but the action isn’t big to share the load
of foundation beam.

1 INTRODUCTION

Since there is a big water-eroded groove in excavation

of tunnel, the choice of traversing method becomes
critical. In practical tunneling engineering, the exis-
tence, location and size of water-eroded groove is
difficult to be judged because of the limitation of
geologic investigation, so relevant traversing method
according to the actual condition is only when the
problem happens instead of a design special for big
water-eroded groove. This way is available to sin-
gle tunnel because of its simple structure. However,
to double-arch tunnel, a special design is necessary,
considering the difficulty in the excavation caused
by the complicated structure and more important, the
influence to the stability by the construction. Figure 1. Construction steps of double-arch tunnel.
Therefore, taking the structure characteristics of
double-arch tunnel in water-eroded groove into
suitable to construct the both tunnels at the same time
account, the writer get the available solution by cal-
in order to avoid long-span at the same cross-section
culation and analysis for setting foundation beam
that influences the stability of surrounding rock. So
combined with the design and construction of practical
the idea of construction scheme is that excavate the
engineering.
one-side single span firstly. As a consequence, the hor-
izontal force of the first-finished arch ring makes the
middle wall bear marked bias, which is disadvantage to
2 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DESIGN the middle wall without lateral rock resistance. Appar-
AND CONSTRUCTION OF DOUBLE-ARCH ently, the middle wall is the key in this kind of tunnel
TUNNEL construction.
From the view of design, there are two kinds of
In the construction, a middle pilot heading is finished structural stress state in the construction of double-
firstly in order to support the arch ring at both sides. arch tunnel, namely single span state and double span
The middle wall is at a disadvantage stress state since state.The middle wall is under a disadvantage bias con-
its two sides is not tight to the surrounding rocks thus dition in the first-finished single span lining and this
causing independent deformation. Commonly, it is not bias disappears since the final-finished double span

601
lining is a balanced construction, so apparently the
single span state is the most disadvantaged condition.
In the design and construction should reflect this char-
acteristic to ensure the safety. So the emphasis in the
design is the state of single span.
3 DISCUSSION OF ENGINEERING CASE
Tong you Mountain tunnel, major project in Guangxi
South 2 belt highways, is 445 m in length. The area is
in karsts developing district where limestone is widely
distributed and dissolution groove and crack is com-
mon. Dissolution geode is commonly seen in dolomite
which form anomalistic cast groove along the joint
plane. Being limited by landform and landmark, the
tunnel is designed as double-arch structure, meeting
the demand of connection of road at the tunnel open-
ing, which is excavated at a clear width of 28.56 m and
a clear height of 8.92 m.
In the part of K2+312∼+332 of the tunnel, there is
a big water-eroded groove, 20 m in longitudinal width,
displaying an oblique tunnel axis along the direction
northeast-southwest and it is passed through by the
cross section of the double-arch tunnel. The part of
water-eroded groove, belonging to shallow-buried seg-
ment, is about 20 m in buried depth. Its cover is clay
adding detritus in which 20–40% belongs to dolomitic
limestone whose corrosion surface is clear. The clay,
having delicate and plastic structure, obviously is the
filling of the groove and this kind of filling is compact-
ing and its bearing capacity is about 150–180 Kpa.Its
natural unit weight is γ = 16∼17 kN/m3 and there is
no influence on groundwater. To prove the influence
range of the bottom of the groove, we drilled to 17 m
under the tunnel’s bottom and stopped since it is also
bottomless.
3.1 Water-eroded groove span scheme and elastic
foundation design
The main method of water-eroded groove crossing is
filling or span etc. The range of this tunnel’s groove
is deep, so the technical requirement to the filler of
grouting reinforcement is high and objective effect
cannot be guaranteed easily. Through careful research,
the way of erecting beam crossing is decided to adopt.
This method can ensure that there is no longitudinal or
transverse crack along the lines caused by the weak-
ening of the bearing strength of the basement in the
structure of double-arch tunnel thus creating condition
to guarantee the high quality of the tunnel.
To make the tunnel pass safely, there is a strip
reinforced concrete beam (foundation beam for short)
across the groove in the base of right wall, left wall
and middle wall. The beam is 30 m-long and 1 m-
high.To detract the stress on the base of the wall,
the width of the foundation beam in the side-wall is
designed to 1.3 m and that of middle wall is 2.7 m, all
go beyond the width of the wall bottom by 15 cm to
35 cm. 5 m is remained on the both end of the beam to
602
put on the bedrock (IV grade wall rock) and the mid-
dle piece of the beam is put on the groove’s filler. So
this is a elastic foundation beam setting on different
foundation.
3.2 Design of tunnel’s supporting structure and
load of elastic foundation beam
The tunnel’s support structure is compound lining.
Initial support is a combined support including wire
mesh, anchor and shotcrete. Double level of ϕ6 mat
reinforcement is set in the whole cross section of the
arch wall. The space between the mat reinforcement is
25 cm × 25 cm. The anchor arm is 3 m-long 22 rein-
forcement and its longitudinal space is 1m and 1.2 m
in ring space. The shot Crete is C20 concrete and it is
25 cm thick (Zhang 1999).
In order to make the surrounding rock stable (espe-
cially the clay filling of the water-eroded groove),
advanced small pipe grouting support is set, 4.5 m-
long ϕ42 steel pipe is arranged along the tunnel arch
ring, one ring every longitudinal 2m and the ring
distance is 35 cm. Meanwhile “I” 18-type steel arch
timbering and the longitudinal distance is 0.5 m.
Secondary lining design is determined by analysis
of load-structure model calculation. Considering that
primary support is under a certain load of surround-
ing rock and also small duct grouting is taken in the
assisting construction measures that help to reduce the
stress of surrounding rock, so 80% of the overlying soil
weight is used as the vertical load of secondary lin-
ing and the lateral pressure is comparatively treated.
But there is no lateral pressure in the middle wall in
the altitude rang of middle pilot heading. According
to the actual situation, the most unfavorable loading
state is taken namely single-span structure calculation
as shown in Figure 2.
After the calculation of lining structure, the result
of foundation pressure (per running meter) is 2460 kN
in middle wall and 2200 kN in side wall. The load on
the foundation beam is 2460/(2.7 × 1.0) = 911 kN/m2
in the middle wall whose foundation beam’s width is
2.7 m and 2200/(1.0 × 1.0) = 2200 kN/m2 in side wall
whose foundation beam’s width is 1.0 m.
Figure 2. Lining calculating sketch.
3.3 Counting and analysis of elastic foundation In order to discuss the influence of fillings to the
beam internal force state of the foundation beam, comparing
calculation is taken among different fillings. Take the
Since the water-eroded groove’s filling and bedrock
middle wall as an example, after regression treatment,
on the end of the foundation beam is two completely
and the result is shown in Figure 5.
different medium, it is a problem about solving elastic
Shown in the Figure 5, there is a higher-correlation
foundation beam basing on different foundation. Finite
power function relationship between the max positive
element displacement method programming calcu-
and negative moment and elastic coefficient of the fill-
lation is adopted and the assumption of simulation
ings, namely value K. When the value K becomes
foundation’s sedimentation deformation by Winkler.
small, the growth speed of the max moment gets
Figure 3 is the calculation graphic formulas andTable 1
higher. Especially when the value K becomes small to
is the calculation parameter.
some degree (30 MPa/m), the max moment increases
Put the max internal force and deflection of the
dramatically and the negative moment becomes more
foundation beam into the Table 2. Take the middle wall
obvious than the positive moment. No matter how the
as an example and the internal force and deflection is
elastic coefficient changes, the action point of the max
listed in the Picture 4. From the result of calculation,
negative moment is always on the fourth point, namely
it can be seen that the max shearing force happen at
the edge of the groove.
the fifth point, the point of intersection between the
Therefore the junction of two different foundations
bedrock and the filling of the groove, according to the
medium is the easiest to damage place and the supe-
Figure 3 and it shows that this has the greatest pos-
rior margin of the beam is easier to damage. And
sibility of shear failure. Absolute maximum moment
with the decrease of the value K, the max positive
happen at the forth point and also at the junction.
moment gradually moves to the mid span and even-
What’s more, it is negative moment which may make
tually happens at the mid span. This shows that the
the superior margin of the beam have tension failure.
groove fillings have important impact on the adjust-
All these should be paid to great attention in the rein-
ment of the distribution of the moment of the whole
forcement design. The max deflection happens at the
beam.
mid span of the beam. However, this cannot form dan-
gerous cross-section since the moment and shearing 3.4 Discussion about invert
force are both very little.
It should be illustrated that the length of foundation Invert and lining is divided into first done and later
beam on the base rock of the two ends has great impact done. If do the invert later, the foundation beam will
on the internal force state of the beam, long indwelling bear all the overlying pressure and the structure calcu-
leading to waste and short to unsafe and both over long lation is without the invert. If do the invert first, part of
and over short can make the internal force unreason- the pressure is separated make the stress on the beam
able distribution. Since the groove should be treated decreased and now, the invert is involved in the cal-
as soon as possible to avoid collapse accident, there is culation. To ensure the actual influence of this kind of
no time for further analysis. Optimization treatment of groove filling to the beam, comparative calculation is
proportion between indwelling length of the beam on
the base rock and aspect of cross section is suggested
in similar project. From the table 2, it can be known
that the max positive and negative moment is separated
by 19% that means further adjustment of the length of
the whole beam or proportion of the aspect of the cross
section is allowed. However, that in the middle wall is
only 1.4% showing the reasonable design parameter.

Figure 4. Internal force and flexibility of the beam under

Figure 3. Calculating pattern of elastic foundation beam. middle wall.

Table 1. Calculating parameters of foundation beam.

Elastic foundation coefficient (MPa/m)

Location of The section of beam Elastic Unit weight Vertical load
beam (m) (long × high) Rock of grade IV Cave day medium modulus (MPa) (KN/m3 ) (KN/m2 )

Side wall 1.0 × 1.0 350 100 2.85 × 104 25 2200

Middle wall 2.7 × 1.0 350 100 2.85 × 104 25 911

603
Table 2. The max internal force and flexibility of the foundation beam.

Location of beam Mmax /(kN.m) Qmax /(kN) Wmax /(mm)

Side wall Point 4 −1662 Point 8 1410 Point 2 −730 Point 5 1735 Point 15 23.2
Middle wall Point 4 −1663 Point 8 1687 Point 2 −960 Point 5 1986 Point 15 10.2

Notice: points in the table see figure 5, Mmax -Absolute Maximum Moment, Qmax - Absolute Maximum Shear, Wmax - Maximum
Deflection;
A positive/negative bending moment causes compression/extension of the top fibres of a beam; a positive shear will tend to
rotate each portion of the beam clockwise with respect to its other tend, otherwise is negative.

Table 3. The influence of invert to foundation beam load.

Location of beam Setting invert Pressure (kN) Acting load (kN/m2 ) Load decrement (%)

Middle wall Yes 2390 885 2.8

No 2460 911
Side wall Yes 1840 1840 16
No 2200 2200

4 CONCLUSIONS

1) When the groove is filled, it should be regarded

Figure 5. Influence of different fillingson max moment of
foundation beam.
taken in this case. The result turns out that the main
effect of the invert is to improve the intern force state of
the lining structure. Take the vault node as an example,
the moment is decreased by about 70% when invert is
set but it do little to reduce the load function to the
beam especially to the middle wall beam, only 2.8% is
reduced. It is slightly inconsistency to the initial esti-
mate that the invert bears the most foundation beam
load. After analysis, it turns out that lining structure
mainly taken by the foundation
Beam since the invert is located on the flabby groove
filling and the lining’s wall corner is located on the
solid foundation beam that causing a tremendous dif-
ference in their nature leading to subsidence of the
invert. Therefore, when this kind of foundation beam is
designed, the foundation of the invert cannot be magni-
fied. The influence of invert to the foundation beam is
listed in Table 3 Figure 5. Influence of different fillings
on max moment of foundation beam is listed in Table 3.
as elastic foundation rather than simple overhead
beam. By analysis, we know that even completely
not considering the filling’s bearing capacity, the
effect to the intern force of the beam is obvi-
ous. Comparing the foundation elastic coefficient
k = 5 MPa/m and k = 0 MPa/m, it turns out that
the max moment of the beam is 29745 kN·m and
70230 kN·m respectively, having a difference of 2.
Therefore, when meeting the groove, we should
earnestly find out the filling’s compactness and
bearing capacity and also the groundwater condi-
tion. If possible, we should do our best to think
about its bearing capacity to reduce the cost of
the engineering. What’s more, appropriate grout-
ing and exchanging filling can be combined with
to enhance the bearing capacity artificially and then
erecting beam and span. It is more economical
than the method totally without the calculation of
foundation beam capacity.
2) Generally speaking, since the uncertainty of the sur-
round rock around the tunnel, the load to the foun-
dation beam has its fuzziness. However to shallow-
buried tunnel, this kind of fuzziness becomes much
smaller. Therefore, there is certain reasonability to
reach the effect on the foundation beam by the way
mentioned in this context.
3) The junction where two different kinds of base
medium meet is the most dangerous point of the
foundation beam, shear and tension crack easily
occurring there.
4) The function of the invert is mainly to improve
the intern force state of the lining structure. How-
ever, turn to the sharing the stress of the beam, its
function is changing with the bearing capacity of
the filling. When the filling is very weak, the load
sharing by the invert is very small.

604
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Qi, Z.F., Sun, B. 2002. Construction of multi-arch tunnels
with twin large spans by NATM. Journal of Railway
Engineering Society (1): 62–65.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

The calculation on the thickness of tunnel insulating layer in cold region

Q. Feng & B.S. Jiang

A.A. State Key Laboratory for GeoMechanics & Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining &
Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China

ABSTRACT: With the development of western regions in China, more and more tunnels were built in cold
region. Some measures are made to prevent tunnel from the frost heaving damage and protect for original thermal
balance of surrounding rock. Based on weather condition in Xinjiang region, the thermal equation is analyzed
and the thickness of tunnel insulating layer in cold region is determined by using Laplace transformation and
numerical integration with stehfest method. Based on this method, in northern Xinjiang area, the insulating
layer thickness in different location can be calculated out according to the temperature in this location. 12 cm
insulating layer at the end of tunnel can protect the surrounding rock form frost damage.

1 INTRODUCTION next 50a by this method was analyzed and compared

According to statistics, the area of cold regions
accounts for 43.5% in China. With the rapid devel-
opment of transportation enterprise and the further
implementation of western development and revital-
izing the northeast industry, a lot of tunnels are built
in the high latitudes and altitude area. Compared with
the mainland tunnel, the cold regions tunnel has its own
particularity that is easy to produce the cold. To prevent
tunnel form the freeze-thaw damage and protect raw
thermal state of surrounding rock, the insulating layer
method is used mostly. For design of the insulating
layer, the analysis of temperature field must be made.
At present, many scholars have made much research in
this inspect. In 1973, Bonacina proposed the numeri-
cal solution method on tunnel temperature field with
phase transition. In 1974, Comini made finite element
analysis on nonlinear problem of temperature field
with phase transition. In 1995, the forecast study on
the freeze-thaw tend of surrounding rock in Daban-
shan tunnel was made by He Chun-xiong. In 1999, He
Chun-xiong analyzed the freeze-thaw of tunnel in cold
regions by convective heat transfer model. In 1998,
the study on the nonlinear problem of the coupling of
the temperature field, seepage field and stress field in
cold tunnel was made by Lai Yuan-ming. In 1999, the
study on nonlinear problem of the coupling of temper-
ature field and seepage field in cold tunnel by Galerkin
method was made by Lai Yuan-ming. In 2001, Lai
Yuan-ming obtained the analytic solution on the tem-
perature field of circular tunnel in cold regions by the
dimensionless and perturbation technology method. In
2004, according to the heat balance control differential
equation of transient temperature field with phase tran-
sition, Zhang Xue-fu deduced the three-dimensional
finite element calculation formula using the Galerkin
method. Fenghuoshan tunnel temperature field in the
with the field measurement temperature of surround-
ing rock. Zhang Yao got the analytical solution of
four layers structure temperature field by applying
the differential equation solution and orthogonal and
expansion theorem of Bessel function in 2009. The
analytical solution on the radial temperature field of
surrounding rock in cold tunnel was obtained by Zhang
Guo-zhu using superposition principle and orthogonal
and expansion theorem of Bessel function in 2010.
The changing expression of air average temperature in
tunnel and temperature amplitude of year along tun-
nel axial with time was solved by energy conservation
method and experience formula method. In 2010, Xia
Cai-chu solved the explicit analytical solution on tun-
nel with insulating layer in cold regions by combining
separation of variables and Laplace transform.
The study on the calculation of numerical and
analytical solution expresses the temperature field
distribution accurately and simply. But the value of
thermal insulation layer thickness is hypothetical. The
study on design parameters of insulating layer in cold
tunnel was made by Zhang Yao in 2009. But the depth
of thaw or freeze needed to be estimated by empir-
ical formula. According to the weather condition in
northern Xinjiang, the insulating layer thickness in
cold tunnel is analyzed and obtained by combining
Laplace transform and stehfest numerical integration.
2 DESCRIPTION OF HEAT CONDUCTION
PROBLEM
According to the doctrine on tunnel frost damage, sur-
rounding rock after lining produces freezing expansion
force by freezing in cold season, which makes seep-
age channel in lining increase. Repeated cycles lead
to lining overall instability. The insulating layer is laid

607
 Contact conditions of this problem are

3 LAPLACE INTEGRAL TRANSFORMATION

Tunnel temperature field is calculated by Laplace

integral transform method. f is Laplace integral
Figure 1. Analysis model. transformation for time functionf(t). The definition is

to make sure the surrounding rock not to produce

freeze-thaw cycle.
According to Code for Design of Road Tunnel (JTG
D70-2004), in order to make lining structure stress where s is plural. s = σ + iω, and σ > 0.
reasonable, the tunnel section is three hearts circular The definition of f̄ −1 is Laplace integral inverse
type. It is similar to the circular section. While the transformation
tunnel temperature field is analyzed, the tunnel section
is taken as circular.
Considering that tunnel is longer and deeper, the
surrounding rock temperature field accords with plane
model. Tunnel is made up of insulating layer, lining and
surrounding rock. During the calculation of insulating 4 SOLUTION OF HEAT CONDUCTION
layer thickness, the lining outside diameter tempera- PROBLEM
ture must be greater than or equal to 0◦ C in permafrost
regions. The temperature in lining outside diameter In order to facilitate the analytical calculation of tunnel
must be less than or equal to 0◦ C. The analysis model temperature field, the variable substitution is made for
can be simplified into what is made up of insulating the heat conduction problem.
layer and lining (Figure 1).
Using polar coordinates, the heat conduction con-
trol equation of insulating layer and lining is
Take the replacing variables Eq. (8) into equations
(1)∼(5). Heat conduction equation can be expressed
again as follow:

2
where D = ∂t∂ ; B = ∂r∂ 2 + 1r ∂r∂ . And Tn = Tn (r, t)is the
temperature for radial r and t moment, ◦ C. n = 1 is
insulating layer, n = 2 is lining. r is cylindrical coor-
dinate when the origin is in tunnel center, m. t is time
(t > 0), s. r0 , r1 are inner and outer radials of insulating
layer, m. a1 , a2 are conductivity temperature coeffi-
cients for insulating layer and lining. a1,2 = λ1,2 /c1,2 ,
λ is coefficient of thermal conductivity, kJ/(m · s · ◦ C).
c is volumetric heat capacity, kJ/(m3 · ◦ C).
Initial and boundary conditions of problem are

The heat control equation (9) will be Laplace integral

transformed. In other words, the Bessel equation is
where Tc (t) is the air temperature for t moment on obtained by definition Eq. (6) as follow:
tunnel surface, ◦ C. Tn is initial temperature of insu-
lating layer and lining, ◦ C. It is supposed that initial
temperature of both is the same.

608
Using initial conditions (11) and the second type of
boundary conditions (10), we can obtain
where Im (·), Km (·) is the first and second
√ vari-
antBessel function of m order. sn = s/an . And
A1 ∼A3 are integral parameters. They can be deter-
mined by boundary conditions and contact conditions.
The properties of variant Bessel function are
The first type of boundary conditions and contact
conditions will be Laplace integral transformed. The
solution will be taken into Eq. (15). Use the properties
of variant Bessel function, there
where
While the air temperature on tunnel surface is constant
(such as the average of right or negative temperature
on some time), then
Solve the algebraic equations (17), then
where
609
Take equations (20), (21) into equation (15), and the
solution will be Laplace integral inverse transformed.
The analytical solution can be obtained by taking the
transformation into equation (8). It is
According to the pilot calculation for the value
of temperature in the intersection of lining and sur-
rounding rock, the insulating layer thickness can be
obtained.
5 NUMERICAL CALCULATION OF LAPLACE
INVERSE TRANSFORMATION
It is different in actual calculation that the solution is
transformed form Laplace domain to time domain.The
numerical integral is applied for Laplace inverse trans-
formation by stehfest method. The calculation formula
of this method is
In formula
where, t is variable. N, i and k are positive integer. Vi
is intermediate function.
In principle, the more the number N is in the inver-
sion formula, the more accurate the solution is. By the
test calculation, stehfest method is accurate enough
and rapid. Usually when n = 18, the precision scope is
up to 10−5 ∼10−7 .
6 ENGINEERING EXAMPLE
According to the meteorological data in northern
xinjiang, the air temperature is annual cycle:
Based on statistics, the temperature difference in
northern xinjiang is 37.8◦ C, the annual average of tem-
perature is 6◦ C. Then the boundary condition of air
temperature is
The coefficient of thermal conductivity on insulat-
ing layer λ is 0.03(w/(m·◦ C)). The specific heat per
unit volume c is 0.072 × 103 (kJ · m−3 · ◦ C−1 ). The
tunnel radius is 4 m, coefficient of thermal conduc-
tivity of lining is 1.355(w/(m · ◦ C)). specific heat per
Table 1. Temperature in intersection of lining and surround-
ing rock when thickness of insulating layer is different.
Thickness
of insulating
laye (cm) 4 8 10 11 12
Temperature −4.74 −1.72 −0.75 −0.35 0.0072
in intersection
of lining and
surrounding
rock (◦ )
unit volume is 2.465 × 103 (kJ/(m3 · ◦ C).The thickness
is 45 cm. The inverse transformation is calculated by
MATLAB. In cold winter, when the thickness is 4 cm,
8 cm, 10 cm, 11 cm, 12 cm, the temperature values in
intersection of lining and surrounding rock follow as
Table 1.
Based on the result, under the premise of without
taking other insulation measure, the 12 cm insulating
layer can protect surrounding rock after lining from
frost damage in winter in the northern of Xinjiang.
7 CONCLUSION
1. The temperature field can be obtained by Laplace
inverse transformation in the calculation model.
2. With the depth and direction of traffic, the tem-
perature is high in middle of tunnel and low on
both sides. The insulating layer thickness in differ-
ent location is calculated by the temperature in this
location.
3. In the example, the result is for the end of tunnel
in northern xinjiang, because temperature here is
the same as environment temperature. It is shown
that 12cm insulating layer at the end of tunnel can
protects the surrounding rock form frost damage.
REFERENCES
Bonacina, C. et al. 1973. Numerical solution of phase-change
problems. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 16(6): 1852–1832.
610
Cominig, et al. 1974. Finite element solution of nonlinear
heat conduction problems with special reference to phase
change. Inter J for Numerical Methods in Engineering
8(6): 613–624.
Lai, Y.M., et al. 1998. Nonlinear analysis for the coupled
problem of temperature, seepage and stress fields in
cold-region tunnels. Tunneling and Underground Space
Technology 13(4): 435–436.
Lai, Y.M., et al. 1999. Nonlinear analysis for the coupled
problem of temperature and seepage fields in cold-region
tunnels. Cold Regions Science and Technology 29(1):
89–96.
Lai, Y.M., et al. 2002. Approximate analytical solution for
temperature fields in cold regions circular tunnels. Cold
Regions Science and Technology 13(4): 43–49.
Liu, L.Q. 2002. The inverse Laplace transform in numerical
form. Journal of Inner mongolia University of Technology
21(1): 47–49.
Luo, Y.B. 2010. Study on Frost Damage Grade sand Its Pre-
vention and Control Technologies in Cold Region Tunnel.
Beijing jiaotong University.
Wu, C.X., et al. 1996.Preliminary prediction for the freezing-
thawing situation in rock surrounding Dabanshan tunnel.
Lanzhou: Gansu Culture Press, 419–425.
Xia, C.C., et al. 2010. Analytical solution to temperature
fields of tunnel in cold region considering lining and
insulation laye. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 29(9): 1767–1773.
Ye, X.X. 2010. Research on technique of Preventing frost
damage in Tunnel at Cold area. Chang’an Univesity.
Yuan,Y.J., et al. 2003. Comparison of Features ofAnnualTem-
perature Change in Tianshan Mountainous Area, Southern
and Northern Xinjiang for the Recent 40 Years. Journal of
desert research 23(5): 521–526.
Yuan, Y.J., et al. 2002. Winter Temperature Change for Last
40 Years in Tianshan Mountain. Journal of atmosphere
31(5): 12–16.
Zhang, X.F., et al. 2004. Nonlinear analysis for the three-
dimensional temperature fields in cold region tunnel.
Journal of Civil Engineering 37(2): 47–53.
Zhang, X.F., et al. 2009. Nonlinear analysis on tempera-
ture characteristics of Fenghuo Mountain tunnel. Chinese
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 31(11): 1680–1685.
Zhang, Y., et al. 2009. Analytic Solutions for the Temperature
Fields of a Circular Tunnel with Insulation Layer in Cold
Region. Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology 31(1):
113–118.
Zhang, G.Z., et al. 2010. Analytical Solution to Axial and
Radial Temperature of Tunnel in Cold Region. Journal of
Tongji University (Natural Science) 38(8): 1117–1120.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study of structural safety and reasonable thickness of the covering layer

under open to underground mining

D.Q. Gan, Z.J. Li & C.Chen

College of Mining Engineering, Hebei United University, Tangshan, Hebei, China
Development and Safety Key Lab of Hebei Province, Tangshan, Hebei, China

ABSTRACT: For surface mining being transferred to underground, how to determine a reasonable structure
and thickness of covering layer has been troubled by technical problems. In this paper, the surface to underground
mining engineering in Xingshan iron mine is taken as the engineering background, physical model of mining field
and covering layer were established. For different structures, and different thickness of covering layer, a physical
simulation was conducted and the height relationship between ellipsoid and loose body under the conditions of
large space mining was deduced. The leakage coefficient of different structures and different thickness of the
cover layer were measured by experiments. Ultimately, the determined structure composition and thickness can
meet the function of cover layer.

1 INTRODUCTION serious disaster. Meet a certain thickness and struc-

At present, many large open pit mines are facing a com-
mon problem. On the one hand, waste rock stripping
increasing transportation costs, beyond the realm of
reasonable stripping ratio requirements, it is economi-
cally unreasonable. On the other hand, the exploitation
of the formation of high and steep slope to the mine
safety also pose a serious threat, causing safety prob-
lems have become increasingly prominent. Therefore,
from considerations of both safety and economic, be
converted from the current open-pit mining the ulti-
mate underground mining. To underground mining, if
the underground tunnel and the upper open pit directly
connected, is not conducive to ventilation, warm and
may even result in submergence accident, personnel
and equipment to the mine disaster. Thus, in the pro-
cess of open pit to underground need to build cover in
order to ensure the safety of underground mining.
2 MAIN FUNCTION OF OVERBURDEN IN
OPEN PIT TO UNDERGROUND MINING
Cover as the open pit to underground mining in the pro-
tective layer, the main role in the underground mining
are as follows:
1) Anti-burst. As the mining activities are carried out,
the roof area of rock caving may be delayed more
and more, it will lead to a sudden falling roof rock,
underground stope an enormous burst of under-
ground facilities and production personnel to bring
ture of cushion to cover loads of produce falling
into account the role of wave and wave, so that the
impact of blast pressure and speed can be reduced to
protect the safety of mine personnel and equipment.
2) Extrusion and end formation of ore blasting con-
ditions. Sublevel caving method is characterized
by the approach end of the mine, enough to cover
the thickness of the existence of ore available for
the end of the extrusion conditions of blasting,
and breaking up caving ore provides compensation
space, so that caving of ore leave in the approach
of the end of the possible.
3) The role of stagnant water. In the rain came, rain fell
in the penetration process, a certain thickness of the
cover is very low penetration in the clay under the
action of a substance that can reduce the infiltration
rate of rainfall, play a role in delaying the decline in
rainfall, irrigation to prevent a sudden a lot of rain
Flooding caused by accident into the ground, for
underground drainage facilities to provide adequate
waterproofing and drainage time.
4) Reduce air leakage. In the open pit to under-
ground mining, the existence of cover underground
stope in a closed system, stope, tunnel, under-
ground caverns, which are not directly connected
with the outside atmosphere is conducive to reduce
leakage, improve underground mining face work
environment, ensure the production of the.
5) Prevention of debris flow. Rational structure of the
coating can cover internal structure with a reason-
able level to reduce the amount of fine particles
released to prevent the occurrence of debris flow.

611
Table 1. Particles composition ratio of covering layer.

Loose-site coverage of rock

fragmentation size/mm <300 300∼500 500∼1000 1000∼1500 1500∼2000 >2000

Size of ore and rock <6 6∼10 10∼20 20∼30 30∼40 >40
laboratory model/mm
Coverage ratio of rock I 30% 15% 30% 15% 10% 0
Coverage ratio of rock II 25% 15% 25% 20% 10% 5%
Coverage ratio of rock III 20% 15% 20% 20% 15% 10%

Table 2. Orthogonal design program and experimental indicators of three time regression.

Rock fragmentation Covering layer Covering layer

Test No. z1 z2 z1 z2 z3 z1 z3 in covering layer thickness/m water content /%

1 1 1 1 1 1 I 60 m 10%
2 1 1 1 −1 −1 I 60 m 2%
3 1 −1 −1 1 1 I 20 m 10%
4 1 −1 −1 −1 −1 I 20 m 2%
5 −1 1 −1 1 −1 III 60 m 10%
6 −1 1 −1 −1 1 III 60 m 2%
7 −1 −1 1 1 −1 III 20 m 10%
8 −1 −1 1 −1 1 III 20 m 2%
9 0 0 0 0 0 II 40 m 6%
10 0 0 0 0 0 II 40 m 6%

3 SIMULATION OF THE COVER MOVING IN 3.2 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND

XINGSHAN IRON
3.1 Multi-segment multi-experimental approach
design drawing
According to Xingshan iron ore from open pit
to underground mining situation, in the open pit
bottom-33 m below the level, the use of Sublevel
caving, sublevel height of 15 m, approach spacing
20 m, into the road section of specifications for
the W × H = 4.5 m × 4.0 m. To make the simulation
results with site ore line, similar to the experimental
materials, grain size should be to maintain geometric
similarity with the field prototype, initial and bound-
ary conditions are similar, according to construction
site conditions, the simulation Xingshan ratio: 1:50
physical model. Overburden rock from the site, the
ratio of the particle coating solution in Table 1.
Under cover as a protective cushion of security
requirements, covering layer should be not less than
20 m, and according to reference 5 for the loosening
ellipsoid high is (2.22 to 2.52) times to release ellip-
soid, so the model simulations cover height of 20 m,
40 m and 60 m; Rock cover ratio of grain size in Table
2, I, II, III kinds of programs; Also, according to the
literature data and the actual situation Xingshan iron
ore, the ore loose water during the rainy season up to
10%, other 2% in dry season, other seasons to take
6%. Moving Law Consolidated cover three main fac-
tors affecting the code, determine the pilot program in
Table 2.
ANALYSIS
Experimental results of 20 m, 40 m and 60 m thick cov-
ering layers show that: for 20 m thick covering layer,
when the ore release was over two thirds, big changes
occurred in covering layer structure, which made it
lose function of stagnating water, wind and buffer-
ing burst impact; for 40 m thick of covering layer, the
overall liquidity of the ore host rock is better and the
covering layer kept some function of stagnating water,
wind and buffering burst impact; for 60 m thick cov-
ering layer, although some changes occurred in the
coating process in the bottom of the structure of ore,
the band structure maintained a good flow and a over-
all uniform downward trend, which made the covering
layer play good function of stagnating water, wind and
buffering burst impact. According to the experimental
results, the covering layer thickness of 45 m∼55 m is
appropriate.
Results also show that: when the thickness of cov-
ering layer was more than 40 meters, it displayed clear
hierarchical characteristics during it moved down,
namely the overall moving down Layer of H1 and flow-
ing layer of H2 , as shown in Figure 1. Flowing layer
of H2 was contacting with the ore layer and influenced
mostly by the ore releasing. H1 is located the top part
of the covering layer, in the process of ore releasing a
certain changes in its bottom structure occurred. but
it kept good overall moving down trend. It played the
main function of covering layer for stagnating water,
wind and buffering burst impact.

612

Figure 1. Hierarchical structure of covering layer.
4 CONCLUSIONS
1) Based on Xingshan iron’s cover movement test
results, when the cover thickness is 45 m∼55 m,
the covering layer of ore particles in the bottom
changes occurred, but the superstructure to keep
better, ellipsoid sphere fully developed, on a smooth
surface, showing the overall downward trend in uni-
form, to play better stagnant water, wind and buffer
burst effect.
2) According to the experimental results, the process
of ore ahead of large particles release small par-
ticles, to reduce ore loss and dilution in the flow
should be stratified layer covering rocks. The waste
613
rock laid in the laying of the contact surface ore
are 10 m∼15 m and the average size (fragmenta-
tion 200∼300 mm) are larger than the gap between
the ore particles. It can achieve a good advance to
prevent the dilution effect.
REFERENCES
Qiao, G.G, Li, Z.J. 2007. The Relationship Among Cover
Thickness, Quantity of Rainfall And Leak Time In Trans-
ferred Open Pit Into Underground Mining. Proceedings
of the 2007. International Symposium on Safety Science
and Technology: Part B: 2826–2831.
Qiao, G.G, Li, Z.J. 2008. The relationship among cover deep-
ness, quantity of rainfall and leak time during turning open
pit into underground mining. Metal Mine 12(4): 33–35.
Qiao, G.G., Li, Z.J., Yang, D.D., Li, R., Wang, Y. 2008. Anal-
ysis of Factors Influencing Determination of Cover Layer
Thickness in Transition from Open Pit to Underground
Mining. Metal Mine 38(04): 34–36.
Ren, F.Y. 1994. Random Drawing Theory and Its Applica-
tions. Metallurgical Industry Press.
Wu, A.X, Sun Y.Z, Liu X.P. 2002. Theory and Application of
Discrete Dynamics. Metallurgical Industry Press.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Research on large deformation mechanism and its control of a loess tunnel

entrance

L.L. Gao, S.C. Wu & G.L. Fan

School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

Y.H. Wang
State Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control and Safety, Beijing Jiao Tong University, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: On the background of construction process of a loess tunnel entrance excavation, large defor-
mation on the tunnel top and adjacent slope was monitored and the maximum deformation was about 41.8 cm.
Based on the detailed analysis of tunnel construction technology, site monitoring measurement and theoretical
analysis method were used to deeply investigate the deformation mechanism induced by the tunnel excavation.
And the relevant control measures were proposed. Conclusions deriving from monitoring results and theoretical
research were shown as follows: (1) crown settlement and near-surface crack increased rapidly after eight days
since monitoring points were disposed. (2) When the front slope was excavated, a larger vertical free-face was
formed, that is the main inducement of the large deformation of the loess mass. (3) Construction method was
optimized on the reference of monitoring information and practical engineering. Moreover, secondary lining
scheme was putting forward. After supporting scheme being optimized, construction process in tunnel entrance,
as well as mechanical characteristics and deformation of supporting system, were reproduced by using numerical
simulation technique MIDAS. (4) Construction effect indicated that, monitoring measurement combined with
numerical simulation was a valid method for determination of construction scheme in loess tunnel entrance, and
it could be regarded as a reference for similar projects.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 ENGINEERING SITUATION

When a tunnel’s face excavation construction is done, 2.1 Geological situation of construction
slope instability and tunnel deformation are caused by
Yuanyanghui Tunnel located between Yuanyanghui
slope and broaching groove, hole excavation, which
and Dongniupo village of Shuozhou in Shanxi
result in significant increase in the hole protection
province contains two separated tunnels. The right
works and the cost. If a weak governance is done,
one is from RK178+044 to RK182+831, the total
buried tunnel construction and operation of security
length is 4787 m. The left is from LK178+102 to
risk will be left, also seriously delay the tunnel con-
LK182+830, its total length is 4728 m, which both
struction period and result in huge losses. Loess mass
belong to extra-long tunnels.
self-stability will get poorer after the body structure of
The tunnels is located through tectonic denuda-
loess easily damaged by disturbance (Ji 2004). Thus
tion in the mountain, distributed in the Hongtao hill,
the problems above are more obvious in the loess tun-
1400∼2000 meters above sea level, the cutting depth
nel. In this paper, the Yuanyanghui Tunnel is taken
is 100∼300 meters, the toe of hill is large and the
as engineering background, using the Monitoring and
mountains rise steeply. The main components of the
Measuring Technology of Tunnel Construction to ana-
mountains is carbonate, there is archean metamorphic
lyze construction problems and their incentives, so that
under the mountains, and varying the thickness of the
the control measures are proposed with considering
overlying loess on their surface, the maximum depth of
the monitoring result and engineering practice, and
tunnel is 317 meters, The micro-topography is bedrock
using MIDAS software to simulate the construction
ridge, scarp and slope gullies.
process under the condition of the support optimized,
The exposed Strata in the area is mainly the com-
to analyze and verify the reasonableness of control
bination of Archaean Geheyao Formation(gneisses),
measurement. Some useful conclusions and recom-
Cambrian Mantou, Zhangxia, Gushan and Fengshan
mendations for the construction of section of loess
Formation, and Ordovician Zhili, Liangjiashan and
tunnel entrance will be obtained from the process of
Shashanzi Formation, as well as Quarternary Lishi,
analyzing and solving problems.
Shiyu, and Malan Formation and Holocene desorption.

615
2.2 Problems deformation measurements automatically by setting
free station whose accuracy of three-dimensional coor-
The buried depth of the right Yuanyanghui tunnel is
dinates is less than or equal to 1 mm (Professional
about 9∼10 meters. Because it is located in the Qua-
Standards Compilation Group of People’s Republic
ternary aeolian loess, the rock has a low shear strength
of China. 2007). From the day of distribution to the
and little self-stabilizing capacity. Pipe Shed is used to
day that deformation get stabilized gradually, the fre-
be advance support, and excavation method is bench
quency of monitoring is 3 times per day, the monitoring
reservation core soil, the support system of shotcrete
data is shown in Figure 1. The settling velocity of each
with steel arch is used in the initial support. The cracks
section increased after eight days with the maximum
are found on the face of shotcrete lining in the right side
value 9 mm/d. Thus, measures of stopping the exca-
after the right tunnel excavated of 10 meters, and these
vation and closing the tunnel face are taken to ensure
cracks have a trend of extension to the vault. Cracks are
safety.
also found on the top of front slope at the same time.
After the deformation gets stabilized, the total set-
In this situation construction of the tunnel should be
tlement is gotten by monitoring the elevation of the
monitored in real-time. The deformation conditions of
section (Table 1). The maximum value of settlement
the surrounding rock and front slope in the process
is 41.8 cm, and the secondary lining is penetrated to
of construction will be known in real time by analyz-
11.8 cm minus the reserved deformation.
ing the variation of the monitoring data, so that the
control measures are proposed in time to ensure face
3.1.2 The monitoring outside tunnel
excavation construction safety.
The crack’s width and trend monitoring is used to know
the slope’s deformation outside. Three monitoring
points were installed on 10 February. The monitor-
3 DEFORMATION MONITORING AND ing data (see Figure 2) show that the width of crack
MECHANISM ANALYSIS becomes wider gradually since monitoring are started.
The rate of crack extension is decreasing after 6 days,
3.1 Deformation monitoring and getting stabilized 10 days later. At last, the widest
3.1.1 The monitoring in straight tunnels crack is about 8 cm, and this crack extends to the slope
Four crown settlement monitoring sections are toe of sides of the entrance, the formation of landslide
laid along the tunnel longitudinal direction which will lead to the loess mass glide easily.
are RK182+825, RK182+823, RK182+821 and
RK182+819. The measurement system with ATP 3.2 Mechanism and inducement analysis
automatic target sighting consists of series of Leica
10 days after monitoring of settlement the crown
TCA1200 high-precision automatic Total Station,
settlement become stable gradually, the maximum
reflecting diaphragm and PDA. It can do the tunnel

Figure 2. the curve of the relationship of the crack width on

Figure 1. The vault settlement – time curve of each section. the top of front slope and the time.

Table 1. The vault’s total settlement of each section.

Initial Final Total Design

elevation elevation settlement elevation Intrusion
Section m m m m m

RK182+825 1496.732 1496.314 0.418 1496.662 0.348

RK182+823 1496.680 1496.411 0.269 1496.530 0.119
RK182+821 1496.429 1496.729 0.300 1496.499 0.070
RK182+819 1496.697 1496.381 0.316 1496.467 0.086

616
settlement during this period is 59 mm. And 8 days
later, the rate of crack extension decrease and become
stable gradually because of the adopting control mea-
sure of closing tunnel face. The phenomenon shows
that excavation of tunnel face is the direct reason for
settlement increase and crack propagation. The trend
of monitoring data inside and outside of the tunnel is
also quite similar.
Meanwhile the largest settlement section RK182
+825 of vault is close to the tunnel face, and
the largest width of crack at the top of slope is
10 cm.Comprehensive analysis of inducement is done
combined with site conditions: the toe of slope is
destroyed because of step- slope with right angle at
the entrance of tunnel and create conditions for the
deformation due to loss of support before tunnel exca-
vation, while the excavation of tunnel entrance disturb
the loess nearby largely and destroy its structure, which
result in the deformation of soil mass and induce the
deformation of slope body. With the increase of defor-
mation, the deformation area extend from bottom to
crest gradually, resulting in tension crack, the crack
becomes wider and extends to free face of slope toe,
and landslide appears, the deformation of retrogres-
sive landslide at slope bottom is larger than that at the
crest generally (Zhang. 2008, Gu et al. 2009), which
lead to the rate of crown settlement and total settle-
ment of section away from tunnel face larger than that
near tunnel face.
The different settlement of different monitoring sec-
tion describes the different deformation of different
parts of the slope, and the inside of slope also has
big deformation in addition to the whole slip induced
by excavation. As the excavation progressed, differ-
ent position in tunnel has different settlement, and
can’t get stable in a long period, which means that sur-
rounding rock of loess tunnel has a low strength, large
deformation and poor self-stability, which is more
serious at entrance of tunnel because of more distur-
bances. The width of crack 1 at the crest of slope is
largest in monitoring points outside the tunnel, main
crack come into being at the crest of slope because
of traction and tension from bottom, secondary crack
generated inside the slope with development of defor-
mation based on the analysis of deformation law
of loess tunnel and monitoring data (Huo et al.
2009).
The closure of primary support is not in time and
secondary lining of tunnel invert isn’t applied due
to the constraints of construction space, which can’t
form a closed support system and with the disturbance
to surrounding rock by dynamic load as transporta-
tion pavement set at the crest of slope, which make
the above situation more serious. The construction
scheme need to be optimized and control measures are
proposed based on monitoring feedback information
to ensure the construction safety of tunnel entrance,
meanwhile, the accumulative settlement shows crown
settlement has intruded in the limit of secondary lin-
ing, and reasonable secondary lining means needs to
be determined.
617
4 STUDY ON CONTROL MEASURES
The engineering control measures and schemes are
proposed after comprehensive analysis by application
of related theory and numerical simulation technique
and through the study on monitoring information
combined with engineering practice.
4.1 Schemes proposed
1) To do anti-pressure treatment on toes of both sides
of slope at the tunnel entrance. Using the method
of compacting backfill soil and piling sandbags to
form blocking force and anti-stress at the toe of
slope to reduce the deformation of slope consider-
ing that slope cutting will disturb the surrounding
rock further. In addition, the existence of pave-
ment and air compression room at the crest of
slope make the surrounding rock of new excavation
tunnel to bear additional load, aggravate defor-
mation, so shifting pavement and withdrawing air
compression room are suggested.
2) The disturbance destroy the loess structure which
result in poor self-stability, and continuous excava-
tion lead to greater deformation, so spray anchor is
adopted to the slope and adjacent rock and soil to
reinforce loose loess caused by disturbance.
3) The largest settlement of tunnel exceeds reservation
deformation, and intrudes in the limit of secondary
lining, while the method of adjusting primary sup-
port or replacing arch centering will disturb the
loess again and bring greater deformation which
is irrational obviously. So adjustment scheme is
proposed that adjusting the thickness of secondary
lining concrete from 55 cm to 43.2 cm, and spac-
ing between internal steels from 25 × 25 cm to
20 × 20 cm.
4) The principles of next construction forYuanyanghui
tunnel are proposed based on the construction con-
cept of New Austrian method and basic rules of
tunnel entrance combining with mechanical char-
acteristics of loess and analysis of monitoring infor-
mation (Professional Standards Compilation Group
of People’s Re-public of China. 2004).Adopt Bench
Reservation Core Soil for tunnel excavation, strictly
control excavation volume to prevent over- exca-
vation when doing the advance long tremie pipe;
adjust excavation progress from 1.5 m to 1.2 m and
reduce construction disturbance by excavation as
much as possible; construct primary support and
invert arch timely after excavation to form a closed
system so that the surrounding rock and supporting
structure can form a common bearing system.
4.2 Analysis on control measures
Using finite element software MIDAS to simulate con-
struction process under optimized method and control
measures, and the deformation of supporting sys-
tem and mechanical characteristics are obtained, the
Table 2. The material and support parameters of Y direction dof of the front and back boundary is
Yuanyanghui Tunnel entrance. constrained, ground surface and heading slope are free.
In this calculation model, rock-soil mass and back-
E µ γ C ϕ fill of invert are simulated by spatial solid element,
Material GPa kN/m3 kPa ◦
and secondary lining is simulated by solid element
in which section steel frame and reinforcement are
Loess mass 0.02 0.3 18.2 20 29.2
Advanced support 0.04 0.3 18.2 40 29.2 converted to the initial shotcrete and secondary lin-
Primary support 29.5 0.2 25 – – ing concrete respectively according to relevant rules
Secondary lining 31.0 0.2 25 – – and anchor is simulated by implanted bolt truss ele-
Invert backfill 29.5 0.2 25 – – ment. Considering that the finite element simulation
Anchor 210 0.31 76 – – of multi-step with core soil adopted in actual tunnel
is difficult, so the top heading and bench excava-
tion method is used in the simulation, the life and
rationality of control measures and secondary lining death technology of finite element is adopted to sim-
schemes proposed are also analyzed. ulate excavation of rock-soil mass and construction of
support structure, advance support and reinforcement
4.2.1 Calculation parameters and constitutive of loose media are simulated by adjusting physical
equation parameters of rock-soil mass in the reinforced area, the
The loess mass and concrete backfill are viewed as anti-pressure support of slope toe is simulated by keep-
continuous, homogeneous, isotropic media and adopt ing original toe of slope, and the process of excavation
elastic medium to simulate support system when doing and support is carried out according to the optimized
the analysis considering the complexity of real con- construction method and steps.
struction process. Material properties and support 4.2.3 Analysis of finite element results
parameters are selected as Table 2 shows according to 1) The internal force of secondary lining shows in Fig-
the engineering survey report combined with related ure 3 obtained from numerical simulation, invert of
specifications. Only the effect of gravity is taken secondary lining and local crown are in tension and
into consideration without considering the impact of the other parts are in compression with the law of
tectonic stress owing to the characteristic of loess big in two sides and small in middle, and the largest
mass and actual engineering geological situation, and tensile stress and compressive stress are at inside of
the constitutive model based on D-P yield criteria invert and inside of arch wall respectively, that is
is selected by considering collapsibility and lower 1.02 MPa and 9.0 MPa; generally, only the invert
friction angle of loess. and local crown are in tension and the stress distri-
bution in other parts accord with mechanical law
of lining of shallow buried loess tunnel (Han et al.
2007, Li et al. 2010, Huo et al. 2009, Lu et al. 2011)
I1 is the first invariant of stress tensor, J2 is the second which are within the scope of the code require-
invariant of deviator stress tensor, α and k are mate- ments (Professional Standards Compilation Group
rial parameters and determined by following equation of People’s Re-public of China. 2005); the moment
considering the condition of plane strain deformation at crown is largest, the largest positive and nega-
and dissipation speed per unit volume of mechanical tive moment are at hance and skewback, 129 kN · m
energy (Li 2004): and −94vkN · m respectively, the section of sec-
ondary lining at crown is in eccentric compression
under the action of big moment and small compres-
sion, which easily destroy the concrete of secondary
lining. While increasing the density of the steel
where c = cohesion, φ = internal friction angle. in secondary lining can strengthen the flexural
behavior and reduce harmful effects to lining by
4.2.2 Modeling tensile stress and eccentric compression, which can
A three-dimensional finite element model is estab- increase the safety reliability.
lished to simulate the tunnel entrance process under 2) The deformation results of secondary lining show
the condition of optimized construction method start- in figure 4, the maximum vertical deformation of
ing from the principle of establishment of the finite surrounding rock is 2.5 mm, which takes place at
element model and engineering practice. The horizon- the crown near the tunnel face due to the poor
tal area of model is chosen as 100 m, the left and right self-stability of surrounding rock because of loess
sides of calculation boundary is 4 times the total span characteristic in tunnel entrance and support force
of tunnel, the bottom calculation boundary is 4 times mainly come from gravity of soil mass which result
the total height of tunnel, 100 m is chosen along the in greater deformation near the tunnel face where
tunnel. Displacement boundary conditions are adopted the thickness is getting larger. While in reality, the
when doing the calculation and analysis, the X direc- deformation of tunnel entrance where large defor-
tion dof of left and right borders is constrained, the mation produce is only 1.2 mm, which show that the
Z direction dof of lower boundary is constrained, the method of anti-pressure treatment on bilateral slope

618

Figure 3. The stress map of secondary lining.
Figure 4. The deformation map of secondary lining.
(Unit: m).
toes of tunnel entrance, reinforcement on loose
media and strengthening advance support control
the loosening deformation of loess surrounding
rock caused by excavation disturbance.
The numerical simulation results show that anti-
pressure treatment on slope toe, reinforcement on loos-
ening loess by shotcrete and anchor, and strengthening
advance support play a significant role in controlling
the loess loosening deformation in tunnel entrance and
ensuring the deformation of tunnel surrounding rock
and heading slope are in the allowable range. Mean-
while, the proposed scheme of reducing the thickness
of vault and increasing the reinforcement of secondary
lining is reasonable, on-site construction results also
illustrate this point.
5 CONCLUSIONS
1) Eight days after monitoring points being disposed,
crown settlement and near-surface crack increase
619
rapidly. Measures of stopping excavation and clos-
ing tunnel face are taken, after that the deformation
tends to be stable which means excavation distur-
bance is an important factor causing large deforma-
tion ; comprehensive analysis is carried out based
on monitoring data and site practice, and find that a
larger vertical free face is formed because of step-
slope with right angle at front slope toe, which
disturb the adjacent rock-soil mass, and the exca-
vation disturbance at tunnel entrance induce large
deformation of loess surrounding rock.
2) Construction control measures are proposed
according to characteristic and deformation mecha-
nism of loess surrounding rock: to do anti-pressure
treatment on toes of both sides of slope at tunnel
entrance, strengthen the loose media using bolt-
shotcrete support. Taking into account that the
deformation of loess is large caused by distur-
bance, strengthening advance support, excavation
with short footage, closing support system timely
to form a load-bearing ring as soon as possible are
proposed. Meanwhile, a reasonable reserved defor-
mation should be analyzed and determined during
excavation to ensure the design limits of tunnel.
3) Monitoring data show that total crown settlement
at tunnel entrance is 41.8 cm, which intrudes into
the limit of secondary lining 11.8 cm. The construc-
tion scheme of secondary lining is proposed on the
basis of construction safety and engineering cost,
that is adjusting the thickness of secondary lining
at crown to 40 cm and increasing the reinforcement
density.The construction process of tunnel entrance
under the proposed scheme is simulated by MIDAS
software, and the analysis results of characteristic
of stress and deformation show the rationality of
proposed schemes.
4) Construction results show that the proposed control
measures are reasonable. As a result, the analy-
sis method of monitoring measurement combined
with numerical simulation plays a significant role in
guiding the determination of construction schemes
of loess tunnel entrance.
REFERENCES
Gu, T.F., Wang, J.D., Ren, Q. 2009. Study on deformation of
loess slope under cyclic load. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 28(z1): 3156–3162.
Han, G.W., Liu, B., Fan, H. 2007. Mechanical characteristics
of tunnel lining structure in shallow-buried loess area. Chi-
nese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 26(z1):
3250–3256.
Huo, R.K., Huang, P., Song, Z.P. 2009. Research on effect
of tunnel construction on internal force and deformation
at loosed loess area. Rock and Soil Mechanics 30(z2):
273–276.
Huo, R.K., Wang, R.B., Song, Z.P. 2009. Analysis of ini-
tial support properties for loess tunnel. Rock and Soil
Mechanics 30(z2): 287–290.
Ji, W.J. 2009. Investigation and analysis of engineering prob-
lems for loess tunnels. Rock and Soil Mechanics 30(z2):
387–391.
Li, G.X. 2004. Advanced Soil Mechanics. Beijing: Tsinghua
University Press.
Li, P.F., Zhang, D.L., Zhao, Y. 2010. Study of mechani-
cal characteristics of secondary lining of large-section
loess tunnel. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 29(8): 1090–1096.
Lu, J.F., Wang, M.N., Jia, Y.Y. 2011. Research on construc-
tion time of secondary lining of large section loess tunnel
for high-speed railway. Rock and Soil Mechanics 32(3):
843–848.
Professional Standards Compilation Group of People’s
Republic of China. 2004. Design Specification For High-
way Tunnel (JTG D70–2004). Beijing: China Communi-
cations Press.
620
Professional Standards Compilation Group of People’s
Republic of China. 2005. Design Specification For Rail-
way Tunnel (TB10003-2005). Beijing: China Railway
Press.
Professional Standards Compilation Group of People’s
Republic of China. 2007. Technical code for monitor-
ing measurement of railway tunnel. (TB10121-2007).
Beijing: China Railway Press.
Zhang, Y.X. 2008. Slope Engineering. BeFijing: Building
Industry Press of China.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Mechanism and practice of cable truss control in super-high

abutment stress coal entry

H.Q. Han
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

F.L. He, H.B. Li, H.Z. Yang & H. Yan

College of Resource & Safety Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology (Beijing), Beijing, China
State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining (CUMT), Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Tectonic stress makes abscission layer between roof strata which leads to the failure of roof
bolt and shear fracture of the roof. By the second mining influence, the stress distribution of the surrounding
rock in isolated coal pillar becomes more complex. Under the joint action of rock gravity stress, tectonic stress
and mining stress, the isolated coal pillar will bear super-high stress and achieve its destroy limit. Besides, the
surrounding rock shows characteristic of large deformation and difficult maintain. In Xinsan colliery, some
technical problems such as high abutment pressure, broken coal and rock, large section and so on are met when
the roadway is excavated in fold fault area. Aiming at these problems and according to the characteristics that
the stress transfer produced by prestressed cable truss system can change the stress state of surrounding rock,
the joint support technology is designed combined with the field conditions of Xinsan colliery. The numerical
simulation software is also applied to optimize the parameters of the supporting scheme. Field implement shows
that the joint support technology based on cable truss can solve the support problems of large section coal
roadway.

1 INTRODUCTION way to control the deformation of the super-high

It is generally recognized that roadway rock charac-
ter, surrounding rock stress and supporting structure
are three important factors of controlling the stabil-
ity of roadway (Zhang, 2008). Reducing the stress
of surrounding rock and choosing the right road-
way supporting structure are the main way to control
the deformation of surrounding rocks. The stress in
roadway surrounding rock generally includes gravity
stress, tectonic stress and disturbance stress. Distur-
bance stress is the redistribution of the original rock
stress, and the distribution is caused by human dis-
turbance. The isolated coal pillar is influenced by
secondly mining-induced, and the stress distribution
in roadway surrounding rock is more complexity, and
roadway maintenance difficulties. In order to protected
roadway was in good stress environment, digging tun-
nels in the side of the roadway to be protected, this
method can be the rock stress of the protected tunnel
transfer to the new roadway (Zhen, 2005). Road-
way digging will form stress concentration, in order
to reduce stress concentration, through placing coal
gangue to the back of support system, the surround-
ing rock strain energy is released, and Roadway stress
transfer to the surrounding rock deep, this method is
used to change the stress distribution of surrounding
rock (Wang, 2008). Practice shows that changing the
stress distribution of surrounding rocks is an effective
abutment roadway.
2 PROJECT OVERVIEW AND SIMULATION
ANALYSIS OF BEARING STRESSES
2.1 Project overview
Xinsan colliery is now mining 2# coal, and coal seam
NE7◦ , angle of 5∼11◦ , the average thickness of 4.5 m,
the compressive strength is 9.1∼9.5 MPa. False roof
with 0.34 m thick fine sandstone and 0.3 m thick
carbonaceous mudstone, more obvious bedding, the
compressive strength is 10∼15 MPa. Immediate roof
is gray fine sandstone, thick 2.3 m, bedding obvious,
the compressive strength is 15.5∼20.8 MPa. The main
roof is fine sandstone, thick 5.8 m, bedding obvious,
the compressive strength is 48.4∼78.4 MPa.
Isolated coal pillar is located linjiagou synclinal
axis, and the syncline is a brachy-syncline, with a
range 100 m. Syncline cut by faults, and both sides
of the syncline show incomplete, formation occur-
rence of mining area controlled. There are seven pillars
in the isolated coal pillar, fault throw 1.0 m∼2.5 m.
Geological structures of isolated pillar and position
of experimental roadway is shown in Figure 1. Experi-
mental roadway is located in the middle of the isolated
coal pillar, depth of 390 m, and designed shape is

621
Figure 1. Location of isolated coal pillars and geological
structure.
Figure 2. Vertical stress distribution of isolate coal pillar.
rectangular, width 4.5 m, high−4.5 m, the net cross
section is 20.25 m2 .
2.2 Fold isolated island pillar bearing stresses
simulation area
To study the effects caused by geological structures
and actual mining on surrounding rock stress of
folding island rock pillar, U.S. ITASCA developed
numerical simulation software is selected for calcu-
late and analyze. Coal seam to be simulate, and it
is the fold structure, fold wing angle of 10◦ , burial
depth of Coal seam is 390 m. Taking into account
the extent of actual mining and roadway deformation,
computing model is based on elastic-plastic theory,
and the model size is selected as 160 × 60 × 40 m
(length × height × width). Surrounding rock constitu-
tive using Mohr – Coulomb model, the original rock
gravity stress q = γH = 2500 × 9.8 × 390 = 9.5 MPa,
horizontal stress to vertical stress of 1.2 times. Model
of the bottom of the x, y, z direction of the speed of
the three constraints on the level of y on both sides
of the boundary velocity constraints, some simulation
results is shown in Fig. 2 and Figure 3.
Simulation results show that the department of the
isolated coal pillars along the crankshaft pleated asym-
metrical distribution of coal under the tectonic stress is
also an asymmetric distribution, tectonic stress and the
two folds gob superposition of residual stress bearing,
resulting in fold coal island tectonic zone column into a
vertical stress distribution asymmetric saddle. Central
vertical pillar stress 28.5 MPa, concentration factor of
622
Figure 3. Horizontal stress distribution of isolate coal pillar.
3 times; level of stress 23.75 MPa, concentration factor
up to 2 times (He, 2011).
Coal gob column near the location of 10 m∼20 m,
the vertical stress is 17.1 MPa, concentration factor
of 2.1; level of stress is 12.35 MPa. Pillar edge of
the core area of the level of stress is 1.3 times the
level of stress concentration factor of more than 2
times. In the isolated coal pillar’s high bearing stress
causes the roadway adjacent formation destruction
scope to enlarge, reduced carrying capacity of rock,
surrounding rock deformation increased. Asymmetric
distribution of bearing stress may cause changes in the
location of roof separation and the deformation of two
side’s roadway, during roadway supporting should take
appropriate measures to control.
3 CABLE TRUSS MECHANISM OF STRESS
TRANSFER
Change the stress distribution in surrounding rock is
the essence of stress transfer through the protected tun-
nel to reduce stress concentration. The principal means
of stress transfer, including the roof level of vertical
load into the stress or transfer the stress of surround-
ing rock to the deep tunnel. On the cable truss support
technology, achieving the main form of stress transfer
through the end of the cable anchor on the part of the
stress into a horizontal stress applied to the roof strata,
the other two groups of stress transfer to the deep tun-
nel, the basic principles of the As shown in Figure 4
(Han, 2010).
As shown, cable truss achieved mainly through the
anchoring end of stress transfer, therefore, we can ana-
lyze the role of anchor side to study the mechanical
transfer mechanism cable truss. In order to facili-
tate research, The supposition anchor cable does not
have the stress loss in the drill hole manhole place,
and anchor the changes caused by the deformation is
negligible.
The anchor cable anchor end’s stress the pre-
stressed which exerts besides the initial period, but
also has the roof load to exert on anchor cable’s stress
increase: The supposition anchor cable initial prestress

Figure 4. Mechanical principle of cable truss.
for δ, the stress increase which is produced the roof
stress for δ, then the anchor cable truss anchor end’s
total stress is P, then:
Where P = the anchor end of the truss anchor of total
stress; δ = applied to the initial prestressed cable truss;
δ = the cable deformation resulting from the stress
increment; and δ1 , δ2 , δ3 compression roof strata were
limits, the limits and the anchorage tensile force.
The cable truss exerts the total stress to the roadway
roof is the P supporting force, itself receives the stress
will shift through the anchor end to the tunnel roof
and two groups, the tunnel adjacent formation stress
condition has the change, then:
where V = the Roof of the total stress; γ = the average
volume of the overburden strength; H = the depth from
the surface roadway roof; VP = the roadway under
the vertical stress; λ = the lateral pressure coefficient;
α = the anchor and the angle between the plumb line
roadway; Vh = the level of stress Roof.
The relevant parameters of the Xinsan mining iso-
lated coal pillar are substituted into the formula, the
parameters including the roadway directly to the top
of the rock compressive strength, tensile strength, the
old roof of the compressive strength, tensile strength,
the limits of cable extension rate, elastic modulus
and anchor Body adhesion, so on. In the calculations,
the strength of two sides’ coal and anchorage depth
should be considered.The above parameters are substi-
tuted into the formula obtained: cable angle 20◦ , cable
drilling depth of 7.0 m, original pretension prestressed
cable truss is 120 kN.
623
4 ENGINEERING PRACTICE
4.1 Cable truss joint control scheme
According to the numerical simulation and theoret-
ical calculation results and the island area roadway
pillar of the actual situation, principles of engineer-
ing analogy drawn by cable truss parameters of the
joint control scheme on the waste gangue replace-
ment lane, Program parameters are as follows: Truss
cable using 15.24 mm high strength and low relax-
ation prestressed steel strand, truss anchor inclination
of 20◦ , cable drilling depth of 7.0 m, cable length
8.1 m, cable orifice to help away from the supporting
roadway 1.1 m, cable truss system spans the bottom
of 2.3 m, row distance 800 mm, original prestressed
120 kN. Single cable using 17.8 mm high strength
and low relaxation prestressed steel strand. cable bore
depth 7 m, cable length 7.3 m, with the row of sin-
gle anchor and bolt arrangement, in the middle of the
roadway, row spacing 0.8 m Each row one, preload no
less than 120 KN. Top bolt is 20 × 2500 mm sinistral
no longitudinal reinforcement steel of high strength
bolt, 800 mm bolt from the top row of bolt tightening
torque not less than 140 N · m. 18 mm rod bolt in the
sinistral no longitudinal reinforcement steel of high
strength bolt, length 2.0 m, row spacing is 800 mm,
each row arranged seven bolt, bolt spacing of 650 mm,
the most upper of the two to help anchor and Hori-
zontal angle of +20◦ , the next bit to help anchor the
horizontal angle of −10◦ , the remaining five bolts into
the level layout, to help bolt tightening torque of not
less than 100 N · m. Cable used to help high-strength
low relaxation prestressed 15.24 mm strand, cable
length is 5.3 m, dark eyes cable 5.0 m, cable row spac-
ing 800 mm, as streaky arrangement. Waste gangue
replacement roadway of support program shown in
Figure 5.
4.2 Field observations and analysis
Roadway surface displacement of the test cases can
grasp and fully understand the dynamic roadway sup-
port system working state, and then verify or modify
the cable truss combined support the initial design
of the program, and surrounding rock deformation
observations shown in Figure 6.
Observational results show that: The largest amount
of sidewall convergence is not more than 105 mm; the
largest amount of roof subsidence does not exceed
126 mm; roadway control is better; the early conver-
gence speed of the waste gangue replacement roadway
larger than the latter, roadway has a larger convergence
rate within twenty-five days after the digging, and then
stabilized.
5 CONCLUSION
Firstly, the simulation results show: Because the
structure of the isolated coal pillar not to be asym-
metrical, resulting in vertical stress was asymmetric
Figure 5. The joint control scheme of the waste gangue replacement roadway (unit: mm).
Figure 6. Surrounding rock deformation observations.
saddle-shaped distribution; Since fold tectonic stress
and the goaf ’s residual bearing stress produce super-
position, the extent of damage larger surrounding
rock, reducing the carrying capacity of surrounding
rock, making the roof, two sides roadway deformation
increased.
Secondly, among three important factors control-
ling the stability of roadway, roadway surrounding
rock properties depend on its occurrence conditions,
by choosing the appropriate support way to change the
stress distribution surrounding rock is an effective way
to control the deformation of surrounding rock.
Thirdly, force on the cable truss is transferred to the
roadway roof and two sides deep by anchoring end.
The degree of stress transfer relate with properties of
surrounding rock, cable material and anchoring bond
strength and other factors.
Finally, the practical results show that the imple-
mentation of the joint program of the waste gangue
replacement roadway support better control effect,
624
two sides closer to the largest amount of not more
than 105 mm, roof subsidence does not exceed the
maximum amount of 126 mm.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Financially supported by National Basic Research
Program of China under Grant No. 2010CB226802;
Supported by State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources
and Safe Mining (CUMT) (SKLCRSM 10B08); Sup-
ported by “the Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities” (2010YZ02).
REFERENCES
Han, H.Q., He, F.L., Xie, S.R., et al. 2010. Mechanical Mech-
anism and Numerical Simulation of Cable Truss on 1000
m Deep Coal Roadway. Progress in Safety Science and
Technology VIII: 2 570–2 574, Hangzhou.
He, F.L., Kang, R., Li, H.B., et al. 2011. Mining tech-
niques and technology of waste gangue replacement in
soft-broken coal-rock region under high stress. Journal of
China Coal Society Vol. 36 (01): 1–6.
Wang, X.Y., Bai, J.B., Li, W. 2008. Stress-Relief Technique of
Full-Face Gangue Dropping in Soft Rock Roadway Under
High Stress. Journal of Mining & Safety Engineering
Vol.25 No.1.
Zhang, B.H., Han, L.J., Han, G.L., et al. 2008. Study of 3D
in-situ stress measurement and stability of roadways in
depth. Rock and Soil Mechanics 29(9): 2 548–2 555.
Zhen, X.G., Li, X.H., Zhao, L.X., et al. 2005. Technology
of stress transfer by digging tunnel beside the roadways.
Groud Pressure and Strata Control 22(4):34–38.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Mechanical analysis on instability of mining roadways under the close

neighboring gob

F.L. He, J.Z. Tian, S.B. Zhang, H. Zhang & G.F. Zhai
China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing City, China
State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining (CUMT), Beijing City, China

ABSTRACT: Damage and instability of roadways are big problems to restrict excavation of the lower coal
when the upper coal was mined-out in the close distance seams. There is No.10 coal that is 2.0 m down the No.9
coal in Wuhushan mine. Based on site investigation of the spatial location of 1001 roadways and its deformation,
the spatial mechanical model of lower roadway was established, then the relationship between roadway location
and the re-distribution of stress after upper coal mined was analyzed and calculated. furthermore the failure
criterion of lower roadways was drawn out. According to the actual conditions of No.10 Coal Seam, the key
areas prone to damage and reasonable location to layout roadway were determined. The field practice shows this
method to determine roadway location could effectively reduce the roadway damage and significantly reduce
the costs of advance support during its service.

1 INTRODUCTION exploitation stages. As the first coal face of No.10

In China, there have complex and various occurrence
conditions of coal seams including close distance
seam, which distributes in many provinces such as
Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and Henan. With
the reduction of coal resources easy to mine in these
areas, more and closer distance coal seams are begin
to be mined. But there are many problems when these
seams were mined, especially when the upper seam
was mined, if the lower coal seams is being mined, the
stope roof are possible to be broken and fall, the road-
way roofs are hard to control because of disturbance
and the advanced supporting is more difficult. Many
experts and scholars were committed to the cause of
roof fall and control mechanism of close distance coal
seams, and some methods and conclusions on control
of roadway surrounding rock according to a few mines
were drawn out.
In this paper, on a basis of choose the suitable posi-
tion and decreasing the displacement of surrounding
rock, the mechanism of roadway destroy has been
studied and the reasonable position of roadway was
obtained in Wuhushan mine.
2 ENGINEERING SITUATION AND ANALYSIS
OF EXISTING PROBLEMS
In wuhushan coal mine, the lamellar spacing of
the No.9 and No.10 coal seam is between 0.4 to
3.0 m, average spacing 2.0 m, and they belong to the
extremely close coal seam. Along with the No.9 coal
mined over, the lower No.10 coal also entered pilot
coal, the extraction thickness of 1001 fully mecha-
nized working face is 2.0 m, the direct sandy mudstone
roof of 2.0 m, average thickness 2.0 m, which is under
the 9th of mined-out area, the seam mudstone bottom
3.0 m, the lower fine-grained sandstone bottom 5.0 m.
1001 air-return roadway was designed under stope
of 901 coal face, and the distance to the security pil-
lar of main return roadway is 15 m. The section of
1001 air-return roadway is in the form of trapezoid.
Its excavation section size is at list, the top width is
2800 mm, the bottom width is 3250 mm and the height
is 2510 mm. Its net section size is at list, the top width is
2580 mm, the bottom width is 3050 mm and the height
is 2300 mm.
The pressure observation was put into implement
while the 1001 full mechanized mining face was
mining. Its results show that the strata behavior of
air-return roadway is strongly, the influent range of
front abutment pressure reach 35m. In advanced sup-
port zone, the beams and legs of support shed appeared
angle sharply, simultaneously, the roof moved down
and the coal rib spalling seriously. The roof subsidence
is average 300 mm and the closer amount of two sides
is average 250 mm. The typical deformation section is
displayed by Figure 1.
Through the field investigation and analysis of
underground pressure observation result, the main rea-
sons caused the 1001 roadway deformation seriously
are the following aspects. Firstly, the thickness of mud-
stone roof on No.10 coal is thin, the intensity is weak,
and it was disturbed and appeared many mining frac-
tures when the No.9 coal mined. Secondly, the roadway
position to the safe pillar of No.9 main air-return

625

Figure 1. The schematic drawing of deformation in No.1001
air-return roadway.
Figure 2. The spatial layout figure of 1001 air-return road-
way. 1-basic roof of No.9 coal; 2-direct roof of No.9 coal; 3-
No.9 coal; 4- roof of No.10 coal; 5- No.10 coal; 6- bottom
of No.10 coal; 7-basic bottom of No.10 coal; 8-falling roof
rock; 9-1001 air-return roadway.
roadway is unreasonable; it is in the range of force
zone by the key rock beam which collapsed after No.9
coal mined. Lastly, with the mining of No.10 coal,
the stress of roadway became the superposition of pri-
mary rock stress and mining stress, so they caused the
roadway deformed seriously.
3 MECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF MINING
ROADWAY UNDER CLOSE DISTANCE GOB
3.1 Establishment of mechanical model
After field investigation of the spatial arrangement of
1001 air-return roadway in Wuhushan mine, on a base
of analysis on mining sequence and time effect, the
spatial layout figure of the roadway, Figure 2, could
be drawn when the 901 work face was mined over.
Figure 2 shows that after the No.9 coal was mined
out, when the key strata broken, it broken blocks form
626
Figure 3. The spatial mechanical model of 1001 air-return
roadway
the structure of voussoir beam. Based on the under-
ground pressure data drawn from measured in situ, it
is about 15m that the fracture intervals for basic roof of
901 mining face. At the same time, it is can be obtained
from the position relationship of two coal seams; one
end of the beam is on the top of 1001 air-return road-
way. And then the caving rock of direct roof became
concordant body, the basic roof became more and more
stability.
For the actual situation of the scene, make the fol-
lowing assumptions. ➀ Along the No.9 coal pillar, the
first roof rock fracture can be reduced to single-span
oblique beam; the overburden force from the all of
upper rocks is q(x). ➁ The falling rocks in the No.9
gob have been compacted and getting to achieve steady
state. ➂ The No.9 coal pillar and the direct roof on it
is in the state of incompressibility. ➃ The rock beam
has been stable in horizontal direction, only down to
the direction of the force.
According to the assumptions above-mentioned, the
spatial mechanical model of 1001 air-return roadway
can be established on the condition of 901 face mined,
as Figure 3 showed. The two ends of the rock beam
were bear by the coal pillar (A) and the falling rock
block in 901 gob (B), then the force can be bring to
bear the 1001 air-return roadway and the No.10 coal
seam by mudstone roof. In the figure, line EF is the
boundary of the No.10 coal and its roof.
3.2 Mechanical analysis on the force of
No.10 coal roof
From Figure 3 and the theory of structure mechanics,
it is can be seen that pivot point A and B bear all the
load on the beam of AB, that is,
Then if point B is the origin point, the rock beam
AB is in the balance state, that is,
Based on (1) and (2), the values of FEB and FDA can Impact angle is equal to 55◦ ,
be drawn,

3.3 Instable rule and safe position range of roadway

Figures 2 and 3 show, force FEB acts on No.10 coal
through 901 falling rock blocks and its roof, and force
FDA trough direct roof of No.9 coal, No.9 coal and
roof of No.10 coal. So according to the transmission
characters of rock materials, the calculate method of
force on No.10 coal from the basic roof block beam
is as,
1001 air-return roadway were supported by No.10
I-beams, row distance of 0.6 m. From the calcu-
lated method of beam intensity mentioned in material
mechanics, the formula of support mean load density
along one meter roadway is shown as,

By the existing literatures, there is an impact angle By looking up table, the 10th ordinary I-beam of
in rock materials when the force passes by them. For the allowable stress [σ] is 140 MPa, if the safety factor
common intensity materials such as mudstones and is 1.5; I-beam support to bear the maximum load is,
coals, this angle α is in the range of 25–55 degree. In
this context, the same level, the stress point of pass-
ing out by the force spread into the linear distribution
relationships. So if the air-return roadway keeps it steady, the rule
Compared with Figure 3, the actual spatial param- is that the actual load on it is smaller than the load [q].
eters of 1001 air-return roadway is as follow-
ing, h1 = 6.74 m; h2 = 4.55 m; h3 = 2.0 m; h4 = 2.0 m;
L = 15 m. And the average depth of the face is about
180 m, so the load on the basic rock block can be In the range of E1 E2 ,
as uniform distributed load; its value is the vertical
overburden stress. This load became the advanced sup-
porting stress when the face was mining. According
to observational data have been obtained, the concen- So,
trated modulus K of advanced supporting stress is 2.1,
so there is,

In the range of F1 F2 ,
According to the geometric relationship among the
various values and equations (1) to (3), it can be drawn,
the force of both ends under rock beam and the range
of stress transfer are, So,

Then the roadway can not be layout in such zone.

When the impact angle is the minimum 25◦ and maxi-
mum 55◦ respectively, through the equation (4) can be
calculated,
Impact angle is equal to 25◦ ,
The safe position range of the roadway is the safe dis-
tance to the No.9 coal pillar from 4.12 m to 9.33 m and
out from 19.47 m. but 1001 air-return roadway is 15 m
from the pillar, so it is easy to deform and destroy.
4 PRACTICE IN-SITU AT 1002 AIR-RETURN
ROADWAY

1002 air-return roadway is used to return dirty air for

1002 working face; its position is as similar as 1001
roadway. And it was excavated during 1001 face was
mining. For saving more coal resources, 1002 road-
way was layout at from 5.5m to 8.5m which is in the

627

Figure 4. The displacement of roof subsidence and closer
of two sides in 1002 roadway.
distance to the upper pillar. Its support method is as
same as 1001 air-return roadway.
Within two months after the start of the 1002 face
mining, the roof bending subsidence and the closer
amount of two sides were measured and listed in Fig-
ure 4. It shows the maximum value of subsidence is
102 mm and the maximum closer amount value of two
sides is 96 mm. It is not only the seriously influen-
tial range is reduced from 35m to 22m, but also never
appeared the grave rib and roof caving.
The engineering practice proved that putting the
roadway in safe range with lower stress not only
deduced its deformation, guarantee the support struc-
ture safety, but also cut down the difficulty to maintain
it steady, improved workers’ work efficiency.
5 CONCLUSIONS
For the close distance coal seams, if they are mined
separately, there have bad influences to mine the lower
seam, in which the unreasonable position of roadway
could affect the stability of itself. Combined with the
investigation and mechanical theory, the instable rule
628
was established to determine the stability of air-return
roadway, and obtained the reasonable range of road-
way position. The practice in 1002 roadway shows this
method to determine the roadway position is reason-
able and effective. the roadway remained stable during
the period of service, and achieved good technical
results.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Work is supported by the National Basic Research
Program of China under Grant No. 2010CB226802,
the State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe
Mining (CUMT) (SKLCRSM 10B08) and the Funda-
mental Research Funds for the Central Universities”
(2009YZ10). The authors would like to thank the
technicians of Wuhushan coal mine for the practice.
REFERENCES
Qian, M.G & Shi, P.W. 2003. Ground pressure and strata
control. Xuzhou: Publishing House of China University
of Mining and Technology.
Zhang, B.S., et al. 2008. Discussion on method for determine
reasonable position of roadway for ultra-close multi-seam.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
27(1): 97–101.
Zhang, S.B. et al. 2008. Study and application on compound
active pre-stressed support system. Progress in Safety Sci-
ence and Technology VII : 2478–2481. Science Press USA
Inc.
Zhang, S.B., et al. 2007 Study on support mechanism of pre-
stressed truss cable and its application. Journal of Coal
Science &Engineering 13(4): 500–502.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Analysis of supporting structure deformation and axial force in subway

foundation pit

M.D. He & D.L. Zhang

Tunnel and Underground Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education,
Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

M.D. He
Beijing Municipal Engineering Research Institute, Beijing, China

J. Liu
Beijing Municipal Engineering Group Co., Ltd., Beijing, China

G.P. Le
Beijing MTR Construction Administration Corporation, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Based on the construction of deep foundation pit in Beijing, according to the actual construction
process of supporting structure, the beam calculation model was used for excavation and support of the deep
foundation pit. In the pit, piles and internal bracing were used as the enclosure structure. The interval force
and deformation of supporting structure were discussed. According the calculations of numerical modeling,
the variable law of horizontal displacement, bending moment and axial force in the pile body was analyzed. It
was comparative analyzed between the monitoring data and the calculated values of y horizontal displacement
and bracing axial force in the pile bod. The results show that: (1) the maximum horizontal displacement of pile
increases with the increase of excavation depth and time, and maximum horizontal displacement of points moving
gradually to excavation face. The horizontal displacement reached a maximum value when the excavation at the
bottom of the pit. (2) while the axial force is a reflection of the pressure of behind the supporting structure, but the
axial force was not increased with the depth of bracing. (3) comparative analysis result of field monitoring shows
that the variable law of values calculated by the numerical simulation results well agrees with the measured data.

1 INTRODUCTION based on back analysis. Chen(2008) conducted two-

During the construction of urban underground foun-
dation pit engineering, the stress of enclosure structure
is constantly changing due to the interaction of enclo-
sure structure and surrounding stratum. How the stress
and deformation of the enclosure structure is kept in
the safe range during the construction process of the
foundation pit and how the impact of construction
on the surrounding environments issues is reduced
as far as possible has always been concerned in the
engineering field. The deformation law of metro sta-
tion excavation was analyzed with the finite element
method, and the relationship between the stress and
deformation of the enclosure structure was studied,
the corresponding construction control method was
put forward to guide the engineering practice in the
articles (Li 2005& He 2008). Zhang (2009) conducted
numerical simulation for the timbering and excavation
process of the engineering with the FLAC software,
conducted analysis through the comparison between
the numerical simulation result and the measured
value of the bending moment of the slope protec-
tion pile and the calculated values of earth pressure
dimensional numerical simulation for the excavation
process of the internal support piling timbering foun-
dation pit with the finite element software Plaxis
8.2, analyzed the various influencing factors of the
excavation of foundation pit on the adjacent piles.
Based on the deformation and stress characteristics
of metro deep foundation pit engineering, with the
background of the foundation pit with the enclosure
structure form of cast-in-place pile in Beijing subway,
the deformation and stress characteristics of the enclo-
sure structure was analyzed with the FEM numerical
analysis method, the change law of the horizontal dis-
placement of enclosure structure and the strut axial
force under different working conditions was analyzed
in combination with the recorded field data.
2 GENERAL SITUATION
2.1 Geological and hydrological conditions
The open excavation method is adopted in a run-
ning tunnel of Beijing subway, the bored pile steel

629
Table 1. Physico-mechanical parameters of stratum.

Modulus of Internal Cohesive Coefficient of Subgrade

Stratum Layer Density compression friction strength permeability coefficient
number name ρ g/cm3 Es MPa angle φ (8) c kPa K20 cm/s Kv MPa/m

➀ silt fill 1.65

➂ silt 1.91 11.1 30 31 2.0×10−4 35 ∼ 70
➂1 silty clay 1.99 7.6 16 36 2.0×10−5 15 ∼ 35
➂3 fine sand 2.05 20.0 25 0 2.0×10−3 15 ∼ 25
➃ silty clay 2.01 9.0 20 38 2.0×10−5 35 ∼ 70
➅ silty clay 1.96 13.0 21 37 2.0×10−5 35 ∼ 70
➅1 clay 1.90 12.5 17 56 2.0×10−7 15 ∼ 35
➅2 silt 2.03 22.0 29 26 2.0×10−4 35 ∼ 70
➆ pebble gravel 2.15 65.0 35 0 1.0×10−1 40 ∼ 95
➆1 coarse sand 2.10 30.0 30 0 2.0×10−2 25 ∼ 40

wire reinforcement sprayed concrete and inner sup-

porting structure is adopted in the enclosure structure
of the foundation pit, the pile diameter is 0.8 m and the
spacing is 1.5 m. According to the geotechnical inves-
tigation report, this section of ground is smoother with
small difference in elevation. There is mainly silt and
silty clay in the stratum, which is accompanied with
silt layer locally; the layers are in teractive sedimen-
tary layers, and the physical mechanics of the earth
layer is shown in Table 1.The construction site con-
tains groundwater, the concrete steps are as follows:
the perched water with the elevation of 33.17∼38.21 m
is mainly for municipal water; the diving’s elevation
is 26.23∼29.32 m, the aquifer is mainly silt and fine
sand layer with general permeability and a little water;
and the elevation of micro artesian water is below the
basement.
2.2 Foundation supporting structure
The foundation pit with the excavation depth is 14.0 m,
cast-in-place pile with the diameter of 800 mm is
adopted for the enclosure structure, the spacing is
1.5 m and the pile length is 18.5 m, as is shown in Figure 1. Model of foundation pit support structure.
Figure 1. The steel circuit purlin and transverse strut is
adopted for the inner supporting system, three steel
tubes is set as the support. The first inner support
analysis software FRWS. The displacement analysis of
is located at the coherent girder with the support of
retaining wall structure was calculated with the soft-
609×12 mm steel tube, the horizontal spacing is 3 m
ware with the finite element method in the simulation
and the design axial force value is 216 kN/m. The sec-
of the construction working conditions, in the analy-
ond inner support is 5.8 m from the first one in the
sis and calculation of the flexible retaining structure,
vertical direction, it is supported by 609×12 steel
The change of displacement in the actual state of dis-
pipes with the horizontal distance of 3 m and the design
tributed excavation construction working conditions
axial force value of 368 kN/m. No. 3 support is 4.2 m
was considered in accordance with the elastic case. In
from the second one in the vertical direction, its design
which, spring simulation was adopted for the action
axial force value is 475 kN/m. During the construction
of the earth under the foundation pit; the spring stiff-
the prestressing should be inflicted as 50 ∼ 60% of the
ness was calculated with the pattern of "m" method.
design value.
The action stiffness of support or anchor was replaced
with the spring with the stiffness of K. At present, the
calculation methods of multi-channel inner support
3 NUMERICAL SIMULATION ANALYSIS
enclosure structure mainly include equivalent beam
method, support load 1/2 share method, the method
3.1 Envelope calculation
of layer by layer excavation with the constant hold-
The numerical simulation calculation in this article ing power, bar-system finite element method and so
was analyzed and calculated with the deep excavation on. The bar-system finite element method is widely

630

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of calculation model condi-
tion.
used because the influence of various factors during
the evacuation process can be effectively included.
The analysis process is: structural discrete→Forming
the element stiffness matrix → Integrating ele-
ment stiffness matrix into the total stiffness
matrix → Obtaining nodal displacement with the equi-
librium equation (Chen 2003 & Zhou 2002). There are
two ways in the calculation of elastic foundation beam
element stiffness matrix:
1) It is supposed that an additional elastic support
bar is installed in every node of the foundation beam
element; its stiffness is as follows:
whereKh is the foundation soil horizontal bedding
coefficient, Bis the beam calculation width, l is the
unit length.
2) With the pile as a horizontal elastic foundation
beam, the deflection curve equation under the com-
bined action of the lateral load and earth pressure on
both sides is studied with the E. Winkler foundation
model, such as equation (2);
where q is the strength of load on the beam. Accord-
ing to the external force equilibrium conditions,
the unknown structural nodal displacement can be
obtained,[K]{δ} = {R}, in which [K] is the total stiff-
ness matrix, {δ}is the displacement array, {R} is the
load matrix.
3.2 Pile retaining structure model
During the modeling process, the earth layer is
assumed to be uniformly distributed; the homogeneous
631
cast-in-place pile is considered as the isotropic linear
elastic material. The ground overload around the foun-
dation pit considered in the calculation is 20 kPa; the
elevation of the pile block in the model is 0 m. Due to
the complicated conditions around the foundation pit,
the deformation level of the foundation pit is controlled
as level 1. In combination with the actual situation
of the engineering, the calculation of the construc-
tion conditions of the foundation pit is simplified. The
calculated working conditions are shown in Figure 2.
3.3 Analysis of calculation result
It is shown in the supporting structure calculation
envelope chart of Figure 3 that the horizontal displace-
ment of the supporting structure continuously moves
downward along with the excavation of the foundation
pit, the maximum horizontal displacement of 13.1 mm
occurs between support ZC-3 and the bottom, the vari-
ation range of pile horizontal displacement between
support ZC-1 and ZC-2 is 10.0 mm. The maximum
horizontal displacement of pile head is in the lateral
direction of the foundation pit, because the stress in the
soil is rapidly released during the early earth excava-
tion, the deflection of the pile head and the top beam
increases obviously; once the ZC-1 support is com-
pletely erected, the deflection trend of the pile head
will be immediately reduced; it can be seen that the
erection time of ZC-1 support is an important factor
affecting the horizontal displacement of the pile head.
In addition, the application of pre-added axial force
of the steel brace causes the supporting structure to
generate acting force on the earth layer outside the
foundation pit, the lateral earth layer is compressed
passively, and the supporting structure will be slightly
deformed to some extent. In addition, the rear sup-
port structure between the supports withstands large
lateral earth pressure; the retaining structure is a typi-
cal one-way bending stress component, if there is too
big vertical spacing between adjacent supports, the
phenomenon of "bulging belly" will occur.
The change of pile bending moment is an impor-
tant indicator reflecting the stress characteristics of
the whole pile. During the excavation process of the
foundation pit, the unloading of the earth body in the
foundation pit damages the balance of the pressure
on both sides of the guard post, which will inevitably
lead to the influence of the active earth pressure region
formed by the posterior earth mass of the pile in
the outside of the foundation pit on the pile, conse-
quently the pile bending moment will also change as
the load acting on it changes. It can be seen from
the bending moment envelope of Figure 3 that the
bending moment of the enclosure structure is in the
range of −252.8 ∼ 541.9kN · m, the maximum nega-
tive bending moment occurs near ZC-2 at 6.3 m, and
the maximum positive bending moment occurs in the
range of about 1.0 m above the basement.
In the shear envelope curve of Figure 3, the maxi-
mum positive shearing force occurs in the vicinity of
ZC-3 at the depth of 10.5 m, the maximum negative

Figure 3. Calculating envelope diagram of supporting
structure.
shear occurs about 1.5 m under the basement. As is
seen from the shear value, the variation range of the
shear of the cast-in-place pile is −183.3∼381.3 kN,
the biggest shear difference is 198 kN. As is seen from
the occurrence location of large shear, certain sudden
change occurs in both the second support ZC-2 and
the third support ZC-3, which is consistent with the
setting of pre-added axial force on the steel support.
4 SITE MONITORING ANALYSIS
4.1 Monitoring scheme
4.1.1 Horizontal displacement of pile
Horizontal displacement of the pile is a key indica-
tor in the displacement control of deep foundation pit.
In view of the difficulty of site burial and large mea-
surement workload, the measuring points are generally
arranged in the middle of the edges of the enclo-
sure structure. The measuring points can also not be
laid for the shorter edges, and measuring points can
632
Figure 4. Schematic diagram on monitoring points of pile
body displacement.
be increased for longer edges. The inclinometer is
installed in the reinforcement cage of the guard post,
and casted in concrete together with the reinforce-
ment cage of the guard post. After the site assembly,
the inclinometer is installed in the inner side of the
reinforcement cage of the guard post, as is shown in
Figure 4. Each pipe is connected with a special joint,
and sealed with sealing gum so as to prevent the con-
crete slurry from entering into the inclinometer. The
bottom of the inclinometer should be flush with that
of the reinforcement cage as far as possible; in order
to protect the inclinometer from being damaged dur-
ing the construction, the bottom of the inclinometer
should be 0.3 ∼ 0.5 m higher than the bottom of the
pile, its top should be about 0.2 m higher than the top
beam. The inclinometer is hoisted into place together
with the reinforcement cage; during the hoisting pro-
cess, the hanging point of sling should be kept away
from the inclinometer so as to prevent the steel cage
from excessive deformation and the inclinometer from
being damaged.
During the installation, we should check in a timely
manner whether the guide groove in the inclinometer
is in the same direction with the displacement mea-
sured with the US SINCO precise inclinometer, probe,
and matched high-precision inclinometer; if they are
inconsistent with each other, they should be corrected
timely.
4.1.2 Steel support axial force
The measuring points of the support axial force in
the enclosure structure of the foundation ditch are
arranged in the midspan or end position of the main
support. A high-precision steel string strain gauge
should be bonded on the upper and lower surfaces of
the steel tube support of the foundation pit so as to
monitor the stress in the support steel tube, the strain
gauges should be parallel to the support axis as far as
possible, as is shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Schematic diagram on monitoring points of axial
force.

4.2 Monitoring analysis of horizontal displacement
As can be seen from the horizontal displacement curve
of the pile in Figure 6, when the foundation pit is exca-
vated to the depth of 14.0 m in the bottom of the pit
in the working condition 7, the difference between the
calculated maximum horizontal displacement of the
pile of 13.1 mm and the measured one of 12.7 mm is
3.05%. This is because when the foundation pit is exca-
vated to the basement, the pile between the last support
and the bottom is basically in the cantilever conditions
with no support, the earth mass of the passive zone in
the bottom in this working condition has been basi-
cally in a plastic state, the earth strength is reduced
very significantly. In working condition 2, the mea-
sured maximum horizontal displacement of 2.1mm is
50.0% greater than the calculated value. In working
conditions 1 and 2, the measured maximum horizontal
displacements of the piles are higher than the calcu-
lated values; in the later five working conditions, the
measured maximum horizontal displacements of the
piles are less than the calculated values, the maximum
difference of 10.91% appears in the working condi-
tion 4. From the above comparative analysis, it can
be seen that the calculated and measured values of
the maximum horizontal displacement of piles follow
consistent variation laws, they all gradually increases
as the excavation depth of the evacuation pit increases,
and the horizontal displacement reaches the maximum
value when the foundation pit is excavated to the bot-
tom. Thus, it is clear that the horizontal displacement
rule of the piles analyzed through numerical calcu-
lation accurately reflects the actual situation of the
project.
4.3 Monitoring analysis of axial force
In the calculated and measured values of the steel sup-
port axial force in the working conditions (Tab 2) , the
maximal support axial forces of both two occur in the
third support ZC-3, the measured maximum support
axial force is 103.75 percent of the calculated maxi-
mum axial force of 1196.4 kN, both of which occurs
in the working condition 7 when the foundation pit is
excavated to the depth of 14.0 m. It can be seen from
the result of numerical analysis that the measured sup-
port axial forces are greater than the calculated values,
Figure 6. Curve of horizontal displacement between calcu-
lated data and monitoring results.
Figure 7. Curve of axial bracing force between calculated
and measured results.
which is mainly because a variety of factors in the con-
struction process can not be fully taken into account
when theoretical analysis and calculation is imple-
mented. It can be seen from the comparison result that
the calculated and measured values of the axial forces
of steel supports are close to each other.The error range
between the calculated value and measured value of
the first support ZC-1 is 8.03% ∼ 14.75%, that of the
second support ZC-2 is 6.72% ∼ 10.37%, and that of
the third support ZC-3 is 3.61% ∼ 4.42%.
It can be seen from the axial force change curve
of three supports in the working conditions in Figure
7 that the maximum axial force values occur in the
next working condition after the completion of sup-
port erection, at this time the pile between the support
and the excavation face of the foundation pit is basi-
cally in the cantilever condition with no support, the
earth mass in the bottom passive zone in this working
condition has been basically in a plastic state, the soil
strength decreases very significantly. For example, in
the calculation, when the foundation pit is excavated
to the second support position and the pre-added axial
force of the second support has not been implemented;
the earth pressure behind the enclosure structure is
still mainly borne by the previ ous support, thus the

633
Table 2. Comparison of axial force between calculated and measured results.
The first support/kN
Condition Calculated Measured
1
2 137.4 149.4
3 133.5 156.6
4 117.0 136.2
5 114.6 123.6
6 110.7 122.1
7 108.3 120.6
axial force increases significantly. Afterwards, with
the erection of the next support, the axial force of the
support is again beginning to fall back gradually. It
can be seen that, although the stress of the support
reflects the pressure behind the supporting structure
in the corresponding position to some extent, the axial
force does not increase as the setting depth of the sup-
port increases. It can be seen from the above analysis
that the calculated and measured values of the strut
axial forces have the same stress tendency.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The stress and deformation of the enclosure structure
of the foundation pit is analyzed with the method of
numerical analysis and field measurement, from which
the following main conclusions are reached:
1. The calculated and measured values of the maxi-
mum horizontal displacement of piles follow the
consistent change rule, the displacement change
increases with the excavation depth and time, the
maximum horizontal displacement point gradually
moves to the excavation face and reaches the maxi-
mum value when the foundation pit is excavated to
the bottom.
2. Although the supporting axial force within the
enclosure structure reflects the pressure behind the
supporting structure in the corresponding position
to some extent, the support axial force increases as
the setting depth of the support increases.
3. Through comparative analysis of the on-site moni-
toring data, the calculated and measured results fol-
low consistent change rules, it can be seen that the
The second support/kN The third support/kN
Calculated Measured Calculated Measured
803.1 889.5
843.3 928.8
657.6 705.0 933.9 977.1
560.1 624.9 1153.2 1196.4
engineering practice can be guided with the numer-
ical simulation method. It should also be noted
that because there are many unpredictable factors
during the actual construction process, the analog
computation can not completely reflect these fac-
tors, so there is inevitably some difference between
the calculated result and the measured data.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work is supported by National key Technology
R&D Program of China (N0. 2008BAJ06B01-3).
REFERENCES
Chen, F.Q., et al. 2008. Numerical analysis of pile response
due to braced excavation-induced soil lateral movement.
Rock and Soil Mechanics 29(7): 1971–1976.
Chen, Z.H., et al. 2003. Deep foundation pit. Beijing: China
Machine Press.
He, M.D. et al. 2008. Analysis on the behavior of stress
and deformation of enclosure structure in deep founda-
tion pit engineering. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical
Engineering 30(S0): 582–587.
Li G.M., et al. 2005. Study on relationships between inner-
bracing and supporting structure of metro pit engineering.
Municipal Engineering Technology 23(4): 212–214, 234.
Li Q.L., et al. 2005. The deformation of metro founda-
tion pit and its control methods. Municipal Engineering
Technology 23(4): 215–217.
Zhang, Q.X., et al. 2009. Back analysis and numerical sim-
ulation of earth pressure around pile-anchor supporting
structures in deep pit. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Engineering 28(S1): 3214–3220.
Zhou, J.X., et al. 2002. Foundation Engineering. Beijing:
Tsinghua University Press.
634
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on key supporting techniques of large cross-section roadway in

compound mudstone roof

Y. Hong, F.L. He & H.Z. Yang

China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing City, China

ABSTRACT: The roadways in compound mudstone roof are apt to cause collapsed accidents during the
excavating or service periods. Based on the field investigation for quantities of compound roadways in coal
mines, the corresponding compound mudstone roof is analyzed and categorized. By use of the mechanical model
for the roof deformation, the reasons for caving are deduced theoretically, and the key supporting technology
combining with cable truss support, bolt and anchorage cable, and applying high pre-tightening force at the
initial stage, which is put into application on the large cross section roadway No. 21101 of a coal mine. Besides,
the final scheme and parameters are determined by numerical simulation according to geological conditions,
and the experimental results show that this set of supporting technology is effective to safety and stability for
the complicate roof.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the mining depth increasing, the corresponding

hidden trouble for strata movement accidents turn to
be more in relation to roof, rock burst, gas outburst,
water inrush, etc. According to the statistical results
for coal mining accidents from year 2003 to year 2008
in China, the roof accidents and rock burst together
contain 38% of the total coal mining accidents such as
electromechanical, transportation, fire disaster, water
disaster, shooting, roof and rock burst, gas, etc. As the
roof accident for coal mines exists high frequency in
incidence, hidden characters, fuzzy support control-
ling technique, it becomes one of problems that are
exigent to be researched and solved in coal mines.
Among all the roof accidents, the type of compound
mudstone roof leading to roof accidents accounts to a
greater proportion. From the observation results of 162
roof fall accidents by Doctor Jia, the number of acci-
dents induced by compound mudstone roof accounts
for 66.01% of the total accidents, as is shown in Figure
1. Therefore, analyzing on the characters of the com-
pound mudstone roof, finding out the essence factor
for roof fall, and researching the key support technol-
ogy suitable for this type of roof could greatly improve
the safety factor and reduce the roof accidents.
2 FIELD OBSERVATION FOR COAL
ROADWAYS WITH COMPOUND
MUDSTONE ROOF
According to the wide observation and investigation
of the coal roadways deformation failure with com-
pound mudstone roof in colliery of Xinyuan, Bailong,
Xinsan and Pingba, the type of roof is difficult to
Figure 1. The blocks of wood support after roof fall.
support which has shown serious roof fall accidents
or large roof subsidence. For instance, the compound
roof in Xinyuan coal mine suffers from the serious
caving in the process of roadway tunneling, and the
caving height and length respectively is 7 ∼ 8 m and
15 m, in the meanwhile, the partial displacement of
roof subsidence for the roadway even exceed 500 mm.
The other roadways deformation or caving results with
compound mudstone roof are shown in Table1.
Based on the deformation and failure results in the
process of supporting, the characters of compound
mudstone roof are shown as follows:
1) Intensive expansibility when met with water. As the
compound mudstone contains clay minerals, once
water molecule immerses into the type of roof, it
will produce expansion stress and strain. In the
course of tunneling and supporting coal roadways
containing water in the compound mudstone roof,
the water flows along the drilling and immerses
into stratum, therefore the whole strength of com-
pound mudstone will decrease rapidly and lead to

635
 bed separation for compound roof. If the support
parameters are unreasonable or lack the key support
technology, the roof is easy to suffer the leakage
rocks or roof fall in large area.
2) Strong weathering property to the compound mud-
stone roof. After roadway excavation, the sur-
rounding rock on the roadway switches from three
dimensions compressions to double compressions.
Meanwhile, with the effect of gravity and ground
stress, the roof subsidence increases step by step
and the part of compound mudstone roof exposed
to the air is easy to be weathered. On the basis
of deformation development, the whole rock turns
to the cataclastic rock mass, and the failure zone
extends to deep strata of the roof, to lead to whole
weak rock strength.
3) The tensile stress in the middle of the roof increases
along with the large cross section. With the span
extension of the roadway, the tensile stress and
shear stress in the end enlarge, and the corre-
sponding roof subsidence develops at square or
cubic speed. The compound mudstone roof has low
strength, and the large span intense the deforma-
tion to the soft and weak stratum. In the meantime,
the differences of deformation amount and speed
among stratum lead to large bed separation and even
roof accidents.
4) It is difficult to choose bolt or cable support dia-
gram for compound mudstone roof. As for the thin
compound mudstone, choosing the bolt support
design should consider each parameter or match-
ing relation of the support material containing bolt,
cable, pallet, anchor agent, etc. Also, the different
strata thickness and location need a comprehensive
consideration. For the thick compound mudstone
roof, the general bolt and cable support could not
safeguard the roof, and the new type of combined
support system needs to be researched.
Table 1. Deformation results of the roadways surrounding
rock with typical compound mudstone roof.
Convergence
Roof fall (Yes/No) Roof of both
subsidence sides
Coal mine Length (m) Height (m) (mm) (mm)
Xinyuan 7∼8 15 ≥ 500 ≥ 650
Bailong 5∼6 10 500 ∼ 1000 ≥ 700
Xinsan N 300 ∼ 400 ≥ 300
Pingba N ≥ 1000 ≥ 800
Table 2. Categories of surrounding rock loose circle for supporting roadways.
Surrounding rock categories Category name
Small surrounding rock – Stable
Moderate surrounding rock I Comparatively stable
II Normal stable
Large surrounding rock III Normal unstable (soft rock)
IV Unstable (comparatively soft surrounding rock)
V Extremely unstable ( extremely soft surrounding rock)
636
3 CLASSIFICATION AND CORRESPONDING
SUPPORT MEASURE
Generally speaking, the support diagram for bolt and
cable depends on the categories of coal roadway
stability. Professor Dong firstly gives the categories
according to the surrounding zone of loose circle, and
has got the conclusion that strength of surrounding
rock, surrounding rock stress and interaction relation-
ship are the basic factors to determine the stability of
roadways surrounding rock, and the surrounding zone
of loose circle means the average decreased range in
surrounding rock detected by acoustic-waves-monitor
in the stage of support basically stable after roadway
excavating, as is shown in Tab. 2. However, the kind of
categories is in accordance with the whole surround-
ing rock stability, which not only needs considering
different complex parameters and interaction relation-
ship, but also could not give the guidance to the type
of roadway with compound mudstone roof in essence.
Therefore, in order to improve support security for
compound mudstone roof, it is essential to give the
category for the kind of roof in view of the charac-
ters of compound mudstone roof and adopt effective
measures to each pattern.
Concerning the relation between the stable anchor
points of the anchorage body and the position of com-
pound mudstone layer, there we set the distance from
the anchor point to roof exposed to the air for l1 , and
from the upper and lower strata of the composite mud-
stone to the lowest roof of the roadway for l2 and l3 . The
thickness of composite mudstone is d, so the d = l2 –
l3 . The concrete compound mudstone roof could be
classified as follows:
1) The anchor point is below the interlayer in com-
pound mudstone of the roof, that is l1 < l3 , which is
named type I, as is shown in Figure 2. In this case,
the anchor point is in relatively stable strata, so the
supporting method to adopt common anchor and
cable can control the roof, with little influence of the
interlayer in compound mudstone on the stability of
the roof and little chance of caving.
2) The anchor point overtops the interlayer in com-
pound mudstone of the roof, that is l1 > l2 , which
is named type II, as shown in Figure 3. In this case,
when applying pre-tightening torque, the com-
pound mudstone, within the length of the anchor,
is compacted closely due to the effect of combina-
tion arch produced by the roof bolt. The supporting
method, adopting the joint action of bolt – metal
Surrounding rock loose circle (cm)
0 ∼ 40
40 ∼ 100
100 ∼ 150
150 ∼ 200
200 ∼ 300
>300
Figure 2. The type I of compound mudstone roof. 1 — stable
strata; 2 —compound mudstone; 3 —comparatively stable
strata; 4 —roadway.
Figure 3. The type II of compound mudstone roof. 1 —
stable strata; 2 —comparatively stable strata; 3 —compound
mudstone.
net – W steel strip and reasonable design for
supporting parameters, can completely ensure the
safety of such roof.
3) The anchor point is located in the interlayer of com-
pound mudstone of the roof, that is l3 < l1 < l2 , and
the corresponding result of category is named type?
of compound mudstone. According to the thickness
of the compound mudstone, it can be divided into
two kinds of circumstances, as the Fig.4 (a) and (b)
show, so this type could be classified to two con-
crete patterns, that is type III(a) and III(b) . In these
two cases, the accidents of roof collapsing or leak-
ing take place frequently in coal mines, so the type
III(a) and III(b) of compound mudstone roof should
be analyzed and researched in detail. In the mean-
while, the matching support technology with two
concrete types respectively also needs to improve.
As Figure 4 (a) shows, the ordinary roof bolt is com-
monly 2 ∼ 3m long. If it is too short, the pre-tightening
force is small, which is similar to passive support and
unable to ensure the safety of the roof; But even if
the pre-tightening force is large, due to the absence
of anchorage to stable strata, the stress decreases
quickly when transferred to anchor segments, which
leads to the anchor segments of the surrounding rock
in approximate two-stress state; Especially when the
stress environment of the interlayer of compound mud-
stone is broken, the interlayer gradually sheds from the
rock layer below, easily causing the roof fall. There-
fore, the supporting for this kind of roof depends on
the reasonable anchor and cable supporting system,
637
Figure 4. The type III(a) of compound mudstone roof. 1 —
stable strata; 2 —compound mudstone; 3 —comparatively
stable strata.
Figure 4. The type III(b) of compound mudstone roof. 1 —
compound mudstone strata.
namely the rational parameters matching of bolt –
cable – metal net – steel belt in the support system.
The Figure 4 (b) shows the thick compound mud-
stone roof. As the anchor point of bolt or cable
supporting is difficult to extend into the stable strata,
when encountering improper supporting, the roof fall
is easy to happen. This type of compound mudstone
roof is the most difficult type in roof supporting and
the sudden collapse is common in the coal roadway
field. The ordinary anchor or cable supporting sys-
tem can rarely take effect, so it is necessary to put
forward new effective theory and technology for sup-
porting matching the roof characters to reduce the roof
accidents.
4 MECHANICAL MODE BUILDING AND
ANALYSIS
Set ultimate compressive strength of A, B and C rock
strata respectively for σ ∗A , σ ∗B and σ ∗C . Among them,
rock strata B stands for the compound mud stone
strata. The compressive strength of the contact sur-
face between A and B is respectively σ AQ and σ ∗Bi ,
also between B and C is respectively σ ∗∗ Bi and σ CQ , as
is shown in Fig.5. In the certain surrounding pressure,
when σ 2 , σ 3 is invariable, that is, under the action of
σ 1 and P, we can obtain,

Figure 5. The mechanical model of compound mudstone
roof.(A —stable strata; B — compound mudstone; C —com-
paratively stable strata).
Therefore, abscission layer occurs most frequently
in the intersection layer between composite mudstone
layer B and A or B and C.
In the view of rock strata stiffness, set ultimate com-
pressive strength of A, B and C rock strata respectively
for [fa ], [fb ] and [fc ], in the certain surrounding rock
pressure, when σ 2 , σ 3 is invariable, that is, under the
action of σ 1 and P, the stiffness displacement of the
contact surface between A and B are respectively fak ,
fbi∗ , between A and Bfbi∗∗ , fck , we can obtain,
As the ground stress in the excavated roadway is
fixed, in order to reduce abscission layer deforma-
tion and damage between the compound mudstone
roof and neighboring layers, it is necessary to increase
pre-tightening force P of the bolt and consider mainly
how to control the part of compound mudstone and the
strata below by the new supporting system, especially
for thick compound mudstone. In the case of ordi-
nary bolt and cable supporting without stable anchor
point, as time goes on, it is easier to lead to the
abscission layer of strata interface and sudden roof
collapse accidents. On the basis of the above analyz-
ing, a new supporting system, regarding cable truss
supporting as the core and combining the joint control
by high-strength bolt and cable, is put forward.
5 ENGINEERING APPLICATION
The roadway No. 21101 has complex geologic and
production conditions, that is, the immediate roof of
the roadway is a composite roof with 6 layers mud-
stone and shed coal interactive occurrence, and the
average thickness is 2.2 m; Above the compound mud-
stone roof, it is soft and weak strata mainly containing
638
Figure 6. The combined control system of compound mud-
stone roof. 1 — cable anchoring point; 2 — cable load-bearing
ring; 3— bolt load-bearing ring.
mudstone or argillaceous sandstone with 4∼6 m thick,
and the neighboring strata consists K8 sandstone bed
with water, which is 7∼8 m thick.
Moreover, the roadway No. 21101 has three diffi-
culties in the support process: 1) As the compound
mudstone roof has unfavorable conditions with large
thickness, thin layer, complex stratum structure, bed-
ding fracture development, which break the integrity
of the surrounding rock, it is easy to cause abscission
layer damage and even lead to roof fall; 2) During the
roadway excavation and support, the continue water
seepage of the K8 sandstone bed greatly weakens the
mudstone strength and breaks the whole structure, and
the mudstone roof appears loose, scattered, broken sta-
tus, which intensify abscission layer of the compound
roof; 3) With the large cross section and the compound
mudstone roof of the roadway, the tensile stress in the
middle of the roof increases with support service time,
and it could induce roof accidents.
5.1 The control principle of new combined support
system
The set of new type of support system is in the core
of the cable truss, which is combined with the high
strength bolt and cable, as is shown in Fig.6. The cable
truss system is formed by two high strength cables
and one special connector. After anchoring the ends of
two cables into deep surrounding rock, the other ends
of cable truss are connected by connector and high
pre-tightening force is applied. As the cable anchoring
points are located into the roof deeper place above the
coal sides where the strata is in the three dimensions
compressed state, the arrangement could avoid that
support system is weakened or broken along with the
slow roof subsidence during the roof service period.
Moreover, the applied pre-tightening force makes the
roof stratum compressed and the formed cable load-
bearing ring decreases the bed separation of the roof
in some degree.
The high strength bolts are connected by steel strip.
After applying pre-tightening force, the shallow sur-
rounding rocks of the roof are compressed and the
formed bolt load-bearing ring decreases the chance of
the roof leakage or fall. In the process of roof sub-
sidence, the cable truss and high strength bolt have

Figure 7. The support parameters simulation to the com-
pound mudstone roof. 1 — cable truss; 2 — cable; 3 —
bolt.
the synergistic effect, which could control the abscis-
sion layer in the deep surrounding rock and intensive
deformation in the shallow surrounding rock, so the
combined support system could safeguard the thick
compound mudstone roof.
5.2 Support simulation and application results for
roadway No. 21101
The determined concrete support parameters of bolt
(cable) of the roadway play an extremely important
role to the later supporting effect and roof safety con-
ditions, and the parameters mainly include bolt (cable)
row and space distance, length, diameter, material
type, pre-tightening force, the angle between the bolt
(cable) and horizontal direction and so on. The road-
way No. 21101 is 7.0 m wide and 3.2 m high, and the
cross section is formed by twice excavation based on
the simulation results of the roadway support param-
eters, as shown in Fig.7, and the main reasonable
support parameters are determined, such as top bolt
density is 10 per row, the angle of cable truss is 70◦ ,
the cable length is 10 m, and the distance between side
walls and orifice is 1.5 m,ect.
Combined with ventilation safety, pedestrian,
equipment installation, the final roof support arrange-
ment of the roadway is determined and applied on
roadway No. 21101. The field observation results for
one month show that the largest convergence of both
sides is 91mm, and the roof subsidence is no more
than 166 mm, as is shown in Fig.8, which makes a
good effect to surrounding rock control. Meanwhile,
the average abscission layer of the roof is 9 mm, which
indicates that stratum of the roof are kept stable.
6 CONCLUSIONS
1. Based on the investigation results of deformation
and breakage of the compound mudstone roof on
the coal roadway, the corresponding characters of
compound mudstone roof are researched and deter-
mined; Moreover, the total three types about the
639
Figure 8. The surrounding Surface displacement.
above roof are classified and corresponding support
measures to match different types are put forward.
2. By establishment of the mechanical model for com-
pound mudstone roof, it can be analyzed that bed
separation zones are located at the stratum junc-
tion from the rock stiffness and strength prospects
and the supporting system of new anchor cable
truss, high strength bolt and cable with high
pre-tightening force are proposed to control the
deformation and breakage for thick compound
mudstone.
3. The control principle of the combined support sys-
tem is thoroughly analyzed, and the supporting
parameters of compound mudstone roof on road-
way No. 21101 in a mine are simulated. The field
support results show that this supporting system
could control the type of roof deformation and
ensure the safety of the roof.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Work is financially supported by the Fundamen-
tal Research Funds for the Central Universities
(2010YZ02), the National Basic Research Program of
China under Grant No. 2010CB226802 and the State
Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining
(CUMT) (SKLCRSM 10B08). The authors would like
to thank the technicians of coal mines for the practice.
REFERENCES
Dong, F.T., Song, H.W. 1994. Roadway support theory based
on broken rock zone. Journal of China Coal Society:
19(1), 21–32.
He, F.L. 2011. Experiment of Powerful Anchor Truss Support
System Applied to Mining Roof Falling Gateway. Coal
Science and Technology: 39(02), 1–5.
Jia, M.K. 2005. A new way of genetic classification roof
falling of bolt supporting roadway. Journal of China Coal
Society: 30(5), 568–570.
Kang, H.P., Wang, J.H. 2007. Rock Bolting Theory and Com-
plete Technology for Coal Roadways. Beijing: China Coal
Industry Publishing House.
Li, G.C. 2008. Study on the surrounding rock stability and
safety control of roadways roof embedded weak inter-
calated seam. Xuzhou: China University of Mining and
Technology.
Wu, Y.Q. 2009. Geohydraulics. Beijing: Science Press.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Elastic analysis of releasing depth of borehole for overcoming stress

measurement

D.Ji. & F.H. Ren

University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

H.B. Jia
Shandong University of Science and Technology, Shandong, China

ABSTRACT: The method of stress relief by overcoming with high precision and reliability characteristics is
widely used, which needs to drill a borehole in the rock to carry out the measurement. In order to acquire the
the original rock stress avoiding the influence of excavation, the depth of the hole should be 3 to 5 times of the
roadway width according the principle of elasticity. The complex variable function, conformal mapping method
and cauchy integral are used to calculate complex stress functions of wall semicircle arch roadways, which
provide theoretical basis to the relief depth’s selection. The influence of roadway excavation on surrounding
rock stress was studied. As a checking to the analytical solution, three dimensional simulations were used to
analysis the change of field stress during the excavation. Personal opinions on correction of in-situ stress data
under different relief depths were put at the end.

1 INTRODUCTION shape. As an example, the answer of stress function

Relative to other in-situ stress measuring methods,
the stress relief method with the longest history and
the most sophisticated skill (Ljunggren 2003) were
used more widely and more reliably. It can measure
the range and distribution of the tectonic stress field
accurately.
Stress relief method has already formed a standard
measurement program (Cai 2010). In real world, a
large hole should be punched from the underground
tunnel until touching the place where need measure-
ment of rock stress which is for punching a smaller
hole to install the strain gauge. The depth of the large
hold should meet the requirements. If the hole is
not deep enough, the gauging point is significantly
affected by excavation, which will lead to meaning-
less statistic. Besides, Conservative choice for the hole
not only wastes manual work and raw materials, but
also enhances the difficulty of the gage’s installation
and unloading, even worse, leads to the failure of the
experiment. Usually, according to the experience, it is
determined as three to five times level span of roadway
or cavern (Guo 2008). If the condition of surrounding
rock stress can not be learned, the theory which is used
to determine the relief depth can not be provided either.
Roadway and chamber digging belongs to ori-
fice field in planar elastic mechanics. The solutions
of orifice field couldn’t be calculated appropriately
by classic elastic mechanics due to different shapes
of tunnel sections and complicated boundary con-
ditions (Cheng 1994). The conformal mapping of
complex function could be used to transform com-
plicated boundary conditions to boundary of simple
of straight wall semicircle arch roadways was solved
by functions of complex variable. As a checking to
the analytical solution, three dimensional simulations
were used to analysis the change of field stress during
the excavation. The reasonable relief depth could be
obtained based on theoretical calculation and analysis
of numerical simulation. Personal opinions on correc-
tion of in-situ stress data under different relief depths
were put.
2 COMPLEX FUNCTION SOLUATION OF
STRESS DISTRIBUTION IN SURROUNDING
ROCK
2.1 The mapping function for curvilinear hole
As is shown in Figure 1, the infinite field D on plane is
alternated to infinite field G on plane ζ by a mapping
function. Its most common form follows (Jiao 2004):
where R = positive real number; Ck = complex num-
ber.
A symmetry axis can be found in common mining
tunnel and chamber as well as Ck equals to real. Usu-
ally, when several terms in type (1) were decided, the
requirement of accuracy could be met (Wang 2006,
Liu 1995). The mapping function with four terms can
be provided as follows:

641
 Stress boundary condition was given:

The surface forces equal to zero at orifice, thenX,

Y and f(σ) all equal to zero, then equation (7) can be
simplified as:

Figure 1. Area outside boundary of roadway in the Z-plane

mapping onto outside unit circle in the ζ-plane.

Cauchy integral formula was used to solve. Under

the Cauchy integral operators acting on left and right
of equation (8), the results can be obtained:

The integral on right of equation (9) was equal to:

Figure 2. Sketch of stress distribution in surrounding rock

of roadway with vertical wall and semicircle arch.
2.2 Solution of the complex variable functions ϕ(ζ)
and ψ(ζ)
A roadway with straight wall and semicircle arch hav- ϕ0 (σ) is boundary value of the analytic function out-
ing radius r0 and wall height h is subjected to uniform side the unit circle, the result could be simplified
loads: as:
Vertical stress q and Horizontal stress sq at infinity
(Figure 2)
The issue presented above belongs to plane stress
problem, while the general form of ϕ(ζ) and ψ(ζ) is
listed: ψ0 (σ) is boundary value of the analytic function in the
unit circle, and the result was simplified as :

The second integral on left was solved using power

Where X = surface force component along x-axis;
series expansion and contrast of coefficient of same
Y = surface force component along y-axis; B,¢B and
order. Only the result was given:
C = undetermined coefficient.
ϕ0 (ζ) and ψ0 (ζ)are single-value analytic functions
which follows formula (4):

Induce formulas (10) to (13) to equation (9), then

compare the index of same order of ζ, all coefficients
σx , σy and τxy are sq, q and zero where it’s infinity of ϕ0 (ζ) was studied:
from orifice. Induce them into equations (5),

The results can be obtained:

642

Figure 3. The size of roadway used in calculation example.
The concrete form of ϕ0 (ζ)was known, then ϕ(ζ)
can be obtained:
To solve ψ(ζ), conjugate operators were imposed on
two sides of equation (9):
The form of ψ0 (σ) can be studied by same theory
used in solution of ϕ0 (ζ), then ψ(ζ) was got:
Where β1 to β4 are coefficients related with C and
C1 to C4
The relationship in polar coordinates between ϕ(ζ),
ψ(ζ)and stress components is as follows:
Formulas (14) and (16) have been Induced to equa-
tion (17), then separate real part and imaginary part,
the expression of σρ , σθ and τρθ were learned. The
result was not given due to its tedious form. The calcu-
lation proves that while ω(ζ) is determined, the stress
condition of wall rock around roadways can be studied
easily.
643
3 CALCULATION EXAMPLE
A straight wall semicircle arch roadway with radius
1.3 m and wall height 1.9 m was elected for calculat-
ing example. According to Liu & Wang (1995) the
mapping function’s expression follows:
Optimization technique of complex shape was used
to determine the mapping function. The theory of solv-
ing for the technique can be concluded: comparing
each objective function,remove the bad points con-
stantly while substitute the new points which not only
meet constraint condition but also decrease the value of
objective function.The results will be approaching to
the best point due to the works above. Special calcula-
tion program was compilation. The calculation results
illustrates that max absolute error of tunnel size will be
0.0526m and the average error be 0.0165 m when con-
formal transformation was done by mapping function
(18), which can be neglected respect to the size.
Generally, in order to make convenient for oper-
ation in field measurement, the height of big hole is
more than 1.2 m. The stress condition along y-axis was
described in Figure 3.
3.1 Analytical elastic solution
Corresponding relationship between z plane and ζ
plane was given:
The stress along positive y-axis was discussed.
Induce x = 0 and ζ = ρeiθ to formula (18), the results
can be simplified as:
σx , σy respectively equal to σθ and σρ when θ is 90◦ .
Induce formulas (18) and (19) to equations (17), then
separate the imaginary part:
where X1 = 2Cρ − 2C1 ρ3 + 2C3 ρ5 ; X2 = 12A3 ρ −
2A1 ρ3 ; Y1 = 2C3 ρ3 − 4C4 ρ5 ; Y2 = 12C3 ρ − 2C1 ρ3 .
Although the results are complex, there is only one
unknown number y. The stress condition along positive
y-axis was shown in table 1.
3.2 Results of numerical simulationm its stress variation is less significant than Scheme one
with no supporting.
The implementation of numerical simulation based
on variation regularity of stress field before and after
excavating depends on the software FLAC-3D,which 4 CONCLUSIONS
is a finite difference soft. With an aim to make the
results more practical meaning,the model parameters According to the basic theory of complex-variable
and boundary conditions were determined by refer- function and the method of combining planar domain
ring to field data in a certain gold mine in Shandong
province(Miao 2007). Regression equations of in-situ
stress are shown in type (21).

where σh,max = Maximum horizontal principal stress;

σh,min = minimum horizontal principal stress;
σh,v = vertical principal stress; H = depth, m.
Considering the influence of possible factors such
as rock properties and mining depth of roadway, the Figure 4. Stress distributing diagram of horizontal principal
numerical simulation was divided into three schemes stress σx after excavation in plan one.
(Table 2). The roadway in Scheme one is supported by
grouting, while Scheme two and Scheme three with no
supporting.
Three stress nephograms after excavation are shown
in Figure 4 to Figure 6. σx means maximum level
principal stress parallel to roadway, minimum level
principal stress is expressed as σy and vertical prin-
cipal stress as σz. The results for stress ratio value of
surrounding rock before and after excavation is shown
in table 3. D represents the distance from the surface
of the roadway, d1 to d5 respectively equal to 2.6 m,
5.2 m, 7.8 m, 10.4 m and 13 m.
The results show little difference between Scheme Figure 5. Stress distributing diagram of horizontal principal
one and Scheme two that means the change of sur- stress σy after excavation in plan one.
rounding rock stress are slightly affected by the depth.
The non-zero of orifice stress of tunnel under support-
ing is non-zero, which leads to different solution of
stress function. Scheme three reflects this difference:
Table 1. Values of σx and σy of different distance from the
surface of the roadway

y(m) 2.6 5.2 7.8 10.4 13

σx 1.417sq− 0.832sq+ 0.673sq+ 0.605sq+ 0.569sq+

0.596q 0.106q 0.286q 0.401q 0.442q
σy 1.483q− 0.211sq+ 0.362sq+ 0.414sq+ 0.435sq+
0.379sq 0.863q 0.726q 0.637q 0.602q Figure 6. Stress distributing diagram of vertical principal
stress σz after excavation in plan one.

Table 2. Physico-mechanical parameters of rock mass in numerical simulation.

Deep Elastic Internal Compressive Tensile

of grid Density Surrounding modulus Poisson Cohesion friction strength strength
origin(m) (kg/m3 ) rock properties (GPa) ratio (MPa) angle (MPa) (MPa)

Scheme one 500 2700 granite 62.57 0.262 14.63 41.4◦ 92.46 3.9
Scheme two 1000 2700 granite 62.57 0.262 14.63 30◦ 92.46 3.9
Scheme three 500 2400 sandstone 10 0.23 6.3 30◦ 23.3 1.17

644
 Table 3. Principal stress ratio value of surrounding rock before and after excavation.

Scheme Ratio value

numbers of stress D = d1 D = d2 D = d3 D = d4 D = d5

1 σ x/σ’ x 1.265 1.163 1.072 1.051 1.033

σ y/σ’ y 1.116 1.051 1.032 1.022 1.008
σ z/σ’ z 0.876 0.942 0.963 0.971 0.982
2 σ x/σ’ x 1.288 1.182 1.069 1.052 1.037
σ y/σ’ y 1.093 1.054 1.021 1.017 1.008
σ z/σ’ z 0.873 0.938 0.956 0.966 0.973
3 σ x/σ’ x 1.166 1.073 1.049 1.030 1.022
σ y/σ’ y 1.061 1.033 1.016 1.007 1.005
σ z/σ’ z 0.925 0.963 0.977 0.985 0.992

conformal mapping technique the surrounding rock ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

stress of the straight wall semicircle arched roadways
is presented which is proved by numerical simulation
method. All of above provided theoretical basis for the
selection of the stress release depth. Through the anal-
ysis of the above results, the following conclusions are
obtained:
1. The horizontal stress of the surrounding rock mass
is decreasing cased by the tunnel excavation; ver-
tical stress is increasing when s < 1 (side pressure
coefficient); its changing trend gradually becomes
decreased with the increasing ofs .
2. The stress state in surrounding rock of roadway
within 5 times the span will be influenced by the
excavation. The stress variation amplitude tends
to gently in more than 3 times of the level span
range. The average stress value difference is only
about 3% in 3 times to 5 times of the level span
position place. Comprehensive consideration, the
ideal remove depth should be at 3 times of the level
span position place, which not only avoid the sen-
sitive areas of the stress changes but also not too
conservative.
3. It is about 5% to 10% deviation between the stress
of ideal remove depth and original rock stress under
the condition of without supporting in roadway.
Therefore in the condition of accurate measurement
the results should be revised, in other words, the
measurement of the horizontal stress and vertical
stress should be respectively multiply amplification
coefficient and reduction factor which are deter-
mined by the results of analytical solution of the
surrounding rock stress. There is no need to revise
the stress value in soft rock roadway which has good
supporting conditions, because the absolute error of
the stress is less than 3% in general.
4. This method is not only suitable for straight wall
semicircle arched roadways, but also can be used
for other cross-section shape of roadways. In the
calculation process, the mapping function of road-
ways should be determined.
The work is supported by “Major Program of National
Natural Science Foundation of China (No.51034001)”
and “Chinese National Programs for High Technology
Research and Development (No.2008AA062104)”.
REFERENCES
Cai, M.F., Liu, W.D. & Li, Y. 2010. In–situ measurement at
deep position of ling long gold mine and distribution law
of in-situ stress field in mine area. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 29(2): 227–233.
Cai, M.F. (ed). 2000. Principle and techniques of rock stress
measurement. Beijing: Science Press.
Cheng, Z.Y. (ed). 1994. Analytical method in analysis of
surrounding rock mechanics. Beijing: Coal Industry Press.
Guo, L., Wang, J.B. & Li, N. 2008. Elastic analysis of stress
concentration factor of rectangular drift. Metal Mine.,
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Jiao, C.M. & Lu, A.Z. 2004. Analytical solution of loads
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645
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Simulation analysis of failure mechanism of roadways in soft rock supported

with bolting and shotcreting

A.B. Jin, B. Li, Y. Wang & F.G. Deng

School of the Civil and Environmental Engineering, USTB, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: PFC2D is used to simulate the distability and failure process of roadways in the soft rock supported
with bolting and shotcreting in Xiao Guanzhuang iron mine. The results show that the deformation and failure
of roadway in soft rock is gradually from the floor to the vault and two sides, and the process is gradually divided
into three stages. The first one is the rupture of roadway bottom rock, then the bottom rupture expansion and
the surrounding roadway rupture, and the last stage is rapid rupture and supporting invalidation. The rock stress
release of roadway floor is most serious, and deformation is maximum. Therefore, the soft rock deformation
characteristics should be fully realized, and the supporting of roadway floor should be strengthened.

1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS Xiaoguanzhuang iron mine is a deeper one in under-

Soft rock is a complex rock mechanical media under
the specific environment, which has significant plastic
and viscoelastic deformation. And the notable features
of soft rock is large plastic deformation and support-
ing difficulty. Production and construction of mine are
still plagued by soft rock issue. With the increase of
mining depth, most of mines have suffered different
degrees of soft rock disasters in China, therefore, it has
become an urgent task of researching the deformation
characteristics and stability control technology of soft
rock.
After soft rock has been excavated, the vault, floor
and two sides of roadway would be distorted, and move
to the interior of the roadway due to high stress, water
and other factors, consequently, the normal use of
roadway would be seriously affected, and it even would
be scrapped. Not only a lot of maintenance work will
be brought, maintenance costs will increase, producing
safety of mine will also be seriously affected. Defor-
mation mechanism and control method of the soft rock
have been studied in the following aspects at home and
abroad. Floor heave of roadway had been classified by
Jiang Yaodong (Jiang 2004); the formula of estimat-
ing the amount of roadway floor had been put forward
by C. Wang(Wang 2000); creep properties of red-bed
soft rock are accorded with Burgers model, which had
been obtained by Chen Wenwu, and the strength and
creep properties of red-bed soft rock have been stud-
ied, which are affected by water content (Chen 2009);
the stress distribution characteristics of some key parts
of loose soft rock roadway was analyzed by means of
numerical analysis by Tao Lianjin (Tao 2010); it has
been explained of the main cause of large amount of
floor heave in the transport roadway floor by means of
theoretical analysis by Li Shuqing (Li 2005).
ground ferrous metal mine, and it is one of the most
difficult mining iron mine in the world. As the result of
water and high stress, the deformation of stope drift is
very large, thereby, the normal production of the mine
was seriously affected. In this paper, two-dimensional
granular flow (PFC2D ) program has been used to
simulate the instability and failure of the soft rock
roadway which is supported with bolting and shotcret-
ing using reasonable micromechanical parameters. By
simulating the movement of round granular media and
their interaction, the deformation characteristic, fail-
ure mechanism of roadway have been studied from the
microscopic perspective damage of surrounding rock.
2 ENGINEERING GEOLOGY
Xiaoguanzhuang iron mine is one of main mine
of Luzhong Metallurgical Mining Group, located at
north of Laiwu City, Shandong Province. Mining
strata are Quaternary, Tertiary Xiaoguanzhuang For-
mation, Paleozoic Carboniferous Taiyuan Formation,
the Benxi Formation, Ordovician Majiagou Formation
from the old to the new. Bolting and shotcreting sup-
port was used in 90% of developing butt, but after stope
drift has been excavated and supported, deformation
is very large, floor heave is obvious, and the driving
section of the roadway has become from 4 m × 3.6 m
to 3 m × 3.2 m at the most serious area, the tram
road have been repaired repeatedly, and the normal
mining of mine has been seriously affected. Parame-
ters of bolting and shotcreting support are as follow:
tube type friction anchor and rebar mortar anchor are
adopted, the length of anchors is 1.8 m, layout grid
of anchors is 0.8 m × 0.8 m, layout grid of steel mesh
is 0.2 m×0.2 m, the thick of concrete spray layer is
50∼70 mm.

647
Table 1. Microscopic parameters of the model.
Parameters
Particle radius (m)
Particle density (N·m−3 )
Friction coefficient
Parameters of parallel bond Normal stiffness (N·m−1 )
Shear stiffness (N·m−1 )
Normal strengths (N)
Shear strengths (N)
Radius multiplier
3 MODEL AND PARAMETER SELECTION
3.1 Model
The linear stiffness model and the parallel bond model
have been used. Based on the actual project situa-
tion, the model has been established. The width of the
model is 28 m, and the height is 25 m. The roadway
section is 4 m×3.6 m, the length of anchors is 1.8 m,
the thickness of concrete spray layer is 0.07 m. The
floor is not supported. The particle radius of rock and
anchors is 0.06 ∼ 0.1 m, with a total of 28,768 par-
ticles, but the particle radius of concrete spray layer
is 0.01 ∼ 0.014 m, with a total of 1,416 particles. To
make the initial stress of the model not affected by the
establishment of concrete spray layer, the initial thick
of concrete spray layer has been diminished, then the
actual thickness can be obtained by multiplying the
radius multiplier.
3.2 Parameter selection
Some relevant literatures (Xu 2010, Li 2010, Zhou
2007, Zhou 2009, Zhou 2010, Liu 2008) have been
read for reference in order to get the reasonable
micro-mechanical parameters. The macro parame-
ters were obtained through the uniaxial compression
test, then numerical simulation experiments is begun,
and microscopic parameters of numerical model have
been repeatedly adjusted in order that the reasonable
micro-mechanical parameters are gotten, the parame-
ters are shown in Table 1. FISH language is adopted
to establish 45 measurement circles, which is used to
monitor the stress and strain of surrounding rock after
the roadway is excavated, and it is monitored of the
displacement of particles at different depths.
4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
As is shown in figure1, microcosmic damage of par-
ticles bonding is generally developed. Figure 2 is the
map of the displacement development of surround-
ing rock, which is 1.5 m from roadway boundary.
By analyzing the displacement, stress and the whole
destruction process of particles bonding, the whole
648
Surrounding rock Anchor Concretespray layer
0.06 ∼ 0.1 0.06 ∼ 0.1 0.01 ∼ 0.014
1700 2500 2300
0.7 0.7 0.7
1.68 × 1010 7.35×1012 1.66 × 1012
8.4 × 109 2.45 × 1012 8.28 × 1011
1.10 × 106 5.03 × 108 2.08 × 108
1.60 × 106 7.05 × 108 3.13 × 108
0.8 0.8 0.8
destruction process of soft rock roadway can be
divided into three stages.
1) The first phase is the rupture of roadway bottom
rock. This phase is very short, microcosmic rupture
only appears at the bottom of roadway, but there are
no changes at two sides and vault of the roadway
and the support system. Because the bottom is not
supported, a cambered micro-cracks surface is first
formed from two point of the floor. In this phase,
displacement of floor rock is maximum, and the
value is about 14.0 cm, the deformations of wall
and vault are very small, the deformation value of
left wall is 5 mm, and the right one is 4 mm, and the
vault is 2 mm, almost no change. The rock stress of
different depths of surrounding rock is analyzed,
it can be concluded that the phenomenon of stress
release only turns up on the floor, the range of the
stress release area it is about 2 m, and the stress of
two sides and vault changes little.
2) The second phase is the bottom rupture expansion
and the surrounding roadway ruptured. Bonding
broken range of bottom rock has further expanded
on the basis of the original arc, particles sepa-
ration appear, the surrounding rock of wall and
vault become loosening, but there is no significant
deformation in support system. At this stage, the
displacements of floor and wall are linear growing,
but the growing rate of the floor is higher, in the end
of this stage, the maximum displacement of bottom
reaches 27.8 cm, the left wall is 6.0 cm, the right is
5.9 cm, and the vault is 2.2 cm. The rock stress of
different depths of roadway is analyzed, it can be
concluded that the stress release range of the floor
has further expanded, the range is about 6 m, and
there is different degrees of stress release on the
wall and vault, the wall is about 2 m, the vault is
1 m.
3) The last phase is rapid rupture and supporting inval-
idation. At this stage, the development of bonding
rupture is very rapid so that the bonding of the
whole model is almost broken, particles of the floor
were significantly poured into the interior of road-
way, the phenomenon of floor heave is more and
more seriously, the bonding between anchor and
rock is gradually invalid. From Figure 1, as cal-
culating to 15,000 steps, the concrete reinforcing

Figure 1. Changes of particles bonding invalidation.
mesh is bend of the bottom, and the support at the
bottom of the right wall is ruptured, ultimately, it
is divorced from the whole. By analyzing the dis-
placement of the particles, the deformations of the
floor and wall increase rapidly, the separation phe-
nomenon of concrete particles is more and more
obviously. As calculating to 70,000 steps, the max-
imum displacement of the floor is 65.2 cm, the
left wall is 27.4 cm, the vault is 7.7 cm. The stress
release range of floor is over 7 m, the wall is 5 m,
the roof is 4 m, and the rock stress is about 5% of
the original rock stress on the boundary of roadway.
Based on the above analysis results, it is clear that
the stress release of the floor is most and deformation
of it is maximum, the main reason of large deforma-
tion of the roadway is the floor not being supported or
its low supporting strength. From a macroscopic per-
spective, the deformation characteristics of soft rock
roadway can be described that a wider range of plastic
and broken zone is first formed on the floor, and floor
heave appeared, then rock stratum moved, two sides
and vault distorted, and finally the transportation and
personnel walking hindered. In this case, the roadway
had to be repaired, and if more seriously, it would be
scrapped.Therefore, the deformation characteristics of
the soft rock should be fully realized, and the support
of the roadway floor should be strengthened.
649
Figure 2. Deformation of roadway 1.5 m far from roadway
boundary.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Soft rock roadway of Xiao Guanzhuang iron mine is as
engineering project to be simulated of the instability
and failure process of the soft rock roadway supported
with bolting and shotcreting. The main research results
are drawn as follows:
1. The processes of the rupture can be divided into
three stages. The first is the rupture of roadway bot-
tom rock, then the bottom rupture expansion and the
surrounding roadway ruptured, and the last stage is
rapidly ruptured and supporting invalidation.
2. From a macroscopic perspective, the deforma-
tion characteristics of soft rock roadway can be
described that a wider range of plastic and broken
zone is first formed on the floor, and floor heave
appeared, then rock stratum moved, two sides and
vault distorted.
3. The rock stress release of roadway floor is the
most serious, and deformation is maximum. There-
fore, the deformation characteristics of the soft rock
should be fully realized, and the support of the
roadway floor should be strengthened.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Project (122024) supported by Fok Ying Tong Educa-
tion Foundation.
REFERENCES
Chen, W.W, Yuan, P.B, Liu, X.W. 2009. Study on Creep Prop-
erties of Red–Bed Soft Rock Under Step Load. Chinese
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 28(Sum. 1):
3076–3081.
Jiang, Y.D, Zhao, Y.X, Liu, W.G, Li, Q. 2004. Research on
Floor Heave of Roadway in Deep Mining. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 23(14): 2396–2401.
Li, S.Q, Feng, T, Wang, C.L, Pan, C.L. 2005. Study on Mech-
anism and Control of Soft Rock Roadway Floor Heave in
Gequan Coal Mine. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Engineering 24(8): 1450–1455.
Li, X.P, He, S.M. 2010. Numerical Analysis of the Failure
of Heavily Jointed Rock Slopes Using PFC2D . Jour-
nal of Sichuan University (Engineering Science Edition),
42(Sum. 1): 70–73.
Liu, S.G, Liu, H.N, Wang, S.J., et al. 2008. Direct Shear Tests
and PFC2D Numerical Simulation of Intermittent Joints.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
27(9): 1828–1835.
Tao, L.J, Kuai, B.Q, Zhang, B. 2010. The Fracture Mechanism
Analysis of Loose Soft Roadway by Discrete Element
Method. Chinese Journal of Underground Space and
Engineering 6(2): 318–321.
Wang, C., Wang, Y., Lu, S. 2000. Deformational Behavior of
Roadway Rocks in Underground Coal Mines and Princi-
ples for Stability Control. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences 37(6): 937–946.
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Xu, J.M, Xie, Z.L, Jia, H.T. 2010. Simulation of Mesome-
chanical Properties of Limestone Using Particle Flow
Code. Rock and Soil Mechanics 31(Sum. 2): 390–394.
Zhou, J., Qi, B., Zeng, Q.Y. 2007. Model Tests and PFC2D
Numerical Analysis on Laterally Loaded Passive Piles.
Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 29(10):
1449–1453.
Zhou, J., Bai,Y.F., Zhang, Z., Jia, M.C. 2009. Lab Model Tests
and PFC2D Modeling of Pile Groups in Sands. Chinese
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 31(8): 1275–1279.
Zhou, J., Wang, J.Q, Kong, X.L, Jia, M.C. 2010. Mesoscopic
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thetics. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Mechanism of slurry membrane for slurry shield tunnel

X.P. Kong
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Shanghai No.2 Municipal Engineering Co.,Ltd., Shanghai, China

Y. Bai & S.M. Liao

Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

ABSTRACT: Based on formation mechanism of membrane, a filtration model is introduced to simulate the
slurry membrane during slurry shield tunneling. In this filtration model, the slurry is regarded as multiphase
flow while the stratum is regarded as a porous medium. By a volume control method, it complies with mass
and volume conservation during the formation of membrane, i.e., the output volume of filtration is equal to that
of the compression of soil at the boundary. This model reveals the dynamic process of slurry membrane and
mechanism changes of the stratum, which is very important to ascertain the stability of working face during
slurry shield tunneling.

1 INTRODUCTION should take into account slurry’s rheological, physical

With the rapid development of underground space
and tunneling technology, big diameter slurry tun-
nels are widely used to construct tunnels across
rivers, such as Shanghai Yangzi tunnel, Nanjing
Yangzi tunnel (D = 14.93) and Wuhan Yangzi tunnel
etc. The obvious difference between Slurry-Pressure-
Balance(SPB) tunneling machine and Earth-Pressure-
Balance(SPB) tunneling machine is using different
ways to keep the face stability.
Comparing the two different tunneling methods
(SPB and EPB), much work has been done by
researchers to reveal the face stability mechanism. At
the preliminary stage, assurance and stability factor
are introduced to determine the face stability of the
SPB. According to Tresca criteria, Broms (Liu 1991)
defined the stability coefficient of excavation stratum.
Based on this concept, a series of standards were used
to estimate the face stability classified by embedment
and diameter. For a similarity existing between the sta-
bility problem of open-slurry filled diaphragm wall
trenches and slurry supported tunnel face, German
standard DIN 4126 regulates the required calcula-
tion and safety level. In addition, slurry support of
a tunnel face has to be examined: safety against heav-
ing of the overburden (uplift); safety against blow-out
(DIN 1986). With the increase of engineering projects
and the research probing, the importance of the sup-
port medium-slurry has been revealed. Anagnostou
and Kovari (1994) analyzed the slurry’s effect on the
face stability. To sandy and clay soil, it regards sup-
port medium as membrane and suspension structure
respectively. AFTES regards the science of slurry con-
sists of a combination of experience and theory, which
and chemical characteristics. In AFTES’s paper, the
stratum is regarded as porous medium and pressures
mobilize the slurry to penetrate into the soil. During
this process, for the existing of viscosity yield point,
slurry’s flow velocity will decrease following the dissi-
pation of pressures, which determines the face stability
by the stability of the particle in the interface (AFTES
2005).
This paper focuses on the mechanism of membrane
formation. The slurry in the chamber is regarded as two
phase flow mixed by flow phase and particle phase,
while the stratum as porous medium. Using the theory
of multiphase flow seepage in the porous, a filtration
model is introduced to depict the membrane formation,
which reveals the dynamic process.
2 THE FILTRATION MODEL OF MEMBRANE
FORMATION
2.1 The introduction of the filtration model
When tunneling, water in the slurry is penetrated into
the soil by the hydrodynamic effect, while the particles
in the mixture set on the interface form the membrane.
As this process is similar to the filtration in chemical
engineering (Welty 2001), it is defined as the filtration
model.
2.2 The introduction of the filtration model
During the formation of membrane, it is assumed that
slurry is mixture of viscous flow and ideally uncom-
pressed spherical particles. Meanwhile, the stratum is

651
Figure 1. One dimensional filtration model of slurry
membrane.
Figure 2. One dimensional filtration model.
considered as porous medium, whose framework is
composed by inflexible sphere (Bear 1983).
In filtration model, when pressure is applied to the
slurry, it is assumed that only flow can penetrate into
the soil and filter’s flow in the stratum follows Darcy’s
law. By the filtration, the membrane will form in the
process of particle setting.
In mathematics, the filtration model can be
explained as multiphase fluid flow in the porous
medium. During this process, it followed conservation
of mass and volume in case of no chemical reaction.
2.3 The filtration model analytic method
2.3.1 The governing equations of the filtration
model
If it is supposed that the SPB tunnels in the single
stratum, the seepage parameter will be same and the
model can be simplified as one dimension filtration
problem (Fig. 2).
Based on Rietema’s research (1982)£ Tien (2001)
developed multiphase continuity equation. Follow-
ing conservation of mass, the governing equation of
particle flow in the membrane can be gotten.
where εs is the volume fraction of the particle phase,
pl is the liquid pressure and qlm = ql + qm , ql is the
velocity of the filtration, qs is the velocity of the par-
ticle, k is the membrane’s permeability, and µ is the
viscosity of the filtrate.
652
Figure 3. The model of slurry membrane increase.
Figure 4. Three dimensional model of element seepage.
2.3.2 The speed of membrane increase
The speed of membrane thickness increase can be
gotten by considering mass balance (either filter or
particle) at the membrane surface. Assuming that L is
the thickness of the membrane, ql |L+ and ql |L− are
the filter velocity at the membrane surface, εl |L+ and
εl |L− are the corresponding membrane solidosities.
For the period of δt, the thickness of the membrane
increase is δL. Tien (2001) indicated that multiphase
fluid flow in the porous medium obeys Darcy’s Law,
who got the increase function (2) combining mass
conservation at the surface.
where ε0s membrane solidosity at the zero-stress state,
and εs0 is the particle mass fraction of the slurry.
2.3.3 The boundary condition of filtration model
During the process of membrane formation, consid-
ering the filtrate’s penetration and porous medium’s
characteristics, the filtrate will dissipate over time.
Supposing the dissipation obeys one dimensional
Darcy’s law, it is obtained that the value of the outflow
equal to the decrement of the soil and the velocity into
the soil equal to that out of the membrane. As a result,
the boundary condition can be achieved, which con-
nected the formation of the membrane and the soil’s
mechanism variation caused by tunneling.
Tien gave εs and k as functions of ps , which are
known as the constitutive relationships (Tien 2006).
These relationships can only be determined experi-
mentally. As a common practice, these relationships
can be expressed as (3) and (4).

εs : membrane solidosity
β: Coefficient from experiment Figure 5. The difference zone of Filtration model.
k: Membrane permeability
δ: Coefficient from experiment
Equation 5 is the boundary condition of the filtra- 3.2 The mathematic difference for filtration model
tion model combining the (3) and (4). Considering the filtration effect of the stratum, the
thickness of the membrane will increase over time,
which causes the boundary to move with time. For the
difference zone (Fig. 5), in calculation, the moving
boundary condition should be considered. The void
Accordingly, the equations set of the filtration
points are to be used for the mathematic method.
model can be expressed as:
After the equations are treated by dimensionless
method, they can be solved by difference method. Con-
sidering p(xi , tk ) = [u]ki , the space step size as hi and
the time step size as t. For the existence of the convec-
tion term, the difference equations could be written as
upwind scheme.

Accord to the filtration model, it can be achieved

that the membrane formation is the function of time,
which means that membrane formation is a dynamic
process. Supposing the excess pore water pressure is
the result of the pressure in the slurry chamber minus
the initial pressure in the stratum, the excess pore
water pressure starts dissipating from P at time t = 0.
When there is no filtrate penetrating into the stratum,
the process of the membrane increase stops.

Assuming the dimensionless variables as:

3 THE ANALYSIS OF FILTRATION MODEL

3.1 Parameter dimensionless

When all these variables use SI units, there will be large
difference in values, which could cause the difficulty in
solving the equation set. Hence, dimensionless method
is adopted, which can solve this problem. These 11
variables in the filtration model’s equation set are built
up by the 3 basic dimensions which are Mass, Length
and Time. By this way, the equations can be written as: The difference equations will be written:

653
Table 1. Parameters.

Pa K0 µ
Parameters β δ Pa ε0s m2 εs0 kg/(m·s)

Value 0.1 0.5 1200 0.2 1.75e-14 0.3 0.001

Figure 7. The relationship between pressure difference and

slurry membrane creation time.

Figure 6. The relationship between flow velocity and time

under different pressure P.

When x = L, the particle pressure in the slurry

will be 0(ps = 0) and the step size between the void
point and the next point is h2 . Following the above
assumption, at each time there are k + 2 variables
corresponding to k + 2 equations, which means the
equation could be solved.

4 THE DYNAMIC MECHANICS OF SLURRY Figure 8. The membrane thickness under different pressure.
MEMBRANE FORMATION AND
PARAMETRIC STUDY

4.1 The adopted parameters value
According to (7), (8) and (9), for the suspending
liquid consisting of the same particle, it has the
similar parameters in its constitutive equation. For
these parameters, some were obtained by experimental
result fitting, and some were derived from the exper-
imental result. Hence, it adopted these parameters
shown in table 1.
4.2 The slurry membrane formation dynamic
mechanics
According to the description of the model, for the exist-
ing pressure difference, the speed of the filtrate into
the soil will change over time.
In the same case, slurry membrane’s formation
period is different at different pressures. The higher
pressures, the shorter period for the slurry membrane
formation (Fig. 6); the higher difference pressure, the
much greater thickness (Fig. 7).
4.3 The excavation stratum mechanical
characteristic dynamic change
To the same excavation stratum, under the different
pressure difference, the pore water pressure and the
effective stress change (as shown in Fig. 8a–d) at
the interface of the excavation face and the slurry
membrane.
During the formation of the slurry membrane, the
pore water pressure and the effective stress will change
by time. The higher pressure difference, the shorter
period for the effective stress can reach a higher value;
the higher pressure difference, the higher dissipation
speed of the pore water pressure.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Based on filtration model introduced in this paper,
it revealed the physical process of slurry membrane
formation, which connected membrane formation and

654
 REFERENCES
Anagnostou, G. & Kovari K. 1994. The face stability of slurry
shield-driven tunnels. Tunneling and Underground Space
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Bear, J. 1983. Dynamics of fluids in porous media. Beijing:
China Architecture and Building Press.
Deutsches Institut für Normung. 1986. Ortbeton-Schlitzwände,
Konstruktion und Ausführung. Berlin: Beuth Verlag.
Liu, J.H. & Hou, X.Y. 1991. Shield Tunnel. Shanghai:
Railroad Publication House of China.
Tien, C., et al. 2001. Cake filtration analysis – the effect of
the relationship between the pore liquid pressure and the
cake compressive stress. Chemical Engineering Science
56:5361–5369.
Tien, C. & Bai, R. 2003. An assessment of the conventional
cake filtration theory. Chemical Engineering Science
58:1323–1336.
Tien, C. & Ramarao, B.V. 2006. On analysis of cake forma-
Figure 9. The mechanics changes in excavation face by time tion and growth in cake filtration. Journal of the Chinese
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Welty, J.R., et al. 2001. Foundamentals of Momentume, Heat,
and Mass Transfer. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

mechanism changes of stratum during tunneling. Fol-

lowing conclusions are made in this paper:
[1] uring tunneling, there is no static but dynamic
equilibrium. By using filtration model, the static
equilibrium is transferred into a dynamic one
which is more attributable to the tunneling sta-
bilization control.
[2] ith larger diameter of the slurry balanced shield,
the coverage of the shield cutting face may involve
multiple soil layers. Based on various permeabil-
ity and mechanical characteristics, the filtration
model is more reflective of the mechanical varia-
tion of different substratums, which makes more
scientific sense of the facing stabilization control
of large-diameter slurry shield .

655
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Destabilizing mechanism of deep granite tunnel in a metal mine

and its supporting measure

K.G. Li
Key Lab. for the Exploitation of Southwestern Resources & the Environmental Disaster Control Engineering,
Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China
Faculty of Land Resource Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China

J. Xu
Key Lab. for the Exploitation of Southwestern Resources & the Environmental Disaster Control Engineering,
Ministry of Education, Chongqing, China

ABSTRACT: With the increase of mining intensity and depth, the support of rock tunnel has become a heavy
problem affecting the safety production and economic benefit. Aimed at the situation of supporting difficulty
of deep granite tunnel at a metal mine in Yunnan province, through the X-ray diffraction, free swelling ratio test
and slaking test, the destabilizing mechanism of the granite tunnel is studied and its supporting measures were
proposed. Finally, the numerical simulation was used to analyze the supporting effect. The results show that:
(1) the granite contains plentiful high hydrophilicity clay minerals, its average free swelling ratio is up to 27.17%,
after comparing, the granite can be classified as the medium-strong swelling soft rock. (2) The failure mechanism
of granite tunnel can be understood as a constantly swelling, slaking and disintegration process of granite under
water condition, while the existence of clay minerals is just the critical reason resulting in aggravated deformation
of granite. (3) Through simulation calculation and analysis, the proposed combined supporting measures, bolts
anchoring in the roof, sidewalls and floor (bolt length is 1.8 m, bolt space is 0.75 m × 1.0 m), shotcrete (thickness
is 10 cm), floor counter-arch poured (thickness is 25 cm), are reasonable and feasible. After the supporting are
carried out, the plastic zone of adjacent rock will be significantly reduced, and the safety factor is also increased
from 0.75 to 1.24.

1 INTRODUCTION
With the increasing depth of underground mining,
the emergence of engineering problems, such as the
large deformation of surrounding rock, the badly dam-
aged support, the difficult maintenance of roadway
and so on, are becoming more and more multifarious,
more and more complicated. How to choose the tech-
nically feasible and economically reasonable support
means has become a major task for many mines. Lots
of scholars at home and abroad have done a lot of
theory and practice study about support methods, and
some results have been achieved. However, the support
effects in some mining engineerings are not satisfac-
tory, in the final analysis, lacking effective judgement
to the instability mechanisms of rock roadways is the
crutial reason resulting in the difficult support.
In the tunneling process of granite roadways of
a metalliferous mine in Yunnan province, the costs
of tunnel support were very high, and the roadway
repairs were also frequent, the average repair costs
had up to 5,000 yuan per metre in 2003. In view of
this situation, many support ways were chosen based
on the traditional big-ground pressure control theory,
but the all support effects were not good, especially
in the water action, the damages of roadways were
more serious, sloughing and roof fall often occurred,
which made tunneling efficiency very low, the normal
production and economic benefits had been seriously
affected. Therefore, in order to put forward the fea-
sible support measures, it is necessary to research
the deformation instability mechanism of the granite.
The research results will provide theory basis for the
choices of support methods of the granite roadways,
meanwhile, which can also give a typical example and
refer to the other similar engineering.
2 MINERAL COMPOSITION ANALYSIS OF
GRANITE
Due to the deformation was very obvious on water
condition, so it is necessary to analyze the min-
eral composition of these granite. Through the X-
ray diffraction analysis (Figure 1), large amounts
of swelling clay minerals such as montmorillonite,
kaolinite etc. are found in the granite (Table 1).

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 Table 2. Classification standard of swelling soft rock (He
1996).

Free swelling
Soft rock Montmorillonite % ratio %

Weak swelling <10 <10

Middle swelling 10∼30 10∼15
Strong swelling >30 >15

Table 3. Swelling clay mineral content in the granite.

Free swelling
Volume after ratio/%
Dry- submerging/ml
Figure 1. X-ray diffraction spectrum of granite. Serial volume unit average
number (ml) 2h 4h 6h 8h value value
Table 1. Swelling clay mineral content in the granite.
G1-1 10.0 12.1 12.1 12.2 12.2 22.0 20.0
total G1-2 10.0 11.9 11.8 11.8 11.8 18.0
Serial montmorill kaolinite chlorite nontronite content/ G2-1 10.0 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 25.0 26.5
number onite/% % % % % G2-2 10.0 13.0 12.9 12.8 12.8 28.0
G3-1 10.0 13.2 13.2 13.2 13.2 32.0 35.0
G1 5∼12 8∼22 5–12 5∼12 >23 G3-2 10.0 13.8 13.8 13.8 13.8 38.0
G2 10∼17 5∼12 5–12 10∼17 >30
G3 20∼30 12∼24 5∼12 5∼ 12 >42
3.2 Slaking test
Slaking property experiment was done about 3 orig-
3 DISCUSSION ON DESTABILIZING inal swelling granite, the size of rock sample is
MECHANISM OF THE GRANITE TUNNEL 40 mm × 40 mm × 40 mm.
It can be seen from the test process that the slak-
In order to grasp the deformation instability mech- ing process of granite can be divided into three stages:
anism of granite roadways, considering the granite the first stage, when the rock sample is immersed in
characteristics of containing a lot of swelling clay min- water, water film is formed in the rock surface through
erals, the free swelling ratio test and slaking property adsorbing water molecules, and part of the rock mate-
test are carried out. rials are dissolved by water, this moment, the surface
structure of rock will appear partial failure. At the
same time, with the constantly permeation of water
3.1 Free swelling ratio test along the cracks, the rock gradually disintegrate into
According to the value of the rock free swelling ratio, small pieces. The second stage, the microcracks con-
the strength of the dilatability can be known, which is tinuously extend to internal space of rock under the
calculated as follows: water affecting, with the strengthen of slaking role,
small pieces gradually become bulks. The third stage,
rock continue to break and finally disintegrate into
fine-grained, crushed materials.
The relation curves between slaking ratio and action
time about three kinds of granites are shown in Fig-
where: FS is the free swelling ratio; V1 is the volume ure 2. Analyzing the curve and above test results, it is
of the rock sample after expansion; V0 is the original obvious that there is a strong relevance of slaking ratio
volume. with clay mineral content, the more high hydrophilic-
The classification criterion of swelling soft rock and ity clay minerals are, the faster granite will collapse
the free swelling ratio test results are listed in table 2 and disintegration. The results show that the content of
and table 3 respectively. Comparing table 1, table 2 and high hydrophilicity clay minerals in the granite plays a
table 3, it is not difficult to see that the montmorillonite vital control role to the stability of swelling soft rock,
contents in granite are all more than 10%, and the that is, the existence of abundant clay minerals is just
average free swelling ratio of granite up to 27.17%, the key reason resulting in aggravated deformation of
which has already beyond the prescribed lower limit granite.
(the lower limit is 15%) at the classification criterion
of strong swelling soft rock. So, the granite in this
3.3 Instability mechanism of the granite roadway
mine should be regarded as swelling soft rock, and its
expansibility is between middle-expansion and strong- From the above, the granite in this mine belongs
expansion. to medium-strong swelling soft rock, which tend to

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 Table 4. Physical mechanics parameters of rock materials.

Elastic Tensile friction

Rock Tensity modulus Poisson strength Cohesion Internal
mass g/cm3 GPa ratio MPa MPa angle/deg

Marble 2.70 20 0.30 4.7 3.8 37

Granite 2.30 29 0.32 1.8 4.6 40
Shotcrete 2.20 2.1 0.17 4.8 4.0 40
Floor 2.40 3.4 0.19 8.8 8.0 30
poured
body

Figure 2. Relation curves between slaking ratio and action

time.

slaking and disintegration in case the water conditions.

In addition, slaking speed of granite has a closely con-
nection with the content of clay minerals, the higher
content hydrophilicity clay minerals is in the rock ,
the faster speed slaking will has. In the whole exper-
iment process, the complete disintegration time of
some rock only need 30 min, even if the slaking speed
of the other rock is slower, its slaking ratio can also
reach 15% in less than 2 hours. Therefore, the fail-
ure mechanism of granite roadways in the mine can
be understood as: under the action of water or moist
air, expansion and deformation are occurred in the
granite firstly; because of the strong slaking charac- Figure 3. Computation model.
teristics, then, massive granite constantly disintegrate
into small pieces with the increasing permeation of
water from the rock surface to the centre; finally, the
granite become fine-grained materials. In this case,
the internal structure of granite has been damaged
completely, and its bearing capacity is also reduced
significantly.

4 SUPPORTING MEASURES OF SWELLING

GRANITE TUNNEL

Considering the instability mechanism of the granite,

try to shorten the contact time of granite with water
and reducing the slaking effect of water to granite have
become critical control means for avoiding the defor-
mation of granite roadway. Based on this concept, the
prevention methods of closing roadways timely and
reinforced support should be used to lessen the expo-
sure time of rock roadways. Through the multi-scheme Figure 4. Support structures.
comparison, the combined support ways, bolts anchor-
ing in the roof, sidewalls and floor (bolt length is 1.8 m,
bolt space is 0.75 m × 1.0 m), shotcrete (thickness is From the calculation results, if there are not any
10 cm), floor counter-arch poured (thickness is 25 cm), support measures after tunnelling, the damages of
are adopted. roadway will be more serious, the distribution ranges
In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed of plastic zone are very large (figure 5a), and the safety
method, three-dimensional finite element simulation coefficient of roadway surrounding rock is only 0.75
method is used to analyze. The physical mechanics (figure 6a). Conversely, once the combined support
parameters of all rock materials are listed in table 4, methods are carried out, the plastic zone of surround-
the final calculation model and the support structures ing rock will be reduced significantly (figure 5b), and
are given respectively in figure 3 and 4. which occurs only in the bottom corners, moreover, the

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Figure 5. Plastic regions distribution of surrounding rock.
Figure 6. Safety coefficient of surrounding rock.
safety factor of roadway also increased to 1.24 (fig-
ure 6b). The results shows that after supporting the
overall stability of the roadway have been obviously
improved, and the protection role of support structures
is significant.
5 CONCLUSIONS
According to the analysis results of the instability
mechanism of the granite and its support measures,
the following conclusions are drawn.
1. The granite of the mine contains plentiful high
hydrophilicity clay minerals, the montmorillonite
content in granite is more than 10%, and the aver-
age free swelling ratio of granite up to 27.17%,
after comparing, which can be regarded as medium-
strong swelling soft rock.
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2. he failure mechanism of granite roadway can be
understood as the constantly slaking and disinte-
gration process of the swelling granite on water
condition, and it has nothing to do with the ground
pressure.
3. Through simulation calculation and analysis, the
proposed combined support measures are reason-
able and feasible. After the supports are carried out,
the plastic zones will be significantly reduced, and
the safety factor will increased from 0.75 to 1.24.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work is supported by Natural Science Fund of
Yunnan Province (No. 2009ZC020M) and Industrial
Research Project of Yunnan Science and Technology
Department (No. 2008KA001).
REFERENCES
Feng, Q. 2010. Research on the deformation mechanism
and test technology of soft rock roadway. China Mining
Magazine 8: 76–79.
He, M.C. 1996. Supporting theory and practice of soft rock
tunnel in china coal mine. Xuzhou: China University of
Mining and Technology Press.
Jing, H.W., et al. 1999. Study on deformation mechanism
of broken zone around soft rock roadway and its con-
trol technique. Journal of China University of Mining &
Technology 28(6): 560–564.
Jing, H.W., et al. 2005. Analysis of surrounding rock stabil-
ity of deeply buried roadways and study on its control
techniques. Rock and Soil Mechanics 26(6): 877–880.
Sun, X.M., et al. 2006. Research on nonlinear mechanics
design method of bold-net-anchor coupling support for
deep soft rock tunnel. Rock and Soil Mechanics 27(7):
1061–1065.
Yang, J.P., et al. 2008. Stability study of deep soft rock
roadways with weak intercalated layers. Rock and Soil
Mechanics 29(10): 2864–2870.
Zhang, X.C., et al. 2001. Study of delay instability on sur-
rounding rock masses of roadway. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 20(6): 830–833.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Contribution to damaged formation and evolution of time behavior

during the deep buried tunnel excavation

Z.H. Li & X.T. Feng

School of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China

S.J. Li, H. Zhou, B.R. Chen, C.Q. Zhang & S. Hu

State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the research results on the formation and evolution of the excavation of
damaged zone (EDZ) in Jinping buried test tunnel No. 1, located in the southwestern China. Combined with
multiple in-situ tests, such as deformation monitoring, elastic wave testing and digital drilling camera testing,
the characteristics of excavation process and long term deformation are simultaneously studied. The in-situ test
results reveal that the deeply buried tunnel excavation accompanied with country rock stress adjustment and
weight distribution, and the formation of rock mass is a dynamic damage evolution as a result of excavation.
The displacement variation can be divided into the stage of the deformation increased slowly before excavation,
the stage of the deformation is increased unsteadily or jumping changes in the process of excavation, and the
stage of the rheological deformation after excavation. Excavation caused to wave velocity decrease, leaded to
form the stress relaxation area, stress concentration zones and the original rock stress region. In addition, both
rock mechanics properties and geological structure play a very important role in the EDZ. It does not just
depend on the tunnel size. The open direction of rock cracks is toward the direction of excavation. The rock mass
deformation was composed of the control structure of open displacement. In reality, it is important to determine
the supporting opportunity and measures according to the time behavior damaged evolution tendency and the
damaged degree.

1 INTRODUCTION highly stressed and sparsely fractured rock mass of the

The excavation damaged zone (EDZ) often appears
around the underground openings, which increased
deformations, reduced stability and higher perme-
ability (Egger 1989). Due to the stress redistribution
during excavation and subsequent rock convergence,
an EDZ fracture network consisting of unloading joints
and shear fractures is expected to form in the EDZ
(Paul et al. 2004). In generally, Macro and micro
fracturing, a redistribution of in situ stresses and rear-
rangement of rock structures will occur in this zone
mainly through the fractures and cracks induced by
excavation. The EDZ may have significant implica-
tions for the operation and long term performance
of the underground engineering. A better understand-
ing of the time behavior dependent of excavation is
required to analyze the long term stability and to
design better support for deep civil engineering tunnels
(Malan et al. 2002).
In recent years, there have been intense efforts to
research on the EDZ, involving laboratory, field, and
theoretical studies. Since the early 1980’s, Atomic
Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) has been conduct-
ing research the processes of damage development
and progressive failure in brittle crystalline rock at the
420 m Level of the URL (Read & Chandler 1997). The
hydraulic and structural characterization of the EDZ
has also been carried out at the international Mont
Terri Rock Laboratory in Switzerland (Thury 2002).
In France, to investigate the Callovo Oxfordian clayey
formation, an URL at a depth of about 420–510 m was
constructed by Andra at Bure. As a part of the rock
geo-scientific mechanics, in situ experiments on exca-
vation disturbance have been performed at the Tono
Mine for soft sedimentary rocks and at the Kamaishi
Mine for hard crystalline rocks in Japan.
There are commonalities and differences in behav-
ior among the four rock types – crystalline rock,
salt, indurated clay, and plastic clay, be beneficial
for enhancing our understanding of the EDZ and
improving modeling techniques to simulate its behav-
ior (Chin-Fu et al. 2005). The research for rock
excavation damage has been discussed from different
angles, for example, numerical simulation (Golshan
2007), field monitoring technology – the drilling geo-
logical radar (Kwon et al. 2009), and doubling of
numerical computation and observations field (Souley
2001, Chandler 2004) et al. On theoretical studies,
Malan (2002) gave a viscoelastic convergence solu-
tion for simulating the time dependent behavior of hard

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rock and the rheology of the fracture zone. Based on
typical experiments carried out in underground labo-
ratory, for example, Äspö HRL, Feng (2008) built the
THMC models of elasticity, elastoplasticity and visco-
elastoplasticity and developed the associated codes.
F. Pellet (2009) studied the damaged area near field
stress and displacement of aging and the lag evolu-
tion characteristics. To quantify the extent and damage
degree of the EDZ, Faquan Wu (2009) put forward a
new method according to the unloading strain energy.
To sum up, the study has made great progress on
EDZ, but most of them are based on a kind of test meth-
ods, and few people directing at deep buried tunnel
excavation process and long term damage limitation
features simultaneously following up study. The inten-
sity and depth of the rock masses damage depends on
the geo-mechanical and hydro-geological characteris-
tics and on the virgin stresses of the rock mass, on the
shape of the cavity and the construction method (Egger
1989). It is difficult to use a means to accurately esti-
mate the evolution of excavation damage, as well as the
drilling and blasting excavation showed more damage
in the tensile sidewall region, including some evidence
of discrete tensile cracking (Read et al 1997). Least but
not last, tunnel excavation is step by step, and the defor-
mation and failure is a dynamic evolution process.
In addition, rock mass is a non elastic material, and
its deformation including instantaneous deformation,
consolidation deformation and creep deformation etc.
It can clearly be seen these factors are related to time-
behavior. Therefore, it is important to research evolu-
tion characteristics of EDZ in deep buried rock masses.
2 PROJECT SUMMARY
Jinping II hydropower station (Jinping II project) is
located at the Yalong River in Liangshan Autonomous
Region, Sichuan Province, China. The Jinping II
project will have 8 generators, each with a capac-
ity of 600 MW, making a total capacity of 4 800 MW.
The expected annual electricity generation will be over
24.2 TW·h. It is the largest hydropower station along
the Yalong River (Zhang 2011). Jinping hydropower
station is on the transition slope from Tibet plateau
to Szechwan Basin. Most of rocks are marble, which
occupies large part of groups T2b , T2y and T2z . The
rock group T2b is the divide of the Jinping Moun-
tain. Terrain ups and downs, mountains, valleys deep
overlapping along the Yalong River (Figure 1), the
subject of mountain elevation is above 4 000 m, and
the biggest difference of elevation is over 3 000 m.
The section of The depth of burial more than 1 500 m
section account for 73◦ auxiliary tunnel. The Jinping
Mountain composes of the Triassic strata, lithology
mainly for marble, limestone, sand slate and chlorite
schist. Class II, III accounts for 96◦ of surrounding
rocks, and Class IV accounts for about 4 percent (Wu
2007). No. 1 test tunnel is in Auxiliary tunnel A, which
is about 17.75 km in length, running parallel to other
four headrace tunnels and crossing the Jinping Moun-
tain. The depth of overburden cover is about 1,400 m,
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located in Yantang group T2y 6 and T2b stratum. The
geologic structure of Auxiliary tunnel is complex,
with characteristics of deep buried depth, long cavern
tunnel, more tunnels. The geological disasters often
happened, and groundwater developed.
3 TEST EQUIPMENT AND DRILLING LAYOUT
3.1 Test equipment
The system of the in-situ test in No. 1 test tunnel
mainly consist of Sliding Micrometric Displacement
System (SMDS), Drill Hole Sound Wave Test System
(DHSWTS) and Digital Panoramic Borehole Camera
System (DBPGS) etc. (1) SMDS is used to monitor
the deformation of rock masses and the displace-
ment changes with time along the hole direction; (2)
DHSWTS is used to test the P-wave velocity (vp )
of the rock masses, and evaluate the length of the
damaged area, high stress area and the original rock
stress area by monitoring vp , to furtherly analyze the
time behavior of the surrounding rock masses dam-
age caused by excavation; (3) Digital drilling camera
system mainly is used to monitor geological struc-
tures, solution and fractured zones etc. in the direction
of the drilling hole. Through the qualitative descrip-
tion and quantitative analysis of borehole phenomena
with the images, we directly acquire some information
of rock mass by borehole optical imaging technol-
ogy, and study the spatio-temporal evolution discipline
of cracks in different period. All these instruments
are widely applied to mining, water conservancy,
transportation, geotechnical engineering. The main
parameters of equipments showed in Table 1.
3.2 Testing plan and drilling layout
Test tunnel section buried depth 1,400 m. Auxiliary
tunnel A, connected tunnel No. 1 and test branch tun-
nel D were excavated using the drill-blasting method.
Auxiliary tunnel A and connected No. 1 had been com-
pleted prior branch cavities. After all test monitoring
drilling holes were completed, the branch tunnel D was
Figure 1. The regional geomorphic of Jinping Mountain.
Table 1. The parameters of monitoring equipment.
Item SMDS DHSWTS DBPGS
Measurement  ± 10 mm 42 ∼ 110 mm 42 ∼ 110 mm
Range
System ±0.002 mm 0.1 µs 0.2 mm
Precision
still excavated. We have done one test each footage.
Test designs are as follows: (1) auxiliary tunnel A
for vaulted cross-section shape, section size for the
7.0 × 7.6 m (wide × high); (2) test tunnel D for vaulted
cross-section shape, section size for 3.0 × 2.2 m (wide
× high), excavation length for 30 m, test branch D axis
paralleling to auxiliary tunnelA axis, tunnel axis direc-
tion for N58◦ W. Auxiliary tunnel A and test branch
tunnel D cross-section shape as Figure 2 shows; (3) test
monitoring drilling holes are vertical with the direction
of the auxiliary hole axis, drilling holes down 1.5 ∼ 2◦ ,
sloping direction of sliding micrometric monitoring
drilling hole ED17, digital drilling camera monitoring
drilling hole ED18, elastic wave monitoring drilling
hole ED19 and ED20 layout relations Figure 3 shows.
4 TEST RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
4.1 The characteristic of the rock mass structure
The test digital drilling camera for ED18, combined
with drilling geological core (Figure 4), the segment
of rock mass test tunnel is primarily gray thick layer
fine grain marble. Fractures enrichment, rock mass
more broken, and large shale or limestone filled are
mainly characteristics, some details as follows:
1) Hole range 0.00 ∼ 11.66 m: Rock mass integrity
is poor, and rock broke pieces shape with short
Figure 2. The cross-section shape for auxiliary tunnel A
hole and test branch tunnel D.
Figure 3. The layout of test monitoring design.
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columnar primarily, 1.0 ∼ 8.0 cm long. The shape
of cybernation columnar are not many, 16.0 ∼ 30.0
cm long;
2) Hole range 11.66 ∼ 19.85 m: There are broken
rocks and enrich dissolutions. Most of their out-
sides are yellow, clip shale, and shows pieces form,
shiver diameter 1.0 ∼ 6.0 cm; Columns are 10.0 ∼
20.0 cm long;
3) Hole range 19.85 ∼ 25.02 m: Rock masses are bro-
ken in pieces, and the damaged form is primarily
the short columnar. Many short columns are 8.0 ∼
12.0 cm long, pieces in diameter were 2.0 ∼ 4.0 cm,
and cybernation columnar are few, 25.0 ∼ 25.0 cm
long.
Below Figure 5 shows digital borehole drilling wall
360◦ the spreading plane photographing of the hole
ED18. From figure can see: 0.0∼11.5 m, the top of
drilling hole is broken, besides section, with priority
gray marble, rock fractures are less, a little complete;
11.5∼23.2 m, the rocks are poorer at the distance from
the bottom of the hole. There are more fractures and
karsts. Mudstone filling is serious; 23.2 m∼25.02 m
are relatively intact, as a whole, the test is agreement
with geological drilling cores.
By the way, it is the drilling wall of the original rock
masses that are tested by digital drilling camera, which
is hardly disturbed by external factors. The geostatic
stress was released in process of drilling hole. The
drilling cores are easy to broken down where many
imperceptible cracks are rich. Because of external dis-
turbances, the continuity of drilling cores are not as
well as the in situ test, especially for place there are
Figure 4. Geological drilling cores for the drilling hole
ED18.
many karsts, crushing zones; however, the resolution the surface; (5) local place has wall caving, the deepest
of digital drilling camera is limited, for the most part, for 20.0 cm.
the definition of images are depended on the hole qual-
ity. It is difficult to discriminate the particle structure
4.2 Rock mass deformation of time behavior
and tiny cracks. The good news is that this paper effec-
tively solved this one contradiction by making using The test branch tunnel D was excavated on Novem-
of their advantages. ber 22, 2009, and excavation was completed ended
The produce shapes of original rock fractures were on December 12, 2009. The footages of accumula-
statistically analysis (Table 2). The results indicate that tive total excavation was 30.02 m. Fig. 8 shows the
the trend directions of fractures are main NE and SE displacement and excavation progress over time curve
direction. And dip angles (θ) are main medium and of one point in drilling hole ED17. This point is 4.0 m
steep inclination. The number of fracture width (µ) away from the right side of the wall of the branch tunnel
range 0.0∼10.0 mm totals about 77.2◦ , much wider D, and is 19.5 m from the left wall of the connected tun-
than 50.0 mm are main crushing zones. nel No. 1. The displacement variation can be divided
Test branch tunnel D being excavated, it is found
that the stratum is breaking, for example, the sidewall
crushing, vaults karsts development (Figure 6), joints
and fissures enrichment (Figure 7). the rock masses
are main gray mixed together white pinstripe, shape of
clamping thin layer and fine crystal marble. The main
characteristics are follows: (1) the strata of range 0.0
∼15.0 m is T2b , while 15.0∼29.5 m is T2y 6; (2) there
are more cracks near sidewall, surface is coarse, iron
and manganese are rich, layer thickness is primarily
Figure 6. The damage phenomenon for the test branch
for 0.3∼1.5 m, local thickness for 8.0∼20.0 cm; (3) tunnel D.
joints with mud, slight dissolution, parallel develop-
ment, spacing average about 0.4 m, along the surface
corrosion open about 0.5∼2.0 cm, filling a few debris
and secondary mud; (4) bedding extrusion bandwidth
3.0 cm within the softening rocks and mud. Water
oozes at local area, parallel development, span about
0.2∼0.4 m, filling a few of debris, water seeping along

Figure 7. Geological sketch map of the wall of test branch

tunnel D.

Figure 8. The changes displacement and excavation step

Figure 5. The spread image of the drilling ED18. over time.

Table 2. The statistics of produce shapes for ED18.

θ 0◦ ≤ θ < 30◦ 30◦ ≤ θ ≤ 60◦ 60◦ < θ ≤ 90◦

Tendency NE NW SW SE NE NW SW SE NE NW SW SE
Group 0 0 0 0 24 2 2 4 7 1 19 20
Width/mm 0 ≤ µ ≤ 10 10 < µ ≤ 20 20 < µ ≤ 50 µ < 50
Group 61 3 12 3

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into three stages, according to the relationship of the excavated six months ago, orifice position deforma-
point displacement changes over time: tion first entered the third stage of the excavation effect
as above, compared to the excavation of the branch tun-
1) The stage of the deformation stability of excavation
nel D, the auxiliary tunnel less influences rock mass
increased slowly for a few of months before excava-
deformation, therefore, the deformation of the bottom
tion. From the cure changes, before the monitoring
of the drilling hole is less than the orifice position.
devices were installed, within one month or so, the
According to features of displacement changes with
displacement steadily increased, this displacement
time curve, the displacement was divided into the fol-
of this stage can be up to 0.05 mm;
lowing three areas along the direction of the drilling
2) The stage of the deformation stability of excava-
hole, namely: the rheological zone near the auxiliary
tion increased unsteadily or jumping changes for a
tunnel A, the disturbance zone by the excavation of
few of days in the process of excavation. Because
the test branch tunnel D and the transition zone by the
of blasting disturbance, excavation unloading and
influence of both tunnels.
stress adjustment, the deformation of the rock mass
It can clearly be seen that the buried tunnel excava-
did not change regularly. In addition, when the driv-
tion accompanied with surrounding rock stress adjust-
ing face pushed to 5.0 m ahead of the station of
ment and weight distribution, and the formation of
monitoring hole, the deformation began to change.
rock mass is a dynamic damage evolution as a result
Driving face passed through monitoring drilling
of the excavation. Field in situ test showed that exca-
hole 4.5 m, the deformation was up to the max-
vation effect time is 2∼5 days when the displacement
imum displacement 0.23 mm. When driving face
obviously changed, a tendency towards stable defor-
left behind about 10.5 m, the deformation started
mation needs a month or so after excavation. But
to drop within 0.05 mm or so;
rock mass deformation will become complex under
3) The stage of the rheological deformation after
the special geological condition and construction
the end of excavation for a month. The defor-
disturbance.
mation velocity is very slow. The deformation
increased 0.02 mm for five months in total. Since
then, the value of the displacement less fluctuates. 4.3 The dynamic response of the wave of
The displacement basically stabilizes at the value country rock
0.13 mm.
Lots of references show the propagation characteris-
According to the displacement of rock mass with tics of sound could be response in speed and amplitude.
depth along the drilling hole axis direction in dif- The amplitude attenuation of the rock wave speed
ferent time (Fig.9), great changes deformation are depends on the absorption of the rock mass. The wave
mainly concentrated at the bottom of the hole position speed of rocks changes with fractures, density and
19.0 m∼24.0 m, the orifice position 3.0 m∼12.0 m the acoustic impedance. Specifically, wave speed will
range also have deformation, but the numerical is increases with the stress, medium density, the wave
lesser. As of auxiliary tunnel A and test concerned impedance. So we can analyze the state loose based
tunnel D, because of excavation, the surrounding rock on the wave speed of the rock masses.
mass of the tunnel D became loose. In process of stress
adjustment, rock mass will slid and rupture along the
plane of fracture. The closer is from the tunnel walls,
the bigger displacement changes, the more obviously
fissures expansion. In contrast, the farther is from
the sidewall, the little did destroy the rock mass. At
the end of the drilling hole, the displacement was
up to 0.60 mm. Because the auxiliary tunnel A was

Figure 10. The P-wave velocity distribution along the hole

depth and the image of the digital panoramic borehole
Figure 9. The displacement over depth in different time. camera.

665
 From the cure (Fig. 10) of the vertical wave speed
(vp ) with the depth of drilling hole (Depth), it can show
that the wave speed of rock masses near the orifice
position is bigger than the position of the bottom of
the drilling hole. Because the wave velocity of rock
mechanics properties can be based on the response of
surrounding rock stress, the changes can be divided
into three segments, e.g., the stress relaxation area,
the stress concentration districts and the original rock
stress area, details as below: (1) 0.0∼0.8 m range, As
a result of the effect of the excavation auxiliary tunnel
A, the rock masses damaged and loosed, at the same
time, the speed decreased, and stress relaxation area
formed at last; (2) 0.8 ∼ 4.5 m range, because the exca-
vation of auxiliary tunnel A, a lager energy released,
which redistributes stresses in the structure, forming
stress concentration districts; (3) 4.5∼25.2 m range,
far away from the excavation free surface auxiliary
tunnel A, the effect of the excavation of tunnel A play
hardly part in section, forming the original rock dis-
turbance stress area; Worth mentioning is the speed of
this area is lesser, mainly because the condition of fis-
sures enrichment, karsts development, and mudstone
filling seriously, the distinction also can be seen from
both rock cores and digital drilling camera.
Taken the range of the bottom of 22.0∼23.0 m
as example (Fig. 11), the relationship between wave
velocity and time is analyzed. The wave velocity began
to drop at the 22.1 m position after excavation, more-
over, the velocity lowered maximum at the bottom of
the 23.0 m position. Before the excavation, the average
velocity of this section was 3490.4 m/s on October 31,
2009, however, the average velocity was respectively
3434.6 m/s on December 27, 2009 and 3434.6 m/s on
December 27, 2009 after the excavation. Obviously,
the wave velocity of the surrounding rocks decreased
Figure 11. The distribution of P-wave velocity with time
along the hole 22.0∼23.0 m.
Table 3. The statistics of fissure occurrence for ED18.
θ 0◦ ≤ θ < 30◦ 30◦ ≤ θ ≤ 60◦
Tendency NE NW SW SE NE
Group 0 0 0 0 4 2
Width/mm 0 ≤ µ ≤ 10 10 < µ ≤ 20
Group 57 1 0
666
in a shorter time near by the testing branch tunnel D
sidewall. The response distance of the wave velocity
about was 2.9 m in process of the excavation, that is to
say, it equals to 1 times tunnel diameter.
In addition, compared Fig. 10 to Fig. 11, although
the diameter size of auxiliary tunnel A is bigger than
test branch tunnel D, the excavation disturbance area
of the former was less than the latter. The in situ testing
shows the formation of the excavation disturbance was
linked not only the tunnel size but also mechanical
properties of rock mass and geological conditions. The
worse was the quality of the rock mass, and the bigger
was possibly excavation disturbance zone.
Thus, the dynamic response of the rock wave veloc-
ity reacted to the nonlinear distribution of the rock
stress, which leaded to form the stress relaxation area,
stress concentration districts and the original rock
stress area. The excavation caused to wave velocity
decrease, and this evolution trends to the depths of
rock mass with time. In addition, both rock mechanics
properties and geological structure play a very impor-
tant role in the formation of the disturbed and damaged
excavation zone. It does not just depend on the tunnel
size.
4.4 The spatio-temporal evolution of rock fractures
The statistics of the fissure occurrence for ED20 is
presented in Table 3 through digital drilling cam-
era testing. It can be clearly seen that the fissure
occurrence are main SE and NE direction, and the
number of fissures in SE account for 48.3◦ ; The incli-
nation angle (θ) is mainly steep inclination angle
(60∼90◦ ), accounted for 70.0◦ , followed by medium
angle (30∼60◦ ); the number of fracture width (µ)
range 0.0∼10.0 mm totals about 95.0%, much wider
than 50.0 mm are main crushing zones. On the whole,
the rock mass overall comparison was broken, having
developed joints and fissures. The geological struc-
ture is complex. Cores mainly consist of black clip,
white snake shape, fine-grain marble. There is much
mud interlayer among the 10∼23.0◦ m range. The rock
characteristic and the geological structure of ED20 are
similar with the drilling ED18.
Fig. 12 shows the density distribution cloud fig-
ure of the joints and fractures occurrence before and
after the excavation. Original joints and fissures dis-
tribution cloud shows Fig. 12 (a), one part of the
original fracture trends and tunnel axis nearly 60◦ ,
while another part of the original fracture trends are
consistent with the tunnel axis. The steep inclination
angle gives priority to others. Fig. 12 (b) gives the new-
born fissures produce shape distribution one year later.
60◦ < θ ≤ 90◦
NW SW SE NE NW SW SE
8 4 11 2 4 25
µ < 50 µ < 50
2
The occurrence of the newborn fissures are relatively
complex in evolution, which can be divided into two
areas: (1) the fissure evolution area, the newborn fis-
sures occurrence agreement with the original fissure
produce shape, but inclination angle became little; (2)
the newborn fracture zone, this region fissure occur-
rence are main consistent with the tunnel axis, The
newborn fracture occurrence are basically angled 15◦
from the direction to tunnel axis. The dip angles are
primarily steep and medium angle.
In addition, the Figure 12 also shows the freshman
fissure strike is approximately consistent with tunnelA
the axis along the anti-clockwise 15◦ rotation. In other
words, The newborn fracture occurrence are basically
angled 15◦ from the excavated direction of tunnel D.
The open direction rock cracks are toward the direction
of test branch tunnel D. These geological descriptions
on the monitoring drilling area are consistent on the
geological section Figure 7. However, being due to the
complicated geological structure, the corresponding
sometimes is not very strict.
According to the bar chart of the crack width along
the hole axial direction with time (Figure 13), it can
be found that newborn and evolution fissure mainly
located at the position 5.0∼20.0 m, and the width of
fractures are 0∼8.0 mm; but fissures nearby the aux-
iliary tunnel A position were less. It further proved
that the feature of the fissure evolution was main new-
born and open. Meanwhile, the time behavior of the
Figure 12. The comparison of fissure density distribution.
667
crack evolution has also following features: (1) fis-
sures evolution district of the upfront excavation, hole
deep position in 5.0∼5.8 m, the evolution speed of
crack width was 0.5∼3.0 mm every year, these cracks
were mainly caused by the long term rheological role
in influence of auxiliary tunnel A excavation late;
(2) the original rock fracture unchanged area, at the
hole position 5.8∼14.9 m, far from the EDZ of tun-
nel A, these are basically no freshmen and evolution
fissure; (3) fissure evolution area of the later excava-
tion, hole deep position in 14.9∼20.0 m, crack width
evolution speed 0.2∼0.4 mm every year, joints action
of rocks mainly were caused by both the excavation
of test branch tunnel D and the rocks’ rheological
late.
Comparison of the fissure evolution along the hole
axis between before and after the excavation (Fig-
ure 14), the evolution have the characteristics of short
extensions, open small degrees, and complex attitudes
etc., Fracture evolution speed is nonlinear. Crack evo-
lution speeds depend mainly on the working space
advancing speed and the spacing of the tunnel in pro-
cess of the excavation. But crack evolution speeds
depend largely on the geological structure near rock
tunnel and the rock category after the excavation in
long time, the influence of size tends to take second
place.
Comprehensive analysis of fissure evolution char-
acteristics and deformation changes over time, fissures
evolution area is in accordance with deformation area.
The rock mass deformation was composed of the con-
trolling structure of open displacement. Comparing
the wave speed with cracks evolution along the hole
axis, there are also crack evolution in stress concen-
tration zone. The initial stress concentration districts
could become the excavated disturbance districts after
the stress adjusted over a longer time later, but one
truth always stays the same, new fissure and evolution
fissure mainly concentrated in excavation damaged
area, and new fissures are less in the original rock
stress zone.
Figure 13. The bar chart for fissures width along the hole
depth over time before and after the excavation.

Figure 14. The cracks comparison of the digital drilling
camera image at the section of the hole 15.0∼16.5 m.
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. The buried tunnel excavation accompanied with
surrounding rock stress adjustment and weight dis-
tribution, and the formation of rock mass is a
dynamic damage evolution as a result of the excava-
tion. Field in situ test showed that excavation effect
time is 2∼5 days when the displacement obviously
changed, a tendency towards stable deformation
needs a month or so after excavation. But rock
mass deformation will become complex under the
special geological condition and construction dis-
turbance, such as crushing, fault, propulsion direc-
tion, explosive quantity etc, rock mass deformation
sometimes is more complex.
2. The dynamic response of the rock wave velocity
reacted to the nonlinear distribution of the rock
stress, which leaded to form the stress relaxation
area, stress concentration districts and the origi-
nal rock stress area. The excavation caused to wave
velocity decrease, and this evolution trends to the
depths of rock mass with time. In addition, both
rock mechanics properties and geological structure
play a very important role in the formation of the
668
disturbed and damaged excavation zone. It does not
just depend on the tunnel size.
3. he newborn fracture occurrence are basically
angled 15◦ from the excavated direction of tun-
nel D. The open direction rock cracks are toward
the direction of test branch tunnel D. These geo-
logical descriptions on the monitoring drilling area
are consistent on the geological section. However,
being due to the complicated geological structure,
the corresponding sometimes is not very strict.
4. The rock mass deformation was composed of the
controlling structure of open displacement. Com-
paring the wave speed with cracks evolution along
the hole axis, there are also crack evolution in stress
concentration zone. The initial stress concentration
districts could become the excavated disturbance
districts after the stress adjusted over a longer time
later, but one truth always stays the same, new fis-
sure and evolution fissure mainly concentrated in
excavation damaged area, and new fissures are less
in the original rock stress zone.
5. To assess the excavation disturbed area or excava-
tion damaged zone should be combined the actual
geological conditions and even more test method.
In reality, it is a better method to determine the sup-
porting opportunity and measures according to the
time behavior damaged evolution tendency and the
damaged degree.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The present work is funded by the National Basic
Research Program (“973 program”) of China (Grant
No. 2010CB732006) and National Science Founda-
tion of China (Grant No. 51079144). The research
is also widely supported by China Ertan Hydropower
Development Co., Ltd., East China Investigation and
Design Institution Under CHECC, China Railway
Shisiju Engineering Co., Ltd., and China Railway Erju
2nd Engineering Co., Ltd. This support is gratefully
acknowledged. The authors are also grateful to the
reviewers for discerning comments on this paper.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Drilling technology and development of LM series raise boring machine

Z.Q. Liu
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
Beijing Chinese Coal Mine Engineering Limited Company1, Beijing, China

H.G. Ji & M.F. Cai

University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

H. Tan
Beijing Chinese Coal Mine Engineering Limited Company1, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Drilling technology and development of LM series raise boring machine manufactured by Beijing
Chinese Coal Mine Engineering Limited Company were introduced in this paper. Furthermore, new develop-
ment and drilling technology of heavy raise boring machine supported by the project “research on raise boring
technology and equipment in deep shaft” via special scientific research fund sponsored by National Science
and Technology Department were stated. Then, Important role of raise boring technology and applications in
underground engineering were expounded by combining with typical cases. Finally, the researches required to
be further performed were discussed.

1 INTRODUCTION machine in an early form was presented and applied in

In the construction of mining, hydroelectric and other
underground engineering, entrance connection chan-
nel and ventilation shaft are constructed in the form of
vertical shaft or inclined shaft. Raise boring machine
has become reliable equipment to construct vertical
shaft or inclined shaft which could be constructed
in the past by the method of timber stacking, cage
raising or cage climbing, by which working per-
sonnel is required to reach working face to drill,
charge, blast, handle suspended rock and make tem-
porary support. Moreover, working surrounding of
the traditional method is severe and accident happens
sometimes; construction speed and working efficiency
is low, and hazardous gas is accumulated in working
space, which is more dangerous to the personnel and
construction safety.
The way of constructing vertical shaft or inclined
shaft by raise boring machine is that, a pilot hole is
drilled first, and then the hole is broached to designed
section by raise boring machine. Operating workers
don’t enter into working space and consequently the
accident is avoided. To meet the needs of different
engineering, raise boring machine can also be used
to drill horizontal hole, such as where rock is difficult
to blast.
2 REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENT OF RAISE
BORING MACHINE (LIU 2001)
Shaft drilling was applied since 1896, while raise bor-
ing machine was turned up much later. Raise boring
raise boring inspired by working principles of down-
the-hole driller and tunneling machine. In later 50s
last century, the equipment demonstrated in the Fig-
ure 1 was applied in Germany, which consisted mainly
of winch, hoisting cable, drill bit and electric cable,
etc. The construction technology is much like that of
raising cage method, which means 1 to 2 holes are
drilled first, along which hoisting cable and electric
cable are passed down, and connected with drilling bit
in the lower end. The drilling bit can support, propel
and rotate; its structure is similar to that of tunneling
machine. A pilot hole must be constructed, or a guid-
ing steel tube of which the diameter is the same as that
of borehole must be installed first before drill bit is
put into borehole. Radial oil cylinder is supported on
the wall of shaft or the wall of steel tube; propelling
drill bit and rotating mechanism simultaneously act on
cutter to break rock after drill bit is put into the hole.
After a forward cycle, the cylinder to provide thrust
is retracted, the drill is picked up by the winch above,
and the support is retracted, then the drill is pulled up
and the support is working to support the machine.
After this another loop is started. Because it is divided
into two parts, including the above and below parts,
the machine is hard to control. Moreover, geological
conditions have great effect on the drilling. There are
a lot of problems during the drilling process and now
this rodless drilling rig has been eliminated. However,
this construction method provides a new mechanical
way for raising boring.
The first drill rod of raise boring machine was devel-
oped by Robins U.S. in 1962 and it opened a new page

671

Figure 1. The first raising-boring machine.
Figure 2. Construction process.
of raise boring machine. Both of the drive and control
system of this machine are placed on top of the hole,
pilot hole is drilled from the top down. After drilling
the pilot hole, remove the pilot hole drill bit and install
the reaming bit on the below of the drill rod. Currently,
most raising drilling machines are of this principle
except the specific structure. Schematic diagram of
raising boring’s construction is shown in Figure 2.
There are a variety of types of drilling machine have
been developed in Germany, Finland, Japan, the for-
mer Soviet Union and so on. The deepest shaft with
diameter of 6m constructed by raising boring is over
one thousand meters.
3 DEVELOPMENT OF LM SERIES
DRILLING MACHINE
Drilling Research Unit of Beijing Institute of Well
Construction began to research drilling technology in
the late 50’s last century. After years of research and
practice, drilling technology has reached the interna-
tional advanced level, and made great contributions
to well construction in the complex strata. Drilling
Research Unit carried out the the project of “Research
672
and Development of LM-120” in the early 80s of last
century, supported by “theTenth Five-Year Plan Key
Science & Technology Project”. Machine manufactur-
ing and industrial experiment were completed in July
1986 and May 1987 respectively. It was examined and
accepted by former Department of Coal, awarded 2nd
class prize of science and technology progress.
Key scientific and technological research project
funded by former Department of Coal was carried out
in 1987-1989, and type LM-200 raise boring machine
was researched and manufactured, awarded 1st class
prize of science and technology progress.
Type LM-90 raise boring machine was researched
and manufactured in1992.
Special fund item “Study on Technology and
Equipment of Raise Boring Deep Shaft” for research
institute sponsored by National Science and Tech-
nology Department was carried out in 2001–2003,
domestic largest raise boring machine ZFY2.0/400
was researched and manufactured, used extensively
to drill large-diameter shaft in mining and hydroelec-
tric engineering. The drilling technology has reached
the domestic leading level and international advanced
level.
Research was focused on rolling cutter for hard
rock, especially for raise boring since 2003. Site of
hydropower station was generally on hard rock. For
example, Taishan pumped storage power station in
Shandong province was located on granite strata in
which content of strong abrasive quartz was above
70%, and compressive strength was 310 MPa. Life
span of ordinary rolling cutter is only 5–10 months,
cost of cutter would be over 10,000 yuan/m, which
limits raise boring machine applied in hydroelectric
engineering. Therefore, special roller cutter for hard
rock was researched and manufactured, which life
span was 125 m in Taishan hydroelectric engineering.
Through many applications under different geologi-
cal conditions, this kind of roller cutter for hard rock
could meet various engineering needs, to handle the
difficulties in raise boring in hard rock strata.
Special fund item “Study on Technology Equip-
ment for Measuring and controlling Track of Pilot
Hole in Raise Boring” for research institute sponsored
by National Science and Technology Department was
carried out in 2005 to handle automatic control for
drilling deflect.
Type ZFY1.4/300 raise boring machine was manu-
factured in 2006, used in Fourth Mine of Pingdingshan
Mining Group to drill gas-releasing shaft with depth
of 562 m.
4 RAISE BORING TECHNOLOGY
Raising boring machine need to have reliable equip-
ment and the appropriate drilling technology, for
adapting to harsh underground environment and com-
plex geological conditions. Thus it can finish the job
with high-quality, safe, efficient and fast marks. Rais-
ing boring machine is special equipment. Engines
on the ground (General hydraulic systems for power-
driven) drive the drill pipe and the power is passed
to the bit. Then rocks are broken down by the cutter
and a hole (pilot hole and reaming) is formed. The
function of the pilot hole is drilling the pipes down, in
order to connect the reaming bit. Although pilot hole
accounts for less than 2.5% of total’s rock excavation,
it is the key of raising boring construction related to
the quality of drilling. The the verticality of pilot hole
is determined by deflection rate of drill; the process of
drilling pilot hole is the process of geological explo-
ration at the same time, which can be used to probe
rock’s properties, geological structure, to choose bit
and support patterns; Poor stability of the rock can be
pre-strengthened through the pilot hole. Reaming is a
process of breaking a large number of rocks. In order
to maximize efficiency, we need to select the cutters
with rock conditions, arrange reaming bit, and develop
appropriate parameters.
During this period, in addition to the study of “the
Seventh Five-Year Plan”, the preliminary study was
also performed on the drilling tool’s stress analysis,
bending of drill pipe and flushing fluid circulation,
etc. which affect shallow hole drilling process. The
work can meet the needs of the drilling at the depth
of approximately 50 m. And it also be checked and
awarded with LM-120 project at the same time.
“Raising-boring Technology for 300 m shaft”, sup-
ported by former Ministry of Coal Industry was carried
out in the 1988-1989. Drilling precision in deep, com-
plex strata was fully studied, combined with project of
316 m shaft drilling in Wennan. The machine passed
the complex strata successfully by adding stabilizer
drill, controlling drill pressure, controlling drilling rate
and conducting mud management,. The drilling speed
of 158 m per month was achieved. Research project of
mine industry “Study on Raise Boring Technology and
Special Equipment in Deep big-angle Inclined Shaft”
was conducted in 1992, combined with big-angle pres-
sure pipeline engineering in Shisanling pumped stor-
age power station, inclined shaft drilling technology
was investigated, including stress analysis in drilling
tool, arrangement of drilling tool, deflection mea-
sure, etc. 203 m-length and 236 m-length inclined shaft
were raise-bored respectively, and new raise boring
method was set up in hydroelectric construction.
Special fund item “Study on Technology and Equip-
ment of Raise Boring Deep Shaft” for research insti-
tute sponsored by National Science and Technology
Department was undertaken in 2001–2003, combined
with construction of Zhangjiawan pumped storage
power station in Hebei province. Raise boring tech-
nology for deep shaft in hard work was developed, two
shafts with depth of over 300 m were raise bored in
sandstone and andesite strata.
The gas drainage shaft in Fourth Mine of Pingding-
shan Mining Group, of which the depth was 562 m, was
drilled by comprehensive raise boring, and domestic
deepest raise-bored shaft was completed in 2006. It
indicates that new breakthrough is obtained in raise
boring technology.
673
5 TECHNICAL PARAMETERS OF RAISE
BORING MACHINE
Reasonable parameters have a major impact on drilling
efficiency and quality in the design of the drilling
machine. It is highly significant in the research of
technical parameters of raising boring machine which
guide the construction of the drilling.
5.1 Push force
Push force is applied to the axial pressure downward
on the bit imposed by the drill when drilling the pilot
hole. The weight and push force form pressure and
break rock through the drill in drilling pilot hole. We
need to give drill some upward force when pressure
is higher than the required. Very little push force is
needed in the pilot hole. But the theoretical push force
is much larger than pilot hole needed, for sometimes
need to deal with accidents and the way to promote.
5.2 Pull force
Pull force is applied to the axial pressure upward on
the bit imposed by the drill when ream drilling. Maxi-
mum pull force of the machine depends on the required
pressure of reaming, the weight of the drills needed
to pull up, the weight of the drive and the additional
ability to deal with accidents. Required reaming force
can be calculated by the following equation.
where: Pu = pull force (kN); kl = coefficient of capac-
ity, 1.3; Wb = maximum bit pressure while drilling
and broaching (kN); Wt = gross weight of broach-
ing bit and drill rod at maximum drilling depth (kN);
and Ws = weight of power swivel and main hydraulic
cylinder (kN).
For example: Line density of the pipe is 185 kg/m;
Designed depth is 300 m and diameter is 1.52 m;
weight of Reaming bit is 2800 kg; weights of power
taps and master cylinder of hydraulic system is
3800 kg; 8 hobs are arranged on reaming bit, and
can break the rock with uniaxial compressive strength
more than 200 MPa, pressure on the bit is more than
100 kN per hob and total pressure required 800 kN to
achieve it.
5.3 Spindle speed
Speed of spindle shall meet the needs for pilot hole
drilling and reaming. Pilot hole drilling has a small
diameter and requires high speed, so tricone bit is
used, and the speed is within the appropriate range
recommended, and generally we take the minimum.
The maximum line speed of the edge hob and the min-
imum contact time (0.02 s–0.03 s) for hob breaking the
 Table 1. Type and parameter of raise boring machine.

Type of BMC BMC ZFY1.4/300 ZFY2.0/400 LM LM LM

machine 100 200 (BMC 300) (BMC 400) 90 120 200

Diameter of pilot hole/mm 216 216 244 270 190 216 216
Diameter of broaching hole/m 1.0 1.2 1.4 2.0 0.9 1.2 1.4
Depth of hole/m 100 200 300 400 90 120 200
Diameter of drilling bit/mm 176 182 203 228 160 176 182
Thrust force/kN 200 350 550 1650 200 250 350
Pull force/kN 500 850 1250 2450 400 500 850
Torque/kN.m 20 35 64 80 15 35 40
Power /kW 62.5 86 128.5 128.5 52.5 62.5 82.5
Drive pattern Hydraulic Hydraulic & Hydraulic
Electric

rock needs to be considered in the reaming. We should complexities of conditions, abilities to manage emer-
choose the floor of the time range, instead of taking gency situation and assurance coefficient. Therefore,
the ceiling. Drill shaft speed is calculated, as equation the rated torque is 61 kN · m and maximum torque is
(Liu 2004): 80 kN · m.

6 HIGH-POWER RAISE BORING MACHINE

where: n = Speed of spindle, rpm; Dc = diameter of
big end of hob, m; D2 = diameter of broaching bit,
m; Ti = contact time between cutter tooth and rock, s;
ζ = intersection angle between rack of rolling cutter;
and α = bottom angle of edge cutter.
For example:
ζ = 15◦ ; α = 35◦ ; Dc = 0.315 m; D2 = 1.5 m; when
Ti = 0.025 s, then n = 12 rpm.
5.4 Torque
The torque for breaking rock depends on the diameter
of reaming, drilling rate, rock strength, spindle speed,
etc. According to the following empirical formula:
The LM series includes type LM-120, LM-90 and
LM-200. These series are designed for underground
engineering, due to their explosion-proof, small size,
light weight and easiness to transport (see Table 1 for
technical data); they meet the needs of drilling in soft
rock of coal measure stratum. With the expanding of
applications, existing drillings does not meet the needs
of hydroelectric power stations, metallurgy, transport,
highways and other hard rock geological condition.
So we conducted the development of ZFY2.0/400
and ZFY1.4/300, and ZFY2.0/400 is the important
contents of research-‘deep raising boring machine
and technology’, which is subsidized by the research
institutes of Ministry of Science.

where: Mt = Torque for breaking rock, kN.m;
Cr = Compressive Strength, MPa; P = Drilling Speed,
m/h; D1 = Diameter of pilot hole, m; D2 = Diameter
broaching hole, m; φf = Crushing angle of cutter,
20–35◦ .
For example:
A shaft with diameter of 1.5 m was drilled in rock
strata, the compressive strength of rock is 200 MPa,
drilling speed is 0.08333 m/min, rotating speed of
machine is 10 rpm, and diameter of pilot hole is
244 mm. Maximum torque needed to broach rock
from formula (2) is:
6.1 ZFY2.0/400
ZFY 2.0/400 (BMC400) high-thrust drill has two parts
including the part on and under the ground as shown
in Figure 3. Ground segment has three parts: (1) the
host system, including the host, pumping stations and
operating vehicle; (2) electrically controlling compo-
nents, including electrical switch, starter, etc.; and (3)
the auxiliary system, mainly including flushing fluid
circulation system. Underground system includes pilot
drill bit, general drill stem, stability drill, non-standard
joint, reaming bit, etc. The device can be used in
ventilation shaft drilling less than in 3.0 m diameter,
coal bunker and other works, under the conditions of
soft rock in coal mine; It can complete the shaft and
inclined wells of big angle up to depth of 400 m and
diameter of 2.0 m in hard rock.

6.2 ZFY1.4/300
Torque and maximum torque (including torque for
installation and removal pipe) should be 1.5 and 1.8 ZFY1.4/300 (BMC300) replaces LM-200 which is
times of breaking rocks needed respectively, given the widely used in the hydroelectric construction projects

674
Figure 3. Type ZFY2.0/400 raise boring machine.
(Liu 2004). It solves the low performance of LM-200,
but still retains its small size, light weight and easiness
to move, with better adaptability (Liu 2004).
7 RECENT ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS
7.1 Construction of pressure pipeline in
Zhanghewan pumped Storage Power Station
Zhanghewan pumped Storage Power Station, located
in Jingxing County Hebei Province in North China
is an important peaking power. Installed capacities of
the power structure including the reservoir on top and
underground structures below, etc. come to 1000 MW.
Two deep pressure pipeline shafts, of which the depth is
388 m, are very important to the construction of power
station. Surrounding rocks sandstone and andesite, of
which the uniaxial compressive strength is more than
200 MPa, are hard and abrasive. Type ZFY2.0/400
raise boring machine was available for this site on 20th
July 2004. Pilot hole was drilled and completed on 6th
August 2004 and 17th, October 2004 respectively, liq-
uid leakage was handled during most drilling time.
First pressure pipeline with depth of 301 m and diam-
eter of 1.4 m was completed on 17th October 2004 and
then was the second pressure pipeline. 1–2 months was
ahead of schedule for construction of power station.
7.2 Gas drainage well of four ore of
Pingdingshan’s construction
Gas drainage well in Fourth Mine of Pingdingshan
Mining Group, with diameter of 750 mm and depth
up to 562 m from the surface to the underground
tunnel, was built by type ZFY1.4/300 drilling machine
developed recently. We completed the deepest shaft by
675
raise boring machine with speed of 0.98 m/h, through
the research of drilling machine and drilling processes
and the application of integrated construction method
from February 20th, 2006 to April 6th, 2006. This
technology is the leading domestic level, with new
breakthroughs.
7.3 Ventilation shaft of Zhongnanshan
highway tunnel
The three ventilation shafts, with the longest of 4.9 km
and shortest of 3.9 km, divided both east and west
tunnel into four segments in Zhongnanshan of Qin-
ling’s long tunnel project of Xi’an-Ankang Highway.
We originally planned to excavate the well by blasting
method. However, through schematic comparison, it is
more advantageous for environment to construct the
pilot well by boring first, and then expand to design
section by blasting. Pilot holes for No. 1 and No. 3
shafts were drilled. The center of No. 1 shaft is 1126 m
above the sea level with depth of 190.033 m; the cen-
ter of No. 3 shaft is 1429.6 m above the sea level
with depth of 392.772 m. No. 1 and No. 3 shafts were
constructed by Type BM300 and BM400 raise bor-
ing machines repectively, and were both completed
successfully.
8 LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
The successful development of LM series raising
drilling machine greatly promoted the development of
domestic raising drilling technology, not only in coal
system, but also in hydropower, metallurgy, transporta-
tion, etc. Inclined shaft construction opened up a new
way, it has a broad prospect. However, there is a wide
gap between domestic raising drilling technique and
the advanced world level, so we must perform even 4. Research on and manufacture of efficient and low
further researches. energy consuming rock-breaking hob. Hob is a
major consuming material in drilling. Its energy
1. Application of robot and computer remote con-
consumption in breaking rock is much higher than
trol technique. As drilling machine technique is
conventional methods such as blasting. Structure of
developed with gradually expanding of appli-
the body and tooth of the hob should be improved,
cation fields, drilling machine can be fit for
new materials should be used to develop efficient
the construction under radiation and harmful gas
and low energy consuming hob, then the cost could
overflow conditions. But operating staff still suf-
be reduced and efficiency be improved.
fer from radiation and harmful gas. For this reason,
Robot and computer remote control technique can
be applied in this field. With intelligent technique,
9 CONCLUSION
drilling machine can be worked in unmanned state.
Drilling machine operating cycle can be conducted
LM series raise boring machine has become an impor-
by advance programmed procedures and remote
tant equipment in underground constructions, We
control.
should take full advantage of the technical progress of
2. Development of technique of measuring and con-
related disciplines. Through the research of new tech-
trolling deflection. The boring precision is an
nology and new equipment we can make them more
important problem which needs to be resolved.
perfect, only in this way can we expand their applica-
Enhancing precision can cut down drill costs,
tion scope to meet the needs of different engineering
advanced measurement and rectification technol-
constructions.
ogy applied in aerospace, fossil oil engineering
should be imported to service the well drilling
machine, further research should be made on REFERENCES
drilling tool applied in raise boring to improve the
ability of deflection auto-control. Liu, Z.Q. 2001. Equipment and development of raise boring
3. Develop powerful drilling machine. The research technology. Coal Science and Technology (4): 9–11.
and improvement of raise boring technology make Liu, Z.Q. 2004. New development of raise boring technology
it possible to drill the ventilation shafts or other for hydroelectric engineering. Water Power (11): 23–24.
similar shaft of which the diameter is 5–6 m and
depth is 600–800 m, and necessary support could
be provided by the machine.

676
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study and practice of railway support in broken and dilatant roof

with high pretension and short cable bolting

L.X. Yan
Mining and Design Branch, China Coal Research Institute, Beijing, China

B. Li
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Based on the roadway located in broken and dilatant roof in the soft coal seam of the Zhaozhuang
coal mine, the pretension stress field distribution caused by cables with different pretension load and different
cable lengths was studied by means of numerical simulation and theoretical analysis. It was pointed out that
the bolting effect of short cable bolts with high pretension is better than that of the long cable bolts with low
pretension. On the basis of analysis on the problems existing in the previous roadway support design and the
characteristics of the deformation and failure of the surrounding rocks, the cable bolting design with short length
and high pretension was put forward. The key of the technology is to significantly increase the pretension of the
cable bolts and make it effectively spread to the surrounding rocks, which can effectively restrain the hazardous
deformation including separation to form a “rigid” roof. Meanwhile, it can also make the secondary stress
distribution gentler and reduce the peak stress, which is beneficial for the control of the side wall deformation
and the floor heave. In the field test, there was almost no separation in the entry roof when it was bolted by the
short cable bolts with high pretension, the displacement of the surrounding rocks decreased dramatically, and
the entry supporting state changed fundamentally.

1 INSTRUCTIONS is loose, the platts coefficient is between 0.21 and 1.32.

Pre-stressed anchorage technology is developed on
the basis of pre-stressed concrete technology and bolt
supporting theory, and the pre-stressed supporting
structures are built (Cheng 2003). Underground cham-
bers, roadway, dam foundation and rock mass of high
slope can be reinforced through drilling a hole in the
rock mass, and applying pretension to the bolts or
cables that are in the hole, therefore, the whole rock
mass is stable. The most important feature of Pre-
stressed anchorage technology is as few disturbing the
rock mass or soil that will been reinforced as possi-
ble, in other words, on the premise of not destroying
the original structure, the strength of rock mass or soil
body can be strengthened by the anchorage measures,
accordingly, the passive support mode becomes the
active. Pre-stressed anchorage Technology is a safe,
efficient and economic reinforcement technique, it has
been paid a high attention, and develops rapidly (Kang
2007, Song 1997, Wang 2007, Wu 2001).
Now the being mined coal seam is the 3# coal seam
in Zhaozhuang coal mine, the Jincheng mining area.
Due to the influence of multi-stage tectonic move-
ments, the geological structure is extremely complex.
Faults, especially the insidious small faults, and col-
lapse column are more, the disparity of the physical
and mechanical properties is great in different areas,
and the tectonic stress field is extremely complex. Coal
Joints of coal seam are widespread, mainly two direc-
tions, 45–60 degree angle and 135-150 degree angle,
but the directions of 45–60 degree angle are dense,
joint surfaces are straight, the fissures are not filled, the
joints of other directions extend shortly, and they are
not straight and not growth. The maximum horizontal
stress is between 10 MPa and 15 MPa, it is mainly tec-
tonic stress, the direction of the maximum horizontal
principal stress is approximately north by west. Large
faults, insidious small faults and collapse column are
more, by the analysis of collapse column, the rocks
of collapse column is broken, and the consolidation is
poor, for which hydraulic connection of aquifers has
been enhanced, the amount of water gushing is large in
the construction process, the normal discharge of mine
is 1130 m3 /h, the maximum discharge is 1808 m3 /h.
Roof of entry is mainly mudstone, sandy mudstone,
with minor siltstone, locally is the medium-grained
or fine-grained sandstone. Floor of entry is mainly
mudstone and sandy mudstone, the medium-grained
sandstone and fine-grained sandstone or siltstone is
not common. The mudstone strength of immediate
roof is about 20 MPa, the strength of sandy mudstone
is about 30 MPa, the strength of argillaceous sandstone
is about 50 MPa, the strength of the fine sandstone is
about 80 MPa. In the tunneling process, it is found that
the uncovered coal seam and the fissures of rock mass
are growth, there is a layer of gangue whose thickness

677
is not same, from 0 to 6 m, easily weathered expan-
sion, dilatation is obvious when having ground water,
and roof caving happens easily. The mean thickness of
coal is 4.5 m, top-coal can not be remained, floor coal
have become coal slurry as a result of milling by road
header, which cause that the coal cutter can not work
well. Only this method, caving the whole high of coal
along the top and bottom, can be adopted, otherwise,
coal slide happens easily. Because of the above reason,
supporting of entry becomes more difficult, and high
production, high efficiency and modern construction
of mine have been influenced, so the support technol-
ogy of short cable bolts with high pretension should
be studied and tested.

2 SUPPORTING EFFECT ANALYSIS OF

PRESTRESSED CABLE

2.1 Numerical analysis

The original rock stress is not considered in this paper,
and distribution characteristics of stress field that is
caused by the pretension of cables has been analyzed
(Kang 2007). The three-dimensional numerical mod-
els have been constructed by FLAC3D. The stress
distribution characteristics of cables with different
pretensions that are 50 kN, 100 kN, 150 kN, 200 kN,
250 kN, 300 kN, and with different lengths that are 4 m,
5 m, 6 m, 7 m, 8 m, 10 m, have been analyzed. Stress
field distribution of cables with different pretensions
of 50 KN and 200 KN are shown in Figure 1.
As is shown in Figure 1(a), since the pretension
of cable is only 50 kN is relatively low, the preten-
sion value and compressive stress area of rock mass is
small, the distribution of effective compressive stress Figure 1. Pretension stress field distribution caused by
is isolated, not connecting into the entirety. Stress area cables with different pretension.
that is approximated to zero is large, and the surround-
ing rock has not been reinforced by cables in this the two cables is gradually decreased, it is shown that
area. the supporting role that is played in rock mass between
As is shown in Figure 1(b), the pretension of cable the two cables is gradually decreased.
is 200 kN, is comparatively large. Stress concentration As can be concluded that when the pretension
is obvious near the cable. As the anchoring position stress is constant, the longer the anchors are, the
is far, the compressive stress is more and more small, more obvious the effect of the pretension stress is and
however, the effective compressive stress that is caused the worse the positive supporting effect is, the short
by each cable is obviously larger, and it is close to cable is better than the longer. The short cable with
each other. There is a certain value of compressive high pretension stress is a better-capability supporting
stress in the middle of two anchors, and it has a certain mode.
supporting effect to the rock mass between the two
2.2 Supporting role played in rock mass by
cables.
supporting stress
Distribution of pretension stress field is shown in
Figure 2, the lengths of cables are 4 m and 8 m, and According to elasto-plasticity theory, after the entry
the pretension stress is 200 KN. It can be seen from the has been excavated, the bearing role played in the rock
figure: ➀ as the length of cables increase, the height of mass by the supporting force that is provided by the
the effective compressive stress is larger and larger, but supporting system is shown in Figure 3, the stress dis-
the changes of width are not obvious, and it decreases tribution of the surrounding rock is depicted by dotted
as the length of cables increase. ➁ as the length of line after the entry has been excavated (Dong 2001,
cables increases, the compressive stress of the middle Xue 2002). The load borne by the elastic and plastic
and upper of cables is gradually decreased, it is shown bearing zone is Qe and Qp .
that the supporting role that is played in rock mass by With the effect of support system, there is the com-
cables is gradually decreased, ➂ as the length of cables pression zone in the rock mass, and the supporting
increases, the compressive stress of rock mass between force, PM, is provided to the deep surrounding rock

678

Figure 2. Pretension stress field distribution caused by
cables with different length.
Figure 3. Schematic diagram of the support stress influence
to the bear zone in the surrounding rocks.
by the compression zone. The size and location of the
plastic zone is all changed, the load borne by the elas-
tic and plastic zone are changed from Qe and Qp to
Q*e and Q*p, and the radius of the relaxation zone
and the plastic zone are changed from RZ, RP to R*Z
and R*P.
To solve Q*e and Q*p, at first, the elastic-plastic
stress distribution of rock mass should be solved
under the supporting force. To facilitate the analysis,
679
elastic-plastic stress distribution under the hydrostatic
pressure field is adopted, the difference is that the
radius of entry is changed from a to r2, Pi is changed
to PM. In general, after the entry has been supported,
the radius, R*Z and R*P, of the relaxation zone and the
plastic zone of the surrounding rock can be solved. It
is shown as follow:
3 ORIGINAL DESIGN OF ENTRY AND
EFFECT ANALYSIS
3.1 Support design of entry
Drift section is rectangular, the width is 5.2 m, the
height is 4.2 m, and the sectional area is 21 m2 . the
high-strength steel bolts whose diameter is 22 mm are
used in the original support, the length is 2.4 m, row
spacing is 0.9 m, spacing is 1 m, there are 6 anchors
in each row, the tightening torque of bolts is 300 Nm.
The high-strength low-relaxation steel strand is used as
cable, its diameter is 17.8 mm, and the length is 7.3 m,
row spacing is 1.8 m, spacing is 2 m. The high-strength
low-relaxation steel strand is used for reinforcing the
two walls, its diameter is 17.8 mm, and the length
is 5.3 m, the pretension stress can not be less than
100 KN, row spacing is 1.8 m, spacing is 1.5 m, the
upper anchor is 1.5 m far from the roof, and the nether
anchor is also 1.5 m far from the floor. The support
arrangement of the entry is shown in Figure 4.
3.2 Analysis of supporting effect
After the above support has been used, the tunnel is
not of instability in the period of the excavation and
use, and the surrounding rock of local sites is broken.
The failure mode of entry is roof fall, convergence of
two walls and floor heave, which is shown in Figure 5.
(1) Roof fall: the deformation and failure of roof
have timeliness. In the early period of support, the
micro-cracks of the roof is not outspread, the rock
mass has a certain integrity, it is because that the bolts
play a role. However, with the deformation of the roof,
the joints and micro-fissure of rock mass is gener-
ally outspread, the bedding surface and micro-fissure
are full of air, the mudstone is of efflorescence seri-
ously, so it becomes brittle, and begin to drop, the
fissure is further outspread, the deformation of the
roof begin to aggravate, the lays of the surrounding
rock are separated, the rock mass of roof has become
broken and loose, the rock near the bolts begins to fall,
so the bolts are invalid. After the separation appears,
the mechanical properties of jointed rock mass of roof
rapidly decline, and the deep surrounding rocks begin
Figure 4. Layout of bolts and cables for original entry.

to break, the bearing capacity of roof is worse and

worse. As is shown in Figure 5(a), after the roof has
been deformed, the measure of sprayed concrete has
been adopted, lots of cables have been installed, but
the effect is worse, it has been illustrated that second
supporting theory is not suitable for such type of entry.
Once the broken range of the separation has exceeded
the anchoring range of cables, the anchors is invalid
integrally, the roof is only supported by some cables,
the roof is extremely easier to fall, the height of roof
fall is between 2 m and 5 m. Before roof fall, there are
some obvious evidences, the sunken value of roof is
large, efflorescence of rock is more serious, the rock
mass of roof has become broken and loose, the net bag
is large, the joints of steelfabric is pulled apart, once
the brittle rock falls, roof fall will immediately appear,
as is shown in figure 5(b).
(2) The two walls move into the interior of entry. In
the early period of tunneling, the phenomenon that the
whole wall moves into the interior of entry will appear.
After a period of deformation, a new balance will be
achieved. But because of the excavating disturbance
of the adjacent entry and the effect of working face, Figure 5. Deformation and damaged states of original entry.
it will be aggravated of deformation of the entry, the
deformation of some entries has become deformed to
a extent that the two walls are contacted with each like the thought that the stress can be relaxed after
other. In addition, after the entry has been deformed deformation and it is easier to support. It can be seen
to a certain extent, the entry must be repaired, but the that the deformation of the wall has reached to more
deformation of the wall is not still controlled. It is not than 2.5 m from the Figure 5(c).

680
 (3) Floor heave. Because of the special geological
structure of ZhaoZhuang coal mine, there are two obvi-
ous stress concentration zones in the east-west, floor
heave will be brought about when every entry is exca-
vated to this zone, in the period of stopping, the main
roof of adjacent coal face have fallen, the amount of
floor heave is more than 1m in the serious area, as is
shown in Figure 5(c).

4 SHORT CABLE SUPPORT DESIGN AND

EFFECT ANALYSIS

4.1 Support design of short cable

In order to control deformation and failure of the sur-
rounding rock effectively and maintain the long-term
stability, the short anchor with high pretension stress
is used to support the roof. The section shape and size
of entry is as before. The high-strength low-relaxation
steel strand, its diameter is 22 mm, the length is 5.4 m,
is used, there are 4 pieces of steel strand in a row,
spacing is 1.5 m, row spacing is also 1.5 m, and it
is anchored by king-size gum resin, and the length
of cables are longer than the general. The pretension
stress of cables are more than 250 KN, 14b channels
are used as cable composite component, its length is
Figure 6. Layout of cables with short length and high
2.2 m, the spacing of two holes of channels is 1.5 m, pretension.
the gasket is used in the channels. Steel fabric is used,
and the diameter of rebar is 6.5 mm, mesh size is multi- Table 1. Deformation comparison of entries bolted by two
plying 100 mm by 100 mm, netting size is multiplying types
2.7 m by 1.65 m.
The high-strength steel bolts whose diameter is Roof Displacement Floor
22 mm are used to support the wall of entry, the model Separation convergence of wall heave
is BHRB500, and its length is 2.4 m. there are 5 pieces /mm /mm /mm /mm
of bolts in a row, spacing is 1.5 m, row spacing is 0.9 m,
and it is anchored by king-size gum resin, the tight- General bolt 89 456 1234 857
ening torque is more than 400 Nm. W type of steel support
sheeting is used for veiling and supporting the wall. Short 5 23 195 239
The specifications of cables are same as roof, there anchors
are 2 pieces of cables in a row, row spacing is 1.5 m, support
the upper and nether anchors are 0.8 m and 1.5 m far Reduction (%) 94 95 84 72
from the roof and floor. Diamond mesh is adopted,
mesh size is multiplying 50 mm by 50 mm, and net-
ting size is multiplying 4.3 m by 1.65 m. The layout of Previously, the cause that the roof convergence is
entry is shown in Figure 6. large is considered that the length of anchors is not
enough. The anchors whose length are 14.5 m was
used before, but the roof can not be controlled. When
the pre-stress is small, the cable and anchor is tensed
4.2 Effect analysis of support
through the rock deformation, now, the separation has
Compared the displacement of entry of the two support appeared, so the support stress can not be transferred to
system with the monitoring data of roof separation of the upper strata. When the length of anchors is reduced
the two support system, the result is summarized in to 5 m, by increasing the pre-stress, the separation can
Table 1. After the short anchors with high pretension be restricted effectively, and the self-bearing capabil-
stress is used, roof separation is reduced by 94%, the ity can be fully aroused. Obviously, the high pre-stress
amount of roof convergence, the displacement of wall and short anchors are the support that is suitable for
and the amount of floor heave is respectively reduced the soft coal and broken and dilatant roof.
by 95%, 84% and 72%. The separation is not brought
about, the amount of roof convergence is small, the 5 CONCLUSION
displacement of wall is reduced substantially, the floor
heave become not obvious. The support effect of entry 1) The pretension is the critical factor affecting
has essentially changed, shown in Figure 7. the supporting effect of bolt and cable. By the

681

(4) The deformation of the surrounding rocks sup-
Figure 7. Supporting state of entry reinforced by cables with
short length and high pretension.
supporting components, the supporting stress is
spread to the surrounding rocks, in the roof, the
compressive stresses are generated and the “rigid”
roof is formed, therefore, the separation and the
broken and dilatant rocks of roof can be controlled
effectively.
2) A greater load can be born by the low pre-stress
and long cables only when the surrounding rocks
is deformed and squeezed, now, the separation has
appeared, the support stress can not be transferred
to the upper strata, the support effect is poor. The
separation can be controlled effectively by the high
pre-stress and short cables, its expansion deforma-
tion can also be constrained, and its support effect
is obviously better than the low pre-stress and long
cables.
3) The integrity of roof can be maintained by the
high pre-stress support system, although there is
little The overall settlement, the secondary stress
682
distribution is smooth due to the integrity of roof,
concentrated stress of coal entry is decreased, the
extent of damage and deformation of the two walls
are significantly reduced, by which the amount of
floor heave is obviously decreased.
ported by the low pre-stress cables is serious, the
traditional view is that the stress is released after
the entry has deformed, and a new equilibrium will
reach after being repaired. But the practice indi-
cates that the deformation is also serious after the
soft coal and broken and dilatant roof have been
repaired, the back repairs while the front excavates,
and it will be repaired several times. The one-time
high strong pretension support is the effect support
mode to such entry.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Project (2008BAB36B07) Supported by National Key
Technology R&D Program.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Instantaneous response of pore water pressure in the process of dynamic

drainage consolidation

G.H. Yang
Civil Engineering Department, North China Institute of Aerospace Engineering, Langfang, Hebei, China

R. Xue
Civil Engineering College, Zhengzhou Institute of Aeronautical Industry Management, Zhengzhou, Henan, China

H.Q. Li
Beijing Dingshi Environmental Engineering Co., Ltd. Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Dynamic drainage consolidation method is a new effective technique for treatment of saturated
soft soil foundation. The response law of pore water pressure at the moment of tamping is analyzed in this paper.
The research results showed that the pore water pressure in mud decreases with the depth, the pressure in mud
is always higher than that in sand drain. Therefore sand drain is an effective vertical drainage channel in the
process of dynamic drainage consolidation.

1 INTRODUCTION In dynamic drainage consolidation system, verti-

Soft soil has the characteristic of rich-water content,
high natural void level, low shear strength, high com-
pressibility and low permeability. As its low bearing
capacity and high settlement and deformation, the
engineering processing of soft soil is always diffi-
cult. The reinforcement and processing of widespread
silt soft soil becomes inevasible for the engineers and
technicians in coastal areas.
Soft soil reinforcement usually includes replace-
ment method, preloading method, sand drain method,
compacting method, dynamic compaction method, etc.
Among them, the dynamic compaction method has
been widely used in the treatment of soft foundation
since the 1970s as it is firstly applied for its simple,
convenient construction organization and manage-
ment, effective, less investment, etc. But the dynamic
compaction method has its fatal flaw, that is, under
the dynamic load of compaction, a large amount of
water needs to be drained from soil voids in a short
time. But the permeability of soft soil is poor, the
pore water cannot be drained instantaneously. The pore
water pressure increases and cannot dissipate in short
time. As a result, macro-structure of soil is destroyed,
shear strength lost, so rubber soil appears, the expected
reinforcement cannot be achieved. In order to over-
come the faults of traditional dynamic compaction
method, the dynamic compaction method was com-
bined with static drainage consolidation method since
the 1990s in Chinese coastal areas, a new combining
foundation treatment method – dynamic drainage con-
solidation method is developed (Gong 2000) (Wang
1993).
cal drain system (sand pile, sand drain, hard drainage
plate, etc.) is settled in soft soil foundation, sand cush-
ion is laid on the surface, and then impact energy is
applied on the foundation soil; therefore under the
action of the impact energy, super quiescent pore water
pressure is formed; the pore water in the soil is drained
along the drainage channels, the soil pore water vol-
ume is reduced, effective stress increases, so as to
consolidate the foundation.
Ordinarily, the reason of dynamic drainage consol-
idation is that dynamic load causes seepage of pore
water and the drainage of pore water changes soil
pore volume in the soil, correspondingly impressed
pressure is transferred from pore water to the soil
skeleton, and then this process will repeat continu-
ally until deformation stabilization. Even then because
influence factors are much more, the soft soil structure
is too Characteristic is too complex, and processing
method is composite, the method of dynamic drainage
consolidation becomes extremely complex.
To reveal the consolidation mechanism, finite dif-
ference method and Finn constitutive law is used,
the soil foundation treatment engineering of Human
highway in Guangzhou is take as a case to estab-
lish numerical model to study the pore water pres-
sure instantaneous response law during consolidation
process.
2 MECHANICAL MODEL
Normally the change of pore volume created by
dynamic load only cause flow of pore water, so we

683
can remain the average pore water pressure the same
in analysis. Moreover, the pore water pressure will
increase in some sand during the cyclic loading pro-
cess, eventually liquefaction of sand will happen when
effective stress is close to zero.
Based on the characteristics above mentioned, the
dynamic evolution model of pore water pressure–Finn
(Itasca Consulting Group. Inc., 1997) selected as cal-
culation model is suitable, this model can solve basic
physical process of pore water pressure evolution on
the action of dynamic loads.
Finn model is put forward and descript by Martin
etc in 1975 (Martin et al. 1975). The character of
this model is taking consideration that the relation-
ship between residual volume strain and cycle shear
strain amplitude is not dependent on lateral restraint
stress. The proposed empirical formula is given by
where, εvd – increment of volume reduction, γ-
amplitudes of cycle shear strain, εvd - residual volume
strain, C1, C3, C2, C4 – constants getting from cycle
drainage tests.
In this paper, the change of pore water pressure in
the soft foundation disposition by dynamic drainage
consolidation method is calculated and simulated by
Finn model.
3 CALCULATION AND RESULT
3.1 Geometric model
The numerical simulation model for soft soil foun-
dation disposed by dynamic drainage consolidation
method is 30 m wide and 18 m high (Figure 1).
3.2 Calculating conditions
The site is located in the Pearl River estuary of
Guangzhou china, belong to the plain geomorphic.The
area is widely deposed in a thick paralic soft soil which
is mostly silt and muddy soil. The thickness of the
soft soil layer is generally from 2 to 8 meters, basic
state is fluidal plastic. Main engineering properties
are described as follows:
(1) High natural moisture content ratio, the average
is 76%, few over 100%. (2) High natural void ratio,
the void ratio of muddy soil is 1.25, the void ratio
of muddy is 1.80, even exceeded 2.0. (3) High com-
pressibility, the compression coefficient is normally
0.73∼0.34 MPa−1 . (4) Cohesion is small, generally
between 0.5 and 10 MPa. (5) Consolidation coefficient
is small, generally about 4.0 × 10−3 cm2 /s. (6) High-
sensitivity, once disturbed, the flocculent structure will
be destroyed, soil strength will decrease obviously,
even become flow state.
3.3 Physical-mechanical parameters
Parameters of soil layers are obtained from the engi-
neering practical test of soft foundation, some data is
derived from associated engineering. Detail physical
and mechanical parameters are in Table 1.
The diameter of Rammer is 2 meter, and its weight
is 16 tons. Compaction energy is 1000 kN*m. Contact
velocity is 11.2 m/s along z axis. Calculation process
is a strike process, the total time is 0.16s.

3.4 Calculation and results

3.4.1 Characteristics of pore water pressure in mud
Curves of the pore water pressure in sand drain at
different time and depth are shown in Figure 2 and
Figure 3.
The performance of pore water pressure changing
with rammer impacting has an impulse response pro-
cess. In the initial contact stage of rammer and soil,
Figure 1. Geometric model.

Table 1. Parameters of soil layers.

Bulk Shear Friction Permeability

Name modulus (Pa) modulus (Pa) Cohesion (Pa) angle (deg) Void ratio coefficient (m/s)

Mud 1.3e6 0.4e6 4.3e3 3.2 0.59 2.7e-10

Sand cushion 1.5e8 0.75e8 0 35 0.45 5e-5
Sand drain 0.75e8 0.375 0 31 0.42 5e-4
Muddy soil 1.5e8 0.8e8 5e7 20 0.55 1e-10
Rammer 1.75e11 8e10 – – – –

684
the pore water pressure grows sharply, and the peak
increases high. Moreover, the peaks of pore water
pressure also move to the deeper with time.
During the transient response process of rammer
impacting, the pore water pressure peak appears in
depth of 3.5 m to 4 m range, and gradually decreases
with depth, the time lag which appears is significant.
the characters above also explains the process that
compact energy gradually transfer and diffuse to deep,
and the pore water pressure releases and decreases
slowly. Also From another point of view reflects soil
consolidation process.
Comparing pore water pressure at different time, the
pore water pressure almost doesn’t change at the same
depth beyond 8 m, explaining effective consolidation
depth is within 8 m in such conditions.
3.4.2 Characteristics of pore water pressure in
sand drain
Curves of the pore water pressure in sand drain at dif-
ferent time is shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5 along
with depth
At the rammer strike center, namely from −0.04
to 0.04 meter distance, below depth of 4 meter, Sand
well water pressure presents a short growth process
in ramming moment, then falling down rapidly. In
other scope and other depth, the pore water pres-
sure presents no obvious increase, roughly remain
unchanged. The phenomenon shows that in the process
of dynamic drainage consolidation, sand drain as the
Figure 2. Pore water pressure in sand drain at different
depth and time.
Figure 3. Pore water pressure curves in mud at different
depth and time.
685
vertical drainage channel is very effective, which can
drain pore water off rapidly, increase effective stress
strike accelerate consolidation process.
With depth increasing, the pore water pressure
in sand drain increases gradually. That explains the
impact energy is transmitted from shallow to deep,
and the pore water is drained off from deep space to
the surface of the ground. From another point of view,
that phenomenon shows the process that the pore water
permeates from deep mud soil to sand drain, and is
drained off by sand drain from the bottom to the top.
3.4.3 Comparison of pore water pressure between
mud and sand drain
From the above view, the pore water pressure in sand
drain is lower than that in mud all the time, explain-
ing that the sand drain as a vertical drainage channel
is effective. It can effectively drain the void water,
dissipate pore water pressure.
Comparing pore water pressure in sand drains with
in mud, it can be found in Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4,
Figure 5 that pore water pressure in pore drain is less
than in mud before wave peak in mud, after, in sand
drain is greater than in mud. This phenomenon shows
the process that the pore water pressure in mud accu-
mulates and increases after rammer compacting, then
transfers to sand drain of smooth drainage, dissipates
and releases through sand drain.
Figure 4. Pore water pressure curves in sand drain at
different depth and time.
Figure 5. Pore water pressure curves in mud at different
depth and time.
4 CONCLUSION
Dynamic drainage consolidation is calculated and sim-
ulated by coupling soil and water through effective
Finn model. The change history of pore water pressure
during rammer compacting process is showed. Dissi-
pating process of pore water pressure can be reflected
from change of pore water pressure. The results are
intuitive and reliable.
During ramming compacting, the change of pore
water pressure in mud presents transient vibration pro-
cess and the wave appearing delays in turn with depth,
which reflects the compacting energy transferring
from shallow to deep.
The pore water pressure dissipation process has
been reflected. The pressure in mud appears clear
peaks after rammer compacting, and then decays
rapidly. The phenomena explains that the void water
has already been drained immediately through the
effective way, the pore water pressure can be dissi-
pated rapidly, undoubtedly vertical drainage channel
– the sand drain play an important role in the process.
686
After all, Numerical calculation method is a kind
of approximate method, influenced by the constitutive
model and calculating parameters. Its validity need to
be check in practice.
REFERENCES
Gong, X.N. 2000. Foundation Treatment Manual (Second
Edition). Beijing: China Building Industry Press.
Itasca Consulting Group. Inc. 1997. FLAC3 (Fast Lagrangian
Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions) Online Manual
Volume I–IV.
Martin, G. R., Finn, W. D. L. & Seed, H. B. 1975. Fundamen-
tals of liquefaction under cyclic loading. Journal of the
Geotechnical Engineering Division 101(5): 423–438.
Wang, F.G. 1997. Brief Analysis of the Method of Dynamic
Drainage Consolidation. Soil Engineering and Founda-
tion 11(1): 21–24.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Basis of pit slope design mechanics and parameters sensibility analysis

G.T. Yang
College of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China
Changsha Engineering and Research Institute of Nonferrous Metallurgy, Changsha, China

X.B. Li & J.G. Ding

College of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, China

ABSTRACT: Based on the previous research results and in considerations of the slope rock mass under
the action of both dead-load stress and horizontal tectonic stress, spatial mechanical analysis is carried out
with the elastic mechanics method of the inversely truncated tapered pit surface. The relationship between the
designed slope angle, the rock physical and mechanical parameter, excavation radius and radial component of
the horizontal tectonic stress are derived to provide the theoretical basis for rational slope design and for the
reduction of overburdens from the furrow pit. And based on the nonlinear mapping function of the artificial
neural network and with the help of RBF artificial neural network model, sensibility analysis is implemented for
the parameters affecting the slope angle design. The results of the case study showed that the radial component
σr of the horizontal tectonic stress toward the rock mass, bulk density γ and rock mass friction factor f are the
primary influencing factors, while the open pit radius r and ring modulus Eθ are the secondary considerations.

1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION R(Z) = a·ch(Z/b). Since 1980’s, China scholars have

The global mine operations have entered the stage of
furrow pit mining. On the one hand, the maintenance
of stable slope is necessary for safe and sustained min-
ing, on the other hand, the problem of large amount
of overburdens from the furrow pit mining activity
has troubled many mines. Thus and many scholars
both at home and abroad have done lots of researches
to solve this problem. For example, in 1960’s, based
on the analysis of open pit mine survey data vector
analysis method, the former Soviet scholar Feishen
presented the concept of application of convex rock
slope in the vertical section, and he proposed to adjust
the slope shape by the limit equilibrium to make the
top gentle and bottom steep so as to be adapted to the
less stable top rock weathered layer (Zhang, 2001).
In 1970, Piteau (Piteau, 1970) et al. investigated the
impact of slope curvature radius on the slope stabil-
ity and found out that the upon mining, the angle of
slope in the state of natural equilibrium increased with
the decrease of slope curvature radius on a horizontal
surface. The researches done by Rassan et (Rassam,
1999) al showed that on a horizontal surface, the ulti-
mate stable angle of the convex slope of the high waste
dump was 2◦ larger in minimum than that of the lin-
ear slope. In 1999, A C et al in Seismological Institute
Uzbekistan Academy of Science published the paper
“Determination of Reasonable Shape of the Furrow Pit
Slope” in Russian magazine <Mining Engineering>,
they thought that the ideal furrow pit should be a
rotational centrum up to the hyperbolic cosine of
started the related investigations, of which Zhang and
Zhu are representative scholars, the former presented
the Space–time Principle of Less Stripping Technol-
ogy of the Furrow Pit Slope, while the latter analyzed
the furrow pit slope stability based on the spatial stress
and derived the relationship between the critical slid-
ing angle and rock physical parameters and excavation
radius on the assumption that the slope rock mass is
only under the dead-load stress.
The relationship between the critical sliding angle
and rock physical parameters and excavation radius
on the assumption that the slope rock mass is only
under the dead-load stress. They have achieved many
results. In the actual mine engineering, the slope rock
mass is not only under the dead-load stress but also
under the horizontal tectonic stress. Yue has taken into
account the effects of the rock mass dead-load stress
and horizontal tectonic stress, but when developing
the differential element equilibrium equation along the
gliding direction, he has only taken into account the
ring tectonic stress without consideration to the radial
tectonic stress. Thus, his research results are to be fur-
ther verified. In this paper rock mass mechanics is
analyzed by means of principle of elastic mechan-
ics based on the assumption that the rock mass is
a elastic geological body under the dead-load stress
and horizontal tectonic stress (ring and radial tectonic
stresses) and based on the excavation of the open pit
with inversely truncated tapered curved surface. and
the authors have derived the relationship between the
open pit slope angle and the relevant rock physical

687
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of slope shape. Figure 2. Stress spatial distribution of the differential
element V .
parameters, relationship between the excavation radius
Following equations are developed based on the
and horizontal tectonic stress along the radial compo-
mechanical equilibrium in the direction of the differ-
nent to provide the criteria for the design of the open
ential element gliding:
pit slope shape and provide the theoretical basis for
rational design of the furrow pit slope angle to reduce
the overburdens and improve the economic efficiency.
Sensitivity analysis is also made with RBF neutral
network model on the impact parameters of the slope
stability based on the nonlinear function of the arti- Substitute Equation (3) into Equation (5) to obtain:
ficial neutral network. And research is made on the
impact of the parameter variation on the slope angle.

2 MECHANICAL ANALYSIS

Generally, the open pit slope consists of several ring Substitute Equation (4) into Equation (6), and then
benches. In order to conduct the slope stability design, have it simplified, assuming the differential element
the excavated open pit is assumed as a inversely trun- volume is tg α, Z = 1, to obtain:
cated tapered curved surface as shown in Figure 1,
and the rock mass is assumed as continuous, homo-
geneous and isotropous and slope rock mass is under
the combined action of dead-load stress and horizontal
Solve the cubic equation to obtain:
tectonic stress.
Assuming the radius of ring rock mass is approx-
imately equal to slope horizontal radius r , the slope
angle in the ring is α, when the ring moves down to an
increment Z, the ring radius is decreased as follows: where:

Then, the ring strain is as follows:

Equation (8) shows the relationship derived by the

The ring stress σθ in the elastic stage can be expressed
as follows:
where Eθ the ring elastic modulus of the ring rock
mass.
When a differential element inside the ring rock
mass is in the state of critical gliding, its stress state is
as shown in Figure 2. Where: σr -the radial component
of the horizontal tectonic stress, σρ -the ring component
of the horizontal tectonic stress, γ-the bulk density of
the rock mass, f -the rock mass friction factor, S-
ring sectional area of the rock ring. Thus, the volume
V -of the differential element is:
authors between the slope angle and open pit horizon-
tal radius r, the rock mass bulk density γ and rock mass
ring elastic modulus Eθ as well as rock mass friction
factor f and rock mass initial horizontal stress when
the rock mass in the furrow pit slope comes up to the
critical gliding level Equation (8) indicates:
1) When the horizontal radius of the furrow pit
becomes infinitely large, or when the ring modu-
lus of the ring rock mass becomes infinitely small,
the rock mass slope angle under critical gliding α
conforms with tg α = f , the shape is the same with
the linear slope shape on the horizontal plane, as
agreed with the results as derived in Literature.
2) Under constant physical and mechanical conditions
and loads, the slope stability of the ring rock mass
varies with the geometric parameters. And the slope
critical gliding angle α increases with the decrease
of the horizontal radius r.

688
3) With constant physical and mechanical parameters,
the larger the ring elastic modulus Eθ of the ring
rock mass, the larger is the slope critical gliding
angle α.
Assuming the coordinate system is as shown in Fig-
ure 3. tg α in Equation (8) can be expressed as the
derivative of the furrow pit slope height H against the
horizontal radius r, i.e.
Then, Equation (8) can be written as:
When the rock mass physical parameters f , Eθ , γ
and rational shape of the initial horizontal stress are
known, the rational shape of the furrow pit slope can
be finalized by determination of relationship between
the slope height H and horizontal radius r through the
integration of (10).
3 SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF PARAMETER
The parameter sensitivity analysis follows the prin-
ciple (Xia, 2004, Xiao, 2007, Feng, 2007, Ma,
1981, Yan, 2008, Huang, 2008) as below: Assuming
a system characteristic is F = f(x1 , x2 , x3 , . . . , xn ),
xi is the parameter, given that a certain reference
state X = (x1 , x2 , x3 , . . . , xn ), system characteristic
F  = f(x ), various parameters are shifted to the extent
possible, the impact of the parameters on F is analyzed.
In the actual system, various parameters which will
decide the system characteristic are based on different
physical quantities with different units. To compare the
impact of various parameters on the system character-
istics, the parameters are to be non-dimensionalized to
draw the curve of F/F  − xi /xi (i = 1, 2, . . . , n),
the absolute value of the slope of the curve is defined
as sensitivity factor, reflecting the effects of various
parameters on the system characteristics. The larger
the sensitivity factor, the larger is the effect.
In the slope design, slope angle F is a very impor-
tant data for the judgment of the rational slope design.
Thus, it is regarded as the system characteristic. From
Equation (8), it can be seen that slope angle will affect
the parameters as follows:
Horizontal radius r of the furrow pit, ring modu-
lus Eθ of the ring rock mass, horizontal tectonic stress
component σr toward the ring rock mass, bulk den-
sity γ and rock mass friction factor f , etc. When
the parameters and number of the parameters to be
affected are confirmed, the parameter sensitivity anal-
ysis can be done for slope angle design. However, the
traditional parameter sensitivity analysis conducted in
the following way.
Assuming that one parameter is changed while other
parameters are kept unchanged, analyze and draw the
689
Table 1. List of the parameters variation level %.
Level r/m Eθ /MPa σr /MPa γ/kNm3 f
1 −10 −10 −10 −10 −10
2 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5
3 0 0 0 0 0
4 5 5 5 5 5
5 10 10 10 10 10
variation relation curve between the index and this
parameter in the 2-D coordinate system, and so on,
until all uncertain parameters are calculated so as to
compare the range of index variation against various
parameters to determine the sensitivity factor.
The above method is based on the assumed condi-
tion for the calculation of affects of various parameters
on the index, which is characterized by much calcu-
lation and cumbersome and complex procedures. In
the present paper, sensitivity analysis of the param-
eters affecting the design slope angle is conducted
based on nonlinear function of the artificial neural
network and orthogonal test with the help of the RBF
neural network model. This method has the advan-
tages of simultaneous evaluation of multiple parameter
changes, much less calculation and simple operation.
50 cases are selected from Ma, 1981 and Yan, 2008
for study to develop the RBF neural network structure
with 5 inputs and 1 output. Through 1312 times of
learning convergence, the accuracy is up to 0.001.
Case Study I: In a furrow open pit, the horizontal
radius is 600 m, the slope is 680 m high, calculated
ring modulus of the ring rock mass is 2.1 × 104 MPa,
horizontal tectonic stress radial component in the
ring rock mass is 4.5 MPa, rock mass bulk density
is 17.84 kN/m3 and friction factor is 1.5. The well-
trained RBF neural network is adopted to test the 25
data samples. The test results are shown in Table 3.
From Table 3 it can be seen that the radial compo-
nent of horizontal tectonic stress σr in the ring rock
mass, rock mass bulk density γ and friction factor f
are the primary parameters affecting the stability of
the design slope angle of the furrow pit. And the open
pit radius r and ring modulus Eθ are the secondary
consideration.
4 CONCLUSIONS
1) Analysis is made through the elastic mechanic
method on the excavation of the inversely truncated
tapered curved surface of the open pit and the spa-
tial stress of the differential element under critical
gliding in consideration of the rock mass under the
action of both dead-load stress and horizontal tec-
tonic stress .The paper has derived the relationship
expression between the slope slip angle and fur-
row pit horizontal radius r, ring modulus Eθ of the
ring rock mass and radial component σr of hor-
izontal tectonic stress in the ring rock mass and
Table 2. Orthogonal array L25. agrees with the previous research results and can
serve as the theoretical basis for open pit deep min-
r/m Eθ /MPa σr /MPa γ/kNm3 f ing and for engineering of the larger design slope
angle so as to reduce overburden.
1 1 1 2 4 3 2) Sensitivity analysis of the parameters affecting the
2 2 1 5 5 5
design slope angle is conducted based on the non-
3 3 1 4 1 4
4 4 1 1 3 1 linear mapping function of the artificial neural
5 5 1 3 2 2 network with the help of the RBF neural network
6 1 2 3 3 4 model. The results show that the radial component
7 2 2 2 2 1 σr of horizontal tectonic stress in the ring rock mass,
8 3 2 5 4 2 rock mass bulk density γ and friction factorf are
9 4 2 4 5 3 the primary affecting parameters, while the open
10 5 2 1 1 5 pit radius r and ring modulus Eθ are the secondary
11 1 3 1 5 2 considerations.
12 2 3 3 1 3
13 3 3 2 3 5
14 4 3 5 2 4
15 5 3 4 4 1 REFERENCES
16 1 4 4 2 5
17 2 4 1 4 4
18 3 4 3 5 1 FENG Xiating. 2000. Intelligent rock mechanics introduc-
19 4 4 2 1 2 tion. Beijing: science press,
20 5 4 5 3 3 HUANG Shuling, FENG Xiating. 2008. Study of method of
21 1 5 5 1 1 comprehensive evaluation for parameters of constitutive
22 2 5 4 3 2 model of rock mass. Chinese journal of rock mechanics
23 3 5 1 2 3 and engineering, 27(S1):2624–2629.
24 4 5 3 4 5 MA Xiwen. 1981. Mathematics theory of orthogonal design.
25 5 5 2 5 4 Beijing: People’s Education Press.
Piteau D R. 1970. Geological Factors Significant to the
Stability of Slope Cut in Rock. In:P W J Van Rensburg.
Proc. of the Symp. on the Theoretical Background to the
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Slope Stability. Johannesburg: A A Balkema, 3–53
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ity of High Waste Rock Dumps. International Journal of
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Order of slope stability. Chinese journal of rock mechanics and
engineering, 26(01):115–119.
YUE Shuyu, ZHANG Shixiong, LIU Yanying, et al. 2004.
Study on spatial principle of steeping the slope angle
in JINDUICHENG deep open pit. China molybdenum
rock mass bulk density γ and friction factor. The indutry. 28(6):10–13.
relationship expression shows that the slope crit- YAN Bin, GAO Zhenwei, LI Dongyan. 2008. Application
ical slip angle increases with deeper excavation. of radical basis function neural network to comprehen-
Deeper excavation will result in gradual increase sive evaluation of dam safety. Chinese journal of rock
of the rock mass depth and slope of the curve of mechanics and engineering, 27(S2): 3991–3996.
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690
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on checking method for safety of operating railway tunnel lining

Y.Q. Yang & S.H. He

School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: In this paper, the factors which impact on the safety of the operating tunnel lining, such as the
tunnel load types and their values, the lining physical dimension and its material properties, and the structural
calculation model etc. were deeply studied and the checking method based on the actual technical state of the
tunnel lining was presented, the rationality of which was verified by examples. It can be seen that the calculation
results obtained by means of this method are more targeted and more in conformity with the actual situation
of the tunnel operation, compared to the proposed tunnel engineering checking method, and it will be of great
importance for the tunnel maintenance and management.

1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
The railway tunnel is an important infrastructure on
the railroad line, and the safety of the tunnel lining
directly impacts on the safety in operation. Currently
the lining safety is generally tested by means of the pro-
posed tunnel engineering checking method, namely,
the calculation parameters selected for testing are in
accordance with the original design data. As we know,
due to tunnel construction measures, construction
errors and construction quality etc., there is a certain
bias between the just completed tunnel lining and the
design drawings. In addition, the tunnel load, the lining
materials and its physical dimension will also change
after long-term operation (in particular, the operat-
ing tunnel with some diseases). Therefore, it is bound
to result in certain errors with the actual situation, if
the results are obtained by the conventional method,
namely, the proposed tunnel engineering checking
method. To get more accurate checking results for the
evaluation of the tunnel lining safety and provide a
reliable basis for the tunnel maintenance and manage-
ment, the method which pays more attention to the
tunnel status is presented. The calculation process by
means of this method is as follows: firstly, collect-
ing basic information about the status of the operating
tunnel, such as the basic design, construction materi-
als, operation status and soon, and then making use of
reliable measurement, detection to obtain more com-
prehensive information of the tunnel, finally checking
the lining security based on the actual test results.
2 CHECKING METHOD FOR SECURITY OF
OPERATING RAILWAY TUNNEL LINING
2.1 Factors impacting on the safety of the
operating tunnel lining
The calculation of the operating tunnel safety con-
sists of the following two parts: (1) calculation of the
tunnel lining internal forces. (2) Using the formula
to check the lining section which bears larger forces
according to calculated results of the internal forces,
which the first part is the key. As mentioned above,
there is larger calculation error by means of the pro-
posed tunnel engineering checking method, so a more
suitable calculation method for the security of the rail-
way tunnel lining is presented in this article, following
the analysis of numerical factors which impact on the
lining safety.
2.1.1 Tunnel load types and their values
In accordance with the existing railway tunnel design
codes (The Ministry of Railway of the People’s Repub-
lic of China 2005), the operating railway tunnel lining
loads can be divided into the main loads, additional
loads and special loads. Main loads consist of struc-
tural weight, surrounding rock loose pressure, concrete
shrinkage and creep, water pressure and the train load.
The surrounding rock loose pressure, as the critical
load, is determined by the detection value of surround-
ing rock loose range at the top of the tunnel and records
of tunnel collapse height during construction. Struc-
tural weight is determined by the measurement lining
physical dimension and material bulk density. Con-
crete shrinkage and creep depends on the useful life of
the tunnel under the operation, which can be excluded
for long-term operation. Water pressure is based on
actual measurement water level. For the lining with-
out inverted arch, the train load spread directly to the
ground, while for the lining with the inverted arch, gen-
erally the invert and side walls are done separately, and
the stiffness of inverted arch is low, therefore the train
load has little effect on the upper lining. In summary,
the train load can be negligible (Zhong 1990).
Additional loads include changes in temperature
and frost heave forces. Changes in temperature are
determined by the temperature changes inside the tun-
nel. Lining frost heave forces depend on the frost
conditions of the lining and surrounding rock in winter.

691
Figure 1. Loose height of surrounding rock impacting on
the lining internal forces.
Special loads are the seismic forces. For the tunnel
at the earthquake zone, the special loads are deter-
mined from the literature (The Ministry of Railway of
the People’s Republic of China 2009).
Figure 1 shows the changes of the lining internal
forces with the same checking conditions and differ-
ent values of loose height of surrounding rock. When
surrounding rock class is IV, the loose heights are
taken h = 3 m, 4 m, 5 m, 6 m, respectively. The Fig-
ure 1 shows that, if rock loose height h is added to
1 m each, lining axial forces will have an increase of
about 130 kN (max), and bending moment will have
25 kN·m (max). It can be concluded that the values of
rock loose height have great effect on the calculation
of the lining internal forces.
2.1.2 Physical dimension of lining
The lining physical dimension directly affects the lin-
ing stiffness and its load capacity. Due to construction
errors and the lining deformation and aging during
operation, the inside and outside contours of the lin-
ing are not fully consistent with the design drawings, in
particular, the outer contour changes greater because
of deformation reserved by the tunnel construction,
over-excavation and other factors. Figure 2 shows the
comparison of the lining insides with the same check-
ing condition and different over-excavation of local
tunnel. The over-excavation values of the arch are
taken 10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm. It can be seen from Fig-
ure 2 that, local prominent outline of the lining may
have a certain influence on the lining internal forces
(if over-excavating 10 cm each, the bending moment
of the arch crown will have an increase of 10 kN·m).
2.1.3 Material properties of lining
The material properties of the operating railway tunnel
lining, such as concrete compressive strength, Young’s
modulus, will change during the operation. The study
shows that the concrete compressive strength will have
a slight increase during 30 to 40 years after the com-
pletion, then will slow to low (Niu 1995). Compressive
strength of concrete is directly related to carrying
capacity of the lining, andYoung’s modulus of concrete
impacts on the calculation of the lining internal forces.
Figure 3 shows the lining internal forces with the same
conditions, except different Young’s modulus of con-
crete. Figure 3 indicates with the increase of Young’s
692
Figure 2. Over-excavation impacting on the lining internal
forces.
Figure 3. Young’s modulus impacting on the lining internal
forces.
modulus of concrete, there is no significant change on
axial forces, but the bending moment has an increase of
about 2 kN·m. Therefore, it is appropriate to accurately
determine the parameters of the lining material prop-
erties by means of on-site detection, when checking
the tunnel lining security.
2.1.4 Structural calculation model
The load-structure model is used for the structure cal-
culation model of tunnel lining commonly, and the
constraints of surrounding rock on the lining defor-
mation (elastic resistance) is taken into account when
calculating. It is generally assumed that the loads and
structural properties of the proposed tunnel are both
invariable along the tunnel, thus it is considered as
plane strain problem. Then per unit long lining is taken
as the study object, and discrete elements of the lining
are assumed equal thickness (take the average thick-
ness of both ends of the element as the calculated
thickness). However, not only cross-sectional dimen-
sion of the operating tunnel lining changes, but also
the dimension is variable along the tunnel. It is con-
cluded that for the operating tunnel testing, the use
of the proposed tunnel engineering checking method
is inappropriate. Therefore, for the calculation model
of tunnel lining, the spatial model should be adopted
(when there is no significant change on the lining phys-
ical dimension along the tunnel, the plane model can be
used), and cross-section should be used for the discrete
variable element to reduce the calculation errors due to
the changes of the lining physical dimension. Figure 4
shows the lining internal forces with the same checking
Figure 4. Lining calculation model impacting on the inter-
nal forces.
Figure 5. Lining physical dimension of standard section
conditions, except that the lining elements use equal (designed).
thickness element and variable cross-section element,
respectively. It can be concluded from Figure 4 that the
calculated results of internal forces by means of equal
thickness element are larger than the results of variable
cross-section element(the axial force values are close,
while the bending moment value has an increase of
25 kN·m).

2.1.5 Other factors

In addition to the above factors, the diseases of the tun-
nel lining also have great effect on the lining safety. For
example, lining cracks, especially large cracks, can not
only reduce the effective thickness of the lining local
section, but also reduce the lining stiffness. In partic-
ular, the vertical cracks can even affect the calculation
model. Lining behind the water, namely, if there is a
lot of water, the water pressure can not be ignored. Figure 6. Lining physical dimension of standard section
Lining material corrosion affects not only the effec- (measured).
tive thickness of the lining, but also the lining material
strength. Crushing and peeling off of the tunnel arch dimension, material properties of the lining and sur-
crown, will also affect the lining effective thickness. In rounding rock and so on. (2) According to the tunnel
the literature (Liu 2009), the calculation methods for testing results, select calculation parameters, calcula-
the operating tunnel lining with diseases are studied, tion models consistent with the actual situation of the
which have fully demonstrated how the tunnel diseases operating tunnel lining to analyze the lining internal
impact on the lining security. Therefore, the tunnel dis- forces. (3) Check the cross-section bearing capacity of
eases should be taken into account, and the load values, the lining using the formula, and assess the safety of
lining physical dimension, lining materials, and cal- the operating tunnel lining.
culation model which impacting on the lining safety
should appropriately be amended when checking the
security of the lining with more severe diseases.
3 STUDY ON PROJECT CASE

2.2 Checking method of the lining safety 3.1 Engineering background

It can be seen from the above analysis that the factors
impacting on the lining safety of the operating railway
tunnel are closely related to the actual situation of the
operating tunnel, so the checking results by means of
the checking method based on the actual engineering
data are more in agreement with the actual techni-
cal state of tunnel lining, compared to the proposed
tunnel engineering checking method. The calculation
steps are as follows: (1) access to the operating tunnel
files, collect information of the tunnel design, con-
struction etc., detect the tunnel lining using advanced
testing equipment, and obtain the required measuring
data for the safety checking, such as lining physical
A operation railway tunnel in North China which was
built 1968, is 986.2 m long, and the center mileage is
K24 + 358 km, with stone ballast, concrete sleepers,
mold concrete composite lining and the curved wall
lining for lining section. It can be seen from the tun-
nel files, surrounding rock level at the hole is V, other
lots are IV (with the rock bulk density 21.0 kN/m3 ,
elastic reaction coefficient 350 MPa, rock lateral pres-
sure coefficient 0.20, and the maximum height of
the surrounding rock at the crown under construction
3.5 m) and the physical dimension of lining standard
cross-section is shown in Figure 5. All of the concrete
grades of the arch ring, side walls and the invert are

693
Table 1. Lining thickness of the marks. Table 2. Values of the calculation parameters.

Lining Lining Lining Conventional This article

Marks thickness/m marks thickness/m marks thickness/m Parameters method method

1 0.945 15 0.771 29 0.515 rock bulk density (kN/m3 ) 21.0 20.5

2 0.746 16 0.861 30 0.549 elastic reaction 350 350
3 0.694 17 0.956 31 0.614 coefficient (MPa/m)
4 0.635 18 0.887 32 0.705 surrounding rock 4.104** 3.8
5 0.628 19 0.772 33 0.921 loose height (m)
6 0.625 20 0.645 34 0.362 rock lateral pressure 0.20 0.22
7 0.675 21 0.551 35 0.340 coefficient
8 0.720 22 0.494 36 0.345 bulk density of 23* 22
9 0.720 23 0.503 37 0.365 concrete (kN/m3 )
10 0.678 24 0.575 38 0.376 Young’s modulus of 27* 26
11 0.563 25 0.625 39 0.357 concrete (GPa)
12 0.504 26 0.626 40 0.339 Poisson’s ratio 0.2* 0.2
13 0.505 27 0.607 41 0.342 compressive ultimate 14* 13.5
14 0.645 28 0.542 42 0.336 strength of concrete (MPa)
ultimate tensile strength 1.6* 1.54
of concrete (MPa)
200, and the tunnel is constructed with mine tunnel- element type equal variable
ing method. In order to find out the lining safety, the thickness cross-section
physical dimension designed measured
tunnel has been detected by GPR (ground penetrat-
ing radar), gauge measurement, and core drilling etc. *take the concrete (grade 200) values in accordance with the
The test results show: (1) surrounding rock level of the codes for the tunnel designing
tunnel body is IV, with rock bulk density 20.5 kN/m3 , ** obtained by the formula of the rock pressure calculation
elastic reaction coefficient 350 MPa/m, the height of height in accordance with the codes for the tunnel designing
the broken surrounding rock at the tunnel crown 3.8 m
(by nondestructive examination), and rock lateral pres-
sure coefficient 0.22. (2) Physical dimension of the
tunnel lining section is shown in Figure 1 and Table 1.
It shows the contour of the outer surface of lining is
quite different from the design drawings, but there are
no significant changes on the lining physical dimen-
sion along the tunnel lining. (3) The bulk density
of concrete lining is 22.0 kN/m3 , compressive ulti-
mate strength is 13.5 MPa, ultimate tensile strength is
1.54 MPa, Young’s modulus is 26 GPa, and Poisson’s
ratio is 0.2. And (4) there are no apparent diseases
which may impact on the tunnel lining safety.
Figure 7. Lining internal forces.

3.2 Selection for calculation parameters
In order to comparative analysis, the lining safety is
computed by means of the conventional method (the
proposed tunnel engineering method) and the method
presented in this article, respectively. The calculation
parameters are shown in Table 2.
Table 2 shows that, the values of the vertical and lat-
eral pressure of the surrounding rock adopted by the
conventional method are larger than those adopted by
the method presented in the article, but the lining inter-
nal forces obtained by the two methods are different
(see Figure 7), because of the difference of the lining
physical dimension, Young’s modulus and bulk den-
sity of concrete and elements types. For this project,
the internal forces computed by the method proposed
in the article is larger than those computed by the con-
ventional method (axial forces is 10 kN larger, and the
bending moment is 30 kN·m larger).
In order to check the lining safety, the assurance
coefficient of the section bearing capacity at all marks
are computed by means of the plastic stage design
method in the literature (The Ministry of Railway of
the People’s Republic of China 2005). which can be
seen from Table 3. Table 3 shows that, most assurance
coefficient (about 78%)of the section bearing capacity
calculated by the method in this article are lower than
those obtained by the conventional method. This is in
consistent with the actual situation of the lining mate-
rial aging and the reduction of the bearing capacity
after long-term operation. In addition, for the method
proposed in the article the calculation parameters are
based on the measured data and the checking results
can reflect the actual state of the tunnel lining well. In
summary, this method is more suitable for the project
checking, compared to the conventional method.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The checking method for the operational safety of the
railway tunnel lining is presented in this article, with

694
 Table 3. Comparison of assurance coefficient of marks.

Conventional This article Conventional This article

Marks method method Marks method method

1 5.4* 5.5* 22 12.9* 16.2

2 6.7* 11.9 23 7.7* 12.4
3 12.4 12.4 24 10.9 8.9*
4 12.4 11.8 25 11.6 8.1*
5 11.4 11.2 26 12.0 10.3
6 11.3 11.2 27 11.9 11.6
7 11.9 11.5 28 11.3 10.9
8 12.9 9.5 29 11.3 10.3
9 12.3 3.9* 30 12.3 11.8
10 10.9* 3.8* 31 12.4 13.4
11 6.1* 12.5* 32 7.3* 13.0
12 8.9* 18.9 33 4.5* 4.3*
13 23.1 21.5 34 6.4 4*
14 27.8 6.2* 35 6.2 4.7
15 6.5* 2.8* 36 6.2 5.7
16 4.9* 2.4* 37 6.1 5.8
17 4.6* 2.7* 38 6.1 5.8
18 5.1* 2.8* 39 6.2 5.9
19 7.5* 3.4* 40 6.3 5.9
20 24.2 13* 41 6.3 4.9
21 20.2 19.7 42 7.3 1.7*

*are tensile-strength control, others are compression strength control.

reference to the proposed tunnel engineering checking
method, taking into account the main factors affecting
the tunnel lining safety. In particular, the values of the
factors are based on the actual technical state of tunnel
lining. The calculated results by means of the checking
method presented in this paper, compared to the results
obtained by the proposed tunnel engineering structure
checking method, is closer to the actual situation of
the lining.
The engineering analysis show that the use of
the method can effectively reduce calculation errors
caused by surrounding rock loose pressure, lining
physical dimension, lining material and other factors,
this can fully reflect the actual carrying capacity of the
lining, and make reasonable evaluation for the safety
of the tunnel lining, therefore this method is reasonable
and reliable.
Of course, the technical state of the operating
railway tunnel is complex, especially when there is
a variety of lining diseases. Thus it is difficult to
accurately measuring the physical dimension, lining
material properties, and other technical parameters,
even by means of advanced detection equipment. And
this brings some difficulty for the safety checking of
the lining, therefore, the method proposed in this paper
need to be further studied and modified to improve its
accuracy.
REFERENCES
Liu, H.J., Zheng, J.Y & Lin, Z. 2009. Research and Appli-
cation on the calculation type of tunnel with diseases.
Highway Tunnel, (3): 1–4. (in Chinese)
Niu, D.T. & Wang, Q.L. 1995. Models of concrete strength
changing with time in general air environment. Industrial
Construction, 25(6): 36–38. (in Chinese)
The Ministry of Railway of the People’s Republic of China.
2009. GB50111-2006 (2009 Edition) Code for Seismic
design of railway engineering. Beijing: China Planning
Press. (in Chinese)
The Ministry of Railway of the People’s Republic of China.
2005. TB10003-2005, J449–2005 Code for design on tun-
nel of railway. Beijing: China Railway Publishing House.
(in Chinese)
Zhong, G.H. 1990. Railway tunnel. Beijing: China Railway
Publishing House. (in Chinese)

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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Settlement of subway tunnel affected by different pilot tunnel sequences

excavation

Y.Y. Yu, Y.T. Gao & S.C. Wu

School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Based on the subway tunnel excavation from Beijing Railway Station to Beijing West Railway
Station, the study use FLAC-3D software to simulate 9-pilots-excavation progresses under traditional and sim-
plified sequences. The results of simulation show the changes of crown settlements, surface subsidence and of
settlement trough curve. And the excavation sequences have been optimized, based on the geological conditions.
The results are drawn as follows: (1) Settlements of crown and surface with simplified sequence are serious. (2)
Settlements for traditional sequence grow dramatically. (3) Settlements of optimized sequence are the smallest.
(4) The centerlines of settlement trough return to the centerline of tunnel, when transaction excavation is finished.
Consequently, shape of settlement trough should be considered to get the largest settlement value, when supports
with high elastic modules are used. The results of optimized show this sequence and analysis methods would
bring benefits for double side heading method tunneling.

1 INTRODUCTION excavation sequences. And this work was financially

The control of crown and surface settlement is strict
to prevent side effect for ensure constructions and
underground pipelines. There is no doubt that a proper
excavation sequence would decrease crown and sur-
face settlements. So a proper excavation sequence
would ensure safety of tunnel and ensure normal use
of constructions and pipelines rounding excavating
tunnel.
Some researchers (Bai 2006, Song 2008, Song
2006) have studied the value of crown and sur-
face settlements under different excavation sequences;
especially under different pilot excavate sequences.
However, most of the research only focuses on hole-
pile method and on middle-hole-CD method. How-
ever, the study of settlement under different excavation
sequences in double side drift method is not enough.
And most of the existing research focuses on predicting
final settlements, when the whole tunnel excavation is
finished. However, the changes of crown and surface
settlements and settlement troughs in every excavate
step is not been studied enough.
Consequently, the paper will simulate the process
of nine-pilots-excavation of double side drift method
in traditional and simplified methods, using subway
tunnel excavation from Beijing Railway Station to Bei-
jing West Railway Station as engineering background.
Crown and surface settlements and settlement troughs
in every excavate step will be found after numerical
simulation. Based on the value and changes of settle-
ments, settlement troughs and engineering geology, the
sequences will be optimized. Then the paper will com-
pare settlements of crown and surface and settlement
troughs in the traditional, simplified and optimized
supported by the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (51074014).
2 ENGINEERING INTRODUCTION
Beijing subway tunnel part one (DK0 + 620 ∼ DK4 +
756) starts in Chongwenmen Street, and ends in Xuan-
wumen, with west east trend. There are large amount
of hotels and residential buildings. And there are
varieties of underground pipelines for telecommuni-
cations, electricity, gas, drainage, heating and so on.
For normal use the buildings and pipelines, the crown
and surface settlements were controlled no more than
30 mm.
The part of DK0 + 880 ∼ DK1 + 145 were exca-
vated in double side drift method. The paper selected
transversals in DK0 + 888 with 3-meter soil thickness.
Soil materials in the section include artificial fill, silts,
and fine sands and so on. The high room of tunnel
transversals is10.58 meters. And the diameter is 12.35
meters.
3 CONSTRUCTION PROCESS AND FLAC-3D
NUMERICAL SIMULATION
3.1 Calculating model
(1) Model selection
The transversal has been simplified with 12 meters
diameters and 10.5 meters high room. The distance
from right and left boundaries to edges of tunnel is
three times of tunnel diameter. And the distance from
lower boundary to edge of tunnel is three times of
tunnel diameter. The upper boundary is taken from

697
 Table 1. Physico-mechanical parameters in every soil stra-
tum.

Soil Layer

Artificial soil Silt Fine sand

Modulus E (MPa) 11.5 13.7 15

Poisson’s ratio 0.23 0.28 0.23
Friction (deg) 25 15 30
Cohesion (MPa) 0 20 0
Density (kg/m3 ) 1980 1970 2009
Thickness (m) 4 6 40

Figure 1. Mesh of model.

Figure 3. Three kinds of excavate sequence.

3.2 Calculating parameters

Figure 2. Monitoring points.
tunnel edges to ground surface. So the size of model
is 80 m × 50 m × 30 m (horizontal × vertical × lon-
gitudinal direction). The mesh of mode is shown in
Figure 1. The model has 38400 zones and 40866 gird
points.
(2) Displacement boundary
Horizontal displacements were fixed in left and
right boundaries of model. Longitudinal displace-
ments were fixed in pre-and-post boundaries of model.
Vertical displacement was fixed in lower boundary.
(3) Monitoring points
The monitoring points for crown settlement: Hor-
izontal direction (x direction): monitoring points are
posed in tunnel centerline and its’ 2 m right and left.
Longitudinal direction (y direction): monitoring points
is set in each 3 meters in y direction. Initial monitoring
surface is located in xoz plane with y = 3 m.
The monitoring points for surface settlement: Hor-
izontal direction (x direction): monitoring points are
posed in each 1 meter from −30 meters to 30 meters in
horizontal direction. Longitudinal direction (y direc-
tion): monitoring points are set in each 3 meters in y
direction. Initial monitoring surface is located in xoz
plane with y = 3 m.
The position of monitoring points is shown in
Figure 2.
The model of soil is elastic-plastic material, and
obeys Mohr-Coulomb standard. The tunnel will be
pre-reinforced by exceed ductile grouting. In order to
simulate the effect of grouting, the value of cohesion
and friction will be enhanced 10 per-cents, and the
destiny of soil will be changed.
The initial support is jetting C25 concrete for
200 mm thickness. Considering the benefits from steel
arch, the elastic modulus of jetting concrete would
be adjusted. The elastic modulus of C25 concrete is
28000 MPa, the Poisson ration is 0.25 and the density
is 2300 kg/m3.
The effect of secondary lining is not been consid-
ered, because it is always used to be safety stock in most
practical engineering. In addition without the consid-
eration would reduce the factors which would affect
the results.
The soil in model was simplified into 3 layers. The
Physico-mechanical parameters of every soil stratum
are shown in Table 1.
3.3 Excavation sequence
In order to simulate the real process of construction,
two or three pilots are excavated in the same time.
And each transversal will be excavated in four steps,
to make comparison of the settlements of each exca-
vation steps in three construction sequences. And each
excavation process is 3 meters.
The results in section four in the paper show that the
crown and surface settlements of traditional and sim-
plified methods are very large even exceed the limit
of the practical engineering. In order to meet the set-
tlement limit, optimized sequence is found. And the
paper makes numerical analysis of the settlement of
optimized sequence to get maximum settlements. The
excavation sequences are shown in Figure 3.

698
Figure 4. Crown settlement of traditional sequence.
4 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
The paper selects 4 steps of each excavation sequence
to analysis the changes of crown and surface settle-
ments and of settlement troughs.
From step 1 to step 4 represent the excavation from
the first to the fourth pilots. And each excavation pro-
cess is 3m. When the latter pilots are excavating, the
construction of former pilots is continued, to simulate
each pilot would be constructed in alternate distance
in the same time. Step five represents the status when
the crown and surface settlements are converged
The changes of settlements would be getting from
the results of step 1 to step 4, and the finally settlements
would be get from the result from step 5.
Monitoring surface in xoz plane with y = 3 is
selected, to minimize boundary effects.
4.1 Crown settlements analysis (step 1 to step 4)
Monitoring points are selected in the centerline and
2 m right and left from centerline of tunnel.
The numbers in figures represent the horizontal
distance from monitoring spots to tunnel centerline.
(1) Crown settlements of traditional sequence.
Figure 4 shows that crown settlements in 2 m right
and left from centerline are similar, because of sym-
metry excavation. And the value of settlement in 2 m
right and left from centerline is larger than that in
centerline.
The crown settlements in centerline are larger than
that in 2 m from centerline, after the excavation from
step 2 to step 4. The crown settlements in centerline
from step 2 to step 4 are 0.3 mm, 4.5 mm and 5.1 mm.
Settlement in 2 m left and right from centerline is sim-
ilar, and the values of them are 0.2 mm, 2.5 mm and
3.1 mm respectively.
From the settlements in those four steps, it is easy
to conclude that the settlement of traditional method
is symmetric.
(2) Crown settlements of simplified sequence.
Figure 5 shows the settlement in left is somewhat
larger than that in tunnel centerline, when the first step
699
Figure 5. Crown settlement of simplified sequence.
Figure 6. Crown settlement of optimized sequence.
is finished. And the value in right is about 1/2 of that
in the tunnel centerline and in left.
The settlements in centerline are larger than that
of right and left significantly, when the 2nd to 4th
steps are finished. The value in centerline is 1.1 mm,
10.2 mm and 11.7 mm.And the values in right are near-
ing to that in left, which are 0.7 mm, 5 mm and 6 mm
respectively.
(3) Crown settlements of optimized sequence.
Figure 3 shows that simplified and optimized
sequence have the same 2 steps at beginning. Con-
sequently, they share the results in step 1 and step 2.
Figure 6 shows that the crown settlements in tunnel
centerline are 1.4 mm and 1.8 mm in step 3 and step 4,
which are larger than that in right and left.
(4) Comparison of three sequences
Figure 4 to Figure 6 show that crown settlements in
traditional sequence less than that in simplified and
optimized sequences significantly, when the first 2
steps are finished. However, the crown settlements of
traditional and simplified sequences increased dramat-
ically in the 3rd step. And the growth of optimized
sequence is genteelly.
Because of the symmetric excavation, the largest
settlement of traditional sequence poses in tunnel cen-
terline. And the left and right settlement curves are
Figure 7. Surface settlement of traditional sequence. Figure 8. Surface settlement of simplified sequence.

coinciding. Because the excavation volume in left is

larger than that in right in simplified and optimized
sequences, the settlements in centerline is the largest,
and in left is larger than that in right.

4.2 Surface settlement and analysis (step 1 to

step 4)
The figures following will show the surface settlement
in tunnel centerline and in right and left 2 m and 5 m.
And they will show the changes of surface settlements
in three methods.
The numbers in figures mean the horizontal dis-
tance from monitoring points to tunnel centerline.
(1) Surface settlement of traditional sequence.
Figure 7 shows that when the first step is fin-
ished, surface settlement in centerline is the smallest
when compared with other four settlement curves,
and the value of them could be neglected. After the
second step, the settlement in centerline and 2 m in
right and left are similar to 0.2 mm. So it is not hard
to conclude that the largest surface settlement hap-
pened in the scale from −2 m to 2 m. After the third
and forth excavation, the settlements in centerline are
2.2 mm and 2.8 mm, which are larger than left and
right settlements. The whole excavation process shows
a symmetric excavation curve.
(2) Surface settlement of simplified sequence.
Figure 8 shows that after the first step, surface set-
tlement in centerline is less than that in left 2 m and in
left 5 m, and the value could be neglected. When the
second and third steps are finished, the settlements in
centerline are 0.6 mm and 4.8 mm, which are close to
that in left 2 m’s. After the fourth step, the settlement
in centerline is 5.8 mm which is the largest when com-
pared with rights and lefts. It is easy to say that the
position of the largest settlements changed from the
scale of 2 m–5 m in left to tunnel centerline.
(3) Surface settlement of optimized sequence.
Figure 3 shows that simplified and optimized
sequences have the same 2 steps at beginning. Con-
sequently, they share the results in step 1 and step 2.
Figure 9 shows that after the third and forth steps,
the surface settlements are 1.0 mm and 1.4 mm, which
Figure 9. Surface settlement of optimized sequence.
are close to that in left 2 m and 5 m. And the value in
2 m left is somewhat larger than that in centerline. So,
the position for the largest settlement changed from the
scale of 2 m–5 m in left to the scale of 0 m–2 m in left.
(4) Comparison of three sequences.
Figure 7, 8 and 9 shows that surface settlement
in traditional sequence in the first 2 steps less than
that in simplified and optimized sequences are signif-
icantly. However, the surface settlements in traditional
and simplified sequences grow dramatically, when the
third step has finished. And the growth of optimized
is gently.
In the third and forth steps, because of symmetric
excavation in traditional sequence, the surface set-
tlement in centerline is the largest, and that in left
and right are coincide. Because of unsymmetrical
excavation in simplified sequence, the settlement in
centerline is the largest, and that in right is the small-
est. And the settlements of optimized sequence in right
are somewhat larger than that in centerline.
4.3 Crown and Surface settlement and analysis
(settlement converged)
By the monitoring of settlement curve, it is not hard to
know when the settlements begin to converge. So the
finally settlement could be found.

700

Figure 10. Finally Crown settlement and surface settlement.
The left of Figure 10 shows that when the settle-
ment converged, the crown settlement in centerline of
traditional sequence is 28 mm, which is larger 2–4 mm
than that in right and left. And the crown settlement
in centerline of simplified sequence is 27 mm, which
is larger 1-2 mm than that in right and left. The crown
settlement of optimized sequence in 2 m left is 17 mm
which is larger than that in centerline.
Because of excavation sequence, the crown set-
tlement curves in traditional are symmetric. Because
of un-symmetric excavation and high elastic modules
of support, the largest crown settlements of simpli-
fied and optimized methods are not located in tunnel
centerline.
Figure 10 shows that the crown settlements of tradi-
tional and simplified sequences are close to the limit of
settlements. And the control of settlement is efficient
when the optimized sequence is used. And the largest
crown settlement in optimized sequence is 60 percent
of that in traditional and simplified sequences.
The right of Figure 10 shows that the surface set-
tlement of traditional sequence in centerline is 22 mm,
when the surface settlements are converged. And the
surface settlement 2 m and 5 m left are larger than that
in centerline 3–4 mm. The surface settlement of sim-
plified in centerline is 25 mm, that in left is 31 mm and
that in right is 30 mm. The surface settlement of opti-
mized in centerline is 14.6 mm, that in left is 18 mm
and that in right is 15 mm.
It is not hard to come to the conclusion that the
surface settlement of optimized is the smallest and
that of simplified is the largest. Because of the sup-
port with high elastic modules, the surface settlements
in centerline are controlled. The largest surface set-
tlement would locate in the scale of 2 m to 5 m in
every side of centerline. From the settlements of the
701
Figure 11. Settlement trough from step 1 to step 4 under
three kinds of sequence.
right and left, the simplified and traditional settlements
are next to or exceed the limit of engineering. How-
ever, the converged settlement of optimized method
is less than the limit 10 mm. Consequently, the opti-
mized method is competitive when considering the
final surface settlement.
4.4 Analysis of settlement trough
(1) Settlement trough from step 1 to step 4 in three
sequences.
Figure 11 shows that because of the same first 2
excavate steps, the settlement trough of simplified and
optimized sequence are coinciding.
After the first step, because of the excavations in
simplified and optimized sequences which focus only
on the left part, the centerlines of settlement troughs
move to left.And the surface settlement in left and right
are all larger than that in tunnel centerline, because the
left and right pilots are excavated symmetrically.
The surface settlements in the first 2 steps could be
neglected because of the value which is not significant.
And it is not hard to observe that the settlement of
traditional sequence is the smallest when compared
with others.
After the third and fourth steps, the appearances
of settlement troughs are not changed, but the value
increased. And the center of settlement trough of
optimized sequence moved to left somewhat.
(2) Settlement trough after settlement converged.
Figure 12 shows that surface settlements in tun-
nel centerline are less than that in left and right in a
small scale. That phenomenon is significant when the
simplified sequence is used; however, that could be
neglect when the simulation use optimized sequence.
The phenomenon implicates the settlement troughs are
not close to the shape of Peck’s, because the high elastic
modules support is used in simulations. It is signifi-
cant that the settlement trough would be influenced by
the support easily, when it has larger settlement.
Consequently, whether surface settlements are
under the control of engineering limits should not be
judged only by the settlement in tunnel centerline. The

Figure 12. Settlement trough in settlement convergence
under three kinds of sequence.
figure 12 shows that the largest surface settlement of
simplified sequence is located in 5 m left and right.
The largest surface settlement of simplified sequence
is 35 mm, which has exceeded the engineering require-
ment. And the largest surface settlement of traditional
sequence is 25 mm which located in 2 m left and right.
The largest surface settlement of optimized sequence
is 15 mm. The surface settlements of traditional and
optimized sequence are under the control of engineer-
ing demand. It is significant the optimized sequence
is competitive when the final surface settlement is
considered.
5 CONCLUSION
Three kinds of excavation processes of subway tunnel
are simulated in 9-pilots-excavation method. And the
settlements of crown and surface in every excavated
step are found. Based on the analysis of settlements in
three sequences the conclusions are found.
1. Crown and surface settlements are very small at
beginning, when the traditional sequence is used,
but they increase dramatically. After the conver-
gence of settlement, traditional sequence’s surface
settlement could meet the demand of engineer-
ing. Because of the symmetric excavation, the
settlement curves in left and right are coincide.
2. The growth speed of settlement is the largest when
simplified sequence is used. When settlements are
converged, crown and surface settlements are larger
than that of traditional and optimized sequences.
And its settlements could not meet the demand
of practical engineering. Because of un-symmetric
excavation, the center of crown and surface settle-
ment trough are in lift 2 m; however, it moved back
to the centerline of tunnel when the excavation is
proceed.
702
3. Optimized sequence leads to the smallest crown
and surface settlements. When settlements are con-
verged, the crown settlement is 60% of engineering
limit, and the surface settlement is 50% of engi-
neering limit. The settlements meet the demand
of practical engineering. Because of un-symmetric
excavation, the center of crown and surface settle-
ment trough are in left 2 m; however, it moved back
to the centerline of tunnel when the excavation is
proceed.
4. Because of support with high elastic modules,
settlement troughs show that the settlement in cen-
terline are less than that in left and right, when
settlements are converged. Consequently, both of
settlement troughs and settlement values in tun-
nel centerline should be considered, when testing
whether the settlements meet the demand of prac-
tical engineering. The influence by support is more
significant, when surface settlement is larger. So
the support influence for simplified is more clear.
REFERENCES
Bai, M.Z., 2006. Analysis of ground settlement of a subway
station undercut with shallow overburden during construc-
tion with FLAC3D under complex geological conditions.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
25(Supp 2): 4254–4260.
Ding, J.L. The proper construction method of shallow over-
burden and large span tunnel. China Subway Science
26(4): 77–81.
Fan, Y.B. 2008. Distribution of plastic zones in existing tun-
nel due to new construction closely above the tunnel and
the mechanism and reinforcement. Journal of Engineering
Geology 16(2): 268–272.
Song, W.D. 2006. Numerical analysis of ground surface subsi-
dence caused by construction orders of shallow excavation
method at tiantan east-station. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 24(Supp 2): 5473–5778.
Song, W.D. 2008. Numerical analysis of earth pressure bal-
ance shield tunneling at GuoMao – shuangjing interzone
of Beijing subway line No.10. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 27(Supp 2): 3401–3407.
Wang, S.J., 2007. Numerical simulation and analysis of con-
struction behavior of shallow tunneling by excavation.
China Civil Engineering Journal 40(6): 75–79.
Wang, X.W. Grouting effect on the settlement of subway
tunnel construction. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical
Engineering 32(2): 402–405.
Yang, X.L. 2007. Numerical simulation of construction
sequence for shallow embedded bias tunnels with small
clear distance. J. Cent. South Univ 38(4): 764–770.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Analytical solution for passive piles subject to lateral soil movement

A.J. Zhang & H.H. Mo

School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou,
Guangdong, China

A.G. Li & W. Gao

Shenzhen Geotechnical Investigation & Surveying Institute, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

ABSTRACT: Load distribution along the pile subject to lateral soil moment is a function of the relative
displacement between the soil and the pile. The mechanical mechanism of pile-soil reaction associated with
slope instability is analyzed in this paper. Based on Winkler elastic model, it is assumed that free field soil
displacement is elastic, the governing differential equation for piles subject to an arbitrary profile of landslide
residual thrust are presented to describe the behavior of passive pile and its analytical solution is derived. Then,
the procedure is programmed with Matlab code for calculating internal forces and displacements of passive pile.
Finally, the computed values are verified with in-field monitoring test of Hanjiaya landslide (HJY) in Hubei
Province, China. It indicates that the calculated and measured responses of pile in HJY compare well with each
other, which means that the suggested analytical solutions are reliable.

1 INTRODUCTION replaces soil as a series of elastic, closely spaced but

Failures of slope often result in loss of human life and
extensive property damage. Ensuring the stability of
both natural and man-made slope continues to be a fun-
damental issue in geotechnical engineering. Piles, both
rigid and flexible, have been successfully designed to
restrain soil movements when used to stabilize slopes
or to improve potential landslides stability, because
piles can usually be easily installed without disturbing
the equilibrium of the slope. Abramson et al. (1996)
have develop a number of techniques to stabilize slopes
considering slope geometry, surface and groundwater
conditions, strength of materials et al. Many theoret-
ical and empirical methods were developed for the
analysis of this type of problems (Ito & Matsui 1975,
Poulos 1995, Chen & Poulos 1997, Martin et al. 2005).
The general design procedure for stabilizing piles
involves the determination of the shear forces and
bending moments developed in the piles due to the
movement of the unstable slope. The lateral loads
resulting from the soil movement associated with slope
instability induce bending moments and deflections in
the pile which should be carefully considered in the
design of laterally loaded pile, otherwise may lead to
their structural failure. Lots of methods have been pub-
lished for predicting the response of single piles under
lateral loading (Hetenyi 1946, Hassiotis et al. 1997,
Hsiung 2006).
Hetenyi (1946) developed the analytical solution
of beam on elastic foundations by subgrade reac-
tion method which considers the beam as flexible and
independent springs.
Poulos (1971) had calculated the responses of ver-
tical pile subjected to lateral loading and moment by
solving differential equations of deflection curve using
finite difference method, which assumes the soil to be
an ideal elastic continuum.
Hassiotis et al. (1997) have considered the govern-
ing equation for the pile deflection in separate forms
for the pile above and below the failure surface. The
force intensity acted on the pile section above the crit-
ical surface is calculated using the principle of plastic
deformation of soil given by Ito and Matsui (1975).
A finite difference method was chosen by Hassiotis
(1997) to analyze the behavior of pile to allow for
variations of the elastic constant with depth.
Hsiung and Chen (1997) completed an analysis
of lateral loaded long piles in uniform soil extended
to include elastic-plastic soil using the finite ele-
ment method. Furthermore, Hsiung (2006 & 2003)
provided the analytical solutions for piles subject to
laterally combined loads in homogeneous elastoplastic
soil which have constant subgrade reaction modulus.
After normalizing treatment of the computer results
based on regression analysis, a set of empirical nor-
malized curves and formulas of load deflection and
load moment were obtained to calculate the maximum
deflection or moment of laterally loaded piles easily
using a calculator.
Most of these approaches above are pressure-based
methods where ultimate soil pressures are estimated
and applied to the piles directly or as an equivalent

703
loading condition. As an alternative to the pressure-
based approach, Poulos (1971) and Byrne (1984) eval-
uated the pile-soil reaction and passive pile response
as a function of the relative displacement between the
soil and the piles.
Compared with those solutions above, the applicant
is intend to present a modified differential equations
considering piles and soil interaction based on Win-
kler elastic model which assume that soil displacement
is elastic, to describe behavior of piles embedded in
slope and derive a closed form analytical solution for
piles loaded with arbitrary distribution of loads profile
due to soil movement. The procedure will be pro- Figure 1. Loads acting on piles embedded in slope.
grammed with Matlab code for calculating internal
forces and displacements of piles and analyzing mech-
anism of the pile-soil reaction. Finally, the model will
be conducted in a case history to verify the proposed
analytical solution.

2 PILE-SOIL REACTION SYSTEM

Deflection and moment are induced in a pile by rel-

ative displacement between the pile and surrounding
soil, which occurs when piles restrict the motion of the
surrounding soil in an unstable slope. It is complicated
to evaluate this relative soil displacement because the
behavior of pile embedded in slope depends on the soil
displacement near the pile, which is itself affected by
the pile. Each pile segments offers passive resistance
to lateral soil movement by transferring these loads
to stable, stationary soil. Figure 1 shows a schematic
diagram of the problem, in which a row of piles is
embedded in a moving slope. Soil movement around
the pipe will be generated, which will cause the pile Figure 2. Piles embedded in elastic soil model.
to deform and suffer additional loads. The reaction
Based on the work of Hetenyi (1946), the governing
of pile depends on the distribution of soil displace-
differential equation for piles subject to lateral soil
ment and the relative stiffness between the pile and
movement associated with slope instability is:
the surrounding soil.
By taking the soil displacement profile loaded on
the pile, an infinite pile subjected to a given soil dis-
placement profile in the Winkler foundation is shown
in Figure 2.
The problem is converted into applying a loading
The effect of this movement is shown in Figure 2(c)
to a beam buried in an elastic foundation where the
and causes pile movement, v. Adjacent to the pile,
loading intensity is q = KS.
the soil and pile movement are same, if assuming the
Assuming that two pile segments, which are defined
soil and pile remain in contact. The increase in soil
as infinite beam embedded in elastic foundations with
pressure is p = k(v − S), which is equivalent to foun-
the coefficient of subgrade reaction K, are above and
dation pressure, pp, acting leftwards plus an applied
below the critical surface respectively, the deflections
loading pressure, ps , acting rightwards. pp interact-
of the two pile segments are governed by
ing on the pile from the foundation is proportional to
the corresponding deflection v at every point, which
is described by the formula, pp = kv, where k notes
subgrade reaction coefficient. Accordingly, there is
ps = kS(z). The total distribution load along structural
pile elements is a function of the relative displacement where, h is the length of pile above the critical sur-
between the soil and the pile, that is p = kv + (−kS). face, H is the total length of pile, v is lateral deflection
This is equivalent to a foundation pressure, kv, acting of the pile,Ep is elastic modulus of pile, Ip is effec-
leftwards plus an applied loading pressure, kS, acting tive moment of inertia, q(z) can be calculated by the
rightwards as shown in Figure 2(d). Putting the foun- method recommended by Ito and Matsui (1975) or Dai
dation modulus K = kd, where d is the pile outside (2002) which is expressed by polynominal (Table 1),
diameter, the applied loading intensity, q, is q = KS. λ is the damping factor,

704
Table 1. Distribution functions of residual landslide thrust pressure and displacement. Horizontal subgrade reac-
after Dai (2002). tion coefficient, Kh , defined by Terzaghi (1955), is
often calculated using the lateral deflection, by the
Landslide thrust equation:
Soil distribution Act-point of distribution
types form total forces functions

1
where, Kh is horizontal subgrade reaction coefficient,
Rock rectangle or 2
h q(z) = E
h P is load transferred from the pile to the surrounding
parallelogram soil per unit depth, v is lateral deflection of the pile at
3
Sand triangle∼ 5
h ∼ 23 h q(z) = (36k−24)E 2
h3
z the point considered.
parabolic Based on the recommendations of Terzaghi (1955),
+ (18−24k)E
h2
z in the linear range of p-y relationship, the soil modu-
2 3
Cohesive parabolic ∼ 3
h ∼ 4
h q(z) = (36k−24)E
h3
z2 lus is assumed to be invariant with depth for cohesive
soil triangle
soil. However, soil modulus is obtained by Reddy et al.
+ (18−24k)E z
13
h2 (1970) parabolically varying with depth for cohesion-
Betwee Trapezoid h q(z) = 1.8E z+ 1
E
20 h2 10h lesss soils on the assumption that at the time of failure
sand and
cohesive
a triangular wedge moves upward as in the case of
soil cohesive soils.
Considering a pile of constant cross section
Notes: E is landslide residual thrust, z is the distance to pile installed in an elastic foundation, the subgrade modu-
top, h is the depth of slide zone. lus varies according to an unlinear law

3 THEORETICAL SOLUTION OF PILE SUJECT
TO SOIL MOVEMENT
3.1 Load on pile subject to soil movement
Many researchers (Valsangkar 1973, Hsiung 2003)
solved the problem of active piles subjected to a force
or moment at the head. However, it is more compli-
cated for the case of passive piles because the lateral
loads acting on part of piles or whole piles are depen-
dent on the relative displacement between pile and
soil. That is, it should consider the soil-pile interac-
tion, which is a complicated phenomenon.The analysis
of response of laterally loaded piles embedded in a
slope requires that the force applied to the piles by
the moving slope mass. Historically, there are differ-
ent methods, such as Ito et al. (1975 & 1979) and
Dai (2002), for estimating lateral force acting on piles
embedded in slope.
Dai (2002) proposed the different distribution func-
tions of lateral loads acting on piles embedded in
unstable slope and the resistance force of soil behind
piles based on the results of model test and field test of
stabilizing piles in China. It is perfectly proved by case
studies that the design of anti-slide piles will be more
economical and reasonable by choosing appropriate
distribution functions.
where, z is the distance to the ground suface, Kh is
function of a, K and n. The distribution form of Kh is
depended on the values of a, K and n.
The coefficient of subgrade reaction near the critical
surface has a main influence on the response of flexible
piles in landslides, so the coefficient of subgrade reac-
tion near the critical surface should be used in analysis,
and it can be assumed to be approximately constant
with depth. Practically for active landslides, the shear
strain and thus the shear failure are usually limited to
a thin layer of the critical surface, so the sliding and
stable layers can be considered to be approximately in
an elastic state. Therefore, the coefficients of subgrade
reaction of sliding and stable layers are defined as Ku
and Kd respectively.
3.3 Development of control equation
The general solution of Equation (2) can be obtained
from according to Hetenyi (1946)
(1) For the pile segment within the stable layer (H <
z ≤ h), its deflection, v, is given by

where, λd = 4 Kd /4Ep Ip .
(2) For the pile segment within the sliding layer
3.2 Subgrade reaction approach (h < z ≤ 0), its deflection, v, is given by
The lateral deflection of a laterally loaded pile will
increase approximately linearly with applied loads at
relatively low load level. Lateral deformation of piles
involves large strains in the soil near the ground sur-
face. Therefore, the overall load deflection behavior is
distinctively non-linear.

∗
+∞
where, λu = 4 Ku /4Ep Ip ; v∗n = vn is particular
It is known that the modulus of subgrade reaction n=0
k is not a soil constant but is a function of the contact solution of Eq. (2) respect to q(z).

705
3.4 Boundary conditions and formula derivation
There are totally eight constant parameters for Equa-
tion (5) and (6), C11 , C12 , C13 , C14 , C21 , C22 , C23 ,
C24 , which can be determined by the corresponding
boundary conditions.
(1) Practically, the pile is usually inserted well
below the critical surface to decrease its deflection and Considering continuous boundary conditions,
the movement of the sliding layer, so the pile segment
in the stable layer is generally flexible. According to
Fleming et al. (1992), the √ critical length of stabilizing
piles is defined as lc = 4 4 EI/k. Beyond which the
pile behaves as if it was infinitely long.Accordingly the and C11 = C12 = 0, respectively, the solutions can be
solutions of a semi-infinite pile can be applied directly written in the matrix form,
to the laterally loaded long pile.
If z → H, then the deflection of the pile v = 0,
the angular deflection, θ = v = 0, from which we
find C11 = C12 = 0. At z → 0, the bending moment
M = −EIv = 0, the shearing force Q = −EIv = 0, By solve above linear equation, the solution of
Equation (7) can be rewritten as followings integration constants are got by Equation (9),

(2) Considering continuous boundary condition,

when z → h, the deflection v, the angular deflection
θ, the bending moment M and the shearing force Q of
the pile are continuous. We find the following equa-
tions for pile segments within stable layer according
to Equation (6),

Introducting into Equation (9), the symbols Esi (z),

Eci (z), NEsi (z), NEci (z) and V ∗ (z).
The solution for pile segments within sliding layer where,
was found according to Equation (7),

The integral constants C13 , C14 , C21 , C22 , C23 , C24

can be determined by Equation (9), and substituting
this in Equation (6) and (7) above, we have the whole
deflection curve of the pile v(z), the angle of deflection
θ(z) = v(z), the bending moment M(z) = − EIv(z)
and shearing force Q(z) = − EIv(z) . Thus, the total
bending behavior of passive pile subjected to soil
movement is drawn.

706
3.5 Particular solution of four orders
non-homogeneous differential equation
The second item of Equation (2) is a fourth-order dif-
ferential inhomogeneous equilibrium equation. It is
difficult to solve the four orders non-homogeneous
differential equation directly because of the non-
homogeneous item q(z)/Ep Ip . Theoretically, any dis-
tribution functions of sliding thrust q(z), such as
triangle, trapezoid, uniform or parabola curve, can
always be expressed by polynomial equation in closed
form.
The particular solution corresponding to Equation (2)

n
must be bj zj , formally, where, ai and bi are series
j=0
constants. Based on method of undetermined coeffi-
cients, the relationship of the series constant ai and bi
can be expressed as following:
and for i ≤ n − 4:
In other words, if the expression of q(z) was given,
the particular solution of Equation (2) could be got by
above procedure.
4 VERIFICATION
Above procedure is programmed with Matlab code to
simulate the behavior of whole passive pile segments
both blow and above the critical surface. A simple
example is presented herein to evaluate the efficient
of the analytical solution by comparing with in field
monitoring results. Brief details of infield case history
and the results of the comparisons are as follows.
Ren W.Z. (2008) has reported one case where
reinforced concrete stabilizing piles buildup borehole
incline tubes were used to stabilize the active Hanjiaya
landslide (HJY) in Hubei Province, China. A summary
of the geotechnical profiles revealed by boreholes is
given. Soils in unstable layer are high plasticity clay,
relatively stiff and sandstone, fissured and moderately
weathered, is below the critical surface. Stability anal-
yses were undertaken of various sections along the
slope and several zones were identified in which the
factor of safety against instability was considered in
adequate. In such zones, stabilizing piles were to be
installed.
The pile has a width of 2.4 m, a length of 3.0 m and a
depth of 30 m with the bending stiffness, Ep Ip = 7.1×
108 kN · m2 and the length of pile segment within
sliding layer is 14 m. The residual landslide thrust is
707
Figure 3. Calculated and monitoring pile response for HJY.
950 kN/m with uniform distribution profile. The coef-
ficient of subgrade reaction K, is estimated using the
N-value of the standard penetration test (SPT), which
shows K = 2Nd, where d is the width of pile. The coef-
ficient of subgrade reaction is about 3 × 104 kN/m4
and 5 × 104 kN/m4 for the sliding and stable layers,
respectively, based on the N-value of the SPT near the
critical surface. Figure 3 indicates that the deflection
of pile is compared with the in field measured data and
the results of Poulos.
Generally, the results of the present method com-
pare favourably with the field measurements. The
calculated pile deflection within the stable layer is con-
sistent with the measurements. Especially, the deflec-
tion of pile at the top is very closed to the monitoring
result.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the governing differential equations
accounting pile-soil interaction are presented to
describe the behavior of pile subject to the soil move-
ment and the analytical solution is derived to analyze
mechanics mechanism of interaction between passive
pile and soil in soil slope, based on Winkler elastic
model assumed that soil displacement is elastic. It is
possible for the new analytical solution to estimate the
response of flexibly passive piles in slopes subjected
to arbitrary distribution functions of residual landslide
thrust, which is express by polynomial equation.
The approaching procedure is programmed with
Matlab code for calculating the behavior of passive
pile. It can be carried out to investigate the effects of
subgrade modulus and distribution function of residual
thrust on behavior of passive pile embedded in slope
considering interaction between passive pile and soil.
Finally, the model is conducted in Hanjiaya landslide
of Hubei Province to verify the proposed analytical
solution. The computed values are in good agreement
with the in field monitoring data compared to the Pou-
los results, which means that the suggested analytical
solutions are reliable.
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deformation and stress state of landslide anti-slide piles
using borehole inclinometer. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering, 27(sup2): 3667–3672. (in
Chinese)
Terzaghi, K. 1955. Evaluation of coefficients of subgrade
reaction. Geotechnique, 5: 297–326.
Valsangkar, A.J., Kameswara Rao, N.S.V. & Basudhar, P.K.
1973. Generalized solutions of axially and laterally loaded
piles in elasto-plastic soil. Soils and Foundations, 13(4):
1–13.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Stability control mechanism and integral supporting technology of roadways

with thick compound roof strata

H.Q. Zhang, L.S. Han, Y.J. Qi & Y.F. Zhang

State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, School of Mechanics
and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China

ABSTRACT: With the increase and extension of coal mining height, common anchor-net-sprouting method
is difficult for the country rock stability with thick compound roof strata and big section of gob-side roadways.
Through the survey and analysis for lots of compound roof incidents, the destabilizing mechanism and control
design were obtained and an in-situ instance of mining support was carried out in 4312 belting crossheading
of Xuchang Mine. Good support effect was gained. Research results show that, in order for preventing the
occurrence of roof separation and vertical cranny, anchorage cable can be applied for the decrease of span
length of roof beam and anchoring the roof compound rock beams with high strength and prestressed anchorage
cable while anchor rod is implemented for the increase of integral bending stiffness; in these ways, the bending
stress of roof rock beam can be decreased effectively. Composite support of high strength and prestressed
anchorage-cable-strap-ladder can satisfy rock stability of thick compound roof and big section of gob-side
roadway.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the increase and extension of coal mining height,

immediate and main roof of deep roadways in 430 and
530 mining areas of Xuchang Mine was composed
of alternant soft sand and mudstone strata which are
easily subject to weathering. In the course of excava-
tion and mining, obvious ground pressure was present,
repair work of roadways was very heavy and the safety
condition became worse and worse. For an instance,
during the excavation of 4311 belt crossheading using
common bolt-net-cable-shotcrete combined support,
the subsidence of roof strata was more or less 700 mm,
the convergence of two sides surrounding rock reached Figure 1. A photograph of roof rock.
up to 1600 mm and floor heave was evident. The nor-
mal coal safe production in mining areas was heavily
hindered by these dangerous conditions. Therefore, grained kaolinite sandstone with embedded coal lam-
study on the composite support technology of large ina.This kind of roof stratum is about 9 m thick through
section crossheadings with thick compound roof strata in situ drilling detection. Several examples of drilling
is of practical significance. detection photographs of roof stratum were shown in
Figure 2. It can be seen that the roof stratum was a kind
of thick compound roof strata.
2 BASIC GEOLOGICAL CONDITION

4312 belt crossheading is excavated along 3# coal roof
strata. This coal stratum is full of lots of fissures. It is
mainly consisted of clarain besides vitrain and durain.
The height of this coal stratum is in the range of 2.5 m
to 4.1 m. Its average height is about 3.3 m.
The 4312 belt crossheading is in a rectangle type.
The gross section is 5.0 m wide and 3.5 m high. A
photograph of roof strata was shown in Figure 1.
After identification, the roof rock is named as medium
3 FAILURE MACHANISM ANALYSIS AND
CONTROL TECHNOLOGY SELECTION
OF THICK COMPOUND ROOF ACCIDENT
Through much investigation on thick compound roof
accidents (Pan 2004, Liang et al. 2010), they almost
got through these development stages including layer
separation of roof strata, production and development
of vertical tensile fissures in roof strata, degradation

709

Figure 2. Drilling detection results of roof stratum.
of deformation resistance and loading capacity of rock
strata, most of roof strata load transferred to two sides,
deficiency of holding power for two sides surround-
ing rock mass which would result in roof accident by
the failure in roadway’s sides and corners or fracture
of rock strata caused by large bending deformation
which would result in roof falling accident. It can be
710
Figure 2. Continued.
Figure 3. Roof rock beam and its vertical fissures.
Figure 4. Interaction sketch map of roof beam and coal
pillar.
concluded that layer separation and vertical tensile
fissures were the important reason and precondition.
Figure 3 shows a sketch map of roof rock beam and
its vertical fissures. Figure 4 is one abstracted inter-
action sketch map of roadways. The shear stress and
moment of roof rock beam can be easily obtained from
material mechanics text book, as seen in Figure 5.
In order to effectively control the producing of
layer separation and vertical tensile fissures, anchor
cable can be applied for the decrease of span length
of roof beam so that shear stress and moment in the
corner of rock beam would be decreased and anchor-
ing roof compound rock beams with high strength and
Figure 5. Stress in roof rock beam.

prestressed anchor cable and anchor bolt were imple-

mented for the increase of integral bending stiffness;
in these ways, the bending stress of roof rock beam
can be decreased effectively (Liu 2004, Zhang 2010,
Hou 2001). Figure 6. Composite support of 4312 belt crossheading.

4 SUPPORTING DESIGN

(1) Anchor rod

Roof anchor bolt was made of deformed steel bar
with one direction of screw thread rotating leftward
and without longitudinal bar (20 mm × 2400 mm).
The anchors were installed according to the distri-
bution 1000 mm (row) × 800 mm (column). The end
of anchor was fixed in rock mass by one roll of
MSCK2350 and MSK2350 type resin power stick
together. Two bolts were vertically installed in one row.
Anchor bolt on two sides was made of 20 MnSi
deformed steel bar, they were distributed in 700 mm Figure 7. Support effect of 4312 belt crossheading.
(row) × 800 mm (column). Five bolts were installed on
one side. (length) × 80 mm (width); Steel ladders for left side
(2) Wire netting were made of 12 # steel and distributed along the
The wire netting was welded by 10 mm steel corner of left side. The geometry of steel ladder was
wires into diamond grid. The individual grid is a 1900 mm (length) × 60 mm (width). The overlapping
100 mm × 100 mm square. The geometry of wire net- length of two steel ladders was 50 mm.
ting for roof strata is 1000 mm × 4800 mm while Composite support of anchor-cable-strap-ladder is
1800 mm × 2600 mm for two sides. The two nettings shown in Figure 6.
is overlapped and bound by 12 # steel wire. The space
between two colligation joints is between 200 mm and
300 mm and overlapping length of two wire nettings 5 SUPPORT EFFECT
should exceed 100 mm.
(3) Anchorage cable Figure 7 shows the support effect of 4312 belt
The anchor cable was made of 17.8 mm pre- crossheading. From the Figure 7, it can be seen that the
stressed steel strands.The steel strands should be above composite support adopted can satisfy with rock stabil-
8.5 m long. The pre-stressed anchor cables are placed ity of thick compound roof and big section of gob-side
on the roof and two sides of the cross section. The row roadway. Through deformation observation on 4312
space between two cables is 2.0 m. The anchor cable crossheading, the maximum convergence of two sides
is fastened in rock mass by five rolls of resin power was 350 mm and the maximum sinkage of roof was
stick. One of them was MSCK2350 type and the other 200 mm. It can be seen that this kind of composite
four sticks were MSK2350 type. The outside length support can meet with the stability requirement.
of cable steel exceeded 150 mm. The anchoring force
should be above 98 kN.
(4) Steel strap and ladder 6 CONCLUSIONS
Steel strap in ‘T’ type was adopted for the roof
strata. The geometry was 4400 mm (length) × 100 mm Common anchor-net-sprouting support is difficult for
(width) × 10 mm (thickness); Heterotype strap was rock stability of thick compound roof and big section
chosen for two sides in the geometry of 2300 mm of gob-side roadway.

711
 In order for preventing occurrence of roof separa-
tion and vertical cranny, anchor cable can be applied
for the decrease of span length of roof beam and
anchoring the roof compound rock beams with high
strength and prestressed anchor cable while anchor
bolt is implemented for the increase of integral bend-
ing stiffness; in these ways, the bending stress of roof
rock beam can be decreased effectively.
Composite support of high strength and prestressed
anchor-cable-strap-ladder can be satisfied with rock
stability of thick compound roof and big section of
gob-side roadway.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study was supported by NSFC (No: 50804046
and 50774082).
712
REFERENCES
Hou, C.J., Bai, J.B., Zhang, N. & Li, H.Y. 2001. Coal roadway
bolting under difficult and complex conditions. Chinese
Jounal of Geotechnical Engineering, 23(1): 84–88.
Liang, G.D., Wang, C., Du, Z.S. & Han, C.L. 2010. Sta-
bility control technology of large section coal roadway
with thick compound roof strata. Safety in Coal Mine, 10:
57–60.
Liu, Q.S., Zhang, H. & Lin, T. 2004. Study on stability of deep
rock roadways in coal mines and their support measures.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering,
23(21): 3732–3737.
Pan, Y.Q. 2004. Anchor design of large cross section open-
off cut under thin bed compound roof and its application.
Mining Research & Development, 24(6): 32–34.
Zhang, N., Hou, C.J. & Wang, P.R. 1999. On bolting of road-
way in deep mine’s soft coal seam. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 18(4): 437–440.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on displacement fields and settlement characteristics of composite

foundation with compound piles

L.H. Zhang, S.F. Zhao & H.B. Liu

North China Institute of Science and Technology, Beijing, China

S.R. Wang
Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, China

ABSTRACT: A 3-dimensional model is presented for a composite foundation with rigid-rigid compound piles
for numerical analyses by FIAC3D . Displacement fields, stress fields, and soil failure characteristics around
the piles are simulated and analyzed for different working cases and other influent factors. Numerical analysis
results are compared with observed data in whole settlement processes of composite foundations with cement
fly-ash grave (CFG) and plain concrete rigid-rigid compound piles in Jinxiuxin Garden. Two types of results
have revealed several rules of composite foundation settlements and responding characteristics of two type piles
and soil failure behaviors.

1 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF Jinxiuxin Garden with FLAC3D , as shown in Figure 1.

DISPLACEMENT FIELDS
Settlement characteristics of composite foundations
with compound piles are complicated and changeable.
Therefore, it is very difficult to realize the verities by
analytical or measurement methods. Numerical meth-
ods are employed for its powerfulness to calculate and
analyze the problems hard to be solved by theoretical
analyzing or in site measurement.
1.1 Project background
Jinxiuxin Garden is located in Heping East Road of
Chaoyang District, Beijing, where the 1st–4th resi-
dential buildings have 24 stories with 2 stories under-
ground. A geological survey report of the Garden
indicates that ground treatment is necessary because
shear strengths and compression properties of its
deposits can not meet requirements of the buildings.
A method of composite foundation treatment which
is compounded with long-short rigid-rigid piles is
introduced according to a primary analysis. The long
piles, using CFG containing concrete of more than
C25, have a length of 16.5 m and a diameter of 400 mm
for decreasing settlement of the foundations. Corre-
spondingly, the short piles, using plain concrete of
more than C15, have a length of 4 m and a diame-
ter of 450 mm for increasing bearing capacity of the
foundations.
1.2 Numerical calculation model
A 3-dimensional numerical model is established for
numerical analysis of the composite foundation in
The range in the model is 6 m long, 6 m wide, and
20.2 m thick for the composite foundation, which is
divided into 40,480 elements and 43,428 nodes. Fur-
thermore, displacements of the nodes are set to be
zero in horizontal direction on side surfaces, and both
horizontal and vertical directions on the bottom sur-
face. Vertical loads are applied on the upper surface.
Mohr-Coulomb strength criterion is adopted for sim-
ulating some materials and pile-soil interfaces in the
composite foundations. Characteristics of the compos-
ite foundation settlements are analyzed in 4 working
cases. In Case 1, the length of the composite piles is
variable; in Case 2, spacing between the composite
piles is variable; in Case 3, diameter of the compos-
ite piles is variable; in Case 4, elastic modulus of the
cushion is variable.
Physical and mechanical parameters of materials
are listed in Table 1 used for the composite foundation,
the footing, and the cushion. Mechanical parameters
on pile-soil interfaces are also presented in it.
Numerical results are obtained of displacement
fields, stress fields, a failure field around piles, and
behaviors of piles undergoing loading within the com-
posite foundation with long-short compound piles of
1.4 m spacing.
1.3 Analyses of numerical simulation
For all working cases, displacement vectors reduce
gradually from the top to the bottom of the composite
foundation with maximum value of 25 mm.
Vertical settlement performs like a shape of a down-
ward arc, as shown in Figure 2, at the top of the com-
posite foundation adjacent to the footing. However,

713
Figure 1. A 3-dimensional model for the composite foundation.

Table 1. Physical and mechanical parameters of materials in the composite foundation.

Bulk Shear Internal

Thickness or Unit weight modulus modulus Cohesive friction
Name length /m /kN/m3 /kPa /kPa strength /kPa angle /deg

Silty clay 3.50 19.30 8.89e4 2.96e4 42 22

Fine and medium sand 4.00 19.50 8.33e4 3.85e4 25 25
Sandy silt 8.00 19.80 1.67e5 5.97e4 50 24
Silty clay 2.00 19.40 1.83e5 8.46e4 72 26
Gravel soil 2.50 21.40 1.94e5 1.11e5 86 28
Footing 0.10 25.00 8.33e7 6.25e7
Cushion 0.10 23.80 4.40e5 2.64e5
Concrete pile 4.00 25.00 1.78e7 1.33e7
CFG pile 16.50 24.00 1.19e7 8.20e6
Concrete pile-soil interface 1.00e5 1.00e5 32 24
CFG pile-soil interface 1.00e5 1.00e5 35 25

it changes slightly on a deeper surface within the

Figure 2. Contour of vertical displacement field.
composite foundation.
Lateral displacements of the composite foundation.
are very small It reaches its maximum of 1.0 mm at
the top around the footing, and becomes less at other
places.
Vertical settlements of long and short piles decrease
gradually from their tops to their bottoms, as shown
in Figure 3. Its maximum value is 17.5 mm for long
piles and 10 mm for short piles.
Plastic strain enlarges within the composite foun-
dation around the footing sides as loading increases.
Extension and progress of plastic failure zones are
resisted by the long-short piles. Lateral compressive
stress is smaller at the top and the bottom of the long
piles than that in the middle, as shown in Figure 4.
Failure of short pile-soil interfaces is in advance of
long pile-soil interfaces. Plastic failure comes forth
in many elements beneath the footing, as shown in
Figure 5. Furthermore, the long piles enable to bear
more vertical loading because some long pile-soil

714

Figure 3. Shear displacement on pile-soil interfaces.
Figure 4. Contour of the maximum principal stress field.
interfaces are still safe as all short pile-soil interfaces
have failed.
2 SETTLEMENT RESULTS
Six points are disposed for monitoring displacements
varying in different working cases within the compos-
ite foundation, whose positions are shown in Figure 6.
Coordinates of monitoring point 1 is (0.6, 0, 0.1) on
the bottom surface of the concrete footing. Coordi-
nates of point 2 is (0.6, 0, 0) on the interface of the
cushion and the silty clay. Coordinates of point 3 is
(0.6, 0, −3.5) on the interface of the silty clay and
the fine and medium sand. Coordinates of point 4 is
(0.6, 0, −7.5) on the interface of the fine and medium
sand and the sandy silt. Coordinates of point 5 is
(0.6, 0, −15.5) on the interface of the sandy silt and the
715
Figure 5. Simulation of the failure field.
Figure 6. Disposal of the points for monitoring settlement.
silty clay. And, coordinates of point 6 is (0.6, 0, −17.5)
on the bottom of the silty clay.
2.1 Analyses of settlement characteristics
Numerical results show that the settlement is influent
obviously by the long piles length of the composite
foundation. It decreases with increase of the long piles
length in the same other conditions, as shown in Fig-
ure 7. When the length is less than 13 m, the settlement
decreases greatly with increase of the length. As the
piles length is more than 13 m, the settlement varies a
little with length of the long piles. Therefore, the long
piles length has a more economically reasonable value
in reducing the composite foundation settlement.
The settlement of the composite foundation
decreases evidently with decrease of the spacing
between the piles in the same other conditions, as
shown in Figure 8. If the spacing is less than 1.4 m, the

Figure 7. The settlement varying with of the long piles
length at the monitoring points.
Figure 8. The settlement varying with the spacing between
piles at the monitoring points.
Figure 9. The settlement varying with the piles diameters
at the monitoring points.
settlement decreases greatly with decrease of the spac-
ing. If the spacing is more than 1.4 m, the settlement
varies gently with the spacing.
The settlement of the composite foundation
decreases significantly with increase of the piles diam-
eters in the same other conditions, as shown in Figure 9.
If the long pile diameter is less than 0.5 m and the short
pile diameter less than 0.6 m, the settlement varies
gently with the piles diameters. And, if the long pile
diameter is larger than 0.5 m and the short pile diame-
ter larger than 0.6 m, the settlement varies steeply with
the piles diameters.
The settlement of the composite foundation
increases gradually with elastic modulus of the cush-
ion in the same other conditions, as shown in Figure 10.
If the elastic modulus is less than 25% of its actual
716
Figure 10. The settlement varying with reduction of the
cushion elastic modulus at the monitoring points.
Table 2. Comparison of the settlement results by numerical
method, theoretical methods, and measurement in situ.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Settlement/(mm) Building Building Building Building
Equivalent natural 36.97 33.28 30.80 29.68
foundation method
Weighted modulus 2.40 2.73 1.01 2.73
method
Measurement in situ 20.57 26.33 25.66 26.78
(average)
FLAC3D numerical 25.00
method
value, the settlement increases slightly with reduction
of the elastic modulus. If the elastic modulus is more
than 25% of its actual value, the settlement enlarges
obviously with its reduction.
2.2 Comparison of results by different methods
The settlements of the composite foundation under
the 1st–4th Buildings in Jinxiuyuan Garden are cal-
culated by other approximately theoretical methods
such as equivalent natural foundation method (Yan
et al. 2003), and weighted modulus method in Tech-
nical code for ground treatment of buildings (JGJ
79-2002), respectively. The maximum settlement is
25 mm by the FLAC3D numerical method of the
composite foundation under the 4th Building. These
results and measurement results in situ are compared
in Table 2.
3 CONCLUSION
The settlement characteristics of the composite foun-
dation, are summarized as following based on the
results by the numerical method, the approximately
theoretical methods, and in site measurement.
As the composite foundation is close to failure state,
the short pile-soil interfaces fail in advance of the long
pile-soil interfaces. Furthermore, long piles are enable
to bear more vertical loading. While some long pile-
soil interfaces are still safe, all short pile-soil interfaces
have failed.
 Based on monitoring the composite foundation set-
tlement, it is shown that the settlement characteristics
are different from that of the long piles and of the short
piles. The long piles settlement is slightly greater than
that of the short piles.
The numerical modeling with FLAC3D is effective
in simulating settlement characteristics, displacement
fields, stress fields of composite foundation with
combined piles, and its maximum settlement agrees
well with the in site measured result.
The results by the equivalent natural foundation
method are little larger than the measuremed results of
the composite foundation combined with rigid-rigid
piles. Therefore, the equivalent natural foundation
method is reliable and its results are in safety. However,
the results by the weighted model are unsafe because
they are obviously lower than the measurement results.
REFERENCES
Chen Q., Huang Z., Zuo R. & Xu X. 2001. Behavior of
combined composite ground and simulation study by fem.
China Civil Engineering Journal 34(1): 50–54.
717
Ge X., Gong X. & Zhang X. 2002. Calculation of the long-
short-pile composite foundation. Building Structure 32
(7): 3–4.
Ge X., Gong X. & Zhang X. 2003. FEM analysis and design of
long-short-pile composite foundation. Journal of Building
Structures 24(4): 91–95.
Guo Y., Zhang S. & Li M. 2010. Test research and numer-
ical simulation analysis of long-short piles composite
foundation. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
32(S2): 232–235.
Ministry of Construction of People’s Republic China 2002.
Technical code for ground treatment of buildings (JGJ
79-2002). Beijing: China Architecture and Building Pres.
Yang J., Ding L. & Lei J. 2002. Numerical study of the
long-short-pile composite foundation. Building Science
Research of Sichuan 28(4): 38–40.
Yang J., Gong X. & Sun B. 2002. Discussion on the calcula-
tion method of settlement of the long-short-pile composite
foundation. Building Structure 32(7): 8–10.
Yan M., Wang M., Yan X. & Zhang D. 2003. Study on the
calculation method of multi-type-pile composite founda-
tion. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 25(3):
352–355.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on the rational width of coal pillars for protecting roadway in fully
mechanized top caving mining face

S.J. Zhang, J.A. Wang, H.W. Wu & F. Li

The Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines of China Ministry of Education,
University of Science and Technology Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: In view of the occurrence condition of soft roof and floor with hard 5#coal seam in Xinbai
Colliery of Huating Coal Ltd. Corp., the stress distribution and its failure characteristics in adjacent rocks of
roadway were studied with respect to different pillar widths using theoretical analysis and numerical simulation.
Through general analysis and assessment on stability of the roadway protected by the pillar with different widths,
the reasonable pillar width was determined for roadway driving along gob between adjacent mining panels, which
provides a reference to the determination of reasonable position of similar roadway driving along gob.

1 INTRODUCTION in Gansu province, which is a low gas mine. Coal seam

Excavation techniques along gob in fully mecha-
nized caving mining have greatly help to improve
the utilization of coal resources and to reduce the
amount of roadway maintenance (Liu 1994), and have
been widely used in coal production (Huang 2000).
Roadway driving along gob and coal pillar width, sup-
porting measures, mining method, and engineering
geological condition formed a special rock mechan-
ics system (Wang 1998). In this paper, based on the
mechanical analysis in roadway system along gob pro-
tected by the pillar with different widths, the system
stability has been evaluated, and a reasonable pillar
width in fully mechanized caving mining has been
determined.
is in single inclination with a dip angle of 17◦ .The aver-
age thickness of coal seam is of 11.5 m and the fully
mechanized top coal caving mining technology is used.
The strike length of the mining face 3506 is of 1129 m
with the face width of 116 m. The mining face 3506 is
adjacent to the mining face 3504. (Figure 1). At present
the mining of face 3504 is nearly completed and the
excavation of roadway for mining face 3506 is about to
start. Therefore, a reasonable width of protective pil-
lar need to be determined which is of significance to
raise recovery ratio of coal resources and the stability
of roadway.
3 OPTIMIZATIONAL POSITION OF GOB-SIDE
ENTRY

2 GENERAL SITUATIONS The gob-side entry has four possible locations (Fig-
ure 2): in position 3, the roadway locates in the
Xinbai colliery owned by Huating Coal Ltd. Corp. is abutment peak area and it is very difficult to be main-
located in the central part of Ankou-Xinyao coalfield tained; in position 4, the pillar loss will be relatively

Figure 1. Schematic plot of the mining face 3506 and

protection pillar. Figure 2. Position of the gob-side entry.

719
Figure 3. Stress distributing diagrammatic sketch of the Figure 4. Distribution of vertical stresses in the coal seam
coal’s limit equilibrium zone along the gob. near the gob.

large. In position 1, it is help to reduce coal resources

loss, but there are some disadvantages, such as road-
way ventilation, residual coal spontaneous combustion
in previous gob. Therefore, the best position for the
gob-side entry is in position 2, where the roadway
is protected by small coal pillar. The best coal pil-
lar size should be smaller and the pillar could avoid
ventilation leakage through fracture, and spontaneous
combustion.

4 MECHANICAL STATE OF COAL SEAM

NEAR THE GOB

Based on the elasticity mechanics, some theoretical

researches, at home and abroad, have established the
mechanical balance equation of coal seam near the
gob. By the necessary simplification, assumptions
(Figure 3) and by utilizing of a certain strength criteria
(for example: Mohr – Coulomb criterion), the yield
zone width was determined, and the analytical expres- Figure 5. Numerical Model.
sion (Wu 1994) of stress distribution in coal seam near
the gob was obtained. Distribution of vertical stresses in the coal seam near
the gob is shown in Figure 4.

5 FLAC NUMERICAL SIMULATION

5.1 Calculation model and mechanical parameters

where: m = height of coal pillar, m = 11.5 m;
λ = lateral pressure coefficient at the interface of the
plastic zone and the elastic zone, λ = 1.0; c = cohesive
force of the interface between coal seam, roof
and floor; ϕ = internal friction angle; c = 5.4 MPa;
ϕ = 33.5◦ ; σy = vertical stress in limit equilibrium
zone, MPa; Px = lateral restraint forces of coal wall,
Px = 50 kN/m2 ; σmax = ultimate compressive strength
of coal, σmax = 14.6 MPa.
By substituting the mechanical parameters of rock
mass in Xinbai colliery into above formula, the width
of the plastic region and the stress-relaxed region
in coal seam were obtained: Lp = 8.9 m, Ls = 6.8 m.
According to the geological condition of the mining
face 3506, the calculation model was established, as
shown in Figure 5. The model has the width of 241 m
and the height of 200 m. The horizontal displacement
is restricted on both sides of the model. The horizontal
and vertical displacement is restricted on the bottom of
the model. On the top vertical load is applied according
to burying depth (Figure 5). The mechanical parame-
ters of rock mass used in the calculation are listed in
Table 1.
FLAC2D is used for the numerical calculation, in
which four pillar widths (3 m, 5 m, 7 m and 10 m)
are selected. The calculation is performed as follows:
(1) The formation of initial rock stress field. (2) The
face mining of 3504. (3) The driving of air return
roadway.

720
 Table 1. Principal rock mechanics parameter.

Lithology Sandstone Mudstone Coal Shale sandstone

Density (kN/m3 ) 25.4 21.9 12.5 25.9

Elastic 1.1 × 104 0.5 × 104 0.8 × 104 0.7 × 104
Poisson’s ratio 0.23 0.35 0.30 0.18
Cohesion (MPa) 3.2 1.2 1.4 1.5
Friction angle(◦ ) 42 31 33 32
Tensile strength (MPa) 3.9 1.1 0.8 0.7

Figure 6. Distribution of vertical and horizontal stress in

the coal seam near the gob.

5.2 Results and analysis of the numerical

simulation Figure 7. Yield zone in the rocks near the gob.
5.2.1 Stress analysis in the coal seam near the gob
The calculation results show that the peak stresses
in vertical and horizontal directions caused by fully
mechanized top-coal caving in the mining face
inclined direction have different locations (Figure 6).
The distance from the vertical peak stress to the side
wall is about 8 m, and the distance from the horizontal
peak stress to the side wall is about 16m. The verti-
cal peak stress could easily result in the deformation
increased in roof and sidewalls. The horizontal peak
stress could easily result in floor heave of roadway.
In the traditional studies of coal seam near the gob,
the location of vertical peak stress was emphasized in
general and it is tried to avoid roadway far from the
vertical peak stress area, whereas the influence of hor- Figure 8. Distribution of vertical stresses in coal pillar.
izontal peak stress was ignoring. Because the gob-side
entry uses the anchor belt net support is weak in resis-
tance of the horizontal stress, the location should be shows the distribution of vertical stress in pillars when
kept away from the vertical peak stress area to avoid the width of pillar is of 3 m, 5 m, 7 m and 10 m, respec-
the floor heave of roadway when the location of road tively. The shape of the stress distribution changes as
way is chosen and the width of coal pillar is to be follows: it is like a hill when the width of coal pillar
determined. is 3 m and 5 m; It is a asymmetrical single-peak type
The plastic zone distribution of the coal seam near when the width of coal pillar is 7 m and 10 m; The peak
the gob is shown in Figure 7. The main yield type is in stress increases with the increase in the width of coal
mode of shear. The maximum width of the yield region pillars.
in coal seam is of 5.4 m. Tensile-shear coupled failure
happened in the main roof strata. 5.2.3 Analysis of failure zone
Comparison of failure zone in pillars with different
5.2.2 Stress analysis in the coal pillar widths is shown in Figure 9. The shear failure zones
When the pillar width is different, the distance from change from breakthrough into no breakthrough when
the roadway position to the gob changes, thus, the ver- the pillar width increases. When the width of pillar is
tical stress distribution in coal pillar changes. Figure 8 3 m, the shear failure fully breaks through. When the

721
Figure 9. Comparison of failure zone around the roadway 3506 with different pillar width.

width of pillar is 5m, the shear failure is no break-

through. Therefore, from the view point of whether
shear failure zone breaks through or not, the reasonable
pillar width about 7 m is determined.

5.2.4 Analysis of roadway deformation

Comparison of roadway deformation is shown in Fig-
ure 10. As shown, when the width of pillar increases,
the displacement of the left wall and roof increases
gradually, but the displacement of the right wall
changes little. The displacement is roadway floor is
the smallest when the width of pillar is 7 m.

6 COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF
RATIONAL WIDTH OF PILLAR
The stability of the rock mechanics system has rela-
tionship with geological conditions, coal pillar width,
supporting measures, mining methods and many other
factors. However, the pillar’s stability is most impor-
tance for the roadway’s stability. Based on the pre-
sented study, the stability of roadway with different
pillar widths can be analyzed and evaluated.
Figure 10. Comparison of roadway deformation with dif-
ferent pillar width.
1. When the pillar width is small, such as the pillar
width is 5 m, or even smaller, even with reinforce-
ment measures on both sides, it is difficult to main-
tain its integrity, and easy to be overwhelmed and

722
 causes gob air leaking through fractures and sponta-
neous combustion. Thus, this width is unfavorable
to the stability of roadway.
2. When the pillar width is 5 m or 7 m, although the
pillar subjects to the peak pressure, and it enters
plastic yielding phase, the vertical stress in the pillar
is not great. Form the traditional complete stress-
strain curve, it is known that it still has a residual
strength after the peak strength. Thus, when the
pillar width is of 5 m, or 7 m, it can still maintain
stability in the condition of restriction on both sides
and rely on its own residual strength.
7 CONCLUSIONS
1. The peak stresses in vertical and horizontal direc-
tion in the mining face inclined direction have
different locations.A reasonable pillar width should
avoid the roadway locating in the vertical peak
stress area, and also to avoid it locating in the
horizontal peak stress area to prevent the floor
heave.
2. When the pillar width increase, the shapes of ver-
tical stress distribution curve in pillar varies as
follows: “a hill” in a narrow pillar and “a asym-
metrical single-peak type” in a wider pillar. The
peak stress increase with the increase of the pillar
width.
3. The shear failure zone change from breakthrough
into no breakthrough when the pillar width
increase.
4. When the width of pillar increase, the displacement
of the roadway’s left wall and roof increases gradu-
ally. The roadway floor displacement is the smallest
when the width of pillar is 7 m.
In conclusion, the rational width of gateway pro-
tecting coal pillar is the width when the vertical
stress in pillar is not great, shear failure zone is not
723
breakthrough and the roadway floor displacement is
small.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by major project of national
programs for fundamental research and develop-
ment (973 Program) (Grant No. 2010CB731501)
and national programs for high technology
research and development (863 Program) (Grant
No. 2008AA062104).
REFERENCES
Bai, J.B., et al. 2004. Numerical simulation study on stabil-
ity of narrow coal pillar of roadway driving along gob.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 23
(20): 3475–3479.
Chen,Y.G. & Lu, S.L. 1994.The control of roadway surround-
ing rock in china’s coal mine. Xuzhou: China University
of Mining Publishing House.
Deng, G.Z. 1993. Deformation regularity of roadways with
extra large cross section driven along the previous gob
under given load. Ground Pressure and Strata Control
3–4: 192–196.
Huang, F.C. 2000. Bolt and mesh support technique in
Yanzhou Coal Field. Beijing: Coal Industry Press: 23–28.
Liu, T.C. 1994. Application and Development in Maintain-
ing Roadways without Chain Pillar. Ground Pressure and
Strata Control 4: 2–9.
Wang, L.G., et al. 1998. Theories and Application of Rock
Mechanics System motion stability. Beijing: Geological
Publishing House.
Wu, L.X. ,et al.1994. Theory and practice of strip mining
under buildings. Xuzhou: China University of Mining
Publishing House: 145–150.
Xie, G.X., et al. 2007. Influenced of coal pillar width on
deformation and fracture of gateway surrounding rocks
in fully mechanized top-coal caving mining. Journal of
Liaoning Technical University 26(2): 173–176.
This page intentionally left blank
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Fault instability’s mechanical mechanism and technology of retaining

waterproof pillar

W.Q. Zhang, X. Hua, J.M. Zhu & G.P. Zhang

College of Resources and Environment Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, China

Z.Q. Zhou & X.S. Zhou

Wanbei Coal-electricity Group Limited Liability Company Wugou Coal Mine Limited Liability Company of Anhui,
Anhui, China

ABSTRACT: The existing statistical data show that eighty percent of the water inrush from coal seam floor
caused by fault unstable failure, and the reasonable waterproof pillar is the key to avoid fault unstable failure.
According to the abutment pressure characteristics of coal floor with faults, a rock mass Analytical mathematical
model of the stope which is perpendicular (parallel) to the fault plane is set up to obtain the equations of shear
stress and normal stress on the fault under various conditions. And then, through the Mol-Coulomb rule for the
shear failure critical condition of fault plane, which could be used to conclude the fault calculation formula of
safety waterproof pillar. The research result has an important value in the case of coal floor with faults when
waterproof coal pillars are needed.

1 INTRODUCTION Huang-Cunhan deduced the formula of critical water

The research for water inrush from coal seam floor has
been sustained for more than 50 years. Scholars have
made lots of technological achievements and practi-
cal experience. But because every country and area
has different geological and mining conditions, coal
mining above Confined Water is still a engineering
problems at present. About 80 percent of water inrush
from coal seam floor occurred in coal seam floor which
has rupture faults. Therefore, study on the mechani-
cal mechanism of water inrush from coal seam floor
caused by fault instability has great significance.
Bu-Wankui built a mechanical model on mech-
anism analysis of fault activation in mining floor
according to the mechanical characteristics of water
inrush, obtaining stress field distribution rule of rock
around fault, shear stress criterion for fault activation
in floor was also gived out. Using the Mol-Coulomb
rule, Peng-Wenqing calculated the critical angle of
water-burst fault to determine the reasonable width
of waterproof coal pillar under different fault dip
angles. Based on the stability of coal pillar under-
ground a certain pressure and on the relationship
of water conducting fractures with fault and aquifer,
he obtained the formula for calculating the width
of waterproof coal pillar. But these kinds of meth-
ods merely considered fault activation along the fault
plane. In fact, even the fault does not activation, it also
can produce a range of plastic damage area along the
fault plane, these areas are likely to be the direct chan-
nel of water inrush from coal seam floor. According to
the limit equilibrium condition of rock’s shear failure,
pressure to study the effect of fault on the stability of
water-resisting floor and propose the water-inrush cri-
terion. The article written by Liu-Yang analyzed the
state of properties of pillar under different applied
force. Based on the analysis, according to the function
of waterproof, coal pillars are divided into effecting
area of ground pressure, efficient waterproof area and
effecting area of fault, and the width formulas of the
three areas are deduced and determined separately.
Design method of the fault waterproof pillar is cor-
rected, it provides a scientific reference for designing
hanging wall fault waterproof coal pillars.
Scholars have made many valuable achievements
on fault water inrush research, but the research on
stress changes on rock mass along fault plane with
different size of coal pillar and the plastic damage
regional expansion is not enough. According to the
pressure distribution characteristics of the coal seam
floor which has the rupture fault, this article estab-
lished two analytical mechanics models which the dis-
tance of mining is perpendicular / parallel to the fault
plane, and expounds the plastic damage mechanism of
the fault.
2 MECHANICAL MECHANISM ANALYSIS
OF FAULTS INSTABILITY
2.1 Analytical mechanics model with faults rock
When the working face encounters faults, a certain
width safety waterproof coal pillar needs to be left. By
regularity of rock pressure in mine, after the coal seam

725

Figure 1. Analytical mechanics model that the stope
advances from the near to the distance.
where: a, b are the integral lower limit, the integral
upper limit, respectively. According to the analysis,
when the above formulas are used, it needs to express
the load collection q as function of ξ, then integrate.
As is shown in Figure 1, when the stope advances
from the near to the distance, the support pressure on
the rock of coal seam floor may divide into seven parts.
The stress of any point M caused by the support pres-
sure of the seven parts along the fault plane will be
solved as following (in the formula, q = γ · H, refers
to the original rock stress of the vertical direction, H
refers to coal seam buried depth). Then the stress on
the point M can be respectively expressed as;

Figure 2. Analytical mechanics model that the stope

advances from the distance to the near.

has been excavated, the overlying rock stress of the face

will redistribute.There will be stress concentration that
is greater than multiples of the original rock stress in
front of the wall and a range of plastic damage area
will be formed. According to the statistical data, when
the stope advances from the near to the distant, the
influence caused by the force of support on the faults
is most intense before first weighting. There will form
stress concentration in front of the wall and nearby
the open-off cut, respectively. But by now, because
the main roof has not caved yet, the support pressure
in goaf approximates to zero, as shown in Figure 1.
When the stope advances from the distant to the near,
with the mining activities going on, the distribution
of support pressure nearby the stope may divide into
four regions, namely, the original rock stress area in
front of the face (A), the stress increasing area (B), the
stress reducing area behind the face (C) and the stress
stability area (D) as shown in Figure 2.

2.2 Analysis of country rock stress on Fault area

Assume that the rock of the coal seam floor is elastic
mass, according to elastic mechanics theory, if there
is a half-plane body, Its upper edge is with vertical
distribution force (In the concentration degree of each
point for q), then the stress of a certain point M in the
half-plane is:

726

When the stope advances from the distance to the
near, the stress of corresponding point M can be
expressed as:
727
According to the σZ , σx and τzx that has been worked
out, the maximum and minimum principal stress on the
point M along the fault plane can be got:
In the coordinates of τ − σ, Mohr strength envelope
that is simplified is:
According to Mohr Coulomb criterion, When the
normal stress, shear stress on the rock surface reach a
certain value, the rock will be damaged. The condition
that whether any point along the fault plane is plas-
tic damaged is whether Mohr stress round and Mohr
strength envelope have intersection, in other words,
Equation 12 have solution. This is the basis that to
judge whether any point along the fault plane will be
plastic damaged:
where τ—the shearing strength that caused by normal
stress σ(MP)
c — Cohesion(MP)
ϕ — friction angle(◦ )
3 FAULT INSTABILITY ANALYSES WITH
DIFFERENT SIZES OF SAFETY PILLAR
From the above analysis, we have got equation of stress
on the point M along the fault plane. Then, we analyze
the stress on the point M along the fault plane with
the different sizes of waterproof coal pillar and calcu-
late the critical point of waterproof coal pillar without
plastic damage.
Firstly, we analyze the direction of mining that is
from the near to the distance for example. Advance
abutment pressure of workface: L2 + L3 , as usual is
60 m; inelastic area : L3 = 0.015H; First weighting
step distance: L4 , as usual is 20∼50 m; L5 (L6 ) refer to
L2 (L3 ); Assume coal buried depth: H = 500 m; den-
sity of rock: γ = 25 kn/m3 ; fault-dip: α = 45◦ K = 3.5;
c = 2MP; ϕ = 30◦ ; L2 = 50 m; L3 = 10 m; L4 = 30 m;
L5 = 10 m; L6 = 50 m.
 Figure 5. τzx distribution along the fault plane under the
Figure 3. σZ distribution along the fault plane under the different size of safety pillar in each propulsion.
different size of safety pillar in each propulsion.

Figure 6. σ1 distribution along the fault plane under the

Figure 4. σx distribution along the fault plane under the different size of safety pillar in each propulsion.
different size of safety pillar in each propulsion.

near to the distance, as figure 1 shows; the below pic-

In the project 2, L1 , L2 , L3 refer to project 1; L4
ture named project 2, the direction of mining is from
is periodic weighting step distance as usual, 5∼25 m;
the distance to the near, as figure 2 shows).
L4 + L5 is 0.3∼0.4 h as usual; Assume that coal buried
From the diagram result analysis, we can obtain the
depth is H = 500 m; density of rock is γ = 25kn/m3 ;
following rules:
fault-dip is α = 45◦ ; K = 3.5; c = 2MP; ϕ = 30◦ .
L2 = 50 m; L3 = 10 m; L4 = 20 m; L5 = 100 m. (1) The area that stress along the faults plane changes
We choose a series of points that the interval is 4m remarkably mainly concentrates in the range of
along the fault plane. We use MATLAB to calculate x ≤ 40 in project 1. except some fluctuations
σZ , σx and τzx , getting the stress distribution rule along in individual curve, remarkably changes also
the fault plane in the condition of the two mechanics focuses on the same area in project 2.
models. As is shown in Figures 3–8 (the above picture (2) As the waterproof coal pillar is narrowing, change
named project 1, the direction of mining is from the tendency of σ1 and σ3 increases at first, then

728

Figure 7. σ3 distribution on fault plane under the different
size of safety pillar in each propulsion.
Figure 8. Plastic damage situation on fault plane under the
different size of safety pillar in each propulsion.
decreases. The change tendency of σx is increas-
ing gradually alone the fault plane. With the
narrowing of the waterproof coal pillar, the distri-
bution of the points that bear largest stress tends
to the superficial area from the deep area of the
fault plane until reaching endpoint.
(3) With the narrowing of the waterproof pillar, σ1 , σ3
change tendency of σ1 , σ3 increases at first, then
decreases in two models. And σ1 , σ3 in project 2
are little than that in project 1.
(4) With the narrowing of the waterproof pillar to
14 m, plastic damage area began to appear in fault
729
plane in left figure, and the minimum size of
safety pillar should be more than 14 m. But when
the waterproof pillar narrows to 20 m, as is shown
in the right figure, plastic damage area began to
appear. So the size of safety pillar is different in
different direction of mining.
(5) Faults safety waterproof pillars are not the bigger
the better. Because large size of waterproof pillars
only increase effectively protect length, and will
not significantly release rock stress on the fault
plane. The key to leave waterproof pillars is to
determine the distance of turning point of fault
plane stress state. Then analysis the security , and
do further consideration to shorten them.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions can be got through the
above analysis:
1. According to the different directions of mining,
the analytical mechanics model of face is estab-
lished, and the stress formulas of mining in floor
are deduced respectively.
2. In order to judge the stability of the rock in fault
plane, Coulomb Moore criterion is introduced. We
can determine the minimum size of safety water-
proof pillar according to the calculation of Matlab
programming.
3. Because of the different directions of mining, the
size of safety waterproof pillar is also different.
Comparing with advancing from the near to the
far, when advancing from the far to the near, the
rock in fault plane will bear less abutment pres-
sure, but it requires larger size of safety pillar. In
addition, when advancing from the far to the near,
it generally uses forward type mining. In this case,
Laneway maintenance and ventilation are all diffi-
cult. So we should advance from the near to the far
as possible.
This study also has many shortcomings:
1. Different rocks also have different internal friction
angle and cohesion. This paper does not distinguish
meticulously about the different kinds of rock. It
should be distinguished in the future.
2. On the both sides of fault, there exist epiphytic
fracture zones which will make the size of security
waterproof pillar larger. Besides of the theoretical
analysis, we should make more effort on the situ
observation, in order to avoid water inrush caused
by aquifer conduction.
3. This paper analyzed the rock stress around the stope
with two directions of mining, without consider-
ing the case of which is parallel to the faults. In
that case, the surrounding rock stress distribution
is basic similar to the figure 1 model, while the
distance of the gob L4 equals to the width of the
face.
4. The peak abutment pressure and distance are dif-
ferent with the different thickness of coal seam
 and different mining depth. According to the spe-
cific geological conditions, we should select each
parameter reasonably, in order to ensure the accu-
racy of the results.
REFERENCES
Bai H.B., Mao X.B., etc. 2009. Research on water-reserved
mining with high water pressure under large-scale thrust-
fault in ordovician karst. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering, 28(2):246–252.
Bu W.K. 2009. Research on mechanical mechanism of fault
activation and water inrush from faults in mining floor.
China University of Mining and Technology.
Huang C.H. & Feng T. 2010. Research on the failure mecha-
nism of water-resisting floor affected by fault. Journal of
Mining & Safety Engineering, 27(2): 219–222.
730
Li Q.F., Wang W.J., etc. 2009. Analysis of fault water-inrush
mechanism based on the principle of water-resistant key
strata. Journal of Mining & Safety Engineering, 26(1):
87–90.
Liu Y., Wu Y.P. & Wang Y.S. 2010. Rational width of water-
proof coal pillars in hanging wall of fault, Journal of Xi’an
University of Science and Technology, 30(5):523–530.
Peng W.Q., Wang W.J. & Li Q.F. 2009. Reasonable width
of waterproof coal pillar under the condition of different
fault dip angles. Journal of Mining & Safety Engineering,
26(2):179–186.
Wu J.W. 2009. Advancing direction of coal mining face influ-
enced to mining effect of seam floor with fault, Coal
Science and Technology, 37(9).
Zhang W.Q., etc. 2008. Mine flood forecasting and gover-
nance. Jangsu:Press of China University of Mining and
Technology.
Zhang J.C., Zhang Y.Z. & Liu T.Q. 1997. Rock seepage and
mine water inrush. Beijing:Press of Geology.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Effects and influences of water injection on coalbed exploitation

in mining engineering

D. Zhao, Z.C. Feng & Y.S. Zhao

Institute of Mining Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China
College of Mining Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, China
Key Laboratory of In-situ Infiltration Mining, Ministry of Education and Shanxi Province, Taiyuan, China

ABSTRACT: In order to investigate the effects and influences of water injection on coal bed exploitation and in
basis of the impact of mechanics characteristics on coalbed through the process of water injection, some relevant
laws applied in mining engineering could be indicated through out theoretical research and experimental study.
There are several effects and influences from it, for example, desorption or outburst of gas is restrained so that
the methane disasters could be decreased; meddle or hard top carving coal is soften leading to lower roof cases
on coal mine; coal dust and rock burst are so also prevented and cured that better environment for exploitation.
At last the detailed results showed that: percentage outburst of gas was depressed 56.4% after water injection; at
4 MPa high pressure water enclosed the coal samples contained gas, the desorption percentage was depressed
about 80% towards the natural; the recovery ratio of top coal improved 9% after water injection; after 48 hour
of water injection, the outburst of coal dust was depressed 20%; the rock burst reached the under degree after
water injection. The results are contributed to exploit new technologies for traditional coal mines production.

1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS 2 MECHNICAL EFFECTS OF WATER

INJECTION INTO COALBED
The method of water injection into coalbed is always
widely used in modern coal mines and it is listed in 2.1 Characteristic analyses of hydraulics
production regulations of China, because there are
Effects of water injection into coalbed are mostly
amount of effects such as preventing coal dust, gas
depended on the seepage features of water in coal
outburst, rock burst and influencing of soften mid-
block. At 1990s, some researchers from Institute of
dle or hard top carving coal(Zhao 1995, Zhao 2010,
Mining Technology in Taiyuan University of Tech-
et al.). So many studies were indicated that coal or
nology had conducted amount of coal samples for
gas outburst was effectively prevented of coal mines
measuring permeate or seepage laws from more
after high pressure injection water at the middle of the
than twenty coal mines of China.(Jin 1991, Zhao
last century. Especially, Yangquan coal group adopted
1994, et.al) The methods of them are simulating coal
Soviet’s technology of water injection into coalbed
block samples as actual coal seams to study per-
using for preventing gas outburst at 1960s and the
meate laws at different water pressure. The size of
results could be proved feasible. However, the technol-
these coal samples are 100 mm × 100 mm × 200 mm
ogy was not extended and researched in that future due
of length × width × height, and the laws of permeate
to available experimental data. But recently, following
coefficient of water in coals are:
by extension of production contents and improvement
of depth of coal seam mined, so many coal mines with
higher gas contents emerged and the technology was
also re-presented for these coal mines produced of
efficiency and safety. And some relevant laboratory where K is permeate coefficient, md;  is bulk stress
experimental studies are indicated that gas desorption and equals σx + σy + σz , MPa; p is pore pressure, MPa;
were effectively prevented after water injection. So the a, b, C are experimental simulation constants.
effects and influences of injection water on coalbed As shown in Equation (1), the permeate coeffi-
exploitation are necessarily analyzed and finally the cient of coal block is largely affected by pore pressure
related theories with coalbed injection water are also and bulk stress. So influences of water injection
deepened. The results could be directed in theoretical into coalbed on permeate characteristics are mostly
aspects on application of coalbed water injection of depended on water pressure and actual existed depth
industry (Clarkson 2000, Lavrence 2003). of coal seam.

731
 At the effect of unable permeate, the effective stress
laws of water effect on actual existed coal block are
obeyed TerzaghiK laws (Zhao 1994):
And the equivalent pore pressure coefficient a as
functions of bulk stress  and pore pressure p is
obeyed exponent law, and then:
where σ  is effective stress, MPa; σ is external stress,
MPa; δ is partial deformation, %; A is simulation
constant.
Equation (3) was proved the bulk stress of actual
coalbed could be declined after water injection; this
is used for stress off of coal seam indirectly. At last,
a series of mining disaster could be prevented in the-
ory after coalbed water injection due to higher initial
coalbed pressure.
2.2 Influences of water on coalbed mechanical
characteristics
Zhu from Liaoning Technical University conducted
some experimental studies on water immersion soften
coal sample, and found that the strength and elastic
modulus are both decreased after water saturation on
coals. The decline relationship between them is (Zhao
1994, Yang 2007):
Where σc , E are axial compression strength and
elastic modulus separately; Wc , p are saturation mois-
ture content and pore pressure of coal sample sepa-
rately; a, b are both simulation constants. The results
are presented that coal softened, plasticity of coal
increased after water injection, so amount of mining
disasters largely decreased because of strain energy
released suddenly.
3 GAS OUTBURST PREVENTED WITH
WATER INJECTION
It is well known that gas outburst in coal mine was
largely malignancy disaster, and is one of impossi-
ble eliminated accidents of all mining countries all
over the world, even if in developed mining countries.
Technologies and methods of water injection for pre-
venting gas outburst of coal seam are the same as the
ordinary water injection methods, such as long hole
and shallow hole injection water. Based on the mecha-
nism of gas outburst prevented by water injection and
the following aspects are shown that:
732
1) Water flowed in the pores and fractures after injec-
tion and finally filled of the whole Free State.
Through one period effects the coals were softened
and damage form transformed from fragility to
plasticity. The whole stress-strain curve of coal was
also changed and rock burst decreased obviously.
The plasticity energy of the process of stress-strain
is less than the outburst stage, so the energy of it
was largely declined. This is one of the important
mechanisms of preventing gas outburst after injec-
tion water and is proved by many experiments and
industries.
2) Effects of displace gas. Injection water on gas
bearing coalbed at constant pressure is a complex
problem combining three phases coupling of solid-
gas-liquid. Before injecting water the pores are full
of methane and something are adsorbing on the sur-
face of coals and the others are existing in Free
State. The studies of coal methane indicated that at
the gas pressure at the range of 2.0∼3.0 MPa, more
than 90% of total methane is adsorbed on the coal
and need 5 or 6 hours to desorption at least. Because
water pressure is larger than gas in pores, the free
gas in pores was transported to free volume after
injection water, so total gas volume was decreased
after all of coalbed. These results are proved by
many observation experiments.
3) Initial velocities of gas emission are decreased. For
example, shallow hole injection water on coal wall
could be improved coalbed moistures in Yangquan
No.1 coal mine. The coal samples from 8081
working face before and after water injection, the
moistures of coalbed from 1.6% to 2.45%. The
velocities of gas desorption experiments of mois-
ture coal sample are 30.37% of dry samples. The
energy of gas outburst is decreased and then the dis-
aster also declined. The results of them are shown
in Table 1.
4) Broken belt of coal wall are widen. The strength
of coals was decreased after water injection due to
mechanical effects; peak zone of stress was trans-
ferred to depth of coal wall. In actual projects, no
matter long or shallow hole water injection meth-
ods, the designing water parameter was applied
4∼5 m fore on coal wall and then gas outburst could
largely be prevented.
4 EXPERIMENTS OF GAS DESORPTION
AFFECTED BY INJECTION WATER ON
COAL SAMPLE
Gas outburst in coal mines is due to the amounts of
adsorption methane on coalbed rapidly desorption and
eruption, after external stress was suddenly declined.
The mechanism of preventing gas outburst with water
injection is methane desorption restrained of coal sam-
ples in laboratory. From adsorption to desorption and
high pressure water injection after adsorption to it
and found that some experimental data for illustrat-
ing methane desorption affected by water injection.
Table 1. Gas outburst and erupt state in dry & moisture working face of Yangquan No.1 coal mine (YQ, 1981).
Times Frequency
Working
Region area m2 Outburst Erupt Total Times km2 Decline % <1000 1000∼2000 >2000 5∼10 10∼20
Dry 137000 28 5 33 2.40
Moisture 2910 3 – 3 1.04
Figure 1. Desorption curves of dry coal sample whether
water injection or not at constant temperature.
And desorption law could be indicated whether injec-
tion water or not, the results are given some reference
to prevent gas outburst in water injection project of
coalbed exploitation (Zhao 2010).
At constant temperature, desorption laws of dry coal
sample whether water injection or not are presented
in Fig. 1. No matter desorption volume or velocities,
no water injection is larger than injection water. The
desorption law is the same as adsorption one in no
injection stage and both them are the process of fast
to slow to final equilibrium. But after water injec-
tion, desorption law is linear increase before 200 min
and after gradual improve, there is no obvious equi-
librium desorption at the whole process. The results
showed that at the same desorption period, desorption
with no water is thoroughly and reaches equilibrium
at definite ratio, no gas desorption. But the desorption
with water injection is after immersion of high pres-
sure water, water is permeated to pore passageways of
coal and inner adsorption methane could not desorbed.
The D-value between pore pressure and atmosphere
pressure is also created and inner gas is gradually
released due to pressure gradient followed by time
increased. But released gas volume is so small that
largely capillaryforce and surface tension. The results
showed that desorption volume of no water is 5.4
times of water injection stage. Compared with total
adsorption volume, the desorption ratio is 62.3% of no
water and 11.5% of water injection. And then periods
immersions of water on coal sample at definite liquid
pressure, methane desorption is largely prevented and
declined about 80% than no water stage.
Coal outburst quality
Gas volume m3 and times T and times
– 22 5 6 2 3
56.4 – 3 – – –
5 MIDDLE OR HARD CARVING COAL
SOFTENED BY INJECTION WATER
5.1 Mechanism and research summary
Based on influences of water on coals mechanical
characteristics, this is an important technology to
improve working efficiency of carving coal after water
injection on soften middle or hard carving coals.
Soften coefficients of immersion or injection water
at experimental condition is presented in Table 2. The
researchers from Institute of Mining Technology con-
ducted so many and detailed hydraulic characteristic
experiments of coal sample and presented soften tech-
nology used for 4309 working face of 3# coal seam
in Wangzhuan coal mine. During the working from
1988 to 1922, middle or hard carving coals are suc-
cessfully exploited and extended all the Lu’an Coal
Group (Zhao 1994).
5.2 Analyses of softening effects of middle or hard
carving coal after water injection
The average water injection quality is 9.1t/m, sam-
ple real moisture of carving coal is 2.35% and 0.69%
more than original. Based on Equation (4), ultimate
coal strength is 11.98 MPa. At working technology
of three cut carving coals, the efficiency of carving
is 75.2%. And the latter experiments, average water
quality is 16.8t/m, moisture ratio of carving coal is
2.71%, ultimate coal strength is 9.5 MPa thus f < 1.0.
The technology was the same as the former, carv-
ing coal efficiency is 78.97%, average water injection
quality is from 9.1 t/m to 16.8 t/m. Moisture ratio is
from 2.35% to 2.71%, coal strength is from 11.98 MPa
to 9.575 MPa, efficiency of carving coal is from 75.2%
to 78.97%. If using two cut carving technology, effi-
ciency of carving could be reached 84.2%. So there is
key effect of water injection on middle or hard carving
coal seam.
6 COAL DUST PREVENTED BY INJECTION
WATER
6.1 Mechanism and research summary
Coal is a double medium contains pores and frac-
tures, there are three aspects of dust falling when the
733
Table 2. Soften coefficients of coal samples (Jin 1991, Zhao 1994).

Coal sample Wangzhuan 3# Datong 11# Fenxi 10# Yangquan 3# Jincheng 3#

Porosity % 10.0 8.11 7.35 6.07 4.1

Soften coefficients 0.61 0.67 0.736 0.783 0.685

Table 3. Experimental results of mechanical characteristic of Shenli coal sample after water immersion (Jin 1991, Zhao 1994).

Moisture Percentage of cracking coal less than Decrement percentage of cracking

Condition of immersion water increment % 0.5 mm in total coal‘s quality % coal(compared dry coal sample) %

Natural immersion 49h / 1.60∼5.97 5.70∼20.15

4 MPa water immersion 1 h 0.38 1.85 10.36
8 MPa water immersion 1 h 0.64 0.45 2.52
12 MPa water immersion 1 h / 1.15 6.44
12 MPa water immersion 2 h 1.03 2.29 11.47
12 MPa water immersion 2 h 0.36 6.99 27.20
12 MPa water immersion 3 h 1.59 0.85 5.90
12 MPa water immersion 4 h 1.27 4.32 12.24

water adsorbed on the surface of coal pores through The other experiment for wetting coal sample is
fractures. drop hammer cracking laboratory and calculated coal
cracking property using powder quality less than
1) Original coal dust in coals was wetted. There are
0.5 mm divide total quality of coal. That proved plastic
dusts existed in various fractures of coal and sus-
increased after immersion and fragility decreased and
pension in coal mines followed by coal cracked. If
cracking degree declined after dropping. The results
water accessed into fractures, the original coal dusts
are presented in Table 3. From experimental results,
are wetted before cracking and not suspension in
moisture increment is reached 1% after immersion and
coal mine. And last dust is effectively eliminated.
5.9∼12.24% less than dry coals of cracking particle
2) Each part of coal is surrounded effectively. Once
size (Jin 1991).
water accessed to pores and fractures of coals, they
are filled with it not only in larger fractures, strat-
ification but also in smaller pores even if before
1 µm and more. So the whole sample is surrounded
7 EXPERIMENTS OF SLOW DOWN ROCK
by water molecular effectively. When coal wall
BURST BY INJECTION WATER
cracked in exploitation, coal dusts were not sus-
pension due to water. Even though cracked very
Rock burst is the surrounding rock mass (mine body
little, the water could also be wetted on coals and
and wall rock) of passageways of coal mine (well and
coal dusts are prevented during it.
working face) destroyed once mechanical equilibrium
3) The physical and mechanical characteristics of
state reached instability. The huge elastic energy sud-
coals are changed. Once water accessed to coals,
denly released accumulated in wall rock system and
plastic of wetting coal is enhanced and fragility
last a large dynamic phenomenon emerged containing
is declined. If external stress effect, fragility is
rapid and vigorous destruction.
changed to plastic and ratio of cracking to dust is
The industrial experiments to prevent rock burst
largely decreased. The total amounts of coal dusts
using water injection into coal seam of Xinzhouyao
are declined.
Datong coal mine were conducted. The location of it
is in northeast of Datong coal field and Jurassic Period
coal seams, which 20 seams contained coal and 12
6.2 Analyses of softening effects of middle or hard
of them could be exploitation. The technology of it
carving coal after water injection
was cut column and amounts of coal columns residual
Through water immersion on Shenli Fushun coal mine after exploitation. Rock burst could be emerged due
for the studies of physical and mechanical charac- to focus stress of upper coal seam. Using pre water
teristics, the results shown that moisture increment injection onto one working face in 3# coal seam and
of wetting coal block samples is at the range of compared with no water zones, the results are pre-
0.58%∼0.75%, axial compression strain of vertical sented in Table 4. So possible rock burst declined after
stratification is 13.4∼14.5% than dry coal samples. injection water and elastic efficiency also decreased.

734
Table 4. Synthetical factors after water injection in rock burst (Zhao 1994).

Factor Parameters No water injection zone Water injection zone

Moisture ratio Maximum moisture ratio % 5.10 7.07

Minimum moisture ratio % 1.90 4.07
Average moisture ratio % 3.79 5.34

Rock burst Dynamic damage time ms 172 667

Index of elastic energy 6.6 2.5
Index of burst energy 3.2 /
Possible burst Middle Weak

Average axial compression strength MPa 23.8 19.6

At last the damage degree of rock burst is weakening REFERENCES

(Zhao 1994).
8 CONCLUSIONS
Through the comparison researches such as theoretical
analyses of permeate coefficients and effective stress
laws in actual coal seam between water and gas, exper-
imental studies of desorption laws of methane bearing
coal samples whether injection water after adsorption
or not and physical or mechanical characteristics and
measurement of soften coefficients, in-situ testing of
gas outburst whether injection water or not, and then
gas outburst and desorption could be prevented, middle
or hard carving coals were softened, coal dusts were
decreased and possible rock burst was weaken. At last
the conclusions showed that:
1. The frequency of gas outburst after injection water
is 43.6% of no water from in-situ test of coal mine.
2. After 4 MPa water immersion on methane bearing
coal sample of laboratory condition, the desorption
ratio is about 20% of no water immersion.
3. The increment of carving coal is 9% after water
injection.
4. The decrement amounts of coal dusts are 20% after
48 hours water injection.
5. Rock burst of coal mine from middle to weak after
water injection.
Clarkson, C.R. & Bustin, R.M. 2000. Binary gas adsorption
/desorption isotherms: effect of moisture and coal com-
position upon carbon dioxide selectivity over methane.
International Journal of Coal Geology 42(3–4): 241–271.
Jin, Z.M. & Zhao, Y.S. 1991. Practical of water injection on
multilayer exploitation. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical
Engineering 13(1): 68–74.
Lawrence, O.A. 2003. Groundwater flow associated with
coalbed gas production, Ferron Sandstone, east-central
Utah. International Journal of Coal Geology 56(1):
69–95.
Yang, T.H., Liu, J., Zhu, W.C., et.al. 2007. A coupled flow-
stress-damage model for groundwater outbursts from an
underlying aquifer into mining excavations. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 44(1):
87–97.
Yq, C.Q. 1981. Coal dust and gas prevented using water injec-
tion in coal wall of coal seam in Yangquan. Y M Science &
Technology 10(3): 15–18.
Zhao, D., Feng, Z.C. & Zhao, Y.S. 2010. Experiment Study
on Affected Factors to Seam Gas Desorption Law. Coal
Science and Technology 38(5): 43–46.
Zhao, Y.S. 1994. Fluid mechanics in mining rock. Beijing:
Coal Industry Press.
Zhao, Y.S. & Hu, Y.Q. 1995. Experimental Study of the Law
of Effective Stress by Methane Pressure. Chinese Journal
of Geotechnical Engineering 17(3): 26–31.

735
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Optimization of rock slope in an open pit mine using strength

reduction method

D.P. Zhu & Y.D. Lin

School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, China

G.X. Hu
Transportation Research Center, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: The stability analysis and optimization of high steep rock slope in open pit mine are the leading
topics in slope study presently. A rock slope formed by open pit mining in Shanxi province is taken as a
case, physical mechanical parameters of rock mass are determined by structure analysis of rock mass and
engineering analogy method. A geological mechanical model of the rock slope is established by analysis on
geological background and geological mechanism. A numerical simulation model is also established by the
finite element software–Plaxis. Based on the theory of finite element strength reduction, the optimized slope
angle and relationship between the slope angle and slope stability are obtained by strength reduction of each
rock layer under different slope angles. The study can provide references for stability analysis and optimization
of high slopes.

1 INTRODUCTION However, the optimization of slopes is less. To pro-

At present, two-thirds of solid minerals in the world
are exploited in open pit mines. The resources in open
pit mines are abundant in our country. The exploit-
ing in open pit mines is to peel off overlay soils and
surrounding rockmass near the ores, carry rocks to
dumping yard, and excavate ores from open mineral
bodies directly. Compared with underground mining,
open pit mining has many advantages such as full use
of recourses, high rate recovery, low impoverishment
rate, fitness for large-scale mechanical construction,
quick construction of mine, large output, and higher
labor productivity.
While open pit mining is widely used, landslides
occur frequently in open-pit mines, which lead to huge
losses of life, production and equipment. For example,
in October and December, 2003, successive land-
slides happened in Grasberg copper mine of Indonesia,
which caused great losses of productions and equip-
ments. The Haizhou open-pit coal mine, which is the
largest open-pit coal mine in China, has 85 landslides
from 1953 to 2004, the annual average landslide is
1.6 times. It is estimated that the losses are hundred
millions Yuan. Therefore, the stability evaluation and
optimization of high steep slopes in open-pit mines
have important economical and social values to keep
production and equipments safe.
Currently, the research of slopes in open pit mines
mainly concentrates on stability evaluation, manage-
ment and monitoring. The main methods of stability
evaluation are limit equilibrium method, finite dif-
ference method, finite element method and so on.
vide references for stability analysis and optimization
of high slope, a rock slope formed by open pit min-
ing in Shanxi province is taken as a case, the optimum
slope angle and relationship between the slope angle
and slope stability will be obtained by strength reduc-
tion of each rock layer under different slope angles
using finite element strength reduction method.
2 GEOLOGY CONDITION OF THE OPEN-PIT
MINE
According to the engineering geological mapping and
strata revealed by drilling, the site can be divided into
11 layers, which consist 4 overlay layers, 7 bedrock
layers and 13 subshells. The layers stated as follows:
The first kind of layers include: (1) alluvial dilu-
vium (Q4 ), (2) floury soil (Q3 ), (3) silty clay (Q2 ),
(4) silty clay(N2 ).
The second kind of layers are bedrock, which
include: (5)-1 the fine sandstone group of Xiashihezi
Fm (P1x ), (5)-2 the mud rock and sandy mud rock
group of Xiahezi (P1x ), (6) the pebbly grit stone
and medium-coarse sandstone of Xiashihezi, (7)-1
the upper medium-coarse sand-stone of Shanxi (P1s ),
(7)-2 the upper mudstone and the sandstone and mud-
stone of Shanxi (P1s ), (7)-3 the upper medium-coarse
sandstone group of shanxi (P1s), (8)-1 the middle mud-
stone and sandy mud-stone group of Shanxi (P1s ),
(8)-2 the middle fine sandstone group of Shanxi (P1s ),
(9)-1 the lower medium-coarse sandstone group of
Shanxi (P1s ), (9)-2 the lower mudstone and sandy

737
mudstone group of Shanxi (P1s ), (9)-3 the lower
fine sandstone group of Shanxi(P1s ), (10) the lower
mudstone group of Shanxi (P1s ), (11)-1 the coal pet-
rography (decomposed coal) group of Taiyuan, (11)-2
the mudstone and sandy mudstone group of Taiyuan,
(11)-3 the sandstone group of Taiyuan.
Based on the standard for classification of engi-
neering rock mass (GB50218-94), rock mass quality
grading of the first mining site and the statistic index
of rocky physical mechanics are gained by comprehen-
sive analysis on field engineering geology survey, the
drill hole geologic record and data of laboratory test.
The rock mass of grading-V includes overlay soils (silt
and silty clay) on the upper bedrock, (5)-2 the mud rock
and sandy mud rock group of Xiahezi, (8)-1 the middle
mudstone and sandy mudstone group of Shanxi, they
all belong to unstable strata. The rock mass of grading-
III includes (7)-1 the upper medium-coarse sandstone
of Shanxi, (7)-3 the upper medium-coarse sandstone
group of shanxi, (9)-2 the lower mudstone and sandy
mudstone group of Shanxi, and (11)-3 the sandstone
group of Taiyuan, they all belong to moderate stable
strata .The rock mass of grading-IV belongs to weak
stable strata.
3 PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL
PARAMETERS
The mechanical parameters of rock mass are deter-
mined by the basic quality level of rock mass and the
mechanical indexes of rock samples. The parameters
are given below:
Petrofabric (5)-1: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 3.81 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.12, cohesion
C = 240 KPa, friction angle ψ = 27.7◦ , unit weight
γ = 23.7 KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 1090 KPa.
Petrofabric (5)-2: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 1.09 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.22, cohesion
C = 150 KPa, friction angle ψ = 22◦ , unit weight
γ = 21 KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 410 KPa.
Petrofabric(6): the modulus of deformation E0 =
2.76 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.1, cohesion C =
300 KPa, friction angle ψ = 29.4◦ , unit weight
γ = 23 KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 430 KPa.
Petrofabric(7)-1: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 1.13 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.12, cohesion
C = 280 KPa, friction angle ψ = 29.0◦ , unit weight
γ = 22.6 KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 1150 KPa.
Petrofabric(7)-2: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 0.47 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.22, cohesion
C = 180 KPa, friction angle ψ = 25.0◦ , unit weight
γ = 22.2KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 360 KPa.
Petrofabric(7)-3: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 1.15 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.16, cohesion
C = 470 KPa, friction angle ψ = 33.5◦ , unit weight
γ = 22.6KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 740 KPa.
Petrofabric(8)-1: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 1.76 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.13, cohesion
C = 150 KPa, friction angle ψ = 22.0◦ , unit weight
γ = 20.5KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 480 KPa.
738
Figure 1. The geological model of slope.
Petrofabric(8)-2: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 1.62 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.19, cohesion
C = 180 Pa, friction angle ψ = 25.5◦ , unit weight
γ = 24.5KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 1350 KPa.
Petrofabric(9)-1: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 3.16 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.17, cohesion
C = 280 Pa, friction angle ψ = 29.1◦ , unit weight
γ = 22.9 KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 1700 KPa.
Petrofabric(9)-2: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 1.82 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.18, cohesion
C = 500K Pa, friction angle ψ = 34.3◦ , unit weight
γ = 25.3 KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 1350 KPa.
Petrofabric(9)-3: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 1.40G Pa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.2, cohesion
C = 180 KPa, friction angle ψ = 25.5◦ , unit weight
γ = 24.6 KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 2670 KPa.
Petrofabric(10): the modulus of deformation
E0 = 1.82 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.26, cohesion
C = 190 KPa, friction angle ψ = 26.0◦ , unit weight
γ = 23.5 KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 920 KPa.
Petrofabric(11)-1: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 1.90 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.20, cohesion
C = 190 KPa, friction angle ψ = 26.0◦ , unit weight
γ = 14.2 KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 650 KPa.
Petrofabric(11)-2: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 1.77 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.28, cohesion
C = 190 KPa, friction angle ψ = 26.0◦ , unit weight
γ = 25.0 KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 13 70 KPa.
Petrofabric(11)-3: the modulus of deformation
E0 = 3.55 GPa, poision’s ratio υ = 0.20, cohesion
C = 460 KPa, friction angle ψ = 33.1◦ , unit weight
γ = 24.7KN/m3 , tension stress σt = 1850 KPa.
4 GEOLOGICAL MODEL OF THE SLOPE
According to the landform feature and the geologi-
cal condition revealed by drilling, the basic geological
model of the slope in the first mining field is con-
structed (Figure 1). The width of the whole model is
2∼3 times of the height of the slope, the distance from
the top of slope to the right border is 1.5 times of the
height of the slope. The lower boundary is the place
which is 50m below No.11 coal mining face, the angle
of the slope is α.
Figure 2. The finite element model and the grid Figure 3. The potential slide surface while α = 30◦ .

5 NUMERICAL SIMULATION MODEL OF THE

SLOPE

5.1 Calculation method

In order to predict the shape of failure surface, the
position and the corresponding stability coefficient of
the rock slope. The method of finite element strength
reduction is used. The method (Lei 2010) is reduc- Figure 4. The potential slide surface while α = 33◦ .
ing the strength of rock mass continually by means
of the method of strength reduction, when the non-
convergence of nonlinear finite element appears, the
slope come up to the unstable state and the reduction
coefficient is the factor of safety. The slipping surface
does not need to be assumed and stability coefficient
of slope can be obtained using this method, also, the
distribution of stress and deformation can be obtained.

5.2 Numerical simulation of the slope Figure 5. The potential slide surface while α = 35◦ .
According to the geological model, the two-dimension
elastic-plastic finite element numerical simulation
model in the first mining field is built (Figure 2). M-C
criterion is used as the failure criterion. The fifteen
notes unit of triangle is adopted in the model. The
model boundary of the horizontal direction is con-
strained; the lower boundary is also constrained in
the horizontal and vertical direction. As for the stress
boundary conditions of the model, static earth pres-
sure is applied, the tectonic effect is ignored and only
Figure 6. Curve of stability coefficient with angle of the
the gravity load is considered.
slope.
The simulation steps of finite element strength
reduction method are as follows:
From Figure 3∼5, the plastic zone of slope is bigger
1. Exerting the stress and the restrained boundary when the slope angle is lesser. When the slope angle is
condition, the initial stress field is generated; bigger, the stability coefficient is smaller. Figure 6 is
2. Excavating in the first step and removing all the the relationship between stability coefficient and the
soil units in the excavation area of the first step; angle of the slope. The suitable angle of slope is 33◦
3. Removing all layers above the interface between according to the angle of economic and reliability.
soil and rock of excavation face, replacing with the
equivalent gravity load;
4. Excavating step-by-step and removing all the rock 6 CONCLUSION
units in the area of excavation at the n step;
5. The strength reduction method of finite element is The finite element strength reduction method was used
used to calculate the overall stability coefficient of in this paper to analyze a rock slope of an open pit mine
the excavated slope. in Shuozhou of Shanxi. The main conclusions are as
follows:
When the slope angle α = 30◦ , 33◦ , 35◦ , the poten-
tial slide surface of the rock slope can be seen in 1. The plastic zone of slope is bigger when the slope
Figure 3 ∼5. angle is lesser, and the land will be wasted.

739
2. To save land, the slope angle should be bigger, but
the stability coefficients become smaller.
3. The suitable angle of the slope is 33◦ .
4. The finite element strength reduction method is an
effective method for optimization of mining slopes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial sup-
port of Scientific Research Fund of Sichuan Provincial
Education Department (No.10ZA074), Administra-
tion of Work Safety of Sichuan Province (10-004) and
Hubei Province Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 2010CDB11108).
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strip mine. China nonferrous metals 8: 76.
Feng, M.S., Wang, L.G. & He, F. 2005 Analysis of sta-
bility and deformation of strip mine slope in Haizhou.
Geological hazard and environmental protection 16(4):
363–367.
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Lou, F., Deng, J. 2008. Application of AHP-Fuzzy method
in the stability analysis of strip mine slope. Mining
technology 8(2): 27–29.
Gu, J.J., Yang, J. & Jiao, S. 2008. Application of FLAC3D
in the stability analysis of strip mine slope. Science and
technology information 15: 9.
Wang, X.Z. 2008. ANSYS analysis of slope in Baorixire strip
mine. Journal of Liaoning Technical University(Natural
science edition 27(3): 342–246.
Zhao, W.D., Yuan, X.M., Jin, Y.J. 2008. Stability estimation
and management design of some strip mine slope. Mining
technology 8(6): 23–27.
Jia, P., Chang, Y.F., Wang, X. 2010. Application of limit equi-
librium method in the stability analysis of strip mine slope.
Journal of Wuhan Institute of Technology 32(9): 50–52.
Lei, J.S., Zhu, D.P., P, H. 2010. Optimal design of waste-dump
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

The comparison of surrounding rock stress analytical solutions for three

tunnel sections

J.H. Zhu
State Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines of Ministry of Education,
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
School of Civil Engineering and Architecture Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou China

H.G. Ji
Civil and Environmental Engineering School University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: In underground tunnel engineering, the tunnel section shape is usually non-circular and it is
closely related to the tunnel surrounding rock stability. In this paper, the approximate mapping functions for
the rectangular tunnel and the straight wall tunnel were solved through the MeJIeHTbeB method. Based on this
method, the analytic solutions of stress were obtained for the circular tunnel, the rectangular tunnel and the straight
wall tunnel. With specific examples, comparative analysis for the three hole shapes was given by the optimal
criterion that the maximal tangential stress (absolute value) on the hole boundary is the smallest. The result
shows that the circular tunnel was the best and the straight wall tunnel was the second.

1 INTRODUCTION tunnel, the rectangular tunnel and the straight wall tun-
nel. With specific examples, comparative analysis for
In underground tunnel engineering, the different tun- the three hole shapes was given by the optimal cri-
nel excavation shape will lead to a different stress terion that the maximally tangential stress (absolute
field under the in-situ stress. Selection on the tun- value) on the hole boundary is the smallest.
nel section shape is closely related to its surrounding
rock stability. The general way to solve the problem is
by the plane elastic complex variable method. Firstly, 2 SOLVING THE MAPPING FUNCTION
the more complex shape of the tunnel section in the
physical plane (z-plane) is transformed into the rel- 2.1 Mapping function coefficients of the general
atively simple shape in the image plane (ξ-plane), solution
then the stress field is obtained. The transforma-
The MeJIeHTbeB method is suitable for both of the
tion is achieved through the introduction of mapping
finite field – inner the circle and the infinite domain –
function Z = ω(ξ). With this method to analyze the
outside the circle. The second situation is discussed in
stress field of tunnel surrounding rock, the current
this paper. The general form for the mapping function
study focuses on two aspects. One is determination
is:
of the mapping function. According to the exact map-
ping function only for the simple orifice shape, the
approximate mapping function could be achieved for
the actual roadway with various methods, such as where z = x + iy, αn = an + ibn . Ifan , bn are given,
polygonal approximation method and trigonometric points of the boundary |ξ| = 1 on the ξ plane are given
interpolation method, etc. (Chen 1994, Fan 1993). The by eq. (2).
other is the hole shape optimization criterion, such
as the minimum that the hole edge tangential stress
square is integral as the optimization criterion, the
hole when the absolute value maximum of the tan- The corresponding point of the Rz boundary in the
gential stress is reduced to the second largest as the plane is given by eqs. (3) and (4),
best hole shape, and the harmonic hole etc. (Lu et al.
1995, Lu 1996, Sun et al. 1987, Lu 1996). In this paper,
the approximate mapping functions for the rectangular
tunnel and the straight wall tunnel were solved by the
MeJIeHTbeB method. Based on this method, the ana-
lytic solutions of stress were obtained for the circular

741
 The key is to achieve coefficients an , bn . A specific
idea is that the right of m/2 + 1 entry of eq. (1) is pre-
pared for the approximate. Therefore, there are m + 2
unknown coefficients. Equal unit circle in the ξ plane
m, θ for per docile points:
2π 2π
, 2, 2π
m m m
3, · · · , 2π. If points in the ξ plane have
been achieved which are corresponding to the unit cir-
cle in the ξ plane, there are equations to be obtained
by eq. (3). It is difficult to resolve these m + 2 coeffi-
cients. In order to express more clearly, the following
discussion focuses not on the relationship between
(x, y) and θ, but on the relationship between the plane
and θ. w is defined as:
It has the same modulus but different angular for
w and z according to eq. (5) and |ξ| = 1. ξ angular is
larger than w angular according to eq. (6):
It is easy to solve w if ξ has been given, thenu andv
could also be solved. Obtain a point in the ξ plane unit
circle, then is θ known. The corresponding point in
theξ plane was as follows:
where, θ is 2π
m m
, 2π 2, 2π
m
3, . . . , 2π, the corresponding
value of u is u1 , u2 . . . um .There are the following
equations by the eq. (7):
Similarly,
Based on above m equations and Euler’s formula, with
exponential functions instead of trigonometric func-
tions, the m coefficients in the m + 2 of an , bn could
be solved as follows:
742
Figure 1. Determining iteration point Mn(0) .
b0 and bm/2 could not be solved according to the above
equations. However, b0 could be obtained through two
points. One is the intersection of the boundary line
Rz and the axis x. The other is the intersection of the
unit circle and the axis η which is corresponding to
one. Therefore, there is the following equation by the
eq. (11):
That means:
Define bm/2 , b0 could be obtained according to
eq. (14).
Thus, all the coefficients in the mapping function
are obtained.
2.2 Iteration problem
Above, an , bn are calculated under the conditions that
u1 , u2 . . . um are given. In other words, the m points
on the Rz boundary in the ξ plane which are corre-
sponding to the unit circle in the ξ plane are known.
In fact u1 , u2 . . . um are unknown. When solving in
practice, m corresponding points in the ξ plane are
randomly defined. Thus, a group of u(0) (0)
1 , u2 . . . um
(0)
are obtained. Therefore, an(0) , bn(0) could be calculated.
According to the coefficients and eq. (11), there are a
group of v(0) n to be obtained.Through un and vn , Mn
(0) (0) (0)
in the plane which is corresponding to docile points in
the plane unit circle could be determined (Figure 1).
According to the boundary correspondence princi-
ple, when these points are located on the boundary,
the group of an(0) and bn(0) are the undetermined map-
ping function coefficients. However, the first selection
is some random, the results are often discontented
accordingly. The iterative process is as follows: Mn(0)
is outside the boundary in Figure 1. Firstly, the point of
intersection A is obtained by means of drawing a line
to the real boundary through Mn(0) . Secondly, draw-
ing vertical line through the point for OR, then the
n which is the distance between A and pedal can be
u(1)
measured.
Finally, an(1) , bn(1) and v(1)
n can be calculated by the
u(1)
n , so the M (1)
n can be obtained. Continue the iterative
process above, the satisfied Mn(k) will be obtained in
the end.

2.3 The zero selection of approximate points in the

z plane
From the discussion above, the zero selection of
approximate points u(0)n is closely related to iterations.
The following method is suggested to determine u(0) n :
if the boundary line in the plane is similar to some cir-
cle, the u(0)
n is determined by the radius. The radius is
the half of the sum of the maximum and minimum dis-
tance which is from boundary line to the origin. If the
boundary line in the plane is different from some circle,
boundary line is divided into some sections according
to the partial maximum and minimum from boundary
line to the origin, then the u(0)
n are determined through
the average of the partial maximum and minimum.
Figure 2. Sizes and buried conditions for the three tunnel
sections.
3 THE COMPARISON OF ROCK STRESS
ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS AMONG THREE
TUNNEL SECTIONS

3.1 The rock stress analytical solution

With the mapping function, the solution of surround-
ing rock stress field could be calculated as follows:
Figure 3. The distribution of hoop stress in the hole edge
for the three tunnel sections.

3.3 The comparison of surrounding rock stress

The solution of the stress function φ (ξ) and ψ (ξ)
in formula (15) is more conventional (Liu et al. 1995,
Wang 1991), the solution process and formula (15) can
be programmed with MTLAB.The stress results can be
obtained after the parameter information and mapping
function are input into the program. The comparison
of rock stress analytical solutions among the circular,
rectangular and straight wall tunnel is done as follows.
3.2 The description of the three tunnel sections
Tunnel length is much larger than its section size,
and the surrounding rock properties are homoge-
neous. Therefore, it can be seen as plane strain
problem. The results show that the error does not
exceed 10% compared with the original problem when
buried depth H ≥ 20R0 and the rock gravity which
influences the tunnel (3 to 5 times R0 ) is ignored
(Cai 2002). So in this paper the initial earth stress
is assumed as the self-weight stress, vertical stress
p0 = γH and horizontal stress λp0 . In order to be coin-
cident with buried depth condition, the input param-
eters are as follows: buried depth H = 630 m > 20R0 ,
bulk density γ = 23 KN/m3 , side pressure coefficient
λ = 0.3, namely σx = 4.34 MPa, σy = 14.49 MPa and
τxy = 0 MPa.The tunnel section area is equal among
the circular, rectangular and straight wall tunnel, and
the sizes and buried conditions are shown in Figure 2.
analytical solution
3.3.1 The hoop stress comparison in the hole edge
The distribution of hoop stress in the hole edge about
the circular, rectangular and straight wall tunnel is
shown in Figure 3.
From the Figure 3, the maximum and minimum
stresses are always on the hole edge. The boundary
surface forces do not exist and only the hoop stresses
exist on the hole edge. There are the tension stress zone
at the top and bottom, and compressive stress zone in
both sides in the hole edge among the three tunnel
sections. The hoop stress change range of the circu-
lar section is the smaller than others. The compressive
stresses of the rectangular section increase sharply and
its change range is the largest at the corner. Theoret-
ically, the stresses in concave angle where two lines
intersect are infinity. It shows why a small radius of
arc instead of the sharp corner is used to decrease stress
concentration in the actual engineering.
3.3.2 The stress comparison around the hole edge
In the table 1 to table 3, the stresses are given for the
three tunnel sections along the direction of 0◦ and 45◦
and 90◦ from the hole edge to the infinity. From the
tables, it can be known that the maximum and min-
imum stresses always occur in the hole edge. The
stresses decrease sharply and approach to the in-situ
stress with the distance from the hole edge increase.

743
Table 1. The stresses along the direction of 0◦ and 45◦ and 90◦ from the hole edge to the infinity for the circular section.

1 0.8 0.5 0.3 0(∞)

α
θ σr σθ τrθ σr σθ τrθ σr σθ τrθ σr σθ τrθ σr σθ τrθ

0◦ 0 2.7 0 0.25 2.65 0 0.42 1.35 0 0.36 1.06 0 0.3 1 0

45◦ 0 1.3 0.35 0.23 1.07 0.37 0.49 0.81 0.46 0.59 0.71 0.41 0.65 0.65 0.35
90◦ 0 −0.1 0 0.36 0.29 0 0.56 0.39 0 0.83 0.35 0 1 0.3 0

Table 2. The stresses along the direction of 0◦ and 45◦ and 90◦ from the hole edge to the infinity for the rectangular section.

1 0.8 0.5 0.3 0(∞)

α
θ σr σθ τrθ σr σθ τrθ σr σθ τrθ σr σθ τrθ σr σθ τrθ

0◦ 0 2.35 0 0.84 1.95 0 0.65 1.45 0 0.41 1.1 0 0.3 1 0

45◦ 0 3.2 0.18 0.34 2.45 0.36 0.59 1.63 0.42 0.64 0.89 0.39 0.65 0.65 0.35
90◦ 0 −0.22 0 0.42 0.38 0 0.52 0.48 0 0.87 0.33 0 1 0.3 0

Table 3. The stresses along the direction of 0◦ and 45◦ and 90◦ from the hole edge to the infinity for the straight wall section.

1 0.8 0.5 0.3 0(∞)

α
θ σr σθ τrθ σr σθ τrθ σr σθ τrθ σr σθ τrθ σr σθ τrθ

0◦ 0 1.95 0 0.78 1.65 0 0.53 1.39 0 0.39 1.09 0 0.3 1 0

45◦ 0 3.6 0.20 0.30 2.06 0.37 0.55 1.22 0.44 0.60 0.80 0.40 0.65 0.65 0.35
90◦ 0 −0.15 0 0.41 0.33 0 0.54 0.45 0 0.83 0.35 0 1 0.3 0

The difference between the excavation stress and the REFERENCES

in-situ stress is little when the distance from the hole
edge is beyond 3 times of tunnel radius. It shows why
3 times of tunnel radius is considered as the influence
boundary in the stress relief test. The tunnel surround-
ing rock stability for the circular section is the most
advantageous among the three sections.
4 CONCLUSION
The approximate mapping functions are solved with
the MeJIeHTbeB method. The stresses for the three
tunnel section are comparatively analyzed. The stress
distribution is similar to usual hole’s. The stress con-
centration phenomenon is significant at the corner of
the rectangular tunnel and the straight wall tunnel. The
circular section is the optimal one and the rectangu-
lar section is the most unfavorable for the three tunnel
sections. The conclusion shows that it is feasible with
the MeJIeHTbeB method to solve the stress for the
complicated tunnel section.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to acknowledge the collaborative
funding support from the National Hi Tech Research
and Development Program of P. R. China (863
Program) under Grant No. 2008aa062104 and the
National Natural Science Foundation of P. R. China
(No. 50874002).
Cai, M.F., He, M.C., Liu, D.Y. 2002. Rock Mechanics and
Engineering. Beijing: Science Press.
Chen, Z.Y. 1994. The analytical method for the surrounding
rock mechanic analysis. china coal industry publish house.
Fan, G.Q. 1993. Determination of the mapping function for
the exterior domain of a non-circular opening by means
of the multiplication of three absolutely convergent series.
Chinese journal of rock mechanics and engineering 12(3).
Liu, J.G., Wang, R.F. 1995. The Stress Concentration of
U-shaped and Ladder-shaped Holes. Chinese journal of
geotechnical engineering 17(5).
Lu, A.Z. 1996. Optimization of hole shapes based on optimal-
ity criterion-minization of the maximally tangential stress
absolute value on the boundary of hole. acta mechanica
solid sinica 17(1).
Lu, A.Z. 1996. The method for optimum shapes of tun-
nels and cavities. Chinese journal of rock mechanics and
engineering 15(3).
Lu, A.Z., Wang, Q.W. 1995. New method of determination for
the mapping function of tunnel with arbitrary boundary
using optimization techniques. Chinese journal of rock
mechanics and engineering 14(3).
Sun, H.C., Zhang, J.Y.,Yan, G.M., Zhang, J.Z. 1987. Complex
Variable Function Method for Hole Shape optimization In
an elastic Plane. applied mathematics and mechanics 8(2).
Wang, R.F. 1991. Computer Solutions for Complex function
in elasticity. Journal of hohai university 19(2).

744
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study of consolidation grouting effect for downstream block

of high arch dams

X.X. Zhu, P. Lin, S.Z. Kang & Q.B. Li

State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Z.L. Wang
China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, Yichang, China

ABSTRACT: In this paper, the suitable grouting time and grouting pressure of downstream block of high
arch dams for complicated foundations is studied. Deformations of downstream block of high arch dam in
consolidation grouting stage are usually affected by grouting pressure, rock properties and seepage of the
foundation. The consolidation grouting and lifting deformation mechanism are analyzed to propose the numerical
feedback model. For complex foundations, Xiluodu Project is taken as an example to study the relationship
between grouting pressure and the uplift deformation under the different construction period. Based on numerical
results of the stress and deformation state, an optimal grouting arrangement was suggested, which avoids the
cracking risk because of grouting uplift of block of downstream.

1 INTRODUCTION
In the recent 30 years, with the development of
hydraulic engineering in china, more and more high
arch dams are constructed, such as Xiaowan, Jinping,
and Xiluodu arch dams. These high arch dams are
general constructed on complicated foundations con-
sisting with developed karst, thick alluvium and great
permeability.The foundations need to applied different
reinforcement methods containing grouting, anchor-
age and replacement et al for stiffing and strengthen
the rock in the contact zone immediately under the
dam. In the practical construction, block or pedestal
generally are designed at the toe of the dam for increas-
ing stability of large dam. For example, Xiaowan arch
dam, Xiluodu arch dam and Lijiaxia arch dam are all
be set block or pedestal at the toe of dam (Zhou & Lin
2008). Care is required over the grout injection pres-
sures employed to avoid disruption, fracturing opening
up of horizontal fissures and uplifting of block. So, it is
very important to study the grouting uplift deformation
at downstream block of high arch dams on complicated
rock foundations.
The study on grouting deformation involves in
selection of grouting time and grouting pressure
design. Up to now, the main research focus on increase
the grouting pressure as much as possible or decrease
the grouting pressure as much as possible (Liu 1988).
Some experts who believe grouting pressure should be
increased, and think that this method could decrease
the number of drillings and expand the microfractures
at the same time, which could increase the grouting
ability. Other experts who think the grouting pressure
should be decreased, and think that low pressure could
keep the permeability and could avoid the uplift which
caused by the high pressure. Furthermore some experts
else also proposed that the maximum grouting pres-
sure is determined by fracture grouting pressure (Zou
et al. 2008), or obtained by such models as the grouting
expansion model (Jiang & Shen 1995).
Anyway, there is no unique criterion to determine
grouting pressure. Though there are a lot of engineer-
ing practices about grouting and some experiences
are accumulated and published in the year of 1963,
1983, 1984 and 2002, which had been promoting and
directed the dam’s consolidation grouting. The selec-
tion of grouting pressure value, which is a controversial
and flexible issue, is generally up to the personal idea.
With the constructions of high arch dams on compli-
cated foundations, it is not universal to determine the
grouting pressure only by experiments (Ma 2001) or
experiences (Zhang 2002).
In this study, a numerical model is proposed for
simulating the deformation and uplift mechanism of
the block downstream of high arch dams in different
construction period under different grouting pressure.
By employing this model, the suitable grouting time
and grouting pressure of Xiluodu (Zhu 2011) high
arch dam are analyzed.
2 ANALYSIS METHODS AND MODEL
2.1 Grouting theoretical model
Figure 1 shows grouting pressure transmitting sketch
map.Assuming grouting flows through the drilled pore
and then infiltrate around through fissures, grouting
pressure will attenuate from PC1 to PCn along the

745
 Figure 2. Numerical mesh model of Xiluodu arch dam.

Table 1. Calculation Conditions (Condition 1-9).

Loading Construction Maximum/minimum

condition time height(m)
Figure 1. Grouting pressure transmitting sketch map.
1 Aug. 2010 407/383.0
grouting pore and from FC1 to FCn along the bedded 2 Oct. 2010 413/392
horizontal fissure. Considering the effect of integrity, 3 Dec. 2010 425/410
the grouting pressure is PC in grouting pore and FC in 4 Feb. 2011 437/425
fissures. The PC and FC have an uplifting effect on the 5 Apr. 2011 452/437
foundations. Namely, the uplifting effect of grouting 6 Jun. 2011 464/449
7 Aug. 2011 479/464
pressure distributes on the whole grouting zone. 8 Oct. 2011 494/479
There would be a few grouting drillings collocating 9 Dec. 2011 509/489.5
on the bottom and grouting order during constructions.
It is complicated to simulate the real grouting pressure
in all holes. Thus, the total grouting pressure on dam is
equivalent to homogeneous distributing stress F under where: K is the same for the grouting with rock prop-
the grouting zone. erties under grouting zone and the same allocation of
According to the formulas of elastic mechanics: grouting drillings.

2.3 Mesh model of Xiluou arch dam

the values of uplifting affected by equivalent grouting
pressure F can be obtained.
2.2 Practical and equivalent grouting pressure
1) Explosive model and state equation
According to equilibrium of grouting zone, follow-
ing equation is obtained:
In this study, the numerical mesh has been estab-
lished and involved in the whole dam body with
abutments including faults and weak rock zones. The
3D mesh (see in Figure 2) included the vast area
of abutments and their vertical heights with scale
1000 × 1500 × 661 m3 (length × width × height). The
total number of meshes reaches 85644. The model
simulates the dam in different constructions (concrete
pouring height). ABAQUS program was employed for
carrying out numerical simulation.

2.4 Calculation Conditions and material

where: K is sensitivity coefficient, concerning with the
rock properties and collocation of grouting drillings at
the grouting area; P1 , P2 , and P3 , denotes the grouting
pressure of drillings of order I, order II and order III,
respectively; n1 , n2 , and n3 , denotes the number of
drillings of order I, order II and order III, respectively;
s1 , s2 , and s3 , denotes the area of drillings of order I,
order II and order III, respectively;
F is the uplifting equivalent pressure, which reflects
the uplifting effect on the rock and dam while grouting;
S is the total area of grouting.
For I drillings grouting, the foundation has been
consolidated and is easier to uplift. So we primarily
pay attention to p1 , and formula (1) can be simplified
as follow:
parameter
The simulation on process of concrete pouring proof
of Xiluodu Dam is from Aug., 2010 to Dec., 2011, and
the total 9 conditions are listed in table 1, and only self-
weight loading considered in condition 1 to 9. Grouting
pressure is ascertained by trial calculation in condition
10 and condition 11.
Condition10: condition 1 + equivalent pressure
(F = 0.06 MPa);
Condition11: condition 7 + equivalent pressure
(F = 0.06 MPa);
Table 2 lists the mechanics parameters of dam and
rock materials
2.5 Selection of Grouting time
Figure 3 shows the maximum principle stress the ten-
sile stress zone in the block in condition 5 (Apr. 2011).

746
Table 2. Mechanics parameters of dam and rock materials.

Material γ E0 C
Classification (104 N/m3 ) (GPa) µ (MPa) f

Dam concrete 2.40 24 0.167 5.0 1.70

I 5.85 19 0.20 2.5 1.35
II1 2.85 13 0.25 2.20 1.22
III2 2.75 6.0 0.28 1.4 1.2
IV1 2.6 3.5 0.30 1.0 1.02
IV2 2.6 1.45 0.30 0.50 0.70
V 2.2 0.65 0.35 0.05 0.35
weak zones 2.4 0.5 0.3 0.07 0.4

Figure 4. Uplifting displacement distribution at 13∼19#

riverbed dams under different equivalent pressures.

3 THE SECURITY VALUE OF GROUTING

PRESSURE AT BLOCK OF DAM

According to the practical constructions, the alloca-

tion of grouting drillings in the downstream block of
Figure 3. Stress distribution zone in the block of dam. dam is similar to the 13∼19# riverbed dams. Thus, the
grouting model for block of dam is the same with that
for 13∼19# riverbed dams.
Table 3. Stress distribution of block zone during construc- First, the grouting model for 13∼19# dams is deter-
tion. mined by back-analysis. The equivalent grouting pres-
sure is obtained by reducing the difference between
Maximum the theoretical and practical uplift deformation. The
Loading principle Tensile relationship between equivalent and practical grouting
Conditions stress (MPa) stress area Remark pressure that is the grouting model are determined.
By employing this model, the security value of
1 0.30 80% Disadvantage
2 0.23 70% Disadvantage grouting pressure, and the specific process discussed
3 0.22 65% Disadvantage in following.
4 0.22 62% Disadvantage
5 0.21 60% Disadvantage
6 0.167 40% Advantage 3.1 Determination of Grouting Model
7 0.198 35% Advantage From May 10th in 2009 to August 5th in 2009, con-
8 0.193 30% Advantage
solidation grouting has been carried out in 13∼19#
9 0.189 5% Advantage
dams. The practical uplift deformation for some field
observation points is recorded. The equivalent grout-
ing pressure F is supposed to be 0.03 MPa, 0.04 MPa
and 0.05 MPa, respectively. The uplift displacement
Table 3 shows the value of the maximum princi- in 13∼19# dams calculated showing in Figure 4, the
ple stress and tensile stress zone in the downstream red crosses in Figure 4 represent the field observation
block of dam under condition 1 to condition 9. Based points.
on numerical results of stress distribution, the maxi- The results show that when F equals to 0.04 MPa,
mum principle and the tensile stress zone is decreasing the difference between the theoretical and practical
with the height of dam increasing. The maximum prin- uplift deformation is least.
ciple decrease from 0.3 MPa to 0.189 MPa, and the The practical grouting pressure in 13∼19# dams is
tensile stress zone decrease from 80% in August of that P1 = 0.8 MPa, P2 = 1.0 MPa, and P3 = 1.5 MPa.
2010 to 5% in December of 2011. The main reason is P1 , P2 and P3 means the practical grouting pressure for
the self-weight stress will increase because of hangs I, II and III drillings. The relationship between grout-
upside down changed with increasing the height of ing pressure F and P1 could be determined by using
dam during construction period. grouting Model in 13∼19# dams
The tensile stress in the downstream block can cause
the dam cracks. So the maximum principle stress and
3.2 Selection of security value of equivalent
tensile stress zone during construction can be used as
grouting pressure at the block of dam
criteria to determine the optimal grouting time. The
result shows that the suitable grouting time can be after According to the specifications in dam constructions,
April, 2011 (condition 5). the greatest uplift displacement of concrete is 100 µm

747

Figure 5. Uplift displacement contours under condition 1
and condition 7.
because of grouting.Thus, the security value of equiva-
lent grouting pressure F must make sure that the uplift
displacement is below 100 µm.
For condition 1 (August in 2010) and condition 7
(August in 2011) with equivalent grouting pressure F ,
When F is supposed to be 0.06 MPa, the contours of
uplift displacement in block and dams are shown as
Figure 5.
The result shows that the equivalent grouting pres-
sure F can meet the grouting requirement. For con-
dition 1 with F , there is only 5% zone whose uplift
displacement is greater than 100 µm, and the rest is
less than 100 µm. For condition 7 with F , The maxi-
mum uplift displacement is 90 µm which is less than
100 µm.
Apply formula (2) to grouting on 13∼19# riverbed
dams, there exist:
As to the block of dam, there exist:
Based on the practical constructions, the allocation
and dimension of grouting drillings of Xiluodu are
similar, so there exist:
Combine formula (3), (4), and (5), obtain:
As it known, the grouting pressure of order
I drillings at riverbed dams is P1 = 0.8 MPa,
the corresponding equivalent grouting pressure is
F  = 0.04 MPa, and the security value of equivalent
grouting pressure F  of block area is 0.06 MPa. Thus,
the security value of grouting pressure P1 of order I
drillings of block of dam is obtained 1.2 MPa based on
Equation (6).
The geological conditions in downstream block of
dam and in 13∼19# riverbed dams are similar. It is
appropriate to consider that the grouting pressure of
I, II and III drillings in block of dam is proportion to
that of 13∼19# dams. Thus, the grouting pressure of
748
order II, III drilling is P2 = 1.5 MPa, P3 = 2.25 MPa,
respectively.
4 CONCLUSION
It is very important to study the suitable grouting time
and grouting pressure of downstream block of high
arch dams on complicated foundations for hydraulic
structural design and construction.
A grouting theoretical model to simulate grouting
pressure, and find the relationship between equivalent
grouting pressure and practical grouting pressure is
proposed.
Based on Xiluodu project by adopting grouting
model, according to the analysis of stress and deforma-
tion at block of dam toe, the tensile stress is decreasing
with the pouring height of dam increasing, and the
maximum tensile stress decreases too. The tensile
stress began to change to compressive stress after
April, 2011, and it is good for grouting. The security
grouting pressure value of block of dam is obtained,
and the order I, II and III drillings’pressure is 1.2 MPa,
1.5 MPa and 2.25 MPa, respectively. Field monitor
show that this suggestion can effectively avoid the
cracking risk because of grouting uplift of block of
downstream.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research work was supported by Foundation of
State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineer-
ing (2011-KY-3, 2010-TC-2),National excellent State
Key Laboratory Foundation of China (50823005),
Special Foundation for public welfare industry of
the ministry of water resources (2010001035) and
National Science and technique support of 115
(042601001).
REFERENCES
Jiang, M.J. & Shen, Z.J. 1995. Expansion of CylindriCa1
Cavity of Materials with Strain-Softening behaviour. Rock
and Soil Mechanics Vol.17(004): 10–19.
Liu, J.C. 1988. Chemical grouting. China water power Press.
Ma, G.Y. & Lin, X.S. 2001. Grouting and ground water
drainage in hydraulic and hydro-power. China water
power press.
Zhang, J.X. 2002. Seepage control of dam foundation and
grouting technology. China water power press.
Zhou, W.Y. & Lin, P., et al. 2008. Research on concrete
socket and peripheral joint for high arch dams founda-
tion, Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 27(10):
1959–1967.
Zhu, X.X. 2011. Cracking analysis methods of Super-high
Arch Dams and Applications. Master’s thesis of Tsinghua
University.
Zou, J.F. & Xu, W.G., et al. 2008. Study on grouting pres-
sure of fracture grouting in saturated soil. Rock and Soil
Mechanics Vol.29(007): 1802–1806.
Dynamic rock mechanics and blasing
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experiment on dynamic stability of soil slope ballasted by un-cemented

concrete blocks

G.Z. Cao
Kunming University of Science and Technology, Yunnan, China

Toshikazu Ikemoto & Masakatsu Miyajima

Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan

ABSTRACT: To research the stability and failure pattern of ballasted soil slope under vibration condition is
important for not only ensuring the safety of the residents and lifelines in seismic area but also design and
reinforcement of the slopes. By indoor model test, the stability and failure pattern of the soil slopes under
vibration condition has been simulated. According to data analysis, some obtainments have been concluded that:
1) during in the process of vibration, the soil stress in the top side of the slope is always tensile, and in the middle
part of the slope, the soil stress is mainly in the condition of compression. The soil stress in the bottom of the
slope waves in a small way. 2) With the increasing of acceleration, the most lateral deformation happens in the
middle of the slope and the second lateral deformation is on the top of the slope. The tensile cracks what happen
on the top surface extend downwards and will connect with each other on an interface. The slide surface will
be developed from the interface and the shear out belt will be happened in the most lateral deformation part.
At last, the slope will be damaged by a landslide. 3) The grading of the soil is a very important factor which
impacts on the stability of soil slope during vibration. The grading of soil is also an important indicates the scale
of potential landslide under vibration condition.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

In recent years, the global seismic activity is frequent 2.1 Experiment model design
which not only change the natural landscape heavily
The mode box is made with plexiglass and the external
but impact on human activities very obviously. In order
is reinforced by angle steel to ensure the strength of
to meet the needs of construction, a large number of
the box is high enough. The scale of the model box
artificial fill slope along the lines of communication,
in length and width and height is 120 cm, 80 cm and
water pipelines and other linear projects to be con-
100 cm. The height of soil slope in the box is 473 mm
structed. The stability of the filling slopes are very
and the degree of the slope is 66.4◦ . The surface of the
important for maintaining the environmental safety of
soil slope is ballasted by un-cemented concrete blocks.
settlements and ensuring the stable operation of life-
There is a layer of gravel as filtration bed between the
line engineering (Huang 2009, Huang 2009, Yin 2008,
concrete blocks and the soil slope. At the bottom of
Terzaghi 1950, Harpe 1938, Hungr 2001, Okada 2000,
the box and in front of the slope, there is a fixed con-
Chen 2010).
crete block on which the un-cemented concrete blocks
Over the years, many researchers focus on the field
based. And the fixed concrete block is covered by soils
of stability of filling slopes, especially, the huge invest-
with 75mm deep.
ment has been input by Japan and a large number of
The accelerometer in place ➀ in the shaking table is
useful results have been obtained and can be used as
to monitor the response acceleration of the shake table.
reference (Liu 2008, Lin 2009, Cao 2003, Jia 2005,
The accelerometers in places from ➁ to ➆ in the soil
Gaudio 2004, Liu 2005, Bo 2001, Li 2009). However,
model are for monitoring the response acceleration
most of these studies focused on the stability of natu-
of relative places. From A to C, the sensors for soil
ral slope, for the seismic failure mechanism of filling
pressures have been placed to monitor the different
slope ballasted by un-cemented concrete blocks are
soil pressure change from upper to lower part in the
still rare.
process of vibration. And also the laser displacement
In this paper, the indoor model test and automatic
meters are settled on the surface of the concrete blocks
monitoring have been used to study the failure law
to monitor the displacement changes in different parts
and the failure mode of filling slope under vibration
during the shaking input. The details of the design are
condition. The results could be used as the theoretical
shown in Figure 1.
basis for treatment and design of the filling slope.

751

Figure 1. Side section of simulation model box.
Figure 2. Relation of vibration frequency and response
ratio.
2.2 Properties of soil sample
The properties of the soil sample are as follows:
moisture content is 24.7%, density is 2.69 g/cm3 ,
sand content is 70.8%, the fine particle content is
29.2%(including 15.6% silt and 13.6% clay). Nonuni-
formity coefficient Cu is 49.4 and curvature coef-
ficient Cc is 19.1 and the soil grading is bad. The
diameters of the soil particles are mainly ranged from
0.075 mm to 2 mm of the sand. The fine sand which
size ranging from 0.075 mm to 0.25 mm content is
68.5%. The soil is clayey sand.
2.3 Experimental procedure
In the whole process of experiment, not any settings
change but increase the input acceleration of shaking.
Shaking input acceleration is beginning from 100 gal,
followed 200 gal, 400 gal, 600 gal and till the soil slope
destroyed at 800 gal input acceleration. The main shak-
ing time is 20s and the time for before and after shock
is 5 s.
Before the experiment, the natural frequency of
one-dimensional vibration along the trend direction
of the slope is measured. The input acceleration is set
to 100 gal and the frequency is set to auto-increase
from 5 Hz to 25 Hz. The ratio of the accelerations
from accelerometer ➁ to accelerometer ➀ is calcu-
lated and the results are shown in Figure 2. From
Figure 2, it can be seen when the vibration frequency is
752
Table 1. Acceleration of shaking table and planed input
acceleration.
Planed input acceleration (gal) 100 200 400 600 800
Acceleration of shaking table 33 67 251 523 702
(gal)
Figure 3. Acceleration response rate in different places.
10.5 Hz, the maximum ratio of acceleration response
is 2.167 times. So the input frequency is identified to
be 10.5 Hz as natural frequency.
3 EXPERIMENT DATA ANALYSIS
After the test, the sensor ➄ in the upper part of the
filling slope has been damaged because of the sliding
failure and the measured data can not be corrected,
so the data from sensor ➄ will not be analyzed. The
analyzing collected data of other sensors has been
conducted and the results as follows.
3.1 Variation of the acceleration
When input the acceleration into the model box
according to the plan, the actual input accelerations
of the shaking table are shown in table 1. The follow-
ing analysis is carried out based on the actual input
acceleration.
When the input acceleration gradually increases, the
acceleration response rate and the maximum response
acceleration in different parts are shown in Figure 3
and Figure 4.
From Figure 4, when the input acceleration
increases from 33 gal 523 gal, the relationship of the
input acceleration and the maximum response acceler-
ation is directly proportional that mains the maximum
response acceleration is linear increasing with the
input acceleration increasing. At the same time, the
change of the response ratio of acceleration is very
small and the slope of the relative curve is almost 0
which indicating the response ratios in different parts
are unchanged. When the input acceleration increases
to 702 gal, the maximum response acceleration on
the top of the slope surface increases rapidly and the
Figure 4. Maximum response accelerations in different
places.
Table 2. Average displacement and soil stress in deferent
acceleration inputs.
acceleration (gal) 33 67 251 523 702
displacement U −0.015 −0.037 −0.047 −0.136 3.426
(cm) M −0.010 0.003 0.022 −0.167 −5.403
L −0.003 0.005 −0.015 −0.013 13.494
Soil pressure A 0.082 0.023 0.113 1.495 −0.008
(KPa) B −0.029 −0.015 0.004 −0.259 0.0811
C −0.109 −0.069 −0.014 −0.06 0.010
response ratio of acceleration is also increasing signif-
icantly. The maximum acceleration and the response
ratio are also increasing obviously in the middle part
of the slope (position ➂). The changing of accelera-
tions and response ratios are still small in other parts of
the slope model. Throughout the vibration process, the
maximum response acceleration gradually decreases
from the top to the foot of the slope.
3.2 The deformation law analysis of slope
The average displacements in different places on the
slope surface monitored by laser displacement sen-
sors during shakings are listed in Table 2. A positive
value indicates the inner displacement of the slope and
a negative value indicates the outward displacement
of the slope. During the shaking with 702 gal input
acceleration, the shape of the slope has been destroyed
by landslide after 16s. the monitored displacements
happened in all parts are due to the changing of the
shape of slope, not because of the displacements of the
soil particles. So the continuous displacements after
slope destroying will not be analyzed. The displace-
ment analysis is only for the displacement caused by
shaking with the input acceleration less than 702 gal.
The relationships between the input acceleration and
displacements are shown in Figure 5. It can be seen
from Figure 5, when the input acceleration is less than
523 gal, the displacement in lower part of the slope
caused by shaking is very small and no obvious change
can be observed.
753
Figure 5. Relationship between accelerations and displace-
ments.
Figure 6. Monitoring data of displacements at 523 gal input.
Displacement in the top of the slope is increasing
in negative value, indicating that the displacement is
developing outward the slope. When the input acceler-
ation is less than 251 gal, the displacement on the top
of the slope is always less than 0.05 cm. When the input
acceleration increased to 523 gal, the displacement on
top of the slope is increasing outward obviously to
0.136 cm.
The changing of the displacement in the middle part
of the slope is more complex. When the input accel-
eration is less than 251 gal, the deformation in the
middle part of the slope is mainly compressed inner
to the slope. When the input acceleration increased
to 523 gal, the displacement change is from inner to
outward the slope and the value increases rapidly. The
increment of displacement in the middle part is bigger
than it in the upper part. The deformations in differ-
ent parts under 523 gal input acceleration is shown in
Figure 6.
After shaking with 523 gal acceleration input, the
displacement in middle part is stable at 1.5 mm. The
obvious changing of displacement can be observed by
naked eye directly, as shown in Figure 7.
During the shaking with the 702 gal input acceler-
ation, the displacement in the middle part of the slope
is increasing continuously. The slope is damaged by
landslide which shears out from the middle part of the
slope. The relationship curve between displacement
and time during shaking is shown in Figure 8.
Figure 7. Deformation of ballast concrete block in middle
of the slope after vibration by 523 gal input.
Figure 8. Monitor data of displacement at 702 gal input.
After the soil and slope damage occurs at 16s, the
displacement curve indicates the shape deformation of
the slope shape but not the displacement of soil par-
ticles. Not to discuss here. From the Figure 7, we can
find that from just before destroying, the displacement
in middle part of the slope has a short-term process
of increasing and the speed of the increasing is very
high. Driven by the deformation in middle part of the
slope, the displacement on the top of the slope is also
increasing and the deformation law is similar to the
one in middle of slope. The deformation in the lower
part of the slope is not obvious in the whole process of
experiment. From the whole process, the deformation
in middle part of the slope is the key to the dynamic
stability of the slope.
3.3 The changing law of soil pressure in slope
From the soil pressure changing curve during shak-
ing (Figure 8), the soil on the top of the slope is
always under tensile (tensile is positive and compres-
sive is negative). With the acceleration increases, the
increments of tensile stress also increase significantly.
When the acceleration is 523gal, the tensile in the
upper part is particularly evident. It shows that when
the deformation in middle part of the slope is increased
by outward bulging, the tensile in upper part is also
driven to increase obviously. It is shown in Figure 9.
754
Figure 9. Relationship of average soil pressure and accel-
eration.
Figure 10. Monitoring data of soil stress at 523gal input.
From the curve of deformation and soil pressure on
the top of the slope (Figure 10), the outward displace-
ment increases with the increasing of tensile stress in
the top soil of the slope. For the middle part of the
slope, the lateral outward displacement increases with
the increasing of compressive stress. It is caused by the
apparent movements of the soil particles under shak-
ing condition. The movement of the soil particles is
caused by two main reasons as follows:
Firstly, the settlement of permeable gravel layer.
Because the density and the hardness of the gravel
is bigger than the surrounding soil and the continuous
settlement during shaking, The compaction effect in
the middle part of soil is very obvious which cause the
lateral displacement on the surface of the slope signif-
icantly. At the same time, the compaction effect makes
the compressive stress increased apparently.
Secondly, because the soil sample for experiment
is poor in grading (Cu = 49.4, Cc = 19.1), the fine
particles move from the upper to the lower through
the soil pores during the shaking. It makes the soil in
lower part more compaction and the soil pressure is
also increasing. Since the downward movement par-
ticles are mainly filled in the soil pores, the lateral
displacement is not happened in lower part soil obvi-
ously. Because of the subsidence of gravel and the
downward movement of fine particles, the upper part
soil became looser and the soil cracks became bigger.
Combining the reason of the increasing tensile stress in
the upper soil, the displacement in the upper soil is still
not positive value although the cracks are expanding.
So the filling gravel and the soil grading are important

Figure 11. Relation between soil stress and displacement.
factors which will impact on the dynamic stability of
soil slope.
4 CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSS
According to the comprehensive analysis above, some
conclusions and discuss have been worked out as
follows:
1. For soil slope which ballasted by un-cemented
concrete blocks, with the increasing of the input
acceleration, the stress condition in the top soil
is always in tensile, and the stress in the middle
part of soil is compressive and in the bottom of the
soil slope is almost keep unchanged in the whole
process of shaking.
2. Because the stress conditions described as above, it
seems that the upper part of slope has the trend of
outward overturning, but for the whole process of
shaking, the most lateral deformation is occurred
in the place of most incremental of compression
which locates in the middle part of the slope. In gen-
eral, a slope can be damaged by a landslide which
shears out from the location of most deformation
happened. It can be used to explain why lots of
landslides happen during earthquakes.
3. from the experiment, the landslides in the soil
slope is caused by two main reasons: the first one
is because of the high density and hardness of
the gravel, the apparent displacement and subsi-
dence are happened in the filtration layer which
causes the subsidence and soil cracks on the top
the slope. The second one is because of the soil
particles movement from the upper to the lower
which makes the upper soil looser and the lower
soil more compressed. So the stability of the slope
soil is decreasing from surface to inner and from
upper to lower. So the landslide is ranged mainly of
the looser soil which lost their strength by particles
moving away. So the soil grading is an important
condition for the dynamic stability of soil slope.
4. Though the experiment, the landslide surface
almost locates the boundary of soil density changes.
Above the boundary, the soil density is lower for the
moving away of the soil particles. Under the bound-
ary, the soil density is increasing by filling soil
particles. The soil density on the boundary is almost
755
kept unchanged. but the relationship between slid-
ing surface and the soil density keep no changed
surface should to be confirm by more experiments.
REFERENCES
Bo, J.S., Xu, G.D. & Jing, L.P. 2001. Seismic response
and dynamic stability analysis of soil slopes. Earthquake
Engineering and Engineering Vibration, 21(2):116–120
(in Chinese).
Cao, X.J., Wu, Q.S. & Zhang, J.C. et al. 2003. Study on the
blasting vibration control of bedding rock slope. Rock
Mechanics and Engineering Periodical, 22(11):1924–
1928 (in Chinese).
Chen, C.Y., Huang, W.H. & Tan, H. 2010. Model experimen-
tal study of the effect of vibration on the soft coal sandwich
bedding slope Stability. Mineral Engineering Research,
25(2):29–32 (in Chinese)
Gaudio, V.D. & Wasowskic, J. 2004. Time probabilistic
evaluation of seismically induced landslide hazard in
Irpinia. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, (24):
915–928.
Harpe, C.F.S. 1938. Landslides and related phenomena. A
Study of Mass Movements of Soil and Rock. New York,
Columbia University Press.
Huang, R.Q. 2009. Mechanism and geomechanical modes of
landslide hazards triggered by Wenchuan 8.0 earthquake.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering,
28(6): 1239–1249 (in Chinese).
Huang, R.Q. & Li, W.L. 2009. A study on the development
and distribution rules of geo-hazards triggered by “5.12”
Wenchuan earthquake. Science in China (Series E), 52(4):
810–819.
Hungr, O., Evans, S.G., Bovis M. & Hutchinson, J.N. 2001.
Review of the classification of landslides of the flow type.
Environmental and Engineering Geoscience, 7: 221–238.
Jia, C., Liu, N. & Chen, J. 2005. Slope risk analysis under
the earthquake effect. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Engineering, 24(4):703–707 (in Chinese).
Lin, D.N., Tang, Y.M. & Fan, J.G. et al. 2009. Blasting
vibration analysis of slope stability. Mining Engineering,
24(1):25–26 (in Chinese).
Liu, H.S., Bo, J.S., & Liu, D.D. 2005. Review on study of
seismic stability analysis of rock-soil slopes. Earthquake
Engineering and Engineering Vibration, 25(1):164–171
(in Chinese).
Liu, Y., Zhang, J.C. & Xiao, Q.H. 2008. Study of slip bed-
ding rock slope instability under vibration. Subgrade
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Okada, Y., Sassa, K. & Fukuoka, H. 2000. Liquefaction and
the steady state of weathered granite sands obtained by
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mechanism of liquidized landslides. Journal of Natural
Disaster Science, 22 (2):75–85.
Tan, R.J., Li, M.S. & Xu, P.X. et al. 2009. Numerical sim-
ulation of dynamic stability of slope rock mass under
seismic loading. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering, 28(S.2):3986–3992 (in Chinese).
Terzaghi, K. 1950. Mechanisms of landslides. Engineering
Geology(Berdel) Volume. Geology Society of America,
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Hybrid analysis of dynamic destabilization to HSTCC workings

in steep coal seams

J.T. Cao, X.P. Lai, P.F. Shan, Q.S. Wang & F. Cui
Energy School, Xi’an University of Science and Technology
Key Laboratory of Western Mines and Hazard Prevention, Ministry of Education of China

ABSTRACT: There are quantity of steep seams whose angle are generally from 65◦ to 87◦ in the Wulumuqi
Coal Region. Owing to the effect of the original non-symmetrical distribution of stress state and local defor-
mation, the process of excavation disturbance led to obvious local nonsymmetrical distribution of stress in the
surrounding rock mass of the horizontal sub-level top-coal caving workings, thereby the large scale destabiliza-
tion and dynamic hazard occurred. In this paper, firstly, the special characteristics of rock mass conditions were
investigated; Afterwards, the simplified mechanical model of surrounding structure were outlined; finally, in-
situ acoustic emission (AE) characteristic indicators monitoring and rock mass damage borehole optic peeping
were carried out. The dynamic destabilization process of damage-deformation-fracture-movement-instability
was illustrated.

1 INSTRUCTION

Due to special conditions of rock mass and mining

conditions at the horizontal section top-coal caving
(HSTCC) in steep seams, the obvious characteristic
is non-symmetric. With the process of mining, long
distance, high inclination and large scale gob generates
behind the supports in working face. The Increasing of
part continual movement is resulted in a great scale of
instability in rock mass. Instability space can extend to
the surface and form V-shape subsidence areas at most.
Violent destabilizing force has an obvious effect on
mining safety and easily evolves into calamity (Cai &
Lai 2003, Shi & Zhang 2006, Wang et al. 2008). Figure 1. The rockmass structure of horizontal section
top-coal mechanized caving in steep coal seam.

2 SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ROCK
MASS CONDITION
The mining site locates at Jiangou coal mine in Wulu-
muqi coal region. The seams angle is from 65◦ to 87◦ .
The strike length of workings is 1215 m, the height is
32.9 m, the caving thickness is 24.0 m. Roof consists
of carbonaceous mud and sandstone. Immediate roof,
thickness between 0.75 m and 4.77 m, is mudstone,
carbonaceous mud and few sandy mud or sandstone.
Main roof is composed by sandstone.
3 MODELING MECHANICS STRUCTURE
In the early time of horizontal section top-coal mecha-
nized caving in steep coal seam, pre-blasting is applied
to weak top coal, the substances above work place and
protected by supports situating can be considered as
loosen texture. The characteristics of roof caving are
classified into two types: one is caving roof; the other
is overturning roof. As shown in Figure 1, A-workings,
B-arch of spanning strata, C-exposed roof, (1) class I
roof, (2) class II roof, (3) broken coal mass.
The process of damage-deformation-fracture-
movement-instability of distributed rock mass in
complex condition is a complicated physical and
mechanics experience, and shear-slip movement arises
in various layers by non-symmetric perturbation
action. Finally, the collapse instability occurs caused
by insensitive deterioration of rock mass and evolves
into dynamic calamities (Shao & Shi 2006, Cai & Lai
2002, Ren et al. 2008, Ren et al. 2009).
With the process of top coal caving, structural
pattern of arch of spanning strata changes gradually
from semicircular arch to some long span – large rise
parabola structure (Figure 2a). With advancing and
arch rise enlarging, exposed area in immediate roof

757
Figure 2. Mechanical on surrounding structure, (a) arch of
spanning strata, (b)arch structure mechanics model, (c)curve
action on exposed roof, (d) gliding action on roof.

increases obviously (Figure 2b). Due to nonsymmet-

rical effect, such as gravitational instability and local
Figure 3. Instability characteristics of rock mass nonsym-
tectonic structures, large caving of class I roof is hap- metrical structure, (a) surface collapse, (b) caving zone along
pened (Figure 2c), the deterioration makes roof loose strike.
sustaining. Upper roof and coal slide along stratifica-
tion plane functioning on inclined component force of
gravitation (Figure 2d), long span-large rise parabola
structure is collapsed abruptly, and then more scopes of
upper coal and class I roof fill the gobs, especially class
I roof absolutely caving. Impact loading on supports
has an important influence on stability and safety of
working face supports. Main roof looses reverse nor-
mal support and moves by gravitation; as a result, class
II roof is also caving. Due to large thickness and high
intensity rock, overturns occur in class II roof against
floor and induce roof step in surfaces. Although a large
amount of instability existing in class II, effects on
stope are feeble for loosen structure in class I, which
have a damping force to upper ones and happen lag-
ging behind work place. For the sustaining function
from loosen structure of class I, class II roof are diffi-
culty to cave after a long advance. So the long distances
and large angels of large scale gob begin to emerge.
As shown Figure 3, with advancing, dynamical col-
lapse frequently occurred in steep seam. It makes more Figure 4. Damage boreholes peering, (a) oblique crack,
complicated movement. Particularly, the large coal (b) symmetry longitudinal crack, (c) longitudinal crack,
angel, nonsymmetrical backfill and constraint along (d) lateral crack.
inclined direction make rules of abutment pressure,
deformation and caving of rock mass nonsymmet-
rical. Dynamic calamities are easy to occur during action from complicated conditions. The monitoring
advancing. results (Figure 4) show that fracture and shear-slip
emerges in boundary rock. Double boundary points
of cracks have a relative displacement, extending
longitudinal and lateral directions in boreholes. This
4 HYBRID IN-SITU MONITORING
indicates that both normal stress and tangential stress
AND ANALYSIS
increase remarkably; furthermore, stress concentra-
tion can cause rock damages local zones. The types
4.1 Damage borehole optic peering
of destruction patterns in boreholes include oblique
For the traits of deformation on localization of geo- crack, longitudinal crack, and lateral crack. The length
metrical, many scholars adopt theoretical and exper- and width of cracks have a distinctive difference with
imental ways from different viewpoints to study it. borehole depths and positions. So various degrees of
Local zones of rock happening crack birth, evolvement stress concentration are liable to grow a part continual
instability and induced disaster is a process of bearing deformation area in the different rock mass zones.

758

Figure 5. AE characteristics in overturning action, (a) sta-
tistical event, (b) energy releasing rate time.
4.2 Acoustic emission (AE) monitoring
Acoustic emission (AE) technique for coal crack and
instability monitoring certainly offers valid informa-
tion for in-situ stability assess and critical conditional
forecast. The AE characteristics of roof movement are
shown in Figure 5. Continual caving and mining dam-
ages arch structural stability and renders roof fracture,
and the signals grow. When class II is overturning, the
signals from AE change violently. Respectively statis-
tical peak is: amount of total events 102012 per min,
9436 per min, 9014 per min, amount of big events
4613 per min, 4129 per min, 4263 per min, energy
rate 31439, 46946, 20162. In the meanwhile, expan-
sion of cracks can evolve into hazardous sources of
instability, which is serious and probably brings about
large scale destructions; adopting protection measures
can decrease the chance of risk.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The dependence of gravitational instability and local
deformation would induce hazards at horizontal sec-
tion top-coal caving workings in steep coal seams.
Applied hybrid advance in-situ monitoring and analy-
sis, the conclusions are as following:
1. By the analysis of mechanics model, criterions of
rock mass instability are decided. Overturns occur
759
in class II roof against floor and induce roof step
in surfaces. Although a large amount of instability
exist in class II, effects in stope are less because of
the loosen structure in class I, which has a damp-
ing force to upper ones and happen lagging behind
work place. For the sustaining function from loosen
structure of class I, class II roof are difficulty to cave
after a long advance. So a large scale gob which is
long distances and large angels comes to shape. In
case gigantic gob is instability as a whole and has
severe impact on workings.
2. The nonsymmetrical of deformation and cave in
rock mass is obvious, and periodical pressure is
also violent. The monitoring results indicate local
zones occur stress concentration causing rock dam-
ages. The types of destruction patterns in boreholes
include oblique crack, longitudinal crack, and lat-
eral crack. The length and with of cracks make
a distinctive difference with borehole depths and
positions. So various degrees of stress concen-
tration can be liable to grow a part continual
deformation area in different rock mass zones.
3. Based on the AE statistics of damage and broken
degree of rock mass, the relation of event-energy
rate-damage is obtained, the disaster predictive of
dynamic instability is revealed, which offers sci-
entific basis for hazard identification in mining
distributed zones.
REFERENCES
Cai, M.F. & Lai, X.P. 2002. Evaluation on stability of stope
structure based on nonlinear dynamics of coupling ANN.
Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing
9(1): 1–4.
Cai, M.F. & Lai, X.P. 2003. Monitoring and analysis of non-
linear dynamic damage of transport road-way supported
by composite hard rock materials in Linglong gold mine.
Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing
10(2): 83–86.
Lai, X.P., Ren, F.H. & Wu, Y.P. et al. 2009. Comprehen-
sive assessment on dynamic roof instability under frac-
tured rock mass conditions in the excavation disturbed
zone. International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and
Materials 16(1): 12–18.
Ren, F.H, Lai, X.P. & Cai, M.F. et al. 2008. Quantitative pre-
diction and evaluation on the regularity of asymmetric
damage and distortion upon broken rock mass roadways.
Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing
30(3): 221–226.
Shi, P.W. & Zhang, Y.Z. 2006. Structural analysis of arch
of spanning strata of top coal caving in steep seam.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
25(1): 79–82.
Shao, X.P. & Shi, P.W. 2006. Solid Simulation Study of Fail-
ure Law of Surrounding Rock in Mining Steep Seams.
Journal of Mining & Safety Engineering 23(1): 107–110.
Wang, J.A., Feng, J.Y. & Cai, M.F. 2008. Fractal analysis on
the crack evolution and fluid flow in the overburden strata
caused by high steep thick coal seam mining. Journal of
China Coal Society 33(2): 162–165.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on seismic behavior of frame-brick mixed structure

J.Q. Chen
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
Qingdao Technological University, Qingdao, China

H.G. Ji
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Because of its specifications, rigidity and quality, the seismic performance of frame-structural
form of brick and concrete mixed structure is usually weak compared with single form structures. With use
of finite element analysis software ANSYS, a frame-brick mixed structure model is established. The EI Centro
(1940NS) seismic wave was applied. Displacement and stress of the structure were analyzed to assess the seismic
performance of the structure layout. It is found that mixed structure of different structure types will cause a certain
amount of deformations in the three-and four-layer component of main building structure during an earthquake.

1 INTRODUCTION together, their response in the earthquake is different

There is a hybrid structure of frame, brick and concrete
built in 1994, the structure form of main buildings is
frame structure with 8–11 floors, and that of podiums
is masonry structure with 2 floors, the gross area is
about 7144.3 square meters. According to the relevant
design data and field investigation, it is known that
the hybrid structure can be divided into two different
kinds of structure form, the main building are frame
structure, and the podiums are masonry structure, the
two parts of the hybrid structure are connected together
without deformation cracks between them.
When the structure forms of the buildings are dif-
ferent, there will be very big difference on rigidity,
quality and dynamic characteristics, thus the response
of different structure forms in the earthquake is dif-
ferent. When different structure forms are connected
due to the difference of their dynamic characteristics.
Therefore, they are more easily damaged than build-
ings of single structure form. In this paper, according
to the special conditions of the hybrid structure, the
universal finite element software ANSYS is used to
carry out time-history analysis of the response in the
earthquake, and the seismic performance evaluation.
2 HYBRID STRUCTURE LAYOUT
The layout of the building is an overlap plane figure,
the narrow part is easily formed in central portion,
and seismic damage is easy to be produced in the
earthquake. Especially in the concave horn part, floors
can be crazed and destroyed easily from the stress
concentration (Layout is illustrated in Figure 1).

Figure 1. Layout of hybrid structure of frame, brick and concrete.

761

Figure 2. Hybrid structure model (including masonry
podium).
Figure 3. Hybrid structure mode (excluding masonry
podium).
2.1 Model establishment
In this paper, the model was established by universal
finite element software ANSYS, the hybrid structure
was composed of frame beams and columns, the beams
and columns were simulated using BEAM 188 unit,
which had 2 nodes, each node had three translational
freedom and three rotational freedom, that was suitable
for linear, large rotating and large strain nonlinear anal-
ysis. The podiums were mainly composed of walls and
roof, the wall and roof were simulated using SHELL63
unit, which was elastic shell unit with the character-
istics of bending and membrane, and it could endure
the load of in-plane and plane normal. In order to ana-
lyze the influence of the whole structure produced by
the podiums, different models were established for
contrast based on two conditions of including and
excluding masonry podiums, as illustrated in Figure 2
and Figure 3.
2.2 Seismic wave selection and adjustment
According to the past experience of time-history anal-
ysis, it is indicated that the seismic response results
will be differed to several times or even more with dif-
ferent seismic waves input. Due to the differences of
different seismic waves, and the randomness of future
762
Figure 4. EI Centro seismic wave.
earthquake occurrence, rational selection of seismic
wave is much more required.
EI Centro (1940NS) seismic wave was often
adopted in previous Structural seismic reaction exper-
iment with great representativeness. Therefore, EI
Centro (1940NS) seismic wave was selected to carry
out time-history analysis of the structure. The seismic
wave is illustrated in Figure 4.
In order to guarantee the three principles of select-
ing seismic waves, in this paper, EI Centro(1940NS)
seismic wave was chosen to input, and peak accel-
eration was adjusted to 61.3 cm/s2 to simulate the
earthquake effect at intensity of 7 degrees, the time
interval was 0.02 s, input seismic duration time was
0∼12S (8.5T) (to meet the requirement of the most
large amplitude and the duration time of 5T).
3 DISPLACEMENT ANALYSIS OF
FUNCTIONAL BUILDING IN TIME HISTORY
ANALYSIS
Seismic waves were input respectively along theY axis
(weak structure axis) to analyze the two models of
including and excluding masonry podiums, through
calculation, the floor displacement, and the maximum
displacement between floors are illustrated in Table 1
to Table 4.
Figures of the floor displacement and the maximum
displacement between floors of the two models along
the X axis and Y axis are illustrated in Figure 5 to
Figure 8.
From Table 1, Table 3 and Figure 5, Figure 7,
it can be seen that for the same seismic action,
the maximum floor displacement of masonry podi-
ums included model is greater than that of masonry
podiums excluded model, the former floor maxi-
mum displacement gradually increases with the floors
increase, which is linear scale relation. The latter
floor maximum displacement also increases with the
floors increase, but it can be seen obviously that the
maximum displacement increases larger and more
obviously at the 3rd or 4th floor, namely the roof
elevation of the podiums.
The reason is that the rigidity of the masonry struc-
ture is bigger than frame structure, natural vibration
period is shorter, so the displacement of the frame
structure is limited, when the height of the main build-
ing exceeds the podiums, the main building will be
Table 1. The maximum floor displacement (X axis, including masonry part).

Maximum
Floor Node Direction Minimum displacement (m) Moment (s) displacement (m) Moment (s)

1 4547 UX −0.4020E-04 0.1200 0.2332E-04 0.4000

2 4557 UX −0.9293E-04 0.1200 0.4584E-04 0.4000
3 4567 UX −0.1690E-03 0.1000 0.3126E-04 0.4000
4 4577 UX −0.1515E-03 0.1200 0.2315E-03 0.4000
5 4587 UX −0.1238E-03 0.1000 0.3878E-03 0.4000
6 4597 UX −0.7141E-04 0.1000 0.5454E-03 0.4000
7 4607 UX −0.1034E-04 0.7200 0.7138E-03 0.3800
8 4617 UX 0.7119E-06 0.2000E-01 0.8890E-03 0.3800
9 4627 UX 0.2556E-05 0.2000E-01 0.1067E-02 0.3600
10 4637 UX 0.1035E-05 0.2000E-01 0.1180E-02 0.3600

Table 2. The maximum displacement between floors (X axis, including masonry part).

Maximum
Floor Node Direction Minimum displacement (m) Moment (s) displacement (m)

1–2 UX −0.5339E-04 0.1000 0.2252E-04 0.4000

2–3 UX −0.8956E-04 0.8000E-01 −0.5747E-05 0.2000E-01
3–4 UX 0.7141E-05 0.2000E-01 0.2002E-03 0.4000
4–5 UX 0.5747E-06 0.2000E-01 0.1568E-03 0.3800
5–6 UX 0.3775E-06 0.2000E-01 0.1645E-03 0.3400
6–7 UX 0.3775E-06 0.2000E-01 0.1803E-03 0.3400
7–8 UX 0.8484E-06 0.2000E-01 0.1907E-03 0.3200
8–9 UX 0.1845E-05 0.2000E-01 0.1874E-03 0.3200
9–10 UX −0.4282E-05 0.4000E-01 0.1186E-03 0.3200

Table 3. The maximum floor displacement (Y axis, excluding masonry part).

Maximum
Floor Node Direction Minimum displacement (m) Moment (s) displacement (m) Moment (s)

1 4547 UY −0.4021E-05 0.4000E-01 0.3470E-04 2.920

2 4557 UY −0.1229E-05 0.4000E-01 0.8628E-04 2.920
3 4567 UY 0.3684E-06 0.2000E-01 0.1476E-03 0.4600
4 4577 UY 0.1701E-05 0.2000E-01 0.3383E-03 0.4600
5 4587 UY −0.8684E-05 4.240 0.5070E-03 0.4600
6 4597 UY −0.1610E-04 4.220 0.6562E-03 0.4400
7 4607 UY −0.1686E-04 4.220 0.7802E-03 0.4400
8 4617 UY −0.1157E-04 4.200 0.9016E-03 0.4000
9 4627 UY −0.4660E-04 0.8000E-01 0.1011E-02 0.3800
10 4637 UY −0.6819E-04 0.8000E-01 0.1106E-02 0.3600

Table 4. The maximum displacement between floors (Y axis direction, excluding masonry part).

Maximum
Floor Node Direction Minimum displacement (m) Moment (s) displacement (m)

1–2 UY 0.9897E-06 0.2000E-01 0.5278E-04 0.4600

2–3 UY −0.2975E-05 0.1000 0.6186E-04 0.4600
3–4 UY −0.1366E-05 0.1000 0.1908E-03 0.4600
4–5 UY −0.1923E-04 0.1000 0.1705E-03 0.4400
5–6 UY −0.1108E-04 0.8000E-01 0.1542E-03 0.4000
6–7 UY −0.6643E-05 0.6000E-01 0.1662E-03 0.3400
7–8 UY −0.3333E-05 0.6000E-01 0.1801E-03 0.3400
8–9 UY −0.3576E-04 0.8000E-01 0.1458E-03 0.3400
9–10 UY −0.2566E-04 0.1000 0.1107E-03 0.3400

763
Figure 5. Maximum floor displacement (X axis).
Figure 6. Maximum displacement between floors (X axis).
Figure 7. Maximum floor displacement (Y axis).
rid of the podiums restriction, and the displacement
will increase rapidly. In the earthquake, the 3rd and
4th floor of the main building are prone to large
deformation, and some measures should be taken.
From Table 2, Table 4 and Figure 6, Figure 8, it is
known that the maximum displacement between floors
of masonry podiums included model increases rapidly
at the 3rd roof, the displacement is larger than that of
masonry podiums excluded model, which coincides
with the former analysis. At the 1st and 2nd floor,
due to the restriction of masonry parts, the maximum
displacement between floors of masonry podiums
included model is greater than that of masonry podi-
ums excluded model. When the height of the main
building exceeds 5 floors, for the main structure is rid
of the masonry parts restriction, the maximum dis-
placement between floors of the two models approach
gradually. According to the relevant design data and
764
Figure 8. Maximum displacement between floors (Y axis).
Figure 9. displacement time-history analysis of nodesA and
B in masonry excluded model (X axis).
field investigation, it was known that effective mea-
sures were not taken at 2–4 floors, based on the above
analysis, the 3rd and 4th floors of the main building are
prone to large deformation, which is dangers during
earthquake.
4 NODES DISPLACEMENT TIME-HISTORY
ANALYSIS OF 3RD AND 4TH FLOORS ROOF
ELEVATION
Seismic waves were input along the Y axis (weak
structure axis) to carry out time-history analysis of
the two models of including and excluding masonry
respectively,
At the junction of the main building and the podi-
ums, node A was taken at the roof elevation of the 3rd
floor, node B was taken at the roof elevation of the
4th floor, both of the nodes were used for displace-
ment time-history analysis, as illustrated in Figure 9 –
Figure 12.
From Figure 9 – Figure 12, it is known that in
the models of excluding masonry parts and includ-
ing masonry parts, the displacement variation laws
are generally same along X axis (strong structure
axis), due to the limit of masonry parts along X axis,
the former amplitude is larger, which coincides with
the conclusion of 3.3 section in this paper. However,
the displacement variation laws of nodes A and B in
the two models along Y axis (weak structure axis) are

Figure 10. displacement time-history analysis of nodes A
and B in masonry included model (X axis).
Figure 11. displacement time-history analysis of nodes A
and B in masonry excluded model (Y axis).
Figure 12. displacement time-history analysis of nodes A
and B in masonry included model (Y axis).
significantly different, from the comparison of Fig-
ure 13 and Figure 14, it is shown that the two nodes
displacement of masonry included models have large
difference, this is resulted from the constraint abate
and big quality along Y axis.
765
From the above analysis, it is known that the dis-
placement variation laws are inconsistent at the 3rd and
4th floors of the main building along X and Y axis in
earthquake. Displacement variation amplitude along
Y axis is larger, but the rigidity of the masonry parts
is less, which is prone to be influenced and produce
damage.
5 CONCLUSION
In this paper, the universal finite element software
ANSYS is adopted to carry out time-history analysis
of the hybrid structure, and the results show that:
1. Different types composition of the hybrid structure
will lead the constructional elements at the 3rd and
4th floors of the main building to produce larger
deformation, and the position is stress concentra-
tion area, which is prone to be damaged, so effective
protection measures should be taken.
2. During the first stage, larger torque appeared in
the vibration mode of the hybrid structure, and the
centre of mass and firm did not overlap, the eccen-
tricity was larger, therefore, the building will suffer
higher torque in earthquake, and the torsion effect
can lead severely damage to the structure.
REFERENCES
ANSYS, Inc. 1998. ANSYS tutorials for release 10.0. Forth
Edition. SAS, IP Inc.
Code for design of masonry structures (GB50003-2001).
Code for design of concrete structures (GB50010-2002).
Code for seismic design of buildings (GB50011-2001).
Hao W.H. 2005. ANSYS application example in civil engi-
neering. China Water Power Press.
High-rise building technical specification for concrete struc-
tures. (JGJ3-2002)
Li Y.M., Han J. & Liu L.P. 2006. Application of ANSYS
to Finite Element Analysis for Nonlinear Masonry Struc-
tures. Journal of Chongqing Jianzhu University.
Niu Z.T. 2008. Analysis and engineering application on
deformation characteristic of the buildings above min-
ing subsidence areas. Xi’an University of Science and
Technology.
Song Y., Gao J.Z. & Zhao J. 2008. Application of ANSYS
to nonlinear analysis for masonry structures. Journal of
Anyang Institute of Technology.
Wang Y.Y., Cheng M.X. & Liu X.D. 1995. Structural seis-
mic time-history analysis method selection method of
earthquake records input and its application. Architectural
Structure.
Yang P., Li Y.M. & Lai M. 2000. A new method for select-
ing inputting waves for time-history analysis. China Civil
Engineering Journal.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Case analysis and safety issues in demolition blasting technique

of an old-fashioned chimney

F.J. Chu
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China

D.M. Zheng & J.Z. Feng

Chuzhou Tianming Blasting Engineering Co., LTD, Chuzhou, China
Huanggang Min’an Blasting Engineering Co., LTD, Huanggang, China

H. Tan & S.F. Ren

School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: Owing to its complex structure and bad stability of old brick concrete building, usually non
collapse occurred when blasting demolition is adopted, leaving extreme hidden trouble because of deficiently
considering the structure character during design and construction. Based on two typical accident cases of
blasting and according to blasting demolition of several important segments, several safety issues in design and
construction in demolition blasting technique of the old-fashioned chimney is introduced in aspects of design,
construction, the inspections after blasting etc., which makes a good foundation and helps to prevention from
unnecessary hazards occurring and successful implementation in the demolition blasting.

1 PREFACE fragmentation and more fracture. Therefore, there are

With the development of society and the city con-
struction, some eliminated or backward building need
dismantled, there are many disrepair or have aban-
doned the chimney still exist in some area in our
country, and the best way to the demolition of the
chimneys shall be blasting. The environment surround
the body of demolition blasting is complex and has
densely populated, invisibly increased the difficulty of
blasting, and made a high requirement for the safety.
Because of the long time, these old-fashioned chim-
neys increase the difficulty in design and construction
without the construction drawings and because of
disrepair in blasting demolition.To this kind of circum-
stance, in order to complete the demolition blasting
safety, combined with blasting accident cases below 2
cases in design and construction to explain the notices.
2 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF OLD
CHIMNEYS
Because time is long, the design construction draw-
ings of existing old-fashioned chimney mostly does
not exist already, the precise structure and internal
chimney is unknown. Some of the flue in the chim-
ney located under the surface, people can not enter
the chimney internal check whether is lined with or
sandwich in demolition process. Due to long-term
weather, chimney itself has unstable structure, bigger
many uncertain factors which would seriously affect
the blasting effect in process of demolished blasting.
In design and construction, reasonable design, elabo-
rate construction and good protection should be made
to ensure smooth completion of blasting.
3 THE CASE
3.1 Demolition blasting of a 50-meter high chimney
in a size brick field
In June 2010, a 50-meter high chimney in one size
brick field which is brick and concrete structure
located in Hubei province is ready for blasting. There
are no construction drawings and specific information
of the chimney in Blasting design and construction.
Under the earth’s surface there is a 2-meter high flue
connecting the kiln, where we can enter into the bottom
of the chimney. The direction of the flue is the same
to the dump of the chimney. We lay out 4 rows for
holes, 40 cm for holes spacing, 40 cm for row spacing,
1.2 m for detonation height, and 216◦ for gap angle.
Drill 70 cm for holes depth because the Wall thickness
is 1.1 m. The distance from the bottom to surface in
external chimney is 1 m and the embrasure number
from bottom to top aperture is 26, 25, 24 and 23 in
turn. We drill 7 pre-splitting blasting holes for a row
in each side of the trapezoidal gap. The charge quan-
tity in a single-hole is 0.3 kg, and we adopt cluster

767

Figure 1. The chimney of one Size brick field. (a) The first
blasting (b) The second blasting.
extension firing circuit with blasting cap of high num-
ber of delay fuse in holes and low number of delay
outside. The chimney was refused to budge after ini-
tiation, after investigation we found a ring beam as
25 cm for high and 18 cm for thick above the detona-
tion height. There is a lining in the wall of chimney
which is 40 cm for thick and form a gap between the
lining and outside space. The blasting gap designed
was not transparent after blasting (As shown in fig-
ure 1a). Reload explosives in the gap in the medial
gap and unexploded blasting hole on both sides of the
ring beam, and the gap of the ring beam in the second
blasting (As shown in figure 1b). After initiation again,
the chimney dumped according to designed direction.
The height of the initiation is 2 m and the length is
30 m according to the measuring.
3.2 Demolition blasting of a 30-meter high chimney
in a rubber factory
In early August 2010, a 30 m and 15 m high chimney
in one rubber factory whose structure is brick and con-
crete located in Hubei province is ready for blasting.
There are no construction drawings and information of
the chimney in Blasting design and construction. The
flue under the surface is piled up with rubble around.
We lay out 216◦ for gap angle, 4 rows for holes, 40 cm
for hole spacing, 50 cm for row spacing, 1.5 m for det-
onation height, and 40 cm for hole depth as the wall
thickness is 60 cm in the 30-meter high chimney. The
distance from the bottom to surface in external chim-
ney is 1 m and the embrasure number from bottom to
top aperture is 13, 12, 11 and 10 in turn. The charge
quantity in a single-hole is 0.225 kg. We lay out 216◦
for gap angle, 3 rows for holes, 30 cm for hole spacing,
40 cm for row spacing, 0.8 m for detonation height, and
30 cm for hole depth as the wall thickness is 45 cm in
the 15-meter high chimney. The distance from the bot-
tom to surface in external chimney is 0.5 m and the
embrasure number from bottom to top aperture is 10,
9 and 8 in turn. The charge quantity in a single-hole
768
Figure 2. The chimney of one Rubber factory. (a) The first
blasting (b) The second blasting.
is 0.15 kg. We adopt the firing circuit with series-
parallel connection. The 15 m high chimney fell down
smoothly after initiation. The unexploded area at the
back of the gap didn’t prop the chimney, and cross fell
by squeezing of gravity after sloshing in the blasting of
the 30 m high chimney. The upside chimney stood in-
situ after down, and appeared fractures in the upper of
the chimney (As shown in figure 2a). After investiga-
tion we found it appeared a compact ring beam above
the blasting gap. Reload 3 kg for explosives in the gap
on both sides of the ring beam (As shown in figure 2b),
and the chimney dumped according to designed direc-
tion after initiation again. The height of the initiation is
1 m and the length is 18 m according to the measuring.
4 SAFETY ISSUES
By the two cases we can see, the accident was appeared
by taking the chance, because of no adhere to grasp the
structure of chimney and not clear specified require-
ments of the blasting design. So we must ascertain the
chimney structure and carefully work in process of the
demolition blasting of the old chimneys. Based on the
related experience, the author summarized and ana-
lyzed the safety issues for old-fashioned chimney in
demolition blasting from the design and construction.
4.1 The safety issues in crime scene investigation
On-the-spot investigation makes important influence
for the feasibility of design and the blasting effect.
1. Observe the relationship between the structure and
surrounding environment and check whether pipe
such as cable, conduit and etc exist in the bottom
of chimney. Check whether there are wires around
chimney; determine whether chimney dumping is
influenced by wire position if any. For this reason
we determine the direction of chimney dumping.
2. Generally speaking there is no construction draw-
ings for design of old-fashioned chimney, the data
should be collected from the relevant persons in
exploration as much as possible. For example, the
 sickness of the wall, whether it is a ring beam inside
the chimney and the location, whether it is a lining,
the location of the flue etc.
3. The measurement should be done carefully for the
size of the chimney. The attention should be paid
to the chimney whether there are gaps and the
structure is in good condition at tops.
4.2 The safety issues in design of blasting scheme
1. The commonly methods used in demolition scheme
controlled blasting is directional collapsed, fold-
ing collapsed and in-situ collapsed. Directional
collapsed is the most commonly used demolition
scheme of the chimney blasting by contrast, for
its small amount of work, convenient construction
and high reliability, but this scheme needs a certain
width narrow zone whose length is no less than
1.1–1.3 times of the chimney height and the width
is no less than 2.5–1.3 times of the chimney height.
2. In dealing with the issues of open angle, the angle
should be as small as possible, in order to make sup-
port area more firm, and prevent the effective long
of support area is too small to support the weight
of upper chimney, so that it appears the possibility
of sit but not collapse even random dump.
3. Generally directional window doesn’t need open
for structure of the chimney was unstable or the
range and space of collapse is relax; For the thick-
ness of wall is large or requirements of precision
on dumping direction to environment is higher,
the directional window should be open. For the
wall thickness is smaller, pre-splitting hole can be
drilled by design to avoid the influence by blasting
to reserved area, and ensure the correct collapsed
direction. That is because there are differences to
fracture radius of holes on both side of the blasting
gap, so that influence the effective length and sym-
metry of supporting body, and then affect dumping
direction. Directional windows and pre-splitting
holes can effectively isolated blasting effect, so that
to make non blasting damage to support body, and
ensure the length, location and shape of blasting
gap is the same to design.
4. For the chimney with unknown internal structure,
we can choose the larger values of blasting height
with experience formula eliminate the hidden trou-
ble caused by ring beam. For the chimney with clear
structure, we should select the reasonable detona-
tion height according to the position of struts. If
the distance between ring beam and blasting area is
more than 2 m, the problem of the ring beam can-
not be considered, if not, the holes should be drilled
in ring beam and increase the charge In order to
destroy the rigid structure.
5. The calculation formula and related parameters
should be selected reasonable according to the char-
acteristics for the design of old chimney. The unit
explosive consumption should be selected the big-
ger one properly. Old-fashioned chimneys have
more fracture, the void inside the chimney can
769
weaken explosion energy, and this problem can be
alleviated by increase the charge. Meanwhile the
larger charge can also compensate possible devi-
ations cause by parameters in blasting design and
construction, to ensure blasting gap formed fully,
and make the chimney collapsed smoothly.
4.3 The safety issues in construction
1. During the process of construction, transparent hole
should be drilled in a proper position to observe and
measure structure of the chimney, we can make
adjustments according to actual measurement to
achieve the best blasting effect.
2. Before construction we should pinpoint the cen-
ter of dumping, prevent chimney not dumping
according to predetermined direction and leads
to influence surrounding buildings. While drilling
the boreholes, attention shall be paid to the reg-
ularity of distribution and the permeability of
boreholes.
3. Because detonator has a rate of misfire, we can con-
sider using double detonators in single-borehole,
in order to assure the work finished smoothly and
improve the rate of detonation of firing circuit if
conditions allow. When charging, sequence of num-
ber of delay must be paid attention to prevent the
accident of changing the number.
4. After charging, the hole should be high-quality
plugged with the appropriate materials, in order to
improve utilization of holes, make good use of det-
onation energy, improve the blasting effect, reduce
the production of flying rocks and decrease the
amount of toxic gas and concentration of rock dust.
5. Conducting check should be paid attention to while
wiring and the strapping should be firmed if it is
delayed outside the hole. For the tube, we suggest
the biggest number of tubes detonated by one det-
onator is not more than 20. The tubes in junction
should be checked after connecting was finished if
we adapt closed circuit connection.
6. The main measure to prevent flying rocks and
explosive shock wave is cover. The material should
have high flexibility and weight, in order to fixed
well and do not be thrown by the explosion blast.
Cover should be dense to prevent small pieces fly-
ing. In densely populated area, protection with 3
layers should be designed. Generally, the first layer
is straw mattress or bamboo fence, the second is
steel wire mesh or high strength strainer and the
third is straw bags. Such protective measures can
control the slung-shot better, and effectively reduce
the damage and injury to surrounding target by
shock wave.
4.4 The safety issues in the end of blasting
1. Determine the bursting effect of the chimney
according to the dumping firstly after blasting.
2. The operating person must enter the scene to carry
on on-site inspection in five minutes later after
 initiation. The blasting height, distance of deto-
nation and fragmentation of chimney should be
careful measured and surveyed.At the same time, to
summarize the lessons of blasting we should check
the structure of the wall and keep records seriously
and meticulously based on the wall remaining under
the pile.
4.5 The selection of blasting equipment
1. Generally, the number of millisecond delay det-
onator is 3–9 in the demolition blasting of the
chimneys. The number of delay should be chose
according to the actual situation and consider-
ing the influence of blasting by the length of the
delay.
2. Nowadays, with society developing rapidly, there
are plenty of electromagnetic waves and stray cur-
rent everywhere in living areas. In some fields or
suburbs with good condition, electric detonators
can be considered to use and fuse blasting cap
should be used in heartland of urban construction
and damp environment.
3. At present, emulsion explosive is extensive applied,
this kind of explosive has good explode perfor-
mance and water proofing property, and produce
less poisonous gases after blasting. It is the ideal
explosive in demolition blasting of the chimneys
with brick structure.
4. The blasting equipment should be checked before
used, including if the detonator is crushed or bro-
ken, corrosion, broken, grease, perforations, etc.
The electric detonators with abnormal through
resistance testing, can’t be used. Emulsion and
water gel explosives should not dilute melts or
harden.
5 EPILOGUE
There are many factors to effect the demolition blasting
of the chimneys, the main is human, and the success
of demolition blasting of the chimney depends largely
on the careful degree of design and builders. Com-
plete the prophase work is the key to achieve the final
success. The proposed attentions can reduce or avoid
the occurrence of harm to some extent in Demolition
blasting of chimney. But this is only part of the atten-
tions and many problems need to be further discussed.
Demolition blasting as part of the blasting technique,
the innovation and perfection is endless.
770
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Simulation experiment study on the coal blast damage and failure

H.B. Chu, W.M. Liang & Y.Q. Yu

College of Civil Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, Henan China

X.L. Yang
Luoyang Institute of Science and Technology, Luoyang, Henan China

ABSTRACT: In order to study the coal blast mechanism further and improve the coal mine gas drainage effect,
the author analyzed the process of coal blast damage and failure and selected the damage and failure criterion,
and then analyzed the coal mine gas role in the process of coal blast damage and failure. Based on the similarity
theory, the author designed the coal blast experiment, while ultrasonic wave velocity and macro-blasting cracks
of the test block were measured. The experimental results show that the parameters controlling coal blast damage
and failure may include blast wave, detonation gas and coal mine gas, and the coal mine gas has a positive effect
in the process of coal blast damage and failure as it can increase the crack tips stress intensity factor Kr. Near
the blast area, the blast damage and failure decreased rapidly, but at the moderate or far area, the blast damage
and failure decreased slowly, and the blast damage can last a long time at a higher level.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 THE PROCESS AND CRITERIA OF COAL

Gas drainage is the best radical measure for control-
ling gas accidents for those special coal seams that
contain a great lot of methane and take on low pen-
etrability. With development of coal industry, coal
mines have entered the stage of deep mining, and
then gas drainage is more difficult. In recent years,
the researches and practices (Cao 2007, Gong 2006,
Cai 2007,Yang 2001, Zhang 2002) show that blast role
in coal seam can produce a great deal cracks around
the blast hole, it can make the penetrability of coal
seam enormously enhanced, and the methane gas can
be drained more easily. However, the coal blasting the-
ories and experiment researches are still far behind
the engineering application, so it seriously affected the
effects of coal blasting, and restricted the application
and development of blasting technology in the coal.
Based on the theory of fracture mechanics and dam-
age mechanics, author analyzed the process of coal
blast damage and fracture and selected the criteria,
analyzed the role of methane gas pressure in the pro-
cess of coal blasting damage and fracture. According
to the theory of similar materials, author designed the
experiment of coal blast damage and failure, in the
experiment, ultrasonic wave velocity and macro-blast
cracks of test block were measured, by analyzing the
experiment results to analyze the mechanics of coal
blast damage and failure, and then improve the coal
methane gas drainage effect.
BLAST DAMAGE AND FAILURE
According to the theory of rock blast mechanism, coal
blast damage and fracture process is divided into the
following two stages (Yang 2000):
1) The damage and fracture stage under the blast stress
wave
In this stage, macro-cracks were produced by
blast stress in the near blast zone, the cracks in the
middle blast zone were activated and expanded, and
make the methane gas desorption. Under the role of
blast wave, strong compressive failure is produced
in the coal, and macro-crack area is formatted,
therefore, the dynamic compressive strength can
be used as failure criterion. And under the action
of blast stress wave, coal is often manifested in
strong brittle, Lemaitre equivalent stress can be
used to definite the criteria of pure brittle fracture
(Yin 2009): when the equivalent stress σe equals
the dynamic fracture stress σu of coal, the coal is
broken.
2) The damage and fracture stage under the blast
detonation gas
This stage is the process of secondary damage
and fracture based on the first fracture produced
by the role of the blast stress wave. The detonation
gas drive the crack extension in the near blast zone,
then the stress intensity factor KI can be used as

771

Figure 1. The model of fracture mechanics concerning
crack propagation with gas pressure drive.
the crack propagation criterion: KI = KIC . And the
moderate or far distance area are the crack exten-
sion area, because the detonation gas pressure field
is a process of quasi-static role, so, the quasi-brittle
material crack growth conditions can be used as the
criterion.
where σ is the stress in the coal, σc is the criti-
cal expansion stress of micro-cracks, KIC is the
fracture toughness of coal, KI is the stress inten-
sity factor of coal, α is the initial radius of the
micro-cracks, we can use the average radius of
micro-cracks under the blast stress wave.
3 THE ROLE OF METHANE GAS IN THE
PROCESS OF COAL BLAST DAMAGE
AND FAILURE
The methane gas that exist in preexisting fracture
under the mechanical equilibrium condition before
blast, because the disturbance of blast stress field, the
methane gas act on the fracture has been produced,
and make the crack expand further .The crack exten-
sion model with the action of methane gas pressure is
showed as Figure 1.
The crack tips stress intensity factor is (Huang &
Yu 1985, Lang 1979, Zhang 1991):
where Pg is methane gas pressure, Pa is the force of
rock stress and the detonation gas quasi-static stress,
Pa is the angle of crack with the vertical direction.
Table 1. Material ratio and the physical and mechanical properties parameters of test model.
Material ratio
Number of
group Cement: sand: plaster: water: perlite: vesicant: mica
I 1.70: 4.1: 0.0: 0.80: 0.014: 0.060: 0.015
III-3 1.60: 2.8: 0.2: 0.60 0.019: 0.054: 0.04
772
In equation (1), we can find, with the increases of
Kr , β increases also, when β = π/2, that is, the frac-
ture surface is perpendicular with the rock stress, Kr
obtained the maximum value. As the gas pressure is
usually smaller than the rock stress σ Xu 2002, so,
the equation (1) can not be established under normal
condition, that is, the preexisting fracture will not be
instable and expand only under the methane gas pres-
sure. However, when the blast loading take on the coal,
there will be compressive stresses in the radial direc-
tion and tensile stress in the tangential direction around
the blast hole, the synthesis results of their with the
surrounding rock stress is that the combined stress of
fracture tip is less than the original rock stress. When
σ less than a certain value, the crack its surface per-
pendicular with the rock stress will be instable and
expand, with the continued decrease of σ, the crack
that its surface at a certain angle with the rock stress
will also be extended, Finally, outside the normal radial
cracks area, there will be produced a secondary crack
area, the cracks near the normal fracture zone connect
radial fracture, but the other cracks can only extend a
small length. However, σ does not reduce more gener-
ally, therefore, the scope of the secondary crack area
is very limited.
The impact of methane gas on the blast fracture is
mainly reducing the rock stress. When we consider the
role of methane gas pressure, σ should be replaced by
effective stress, we can get the Kr :
In equation (3), with the increases of Pg , Kr
increases also, therefore, from the point of fracture
mechanics, the existence of gas pressure conducive to
the formation and expansion of cracks.
4 COAL BLAST SIMULATION EXPERIMENT
According to the results of reference (Chu 2010),
the group I and II-3 simulation coal test block were
selected and produced in the experiment, the material
ratio and performance parameters of the test block in
table 1.
Each group produced three test blocks, the size
of test block is 500 mm × 500 mm × 400 mm, they
shown in Figure 2, we make the test blocks use the
method of artificial mixing, and use a small vibrator to
stamp form, then, artificial maintenance 28 days. The
blast charge hole with 16 mm diameter was reserved
in the middle of block, and its depth is 150 mm as the
Density Velocity Porosity Intensity Modulus
g/cm3 (m/s) (%) (Mp) (GMp)
1.82 2480 1.6 30 9.10
1.48 1250 6.4 6.8 2.62
Figure 2. Experimental pictures.
Table 2. The surface Macro-blasting cracks of test block.
Length of the crack (cm)
Group Total number
number of cracks 1 2 3 4
I 5 19.5 23.5 24.8 13.9
II-3 9 26.8 22.3 25.6 21.8
charge hole was loaded 2.3 g RDX with concentrated
charge (it can produce spherical blast stress field, it
is more beneficial to test the accurate parameters and
analysis). Finally, use moist loess fill charge hole, and
use fuse to detonate the powder.
Horizontal line through the center of hole was used
as the base line, as the ultrasonic wave velocity before
and after blast was measured. The test point is shown
in Figure 2, with the results measured we calculated
the damage variable D, (D = 1 − (v/v0 )2 , v and v0
is the ultrasonic wave velocity of block before and
after blast); the surface macro-cracks of the block
were measured after blast, we use fine cotton thread
that embedded in the cracks to measure the length of
surface macro-cracks.
5 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
According to the test methods, the parameters of the
test blocks were measured, finally, we use the average
of the three results as the final experimental result. The
statistics of macro-crack length shown in table 2 and
the damage curves in Figure 3.
1) InTable 2, the statistics result of macro-crack length
show that the total number and length of the sur-
face macro-cracks of the II-3 coal are more than
the I coal, that is, with the strength and structure
of coal weak, coal mine gas content increases, the
crack number and length increase in the coal. as a
brittle material, there are a large number of defects
in the body of coal, such as gap, fracture, bedding
and so on, that is the initial damage. Under the blast
loading, the defects existed in coal will be activated,
and also will produce some new failure surface, and
then, various types of cracks and fracture surfaces
were formed. A large number of data of basting
rocks surface features indicate that most of the sur-
faces of blast rock fragmentation are the original
773
Total length of
5 6 7 8 9 the cracks (cm)
16.8 98.5
21.4 16.9 21.7 26.4 25.2 208.1
geological structure weak surface, and it is about the
80% of the surface area (Zhang 1997). The existing
fractures of coal are more than their in the general
rock, so the intensity is reduced correspondingly.
In general rock, the new cracks were formed by the
effect of blast wave and the detonation gas, but in
coal, the new blast cracks are mainly formed by
the expansion of existing cracks, and then form the
cross-fracture network, so, the blast energy needed
in general rock is larger than it in the coal con-
taining gas, with the same amount of explosives,
there are more cracks were produced in the coal
than in the general rock. Coal mine gas takes an
important role in the entire process of cracks gen-
eration and expansion. In the middle blast area, coal
mine gas takes part in the process of cracks expan-
sion, however, its role is smaller compared with the
detonation gas; in the remote area, the quasi-static
stress of detonation gas has significantly reduced,
the radial crack propagation has slowed or stopped,
then, the coal mine gas exist in preexisting fracture
under the mechanical equilibrium condition before
blast, because the disturbance of blast stress field,
it will act on the fracture has been produced, and
make the crack expand further.
In equation (2), we can also find clearly, with the
increases of Pg , Kr increases also, therefore, from
the point of fracture mechanics, the existence of gas
pressure conducive to the formation and expansion
of cracks.
2) In Figure 3, the blast damage of II-3 coal is larger
than I coal, the blast damage decay around the hole,
but the decay rate is different at different measuring
point. Near the blast area, the damage decreased
rapidly, but at the moderate or far area, it decreased
slowly, and the damage can last a long time at a
higher level (it is 0.2–0.4 under the experimental
conditions).
The coal blast damage is the roles of blast shock
wave, blast stress wave, detonation gas and coal

Figure 3. Blast damage curve
mine gas. Near the blast area, the role of blast wave
is the main reason of blast damage, and the blast
damage decreased rapidly; at the moderate or far
area, the main reason of blast damage is the role of
detonation gas and coal mine gas, the blast damage
decreased slowly, and the damage can last a long
time at a higher level.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the comprehensive theoretical analysis and
experimental results, the following conclusions can be
made:
1. Coal blast damage and fracture process can be
divided into two stages. The initial stage under blast
stress wave and the later stage under detonation
gas and coal mine gas. In the initial stage, under
the blast wave, macro-cracks were produced in the
near blast zone, the cracks in the middle blast area
were activated, and it breaks the mechanical equi-
librium of coal mine gas in the remote area. Under
the action of blast wave, the dynamic compressive
strength can be used as failure criteria, and under
the action of blast stress wave, coal is often man-
ifested in strong brittle, lemaitre equivalent stress
can be used to definite the criteria of pure brit-
tle fracture: when the equivalent stress σe reaches
the dynamic fracture stress σu of coal, the coal
is broken. The last stage is process of secondary
damage and fracture, the detonation gas drive the
crack extension in the near blast zone, the stress
intensity factor can be used as crack propagation
774
criteria: KI = KIC . In the moderate or far distance
area, the quasi-brittle materials micro-crack growth
condition can be used as the criteria.
2. The coal blast damage and failure are the roles of
blast wave, detonation gas and coal mine gas, and
the coal mine gas has a positive role in the process
of coal blast damage and failure, it can increase the
crack tips stress intensity factor Kr. Near the blast
area, the blast damage and failure decreased rapidly,
but at the moderate or far area, the blast damage and
failure decreased slowly, and the damage can last a
long time at a higher level.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Analysis on weakening effect of pre-blasting in top coal of steep and thick

seams based on nonlinear dynamics

F. Cui, X.P. Lai & J.T. Cao

Energy Department, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, China
Key Laboratory of Western Mines and Hazard Prevention, Ministry of Education of China, Xi’an, China

ABSTRACT: Low recovery is a problem existing in top coal caving mining of steep and thick coal seams.
Pre-blasting in top-coal for weakening the coal seam is proposed to solve this prblem. Based on the background
of pre-blasting working face in Jiangou coal mine, the numerical analysis model of long holes pre-blasting
was established. By numerical analysis with nonlinear program LS-DYNA, the parameters of blasting for pre-
split coal, stress-strain state in the pre-blasting influenced zone were studied. The purpose of the study was for
keeping stability of the surrounding roadways while effective weakening in the top coal. The results showed that
thickness of the retaining top coal above the support frane was 3.0 to 4.0 meters, the horizontal distance between
final position for pre-explosion hole and roadway was not less than 4 meters, the vertical distance between
explosive bottom for pre-explosion hole and the top of roadway was not less than 4 meters, the row spacing for
pre-explosion hole was 4.0 meters. Pre-blasting with these parameters got effective weakening results with the
roadways in stable conditions.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the process of sub-level top coal caving for steep

seams, quantitative determination of dimensional
stress and deformation zone of top coal were criti-
cal indicators for segment pre-blasting safely. Many
methods for top-coal fragmenting has been raised for
promoting the release, the main methods are blasting
and water injection, etc. (Xie et al. 1999, Alehossein &
Poulsen 2010, Zhang & Lai 2008, Chen et al. 2002,
Lai et al. 2010, Cui et al. 2010, Lai et al. 2010, Lai
et al. 2009) The segment pre-blasting top-coal drill is
placed in the inlet lane and drill holes along the direc-
tion of return airway, fan-shaped holes are arranged,
drilling, charging, explosion and a series of processes
are completed in the inlet airway.
2 ENGINEERING BACKGROUND
2.1 Blast blasting plan and design parameters
The B3−6 seam workings at Jian Gou coal mine, which
is a single helical structure and slightly prominent
curved north from west to east to 53∼55◦ ; north-
west orientation, the angle is 85∼88◦ , an average of
86.50◦ .The total thickness is 50 m.
The blasting holes with the diameter of φ 110 mm
are perpendicular to the coal trend from B3 Lane (inlet
Lane) to the B6 Lane (belt conveyor Lane). Each group
drill eight blasting hole, each row space is 4.0 m, each
group space is 8.0 m, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Parameters of blast-hole layout.
(1) explosive: mixed explosive is made of two kinds
of chemical materials.
(2) Equipment: the hole is drilled by ZDY-800
driller,the charge machine is BCJ-5,the sealing device
is BQF-100, the length of sealing is not less than 8.0 m.
(3) Blast hole spacing: the row spacing for the
perforation is 8.0 m, the distance is 4.0 meters, the
thickness of retaining top coal is 4.3 m. Pillar lane in
north is 4 meters, south lane is 5.0 m.
2.2 Numerical model
The LS-DYNA non-linear program can simulate the
high explosive explosion process. The volume of
explosive expands after blasting, which puts pressure
on the surrounding medium in the model (Cai et al.
2007, Gong et al. 2008, Shang et al. 2008, Xia et al.
2007), The pre-blasting model is established, as shown
Figure 2.

775
Figure 2. Simplified pre-blasting model.
Figure 3. Variation of kinetic energy with time.
Figure 4. The final acceleration distribution of rigid body.
3 CALCULATION RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
3.1 Model results and analysis
When emulsion matrix explosives, the internal kinetic
energy in the model changes instantly, the character-
istics of the kinetic energy with time in model can be
seen from Figure 3. The general trend is that, at first,
the internal kinetic energy of model rose sharply and
reached a peak at 0.3 m, then declined and down to
zero at last, which reflects the energy trend when the
emulsion matrix blasts.
Kinetic energy changes with time in the model. The
variation of final acceleration of rigid body can be seen
as shown Figure 4. The final distribution of the accel-
eration and kinetic energy have the consistent changes
of distribution on the overall trend, at first it rapidly
rises, it ends at zero. The difference is that the high-
est acceleration occurs at 0.125 ms, the first time to
the minimum is 0.375 ms, and then it begins to rise
slowly, about once it reaches a relatively high point in
0.625 ms, then the final acceleration falls to zero. the
776
Figure 5. The pressure distribution of monitoring points.
Figure 6. The maximum principal stress distribution.
rapid change of the internal kinetic energy and accel-
eration led to be a direct result of cracks and the loose
appearing in the top coal and tunnel, and thus the mon-
itoring points in the pillar and the internal roadway are
needed to reflect the impact of its explosion.
3.2 The analysis of monitoring points in protection
top coal above the working face
The change characteristics of blasting pressure in the
model can be seen in the Figure 5, There are five
monitoring points A, B, C, D, E, the pressure of A
monitoring point began to decline at first, the rate of
decline is the quickest in the five monitoring points,
the pressure values of four monitoring points, B, C, D,
E are the same at the early stage, they show a downward
trend at the 0.75 ms.The maximum principal stress of
the monitoring point were shown in Figure 6.the trend
of each monitoring point is the same, and the trend
is similar to the pressure. A monitoring points still
has a stages of higher at the early, he stress begins to
decrease.
The strain distribution of the monitoring points is
different, as shown Figure 7, but the change trend is
consistent approximately. The trend rate of each mon-
itoring point in YZ-Direction: The maximum value
of the strain is E point, the strain of the other four
monitoring points has little change. The strain of the
five monitoring points in ZX-direction has a similar
variation tendency, the maximum strain value in five
monitoring points is A point, the minimum strain of
monitoring points was E. This shows that the point

Figure 7. YZ-direction(a) and ZX-direction(b) of the strain
distribution.
A closing the end of explosives is influenced greatly
by the blasting. Because point E is located in the far
bottom of explosives, the strain value is smaller.
3.3 Comparative analysis of monitoring points
between B3 lateral and inlet
To ensure the effective release of top coal and roadway
safety, the impact in the array direction by the blasting
of emulsion matrix explosives is analyzed. The five
monitoring points are arranged in outside and inside
of the roadway, the impact on the roadway wall is ana-
lyzed indirectly. The pressure outside the roadway is
greater than the pressure inside the roadway. It indi-
cates that the roof bears greater influence.The strain
distribution of monitoring points both inside and out-
side of the roadway are different. The strain of points
B and A in the YZ-direction always locates at the top.
Three points C, D and E are closer, the difference is
that, the monitoring points’ strain of inside the tunnel
is greater than the outside strain. The strain distribu-
tion of ZX-direction shows this characteristic too, and
the strain of point B and A is always greater.
4 ANALYSIS OF ON-SITE MONITORING
The range of broken top coal is the main parameter
for support in roadway. To determinate the degree
of broken and evolution due to mining disturbance
and abutment pressure, the loose circle monitoring is
applied.There is an apparent low velocity appearing in
777
the range of 0∼3.9 m, then the velocity increases and
fluctuates, but its velocity is higher than the veloc-
ity at 0∼3.9 m. The waveform at vertical green line is
basically integrity and smooth, there is no large varia-
tion, the loose ring ranges up to 4.0 m. Therefore, the
row distance of pre-blasting is decided as 8.0 m, the
space is 4.0 m, the retaining pillar above the face is
4.0 m.Finally,the dimension of segment pre-blasting
and supporting were confirmed, respectively, to be
of 10.0∼35.0 m and 0∼45.0 m, and implement safe
mining.
5 CONCLUSIONS
It is important for pre-blasting safe to quantitative
determination of stress and deformation zone of top
coal. The following conclusions can be drawn from
the comprehensive analysis:
1. Based on investigations of geological environment
and mining conditions, the segment pre-blasting
methodology were proposed.
2. A non-linear dynamical numerical simulation were
applied, the changes of blasting pressure and the
stability of roadways were analyzed.
3. The dimension of segment pre-blasting and sup-
porting were confirmed. The retaining thickness of
top coal is 3.0 to 4.0 meters and implement safe
mining.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Financial support for this work provided by the Doc-
toral Fund of the Ministry of Education of China (No.
20096121110001) is gratefully acknowledged.
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Xie, H.P., Chen, Z.H. & Wang, J.C. 1999. Three- dimensional
numerical analysis of deformation and failure during top
coal caving. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Mining Science 36(5): 651–656.
Zhang, Z.F. & Lai, X.P. 2008. Segment pre-blasting of
sublevel caving of steep and thick coal seam under com-
plex conditions. Journal of China Coal Society 33(8):
845–848.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical simulation on rock penetration by blasting with

uneven-thickness-covered linear-shape tandem charges

A.P. Fei
University of Science & Technology Liaoning, Anshan, China

ABSTRACT: In order to analyze the effect of crack length in the rocks penetrated by uneven-thickness-covered
linear-shape tandem charges, ANSYS/LS-DYNA code is used to describe the penetration process of four kinds
of rocks. The results indicate that this kind of charges can deepen the penetration depth of rocks than that of the
single liner. The vary rates of liner thickness in the preposition charge and postposition charge can influence the
jet length and rock crack obviously. It is found that the penetrated crack length is mainly determined by yield
strength of rocks and by the vary rate of liner thickness. Therefore, the appropriate vary rate of liner thickness
in postposition charge can be adjusted for tandem linear shaped charge to obtain a better penetrating effect in
rock blasting engineering.

1 INTRODUCTION charge with uneven thickness liner is suitable for

1.1 Linear shaped charge
Using linear shaped charge in blasting engineering,
the explosive productions extrude the metallic clad to
the central axis of the linear shaped charge with high
explosive heat, and then jet formed with high speed
and large power. Nowadays, the linear shaped charge
is more and more widely in blasting engineering as
its accurate penetrating ability. In order to gaining the
good penetrated affect, the linear shaped charge with
uneven thickness liner which has thin top and thick
bottom is applied in practice. So this kind of charging
structure is more and more attention.
1.2 Tandem linear shaped charge
It can be said that tandem linear shaped charge is the
special type of linear shaped charge. It consists of
two parts, the one is preposition charge and the other
one is postposition charge. The two charges have the
same axis. When postposition charge detonates, the
explosive productions extrude the metallic clad and
the jet formed. The jet with high speed through out
the channel which between the two charges and then
the preposition charge detonate, the high-energy jet
formed by preposition charge convergence with the
jet formed by postposition charge to the same axis.
Then the metal jet is enhanced. So the relay penetration
achieved by tandem linear shaped charge.
1.3 The objectives of this simulation
Nowadays, how the clad vary rate of preposition
charge and postposition charge affect the jet veloc-
ity and the penetration ability of jet are not clear;
in addition, which kinds of tandem linear shaped
the different kinds of rocks is studied. In order to
analysis the influence of uneven thickness liner for
tandem linear shaped charge, this paper takes advan-
tage of ANSYS/LS-DYNA code to simulate the jetting
process. Furthermore, there are four kinds of rocks
penetrated by tandem linear shaped charge jet which
formed by uneven thickness liner in this study.
2 MODELLING
2.1 Physical model
The entire model consists of four parts, they are the
detonator part, the uneven thickness liner part, the air
part and the rock part. There is a metallic cylindrical
channel between the preposition charge and postpo-
sition charge, whose material is the same as the liner.
The model of tandem linear shaped charge with uneven
thickness liner is shown in Figure 1.
In the model, preposition charge and postposition
charge have a common axis of symmetry. With the
characteristics of symmetry plane and explosive mode,
the tandem linear shaped charge is simplified to a
planar issue. Moreover, the half model is established
for simplified. The thickness of liners in preposi-
tion charge and postposition charge are all the linear
changed with thin top and thick bottom. For tandem
linear shaped charge, the thickness of the liner which
the thickness on the top is 2 millimeters and the thick-
ness of the bottom liner is vary from 2.1 millimeters
to 2.8 millimeters. The sizes of liner mentioned above
are both suit for the preposition charge and the post-
position charge. The generatrix length of liner is 40
millimeters, so the vary rates of liner thickness are
vary from 0.25% to 2%.

779
 Table 2. Material parameters of cooper.

Parameter Value unit

P 8.932 g/cm3
γ0 1.99
C0 3.940 km/s
 1.489
E 117 GPa
Y0 0.40 GPa
N 0.33

Table 3. Material parameters of four kinds of rocks.

Figure 1. The half model of tandem linear shaped charge
with uneven thickness liner. Mass Young’s Poisson’s Yield
density modulus ratio stress
Rocks g/cm3 GPa MPa
Table 1. Material parameters of emulsion explosive.
Granite 2.57 49.80 0.26 8.20
Parameter Value unit Iron ore 3.68 80.08 0.24 14.56
Phyllite 2.72 58.85 0.25 8.25
P 1100 kg/m3 Gneiss 2.91 54.05 0.30 7.90
D 4500 m/s
PCJ 9.7 GPa
A 214.4 GPa
B 0.182 GPa
R1 4.2 2.2.3 Material model of air
R2 0.9 The media between the two charges is air. It is defined
 0.15 by *EOS_LINEAR_POLYNOMIAL In order to con-
E 4.19 J/m3 trol the boundary of air in the simulation, *BOUND-
ARY_NON_REFLECTING is used. So the jet of
postposition charge can through the metallic cylindri-
cal channel and together with the jet of preposition
charge.
2.2 Material model
2.2.4 Material model of rocks
2.2.1 Material model of explosive
There are four kinds of rocks penetrated by tandem
In this simulation, the emulsion explosive is used
linear shaped charge with uneven thickness liner. They
for preposition charge and postposition charge
are Granite, Iron ore, Phyllite and Gneiss.
respectively. In order to describe the energy
For material of rocks in the simulation, the
characteristics for detonation products of high
*MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC is used for simulate
explosives, the *MAT_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE_BURN
the changes in mechanical properties. The parameters
and *EOS_JWL are used in the code. The formula
of rocks that set in numerical simulation are in Table 3.
for equation of state is as follows:

3 NUMERICAL CALCULATION & ANALYSIS

According to the above mentioned design and defi-

where p = pressure; E = initial relative energy;
V = initial relative volume; and A, B, R1 , R2 , ω =
parameters in the equation of state.
The simulation parameters of emulsion explosive
are listed in the Table 1.
2.2.2 Material model of liner
The materials of liner in preposition charge and post-
position charge are all cooper. It is described by
*MAT_STEINBERG in this code which is available
for modeling materials deforming at very high strain
rates. The parameters of cooper are listed in theTable 2.
nition, simulation calculation and analysis are carried
out on jet velocity, vary rate of liner thickness and
crack length.
Due to the jet of postposition charge enhanced the
power of the preposition charge jet, the head speed of
the final jet is much higher than which of the head
speed of the single charge. There are some differences
in jet velocity when adjusted the vary rate of liner
thickness in preposition charge and in postposition
charge. When changed the vary rate of liner thickness
in postposition charge from 0.25% to 2% and the vary
rate of liner thickness in preposition charge is 0%, the
program is called program A. On the contrary, when

780
Figure 2. The relationship of jet velocity and vary rate of
liner thickness.
Figure 3. The relationship of crack length and vary rate of
Table 4. The lengths of the longest crack in four kinds of liner thickness in postposition charge.
rocks.

Vary rate of liner thickness in postposition

charge (%) shaped charge, which with the 1.75% vary rate of
Rocks 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 1.25 1.5 1.75 2 liner thickness in postposition charge. The longest
crack is 1.36 millimeters in Gneiss and the shortest
Granite 0.63 0.69 0.73 0.79 0.83 0.91 0.98 0.93 crack is 0.88 millimeters in Iron ore. The value of crack
Iron ore 0.45 0.49 0.57 0.61 0.66 0.74 0.88 0.90 length in Granite and Phyllite is almost. Furthermore,
Phyllite 0.60 0.65 0.71 0.76 0.82 0.89 0.94 0.90 it is clear that the crack in Gneiss is longer than any
Gneiss 0.76 0.79 0.89 0.93 1.15 1.28 1.36 1.32 other crack in other rocks which is penetrated by the
same tandem linear shaped charge. The main reason is
*Unit: mm the penetration effect determined by yield strength of
rocks largely. Therefore, the longest crack appears in
changed the vary rate of liner thickness in preposi- Gneiss whose yield strength is 7.90 MPa, and the short-
tion charge from 0.25% to 2% and vary rate of liner est crack appears in Iron ore whose yield strength is
thickness in postposition charge is 0%, the program is 14.56 MPa. It is explained that the metal jet from tan-
called program B. As shown in Figure 2, the line of jet dem linear shaped charge with high-power penetrates
velocity in program A rises sharply from the vary rate Gneiss, when the strength value of jet achieves the
of liner thickness is 1.25% to 1.75% and then down. yield strength of Gneiss, everything in a critical state.
The maximum jet velocity is 3.125 mm/us in program Once the former mentioned above increases, Gneiss is
A. The difference is the line in program B rise gently. penetrated into cracks.
The maximum jet velocity is 2.820 mm/us in program From the trends of crack length in four kinds of
B. It is said that the vary rates of liner thickness in post- rocks in Fig. 3, it is indicated that the penetrating sit-
position charge affect the final jet velocity obviously, uations in different rocks are similar to each other.
and the maximum jet velocity can be found from the And the factor that vary rate of liner thickness in post-
Figure 2. It is discovered that jet velocity in program position charge affects crack length greatly. As to Iron
B has little change. It can be believed that vary rates ore, the vary rate of liner thickness should be adjusted
of liner thickness in preposition charge affect the final larger for longer crack.
jet velocity slightly. The view above can be explained
that postposition charge is more important than prepo-
sition charge in tandem linear shaped charge, then the 4 CONCLUSIONS
appropriate vary rate of liner thickness can lead to
high-speed jet. So there is the highest jet velocity for In this paper, full process of tandem linear shaped
one type of tandem linear shaped charge by adjusting charge jet with uneven thickness liner penetration of
the vary rate of liner thickness in postposition charge. the four kinds of rocks are simulated and the differ-
In this paper, the tandem linear shaped charges with ences about vary rate of liner thickness in preposition
vary rate of liner thickness in postposition charge range charge and in postposition charge are discussed, as the
from 0.25% to 2% are applied for penetrating the main factor for crack length in different kinds of rocks
four kinds of rocks. The results show that number and which are penetrated by tandem linear shaped charge
lengths of crack are very different in the simulation with uneven thickness liner is analyzes.
rocks. The longest cracks in different kinds of rocks In order to strengthen jet power, tandem linear
are list in Table 4. shaped charge is more appropriate than single charge.
As shown in Table 4, for example, the four kinds The vary rate of liner thickness can affect the jet veloc-
of rocks are penetrated by the same tandem linear ity and penetrating effect. For tandem linear shaped

781
charge with uneven thickness liner, the vary rate of
liner thickness in postposition charge is the decisive
factor. So it is possible that we can chose the appropri-
ate vary rate of liner thickness in postposition charge to
adjust the behavior of jet. For the tandem linear shaped
charge with uneven thickness liner in this record, the
highest jet velocity is obtained by the charge with
uneven thickness liner in postposition charge whose
vary rate is 1.75%.
Because of the differences in physical and mechani-
cal properties of rocks, the longest crack lengths in four
kinds of penetrated rocks are different. It is pointed that
yield strength of rock is the main factor for penetra-
tion, so it is more difficult to penetrating Iron ore than
Gneiss by the same tandem linear shaped charge. In
addition, for iron ore and the charge in this paper, the
vary rate of liner thickness should be adjusted larger
for longer crack.
782
REFERENCES
Guo W.Z. et al. 1998.Numerical model and simulation
on jointed rock masses under blasting. Rock and Soil
Mechanics. 19(3):1–9.
Hao J. et al. 2010. Numerical simulation and experimen-
tal investigation of tandem shaped charge jet. Joural of
projectiles, rockets, missiles and guidance. 30(3): 75–78
LS-DYNA KEYWORD USER’S MANUAL (Update) 2004.
LIVERMORE SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY CORPO-
RAION. California.
Shang X.J. et al.2006. ANSYS/LS-DYNA dynamic analysis
methods and projects. Beijing: China waterpower press.
Shi S.Y. et al. 2005. Explicit dynamic analysis base on
ANSYS/LS-DYNA8.1. China: Beijing Tsinghua University
Press.
Yan Y.F. et al. 2010. Numerical simulation on tandem shaped
charge jet formation under different detonation wave
patterns. Journal of test and measurement technology.
24(2):157–160.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Dynamic constitutive model of limestone under shock load

F.G. Gao, A.J. Hou & X.L. Yang

Department of Civil Engineering, Luoyang Institute of Science and Technology, Luoyang, Henan

J. Yang
State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science and Technology, Beijing Institutive of Technology, Beijing

ABSTRACT: To study the impact properties of limestone subjected to shock load, stress-time curves in different
impact velocity were measured by one-stage light-gas gun experimental device. The Lagrange analysis method
was used to process the stress-time curves, and the distributions of mechanical parameters against time and
space in the flow field were obtained, then the stress-strain experimental curves were obtained also. Based on
the experimental research and Lagrange analysis, the dynamic constitutive behavior of limestone under shock
load was analyzed. At last, a visco-elastic damage constitutive Equation was established by visco-elastic theory
and damage evolution of rate type. Numerical fitting indicates that theoretical prediction is good agreement with
experiment.

1 INSTRUCTIONS macro-damage constitutive model of rock under shock

Most of rock structures in the work process except
undergo the static load, the often have to endure shock
load such as explosions, collisions, etc. Dynamic
mechanical response of rock under shock load is the
basis of various structural designs. In order to explore
the dynamic failure mechanism of rock, many scholars
carried out the dynamic impact damage tests on rock.
The results show that the rock will show some spe-
cial mechanical properties under shock load, such as
attenuation and diffuse of stress wave, lag irresolute
of stress-strain curves, etc. (Gao 1999, Guo & Xiao
2007)
Dynamic constitutive of rock is the research foun-
dation of damage mechanism of rock, propagation
and attenuation law of stress wave, structural damage
effects subjected to shock load. At present, more mod-
els are used to describe the constitutive relationship of
rock, such as visco-elastic damage constitutive model
(Shan & Xue 2003, Zheng & Xia 1996) based on crack
propagation, visco-plastic damage constitutive model
(Gao 2009) based on microvoid collapse. Such mod-
els are based on an internal micro-damage evolution
of rock, but the rocks have many methods to describe
the internal damage, and the model parameters are
difficult to determine.
In order to study the properties of limestone subject
to shock load, the impact experiments were carried
out by one-stage light-gas gun experimental device
at the velocity of 200m/s to 400m/s. The sensors
inside the rock were used to record the stress-time
curves at different Lagrange locations. The dynamic
response properties of limestone were obtained
by Lagrange analysis method. On this basis, the
load was established.
2 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
Light-gas gun is the special equipment for high-speed
crash tests. With the development of dynamic testing
techniques, it has been widely used to test the dynamic
yield strength of material, damage and penetration
depth of targets (Ren 2006), etc. In the experiment,
the flyer is pasted on the sabot firstly, which will slide
along the barrel when the high-pressure gas (nitrogen
or helium) is released suddenly. A series of pressure
pulses will occur in the target when the flyer col-
lided on target in a high-speed. The resistive voltage
meter buried in rock samples will record a group
of voltage-time signals, and it can be converted into
stress-time signals. Different stress-time pulse signals
could be obtained by adjusting the impact velocity of
flyer. According to the series of stress-time signals, the
dynamic impact properties of material can be analyzed
by Lagrange analysis method.
The basic parameters of the one-stage light-gas
gun in experiment are as follows: muzzle diameter
is  57 mm, the flyer velocity ranges form 20 m/s to
600 m/s, the maximum chamber pressure is 15 Mpa,
the vacuum is less than 10 pa, and the collision angle
is less than 10−3 rad. All rock specimens used in this
experiment are from the same piece of rock. The diam-
eter of rock specimen is  50 mm and the thickness
of rock specimen is 3.5mm. The loading target is
expressed in Figure 1.
The whole experiment was divided into three
groups, and the impact velocities were 200 m/s,

783
Figure 1. A schematic illustration of light gas gun loading Figure 3. Schematic illustration of wave form in σ − h − t
apparatus. space.

Therefore, when the path line is determined, the

parameter ( ∂φ ) can be solved by path line and the
∂h t
measuring line. If Equation (1) is introduced into
the mass conservation Equation, momentum conser-
vation Equation and energy conservation Equation, we
can obtain the following relationship:

Figure 2. Stress-time curves of target with strength impact

load.
When Equations (2), (3) and (4) are calculated by
300 m/s and 400 m/s. Each rock target was implanted integral and expressed by trapezoid formula, then the
in four sensors, and labeled as 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. differential Equations of the measuring line i in the
In order to eliminate the effect of rarefaction wave and time measuring unit (j, j + 1) can be expressed as
unloading wave, the ratio of width and thickness and follow:
catch ratio (Huang 2006) were considered in the target
design. Figure 2 was the stress-time curve of target at
the impact velocity of 400 m/s.

3 LAGRANGE ANALYSIS

According to the series of stress-time signal curves,

other mechanical parameters such as strain, strain rate,
specific volume and the particle velocity against time
would be obtained by the path line method which is
belong to Lagrange analysis. The path line is actually
a man-made path to build the connection of each wave-
form curve, number of intervals between the path line
and the measuring line link to a network framework
which is very similar to the actual flow field, as shown The velocity field can be solved by stress field with
in Figure 3. Equation (6) gradually, and then the specific volume,
Actually, a mechanical parameter φ (which can strain and internal energy can be solved by velocity
stand for stress σ, strain ε, particle velocity u, spe- field with Equation (5) and Equation (7) respectively.
cific volume υ or specific energy e) along the path According to these principles, the computer program
line has the following relationship in the flow: was established to calculate the stress-time curves,
and the impact properties of limestone under strong
impact load were analyzed by the calculation results.
The results show that the response range of strain rate

784

Figure 4. Stress-strain curves of target under strong impact
load.
is from 104 s−1 to 105 s−1 for limestone target when
the impact velocity ranges from 200 m/s to 400 m/s,
and the Hugoniot elastic limit of limestone is 1.7 GPa.
Figure 4 is the stress-strain curve of limestone target
at the impact velocity of 400 m/s. From Figure, we
can find some basis response properties of limestone
under impact load, such as nonlinear characteristic of
limestone, delay heighten sexual of stress-strain curve,
as well as the attenuation and dispersion effects for
pressure pulse, etc.
4 CONSTITUTIVE EQUATION
4.1 The general constitutive relationship
In general, any constitutive model can be described
by the function of stress, strain, strain rate, tempera-
ture and other physical or mechanical parameters, the
function can be expressed as follow:
Many research results (Wang 2005) show that vis-
cous effects and damage caused by delay are two
main reasons of nonlinear and rate sensitivity for rock.
Therefore, the constitutive Equation of rock can be
expressed as:
where σ = stress; ε = strain; ε̇ = strain rate; and
D = damage variable. Especially, D = 0 indicates no
damage in rock; D = 1 indicates that the rock loss
carrying capacity completely.
The Lemaitre equivalent strain assumption indi-
cates (Shang & Ning 2005) that the strain in the
damaged materials produced by effective stress equal
to the strain in same non-damage material. According
to this theory, any constitutive Equation of damage
material can be derived by constitutive Equation of
non-damage material, therefore, nominal stress in con-
stitutive Equation of non-damage material is replaced
785
by the effective stress. According to this principle,
damage constitutive Equation of rock can be written as
where σ = stress of damage material; σ i = stress of
non-damage material; and damage variable D is the
function of strain ε and strain rate ε̇.
4.2 Visco-elastic constitutive model
The rock is assumed as visco-elastic material, regard-
less joints, cracks in rock, stress is a function of strain
and expressed with tensor form:
where λ = Lame coefficients; µ = Lame coefficients;
and δij = Kronecker symbol.
Shock load such as explosion can often be under-
stood as the propagation of one-dimensional strain
wave, this time ε11  = 0, and ε22 = ε33 = 0, then the
Equation (11) can be translated into:
Unconfined elastic modulus (Wang 2005) is defined
as follow:
Thus, the stress under shock load is not only a function
of strain, it also related with the strain rate. If stress-
strain relationship is rewritten in the form of rates, it
can be expressed as:
Here, we introduce the assumption of material weak
memory, that the material response to the recent his-
tory is more sensitive than the early history. So EL is
a decreasing function of time, which record:
where ELi = amplitude of unconfined elastic modu-
lus; and θj = relaxation time. When Equation (15) is
introduced into Equation (14):
It indicates that any dynamic response can be described
in n-Maxwell body in parallel at a certain strain
rate range, and each Maxwell body only describe
dynamic response in a certain range of strain rate.
Wang (Wang 2005) indicates that effective impact
area of each Maxwell body is about 4.3 magnitude,
which is expressed no matter the time or the strain
rate. The strain rate near the explosion could achieve
107 s−1 , but far away from explosion, the strain rate
decrease into10−5 s−1 , so N is taken as 2. In this case,
the Equation (16) could be simplified as follow:

The simplified mechanical model is made by the

three Maxwell units in parallel. Among them, the first
term represents the quasi-static visco-elastic response, Figure 5. Mechanical model of visco-elastic constitutive.
EL0 and θ0 are elastic modulus and relaxation time to
the corresponding Maxwell unit; the second term rep-
resents the visco-elastic response under impact load, If the Equation (20) into dimensionless form:
EL1 and θ1 are elastic modulus and relaxation time to
the corresponding Maxwell unit; the third term rep-
resents the visco-elastic response under strong impact
load, EL2 and θ2 are elastic modulus and relaxation time
to the corresponding Maxwell unit. In the first term, where ε̇0 = characteristic strain rate, in this paper
the relaxation time θ0 → ∞, − t−τ → 0, at this time, ε̇0 = 10s−1 .
θ0
In fact, the rock had already including a lot of inter-
Equation (17) could be simplified by:
nal micro-cracks, micro-micro-holes and other defects
before the external loading. For convenient, the initial
injury is denoted by D0 . Damage evolution Equation
can be expressed as follows:

Considering the nonlinear characteristics of rock,

Equation (18) equivalents to ZWT Equation, the
corresponding mechanical model shown in Figure 5.
Document showed that θ1 is in the magnitude of
10∼102 s, and θ2 is in the magnitude of 10−6 ∼10−4 s.
For the strong impact test, impact strength is very
heavy and action time is very short, so θ1 do not have
enough time to relax, at this time, the low and inter-
mediate frequency Maxwell body are simple spring.
Therefore, the constitutive model in this region can be
written as follow:
where D0 = value of initial injury; KD = damage vari-
able factor; εth = damage threshold, usually taken the
maximum strain of 0.2 to 0.4 times; a and b are unde-
termined coefficients, used to describe the shape of
damage evolution curve drive in experiment.
5 NUMERICAL FITTING
It is assumed that strong impact load of light gas
gun is constant strain rate, so the damage constitutive
Equation of rock can be written as:

4.3 Damage evolution Equation

In order to consider the weakening effect caused by
micro-cracks, micro-holes and other defects in rock
material, we do not consider the specific mechanism
of micro-damage evolution in rock, and define the
weaken of rock as damage variable D. Wang pointed
out that no matter what kind of damage, its evolution
depends on both strain and strain rate, here the general
function of damage evolution Equation is expressed as
follow:
Material parameters in Equation (23) and (24) have
their own specific physical meaning. Because the
absence of lower strain rate test, where the stress and
strain experimental data at ε̇ = 10−5 s−1 as a quasi-
static equilibrium data, the parameter E0 is determined
by the initial of stress-strain test curve; the parameters
E1 and θ1 are determined by the visco-elastic response
of test material at the strain rate of 10∼103 s−1 ; the
parameters EL2 and θ2 are determined by the visco-
elastic response of test material at the strain rate of

786
 Table 1. Model parameters of rock material.
Material E1 /GPa
parameters 50.7
Damage parameters D0
0.2
Figure 6. Comparison of theoretical prediction and experi-
mental results under strong impact load.
104 ∼105 s−1 ; the initial damage of rock is not mea-
sured, reference other documents, here taken to be 0.2;
damage threshold εth is taken as 0.3 times of the maxi-
mum strain; KD , a and b are fitting parameters. Model
parameters in table 1 are obtained by numerical fitting.
Figure 6 is the comparison of theoretical model and
experimental results under strong impact load. From
the figure, we can know that rock produces large plas-
tic deformation under the strong impact load, but the
theoretical model could describe the dynamic response
in this section.
6 CONCLUSIONS
Dynamic mechanical properties of limestone were
studied by light gas gun driving flyer impact exper-
iment technology. Lagrangian analysis method was
used to deal with experimental curves, and obtain the
following conclusions:
1. At impact velocity of 200∼400m/s, the strain rate
response range of limestone target is between 104
and 105 s−1 , the Hugoniot elastic limit of limestone
is 1.7GPa;
E1 /GPa EL2 /GPa θ1 /s θ2 /s
47.5 72.3 8.94 10.12
εth KD a b
0.07% 1.84 −1.21 0.86
2. Based on the Lemaitre equivalent strain assump-
tion, a visco-elastic damage constitutive model was
constructed to describe the dynamic response of
rock under shock load. Through the comparison
of theoretical model and experimental results, it
is shown that the model can describe the dynamic
response of rock under impact load.
REFERENCES
Gao, F.Q. 2009. Dynamic Mechanical Behaviors and Damage
Constitutive Model of Rock. Beijing: Beijing Institute of
Technology.
Gao, W.X. 1999. The response and damage model of rocks
under dynamic loading. Beijing: Beijing Institute of
Technology.
Guo, X.B. & Xiao, Z.X. 2007. Experimental study and
numerical simulation on shock-damaged rock. Explosion
and Shockwaves, vol. 27, pp. 438–444, September.
Huang, Z.P. 2006. Explosion and shock measuring technique.
Beijing: National Defense Industry Press.
Ren, H.L. 2006. Dynamic mechanical behaviors and damage
constitutive model of alumina ceramic. Beijing: Beijing
Institute of Technology.
Shan, R.L. & Xue, Y.S. 2003. Time dependent damage model
of rock under dynamic loading. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering, vol. 22, pp.1771–1776.
Shang, L. & Ning, J.G. 2005. Dynamic constitutive relation-
ship of concrete subjected to shock loading. Engineeing
Mechanics, vol.22. pp.116–119, 2005.
Wang, L.L. 2005. Stress wave foundation. Beijing: National
Defence Industry Press.
Zheng,Y.L. & Xia, S.Y. 1996. Visco-elastic damage constitu-
tive model for rock. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Engineering, vol.15. pp. 428–432.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experimental determination of dynamic tensile strength of sandstone at

different loading rate

F.Q. Gong, X.B. Li & L.J. Dong

School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Hunan, China
Hunan Key Lab of Resources Exploitation and Hazard Control for Deep Metal Mines, Hunan, China

ABSTRACT: For investigation the loading rate effect on tensile strength of sandstone, 12 tests at low loading
rate and 16 tests at high loading rate were conducted in this paper. The low loading rate tests were conducted
in conventional rock materials loading device and tests at high loading rate were carried out on SHPB. The test
revealed that the dynamic strengths of the sandstone are loading rate dependent. At low loading rate, the average
dynamic increase factors (ratio of dynamic strength to static strength DIF) for tensile strength will increase with
the magnitude of loading rate. And the upward trend of DIF is proportional of loading rate under high loading
rates. The test results can be used in development of a dynamic constitutive model for prediction of damage in
rock breaking utilizing the dynamic impact method.

1 INTRODUCTION ultrasound scanner and found to be 2522 m/s. For

For rock materials, the whole structure failure is caused
by the tensile breakage in many cases. Thus the ten-
sile strength of rocks is of great importance in many
engineering and geophysical applications. Studies in
this field have been conducted by many researchers,
who have reported that the tensile properties of rock
materials are loading (strain) rate-dependent. For most
research on this topic, existing research to measure
rock tensile strength mostly focused on quasi-static
loading range (Wu 1996, Zhao 2000). However, in
many mining and civil engineering applications, such
as quarrying, rock cutting, drilling, tunneling, rock
blasts, and rock bursts, rocks are stressed dynamically.
In those cases, the dynamic tensile properties of rock
should be investigated and accurate characterization
of rock tensile strength over a wide range of loading
rates is crucial.
In this paper, the tensile strength of rock over low
to high loading rate range was investigated. The quais-
static tensile strengths for sandstone were measured
by using a conventional static splitting machine and
dynamic tension tests based on split Hopkinson pres-
sure bar (SHPB) were performed. The loading-rate
dependence of the quasi-static and dynamic tensile
strengths is discussed.
2 EXPERIMENT
A kind of sandstone with an average density of
2471 kg/m3 was used as the rock specimen of 50mm
diameter and 50 mm length. The average velocity of
longitudinal wave was measured by using portable
low loading rate tests, conventional static splitting
machine was used with RMT-150C, and dynamic split-
ting tests were conducted with SHPB splitting test
method, respectively.
2.1 Conventional static splitting machine
Figure 1 shows a photograph of RMT-150 splitting
machine. The rock specimen was set two steel plate
and will split open in specimen center along loading
direction when loads were applied on two steel plate.
12 tensile tests with low loading rate of 10-3MPa/s
to 100MPa/s were conducted on RMT-150C splitting
machine.
2.2 Split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) splitting
test method
Split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) has been used
in determining the dynamic properties of rock mate-
rials since 1968 by Kumar (Kumar 1968). Although
SHPB was usually used in dynamic compression tests
(Li 1994, Li 2000, Li 2005, Cai 2007), which was
also conducted in tensile, fracture tests in recent years
(Cho 2010, Cho 2003, Weerheijm 2007, Gong 2010 ).
In this paper, 16 specimen were prepared for high load-
ing rate splitting tests. The specimen were sandwiched
between the incident and transmitted bars of SHPB and
a half-sine stress pulse wave (shown in Figure 3) was
generated by using a spindle-type striker (Birkimer
1971). A typical pulse was shown in Figure 4, includ-
ing incident wave, reflected wave and transmitted wave
in the dynamic splitting tests.

789

Figure 1. RMT-150C splitting machine.
Figure 2. Dynamic tensile splitting test specimen with
incident and transmitted bars on SHPB.
Figure 3. Schematics of the dynamic tensile splitting testing
on SHPB system.
3 CLASSICAL THEORY OF DYNAMIC
TENSILE STRENGTH
3.1 Data processing for quasi-static tests with low
loading rate
The schematic diagram of rock specimen loading in
quasi-static splitting tests can be shown in Figure 5
and the quasi-static tensile strength of rock specimen
is obtained using:
790
Figure 4. A typical pulse in dynamic splitting test on SHPB
system.
Figure 5. Schematic diagram of rock specimen loading in
quasi-static splitting tests.
where σst , P, D and L are quasi-static tensile strength,
the force on rock specimen, the diameter of rock
specimen and the length of rock specimen.
3.2 Data processing for dynamic tests with high
loading rate
In dynamic splitting tensile tests, three elastic stress
pulses in the incident and transmitted bars are recorded
with strain gauges glued on the middle of two bars.
Based on the experimental principle of SHPB and
splitting test, the dynamic split tensile strength of rock
specimen can be expressed as (shown in Figure 3):
where σdt , P, D and L are dynamic tensile strength, the
force on rock specimen, the diameter of rock specimen
and the length of rock specimen. P1 and P2 are the
force on the incident and transmitted ends of the spec-
imen, respectively. And εI , εR and εT are the incident,
reflected and transmitted strains.
Table 1. Summary of the dynamic tensile tests results under
different loading rate.

D/ L/ P/ t / σ̇/
No mm mm kg.m−3 MPa MPa/s

1-1 49.30 49.40 2528 3.90 2.61 × 10−3

3-1 49.42 48.90 2489 4.37 2.63 × 10−3
12-2 49.42 49.62 2491 4.80 2.60 × 10−3
8-1 49.20 48.24 2506 5.13 2.68 × 10−2
10-2 49.20 49.92 2498 5.90 2.59 × 10−2
11-2 49.42 49.84 2495 5.54 2.58 × 10−2
6-2 49.40 50.00 2492 6.28 2.58 × 10−1
7-1 49.30 49.90 2524 5.20 2.59 × 10−1
7-2 49.40 49.92 2491 6.26 2.58 × 10−1
3-2 49.42 50.18 2498 7.49 2.57 × 100 Figure 6. The tensile strength at different low loading rates
9-1 49.30 48.52 2503 5.65 2.66 × 100 in quasi-static splitting tests.
12-1 49.30 50.18 2535 6.15 2.57 × 100
B1-1 49.22 49.50 2477 13.72 1.81 × 105
B1-2 49.24 49.04 2565 18.30 2.44 × 105
B1-3 49.36 49.02 2497 12.39 1.48 × 105
B1-4 49.30 49.02 2620 22.23 3.13 × 105
B1-5 49.30 49.90 2533 14.23 1.82 × 105
B1-6 49.22 49.34 2523 14.08 2.56 × 105
B1-7 49.30 49.80 2510 12.32 1.48 × 105
B1-8 49.42 49.82 2480 13.29 1.38 × 105
B1-9 49.38 49.70 2501 15.28 1.43 × 105
B1-10 49.22 49.50 2536 11.71 7.91 × 104
B1-11 49.40 49.14 2557 12.88 1.38 × 105
B1-14 49.30 50.02 2556 17.32 1.79 × 105
B1-15 49.42 50.04 2521 17.76 1.91 × 105
B1-16 49.34 49.94 2578 20.88 2.49 × 105
B1-17 49.40 49.30 2538 17.20 1.32 × 105
B1-18 49.30 49.02 2560 16.73 2.46 × 105
Figure 7. Tensile strength at different high loading rates in
dynamic splitting tests.

4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND

DISCUSSION

The quasi-static and dynamic tensile strengths

obtained from splitting tests are summarized inTable 1.
For comparison, the tensile test results of Inada
granite and Tage stuff from Sang [9] are collected in
Figure 6.
Figure 6 shows that, under low loading rate, the
tensile strength will increase slowly when loading
rate increases and the trends of changes in the ten-
sile strength with the loading rates are very similar for
different rock. Under high loading rate, the dynamic
tensile strength are shown in Figure 7. It can be seen
that the dynamic strengths of the sandstone are loading
rate dependent at high loading rate.
The average dynamic increase factor (DIF) for Figure 8. The DIF of sandstone and concrete at different
tensile strength was calculated for each test case loading rates.
using the ratio of dynamic strength to static strength
4.36MPa (obtained from static tensile tests at loading
rate 2.60 × 10-3MPa/s). The DIF results at different spalling tests on concrete from the reference [10] were
loading rate are shown in Figure 8. also shown in Figure 8. Figure 8 show that, under dif-
To investigate the influence of loading rate on ferent loading rates, there are the same trends for the
dynamic tensile strength for rock material, the change of DIF for concrete and sandstone. When load-
dynamic tensile strengths measured with dynamic ing rate is less than 105MPa/s, the DIF will increase

791
slowly when loading rate increases and there is a lin-
ear relationship between DIF and the magnitude of
loading rate. And the upward trend of DIF is propor-
tional of loading rate when loading rate is greater than
105 MPa/s.
The mechanism causing loading rate-dependence
of tensile strength for rock has been investigated and
discussed by many researchers and summarized By
Zhao in reference. Under high loading rate, Brimker
(Nemat-Nasser 1994) suggested that the failure occurs
when the strain energy of the rock material reached
a critical value and the dynamic tensile strength will
increase with the cube root of the strain rates. We think
there is also a similar relationship for the dynamic ten-
sile strength and loading rate. At low loading rate, the
changing trend of DIF is very different with that under
high load rate. Zhao suggested the theoretical results
at high loading rate is not applicable for moderate to
low loading rate and a potential approach to such a
study under moderate to low loading rate is to fol-
low the work in analysing the mechanical properties
of rock material under dynamic compressive loads by
Deng and Nemat-Nasserand Ravichandran and Sub-
hash (Ravichadran 1995). However, the mechanism
of the tensile failure of rock material under moderate
to low loading rate needs to be studied in the future
research.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented the research concerning the load-
ing rate-dependence material behaviour of rock under
dynamic tensile loading. The dynamic tensile split-
ting tests were conducted using RMT-150C machine
at low loading rate and SHPB at high loading rate.
The test revealed that the DIF for tensile strength will
increase with the magnitude of loading rate. And the
upward trend of DIF is proportional of loading rate
under high loading rates. The test results can be used
for the development of a dynamic constitutive model
for the sandstone for the prediction of damage in rock
breaking utilizing the dynamic impact method.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is supported by the National Basic Research
Program of China (2010CB732004). The authors
would like to thank the Natural Science Foundation
of China for their financial supports (Grants Nos.
10872218 and 50674107). This research work is also
partially supported Frontier Research Program of Cen-
tral South University (2010QZZD001) is also greatly
acknowledged.
792
REFERENCES
Birkimer, D.L. 1971. A possible fracture criterion for the
dynamic tensile strength of rock. In: Clark GB, editor.
Proc 12th US Symp Rock Mech, Baltimore, Maryland,
573–590.
Cai, M., Kaiser, P.K., Suorineni, F. & Su, K.A. 2007. Study on
the dynamic behavior of the Meuse/Haute-Marne argillite.
Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 32(8–14):907–916.
Cho, S., Ogata,Y. & Kaneko, K. 2003. Strain-rate dependency
of the dynamic tensile strength of rock. International
Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 40(5):
763–777.
Dai, F., Xia, K. & Tang, L.Z. 2010. Rate Dependence of
Flexural Tensile Strength of Laurentian Granite. Interna-
tional Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science,
47(4):469–475.
Gong, F.Q. 2010. Experimental study of rock mechani-
cal properties under coupled static-dynamic loads and
dynamic strength criterion [PhD Thesis]. China Chang-
sha: Central South University.[in Chinese].
Kumar, A. 1968. The effect of stress rate and temperature
on the strength of basalt and granite. Geophysics, 33(3):
501–510.
Li, X.B. & Gu, D.S. 1994. Rock impact dynamics. Chang-
sha:Central South University of Technology Press [in
Chinese].
Li, X.B., Lok, T.S. & Zhao, J. et al. 2000. Oscillation elim-
ination in the Hopkinson bar apparatus and resultant
complete dynamic stress-strain curves for rocks. Interna-
tional Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences,
37(7):1055–1060.
Li, X.B., Lok, T.S. & Zhao, J. 2005. Dynamic characteristics
of granite subjected to intermediate loading rate. Rock
Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 38(1):21–39.
Nemat-Nasser, S. & Deng, H. 1994. Strain-rate effect on
brittle failure in compression. Acta Meta Material, 1994,
42(3):1013–1024.
Ravichadran, G. & Subhash G.A. 1995. Micromechanical
model for high strain rate behaviour of ceramic. Inter-
national Journal of Solids Structures, 1995, 32 (17/18):
2627–2646.
Weerheijm, J. & Van Doormaal, J.C.A.M. 2007. Tensile
failure of concrete at high loading rates: New test
data on strength and fracture energy from instrumented
spalling tests. International Journal of Impact Engineer-
ing, 34(5):609–626.
Wu, M.B. & Liu, Y.H. 1996. Experimental study on dynamic
properties of the Longmen limestone. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 15: 422–427 [in
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Zhao, J. & Li, H.B. 2000. Experimental determination of
dynamic tensile properties of granite. International Jour-
nal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 37(5):
861–866.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Research on the relationship between rock stress level and the occurrence of
rock burst

H.G. Ji, Y.Z. Zhang & Z.F. Hou

The Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines of China Ministry of Education, University
of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The occurrence of rock burst is related with ambient stress field in high stress field. Through
rigid compression experiment in this research, combined with the existing rock burst tendentiousness theory, rock
burst characteristics in different stress states was discussed. It shows that the stress environment is influential to
the occurrence of rock burst, and there is a linear relationship between stress level and rock burst tendentiousness.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 ROCK MECHANICS EXPERIMENTAL

STUDY
Rock burst is a kind of dynamic unstable phenomenon
in the ambient rock mass in underground engineering, 2.1 Principle of experiment
and usually presented as loosing, exfoliation, catapult
In the prediction of rock burst, burst tendency the-
or even casting in the process of or after excava-
ory is a widely-used method (Zhang 2008). Burst
tion (Xie 2006). It threatens the safety of workmen,
tendency indicates that rocks are capable of aggregat-
equipments and buildings in underground engineer-
ing elastic strain energy and releasing the sum of all
ing, influences the schedule of construction. It has
kinds of physical and mechanical properties as soon
been over three hundred years since first rock burst
as the energy exceeded itself intensity. To get rock
was recorded in the history around the world. Based
burst energy impact index, worldwide scholars get the
on the investigation of the rock burst scenes and the
stress—strain graph which was produced by high rigid
laboratory studies, a series of theories have been sug-
press. In this research, impact energy index served as
gested by scholars from many countries from different
the criterion to judge the weak or strong rock burst
perspectives, such as strength theory, stiffness theory,
tendency.
energy theory, burst tendency theory, theory of three
Impact energy index is referred to as a ratio of ener-
criteria and deformation system instability theory (Xu
gies which was stored before peak and consumed by
2002). Nevertheless, since rock burst, mechanism of
residual strain after peak following rock breaking out
which is extremely complicated, is a dynamic unstable
in a certain stress state. It is illustrated that the higher
phenomenon influenced by the geological environ-
the value of ratio, the more the energy release and the
ments and engineering conditions at the same time.
greater the possibility of impact, that is:
Currently, there is no one unified theory about the
mechanism of rock burst (Li 2007). FS
The deep rock mass exist in the geostress field WET =
which suffer the combined impact of gravitational FX
stress and tectonic stress (Xu 2000). In the meantime,
geostress field was also an energy field, and the rock FS – deformation energy accumulated before peak
mass at the level of high stress will reserve high energy FX – deformation energy consumed after peak
and vice versa. After the rock burst, the rock mass’s
internal stress level will decrease, also corresponding
stress and energy field will transform from a high level 2.2 Induction of sample selection and experiment
to a low level, finally in a relatively stable state (Xu equipment
2003). Thus, through rock mechanics testing, relevant What we used in this research was monzonitic granite,
rock burst theories and research work regarding char- which were got from geological drilling of Linglong
acteristics of rock burst in various stress levels, it is Gold Mine Dakaitou mining area, depth of which
meaningful that to do research on relationship between is −600 m∼−1100 m (Cai 2001). Sample machin-
the possibility of rock burst and final stress state after ing is in strict accordance with the international rock
occurrence of rock burst to keep out rock burst disaster. mechanics test method. (IRTM). Specification of the

793
Figure 1. Formulas present by schematic diagram of the
impact energy exponent.

Table 1. The criterion of impact energy exponent after rock

burst. Figure 3. G5-1 test sample stress-strain curve.

Index Strong impact Reduced impact No impact

>5 1.5-5.0 <1.5

Figure 4. G5-2 test sample stress-strain curve.

Our equipment, GAW-2000 microcomputer con-

trol electro-hydraulic servo rigid pressure test machine
Figure 2. Test specimen. is produced by Changchun chaoyang instrument
Co., LTD, 30 tons of pressure transducer is pro-
Table 2. Rock information in uni-axial rigidity compression duced by West Germany. And 7V07 programmed
experiment. controller which made in Japan for recording
information.
Test Sampling
sample elevation diameter height
2.3 Detail steps of experiment and result
Lithology number (m) (mm) (mm)
Experimental procedure: Place test specimen, con-
monzonitic G5-1 −610 50.00 97.68 nect the rigid test machine, and record the informa-
granite tion when the machine get to the rock sample; in
monzonitic G5-2 −622 50.00 98.71 this process, the first step is load control loading,
granite
monzonitic G6-1 −997 50.00 97.84
velocity is 500 N/s, and turn into axial deformation
granite control loading after into the yield segments, veloc-
ity is 0.006∼0.012 mm/min, in order to knowledge
regarding the smooth conduct of the experiment.
Experimental result: Through this experiment, we
specimen is cylinder, 50×100 mm. Smooth surface, got the stress-strain curves of rock breaking process
without any obvious defects, grinded on both ends, (see chart).
make sure of controlling the non parallelism and non The result of the experiment (see table 3).
perpendicularity within ±0.02 mm. To avoid suffering Three test samples’ stress-strain curves are com-
stress concentration and influencing the test result in plete, according with the rigid compression experi-
loading procedure. ment rule, so the data is valid.

794
 Table 4. Statistical table of impact energy index in different
stress states.

G5-1 G5-2 G6-1

∗ ∗
σ (Mpa) WET σ (Mpa) WET σ ∗ (Mpa) WET

65.40 1.802 79.46 1.435 64.84 0.962

49.05 1.951 59.60 1.468 48.63 1.137
32.70 2.163 39.73 1.805 32.42 1.537
16.35 2.44 19.87 1.767 16.21 1.662
0.00 2.457 0.00 2.332 0 1.735

Figure 5. G6-1 test sample stress-strain curve.

Table 3. Experiment result.

Number Intensity at peak (Mpa) Maximum strain (%)

G5-1 81.75 0.915

G5-2 99.3 0.746
G6-3 81.05 0.783

Figure 7. The relationship between impact energy index and

axial stress state after peak.

Figure 6. Stress state grading.

3 RESEARCH ON THE RELATIONSHIP

BETWEEN THE DANGER AFTER ROCK
BURST AND THE STRESS LEVEL AFTER
ROCK BREAKING

In order to study the different stress states of the rock

mass after rock burst, stress levels of the rock mass are
divided into different ranks to calculate impact energy
index respectively, the aim is to analyze the impact
tendentiousness rule. In this research, we divided
the stress states into 5 levels from high to low (see
figure 6).
Based on the test sample’s uni-axial compres-
sive strength, c, there are five different stress states,
σn = σ ∗ /c: 80%, 60%, 40%, 20%, 0%, uni-axial com-
pressive strength, c, multiply the relative stress state, σ,
we got the impact energy index, WT . Results showed
in table 4.
On the basis of table 4, we could handle the rela-
tionship between and among impact energy index, WT ,
stress state, c,and relative stress level, σ.
Figure 8. The relationship between impact energy index and
relatively stress state after peak.
Through this research, we found that as the rock’s
stress level improve, burst trend has leveled down,
so the higher of stress level, the less possibilities of
burst trend and rock burst. Take G6-1 test specimen
for example, when c = 0 Mpa (σ = 0), impact energy
index WT is 1.725, when c = 64.84 Mpa (σ = 0.8),
impact energy index WT is 0.962, impact energy index
has fallen by 44% in two states, changed from reduced
impact state to without impact state. Meanwhile, in this
process, when the WT is 1.5, relatively stress level after

795
break is between 0.40 and 0.45 (see figure 8).Stress
level in this point is critical value, is c, when greater
this value, the rock mass has no impact trend.
4 CONCLUSION AND EXPECTATION
1. Experiments show that the rock burst break is
related with stress environment, the higher stress
level, the lower impact strength. The test results
show that there is a linear relationship between
stress level c and impact energy index WT .
2. There will be burst tendency when the rock stress
level is below the critical value c, so to identify the
critical value c is important to rock burst forecast.
3. In the future, we could make simulative research
on the ground stress field after excavation distur-
bance, and forecast rock burst tendency as the rules
mentioned above; different rocks still need a great
deal of research.
REFERENCES
Cai, M.F., Wang, J.A. & Wang, S.H. 2001. Analysis on energy
distribution and prediction of rock burst during deep min-
ing excavation in Linglong Gold Mine. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 20(1): 38–42.
796
Li, W., Ji, H.G. & Wei, X.W. 2007. Research progress on
the classification mechanism and prediction of mine rock
burst. China Mining Magazine 6(4): 86–88.
Xie, H.P. 2006. Problem of engineering disaster and basic
science induced by deep resources exploitation. Investiga-
tion on the Basic Theory and Engineering in Deep Mining.
Beijing: Science Press, 3–14.
Xu, D.J., Zhang, G. & Li, T.J. 2000. On the stress state in
the rock burst. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 19(2): 169–172.
Xu, L.S., Wang, L.S. & Li, Y.L. 2002. Study on mechanism
and judgement of rockbursts. Rock and Soil Mechanics
23(3): 300–303.
Xu, Z.M., Huang, R.Q., Luo, X.C., Li, R. & Sun, J.Y. Limi-
tations of static load theory in rockburst research and pre-
liminary analysis on dynamics mechanism of rockburst.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
22(8): 1255–1262.
Zhang, J.J. & Fu, B.J. 2008. Rockburst and its criteria and con-
trol. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
27(10): 2034–2042.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

The fuzzy comprehensive prediction of rock burst induced by deep mining in

Xincheng gold mine

L. Li
School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
Ningbo Rail Transit Group Co., Ltd., Ningbo, China

C.H. Li & Y. Cheng

School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing,China

ABSTRACT: Based on the laboratory experimental study results of rock burst and the failure mode and brittle
characteristics of the rocks, etc., preliminary evaluation is made on rock burst tendency of 3 kinds of rok in deep
mining position of Xincheng gold mine The rock burst ordering of the 3 kinds of rock is: sericite-quartz alteration
granite > biotite granite > sericite-quartz alteration granitic cataclasite. The multivariate and multiple attribute
rock burst analysis model is established and rock burst in deep mining in Xincheng gold mine is evaluated by the
model. The evaluation results show that in process of mining in −580∼ −630 m level, sericite-quartz alteration
granite has tendency of medium rock burst, biotite granite has tendency of weak rock burst and sericite-quartz
alteration granitic cataclasite has no tendency of rock burst.

1 ENGINEERING SITUATION Table 1. Calculated results of ring number

In Xincheng gold mine, geological conditions in deep Ring number

position are complicated where the main kinds of (×1000 times) Rock burst
rock are mixed sericite-quartz and mixed granite.
Biotite granite 45 Weak rock burst
migmatite with high strength and brittle characteris-
Sericite-quartz 102 Strong rock burst
tics. Ground stress test has shown that mining for the Alteration granite
high stress area, the maximum principal stress direc- Sericite-quartz alteration 12 No rock burst
tion for the North West - South NEE. Mining within Granitic cataclasite
the rock as hard, brittle, high ground stress, which is
the main problem of rock burst engineering geological
problems.
Table 2. Result of R of mining steps in the middle of −630

2 MULTIPLE ATTRIBUTE ANALYSIS OF THE Sericite-quartz Sericite-quartz

Biotite alteration alteration granitic
ROCK BURST
Steps granite granite cataclasite
2.1 Criterion and evaluation result of lacoustic I 0.57 0.47 0.78
emission ring down count rate maximum II 0.62 0.50 0.81
According to the results of acoustic emission test, rock III 0.69 0.56 0.90
IV 0.71 0.58 0.93
burst tendency of deep mining in Xincheng gold mine
is obtained, see Table 1.

2.2 Criterion and evaluation result of russenes
Russenes criterion takes R (σθ /σc ) value to determine
the rock burst, according to previous research has
shown (Tang 2001):
With the results of numerical analysis (Li 2009),
refer to Kirsch equation (Lu 2005), the ratio R of
tangential stress and rock compressive strength in
the middle of Xincheng gold mine -630 surrounding
rock mining steps in different mining procedures are
obtained and results are shown in Table 2.
It can be seen from Table 2 that when the different
stages is mined in −630 middle part, biotite gran-
ite, sericite-quartz alteration granite, sericite-quartz
alteration granitic cataclasite all have tendency of
medium rock burst (0.3 < R < 0.55) and strong rock
burst (0.55 < R) different exploitation levels, tend to
be different rock burst.

797
Table 3. Result of T of mining steps in the middle of −630 Table 5. Calculation results of elastic energy index

Sericite-quartz Sericite-quartz Rock types Wet average Rock burst

Biotite alteration alteration granitic
Steps granite granite cataclasite Biotite granite 2.468 Weak
Sericite-quartz 2.964 Weak
I 13.6 13.4 13.8 Alteration granite
II 13.6 13.4 13.8 Sericite-quartz alteration 0.884 No
III 13.6 13.4 13.8 Granitic cataclasite
IV 13.5 13.3 13.7
Table 6. Calculation results of burst energy index

Rock types Acf average Rock burst

Table 4. Calculation results of C value
Biotite granite 1.413 No
Rock types C Rock burst
Sericite-quartz 4.593 Medium
Alteration granite
Biotite granite 29.89 Strong Sericite-quartz alteration 0.905 No
Sericite-quartz 22.89 Medium Granitic cataclasite
Alteration granite
Sericite-quartz alteration 28.72 Strong
Granitic cataclasite 2.5 Criterion and evaluation result of elastic
energy index
Elastic energy (Wet) is determined on the rock speci-
men under uniaxial compression loading and unload-
2.3 Criterion and evaluation result of Zhenyu Tao ing test. Usually the following criterion (Cai 2001):
The rock mass stress state and mechanical properties
of rock is taken into account by Zhenyu Tao criterion,
and rock burst is judged by T (σc /σ) value (Lu 2005):
In order to facilitate subsequent comprehensive
evaluation, a new variable T = 14.5-T is a constructed,
new criterion is formed:
According to the results of uniaxial cyclic loading
With the results of numerical analysis (Li 2009),
(Li 2009), evaluation result of elastic energy index can
the maximum principal stress is found in the middle
be shown in Table 5.
of Xincheng gold mine −630 middle part in differ-
ent parts of exploitation, and values of T is obtained
2.6 Criterion and evaluation result of burst energy
correspondingly. The results are shown in Table 3.
index
It can be seen from Table 3 that biotite granite,
sericite-quartz alteration granite, sericite-quartz alter- According to theory of rock burst, rock impact energy
ation granitic cataclasite all have tendency of strong index depends on the stress – strain curve is calcu-
rock burst during (T > 12) the different stages is lated as:
mined.

where, A1 , A2 respectively, the rock stress – strain

curves before and after the peak part of the curve and
2.4 Criterion and evaluation result of rock fragility the area enclosed by the axes.
coefficient Usually the following criterion (Cai 2001):
According to the experimental measured uniaxial com-
pressive strength and tensile strength of rock, then
according to the rock brittleness index, i.e. the rock
burst is measured by the ratio of compressive strength
and tensile strength of C (Cai 2001). In order to
facilitate subsequent comprehensive evaluation, a new According to curves of rock mechanics test (Li
variable C = 40C is a constructed. 2009), calculation results of burst energy index is
According to the results of mechanics test (Li 2009), shown in Table 6.
strength fragility coefficient C of the Xincheng gold
mine deep rock is calculated as shown in Table10. It
can be seen evaluation results from the table that biotite 3 FUZZY COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION
granite and sericite-quartz alteration granitic catacla- AND PREDICTION OF ROCK BURST
site all have tendency of strong rock burst (25.5 < C)
sericite-quartz alteration granite all have tendency of By comparing the above findings, there are some dif-
medium rock burst (13.3 < C < 25.5). ferences in evaluation results of a number of indicators.

798
In order to better predict and analyze of the rock burst, Table 7. Evaluation criteria of classification of rock burst
fuzzy comprehensive evaluation of rock burst ten-
dency is achieved in the light of the results of previous Rock burst
studies, the introduction of fuzzy theory, for these six Weak Medium Strong
indicators. Influencing No rock rock rock rock
factors burst burst burst burst

3.1 Comprehensive evaluation fuzzy mathematics Z <15 15∼50 50∼100 >100

(Yang 2005) R <0.2 0.2∼0.3 0.3∼0.55 >0.55
T <0 0∼9 9∼12 >12
Two finite case are given by comprehensive evaluation
C <0 0∼13.3 13.3∼25.5 >25.5
fuzzy mathematics demands. For the problem of rock Wet <2.0 2.0∼3.5 3.5∼5.0 >5.0
burst, rock burst mainly control factor set U and rock Acf <2.0 2.0∼3.5 2.5∼3.5 >5.0
burst evaluation set V are given:

Therefore, judging from the above sub-criteria, with

Determined by the evaluation object in the universe
U every single factor ui on the fuzzy sets of evaluation
results V:
Fuzzy matrix R can be composed of each element
of U to the fuzzy subset of V.
During comprehensive evaluation of the things
many factors, the various factors on the size of the
role of rating are considered, which is different for dif-
ferent weight factors. Allocation of weight is factor set
of a fuzzy set on A:
the tendency of rock burst at all levels of factors cor-
responding to four levels below threshold value can be
classified as Table7:
2) The determination of factors on the degree
of membership in the V and the fuzzy relationship
matrix R.
The determination of membership function has vari-
ety of established methods, the statistical analysis of
evaluation index value and according to its distribu-
tion features, the distribution of k-parabolic index is
selected as the tendency of the rock burst by the mem-
bership function, the standard equation is as follows
(Yang 2005):

where: U concentration for the i-factor
ui by the

corresponding weights, and provides ni=1 ai = 1.
The right distribution fuzzy subset A combined with
factors fuzzy matrix R of judged object, it can be fuzzy
comprehensive evaluation:

By substitution of A and Rinto upper type, attain-

able:

The fuzzy subset B of the resulting evaluation set

V , the respective position of the highest partial vector
value in the V is assessment grade of demand.

3.2 Comprehensive evaluation of rock burst fuzzy

mathematics
1) establishment of rock burst evaluation set V
The extent of rock burst was graded as a basis by
the sub-indicators, limit the individual criteria were
properly adjusted, level of rock burst is divided uni-
formly into four: no rock burst, weak rock burst,
medium rock burst and strong rock burst:

V = {no rock burst, weak rock burst, medium rock

Where: r1 (xi ), r2 (xi ), r3 (xi ), r4 (xi )are the indices xi to
burst, strong rock burst} = {v1 , v2 , v3 , v4 } (7) the four levels membership degree of the possibility

799
of rock burst; xi is index value of the first i factors; ai ,
bi , ci are the cut-off value indicators of first i factors;
k is value of function index, based on empirical data
obtained(After a lot of calculation of the value of k,
then the k take 1.2, the evaluation results are more
reasonable).
Six corresponding values of influence index are
determined by laboratory tests, combined with the
critical value of evaluation criteria listed in Table13,
respectively, substituted into the formula, the index
can be calculated fuzzy relationship matrix R of six
factors.
3.3 Determination of weight set A of index factors
According to the importance of different factors, the
corresponding weight can be assigned respectively for
each factor. The value of fuzzy weight of each factor is
referred to expert assessment method (Du 2006), and
then repeated in accordance with the research group’s
experience of rock burst prediction project, the right
to redo some of the above adjustments, identify main
indicators of rock burst factor Z, R, T, C, Wet, Acf
weight distribution, thus the composition of the weight
vector expressed by A:
3.4 The comprehensive evaluation value of
rock burst
Evaluation factors into account the weight of each fac-
tor concentration and membership, using the weighted
average model of rock burst prone to fuzzy compre-
hensive evaluation:
Where B is corresponding to fuzzy comprehensive
evaluation value of surrounding rock burst, B1 , B2 ,
B3 , B4 are corresponding respectively to the tendency
value of no rock burst, weak rock burst, medium rock
burst and strong rock burst production.
Evaluation of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation set is
a fuzzy set V on the subset of set according to the estab-
lished evaluation criteria and factors, B closer to 1, it
indicates that the closer the tendency of rock, whereas
the more impossible such a tendency. Results of the
comprehensive evaluation of the size of the sort B, the
largest in their respective position B in V corresponds
to full consideration of the evaluation index weights
and membership based on the tendency of surrounding
rock burst.
According to analysis and calculation, the extrac-
tion matrix B is obtained as three rock steps as
follows.
Biotite granite I steps:
B = {0.3470,0.6932,0.6473,0.4000} weak rock
burst; biotite granite II steps:
B = {0.3470,0.6897,0.6271,0.4000} weak rock
burst; biotite granite III steps:
800
Table 8. Fuzzy comprehensive analysis results of rock burst
of mining process −630 middle part
Sericite-quartz Sericite-quartz
Rock/ Biotite alteration alteration granitic
steps granite granite cataclasite
I (4, 5 panel Weak Medium No
mining)
II (3, 6 panel Weak Medium No
mining)
III (2, 7 panel Weak Medium No
mining)
IV (1, 8 panel Weak Medium No
mining)
B = {0.3470,0.6860,0.6082,0.4000} weak rock
burst; biotite granite IV steps:
B = {0.3470,0.6859,0.6060,0.4000} weak rock
burst; sericite-quartz alteration granite I steps:
B = {0.0582,0.5650,0.8852,0.6522} medium rock
burst; sericite-quartz alteration granite II steps:
B = {0.0582,0.5607,0.8852,0.6685} medium rock
burst; sericite-quartz alteration granite III steps:
B = {0.0582,0.5544,0.8797,0.6967} medium rock
burst; sericite-quartz alteration granite IV steps:
B = {0.0582,0.5534,0.8721,0.6967} medium rock
burst; sericite-quartz alteration granitic cataclasite I
steps:
B = {0.5473,0.5303,0.4302,0.3768}no rock burst;
sericite-quartz alteration granitic cataclasite II steps:
B = {0.6000,0.5365,0.4611,0.4000}no rock burst;
sericite-quartz alteration granitic cataclasite III steps:
B = {0.6000,0.5344,0.4520,0.4000}no rock burst;
sericite-quartz alteration granitic cataclasite IV steps:
B = {0.6000,0.5345,0.4514,0.4000}no rock burst
4 CONCLUSIONS
From the above data, the results of comprehensive
evaluation of rock burst are given, shown in Table 8.
The evaluation results of sub-indices are controlled,
fuzzy comprehensive analysis is more reasonable. It
can be shown by analysis results that sericite-quartz
alteration granite have the possibility of occurrence
of medium rock burst, biotite granite with the possi-
ble occurrence of weak rock burst at the end of the
middle 4,5 panel mining −630, With the increase of
mining depth and the rock changes in storage condi-
tions, then the environment of stress is even worse,
the occurrence of the possibility of more strong rock
burst will be gradually increased, so during the process
of deep mining, the prevention and treatment of rock
burst should be paid close attention.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work supported by funded project of national
key basic research and development program
(No. 2010CB731501).
REFERENCES
Cai, M.F., Wang, J.A. & Wang, S.H. 2001. Analysis on
Energy Distribution and Prediction of Rock Burst During
Deep Mining Excavation in Linglong Gold Mine. Chi-
nese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 20(1):
38–42.
Du, Z.J. & Xu, M.G. 2006 etc. Laboratory integrated evalu-
ation method for engineering wall rock rock-burst. Gold,
27(11): 26–29.
Li, L. 2009. Deep Mining in Xincheng Gold Mine Opti-
mization and Prediction of Rock Burst. Beijing: doc-
toral dissertation of university of science and technology
Beijing.
801
Lu, Q. & Sun, H.Y. etc. 2005. Comprehensive Study on
Prediction of Rock Burst in Deep and Over-length High-
way Tunnel. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering, 8 (16): 2982–2987.
Tang, BQ. & Cao, P. 2001. Discussions on Stress Criterions
of Rockburst. Hunan Nonferrous Metals, 3(2): 1–3.
Yang, L.B. & Gao, Y.Y. 2002. Principle and Applications of
Fuzzy Mathematics. South China University of Technol-
ogy Press: 69–81.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical simulation for cavity formation process by progressive large

diameter empty hole spiral cut blasting

P. Li
School of Environmental and Resources Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang,
China
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China

Y.J. Wang
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China

B. Ke
School of Environmental and Resources Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang,
China

ABSTRACT: By aid of ANSYS/LS-DYNA 3D nonlinear dynamic finite element software, process of cavity
formation by progressive large diameter empty hole spiral cut blasting is simulated, obtained the intuitional
graphics of the change of cavity during the explosive volume expansion process. It turns out that the blasting
wave delivers in the form of cylinder wave, and the empty hole plays as a free surface. Meanwhile, theoretical
rationality of cavity formation by progressive large diameter empty hole spiral cut blasting is verified. The cavity
formation process by cut blasting is visualized in the numerical simulation. Result of the study indicates that the
cut blasting result can be predicted and the design of blasting technical parameters be optimized.

1 FOREWORD a reference to optimize choosing technical parame-

Cavity formation result is the key point for a good
effect of blasting and cycle advance in excava-
tion blasting engineering. Progressive large diameter
empty hole spiral cut blasting is a new cylinder cut
method, which has advantages of less drill holes, less
charging and good blasting result.
During progressive large diameter empty hole spiral
cut blasting, rocks between loaded hole and empty hole
are firstly broken by the combined effect of high pres-
sures gases and blast wave.As the broken rocks moving
towards to empty hole and working face, the cavity
formed, which supply free surface and compensating
space for follow-up pilot hole. Therefore, the research
of progressive large hole diameter empty hole spiral
cut blasting is meaningful in theory for engineering
practice and blasting design (Zheng 2008).
Based on explosion dynamic constitutive model,
cavity formation process of progressive large diame-
ter empty hole spiral cut blasting is simulated through
ANSYS/LS-DYNA 3D nonlinear dynamic finite ele-
ment software.The result will determine the rationality
of technical parameters for cut blasting (including blast
hole layout spacing, blast hole depth, line medicine
density and stemming length ect.), and also provide
ters(Zheng 2008).
2 CONSTITUTIVE MODEL AND STATE
EQUATION
There are various methods to numerical simulate blast-
ing process (Bai 2005). The simplest way is to take
explosive loads as nodal forces varied with time, and
put the forces to structures. LS-DYNA refines state
equations to simulate pressure volume relationship,
to simulate blasting process accurately. Choosing the
same blasting structure and parameters and establish-
ing different explosive finite element models, ALE
arithmetic is the lowest computation efficiency but
common node algorithm and aspects contact computa-
tion are faster. Meanwhile, the result of common node
algorithm and sliding contact method are actual with
real blasting phenomenon. Therefore, common node
algorithm is selected in the study.
There are four mediums (rock, explosive, stemming
and atmosphere) in progressive large diameter empty
hole spiral cut blasting. And because working face and
centre empty hole are free surfaces, atmosphere in
them do not participate in calculation; On the other

803
Table 1. Rock Mechanical Parameters.
Density Elastic modulus Poisson s
Material kg/m3 GPa ratio
Rock 2600 27.0 0.3
Table 2. Explosive parameter and JWL sate equation coefficient in calculation.
Density Explosion velocity PCJ
kg/m−3 m/s Gpa
1000 3600 3.61
hand, atmosphere is fluid which is not suitable for
common node algorithm. So ignore air model when
not affecting the premise of simulated authenticity.
2.1 Rock constitutive model
Structural plasticity dynamic models TAB *MAT_
PLASTIC_KINEMATIC can be represent as sur-
rounding rock in LS-DYNA. This model can be used to
simulate the constitutive relation under the rock blast-
ing loads, because it takes the elastic-plastic properties
of rock materials into consideration, also represents
both positive reinforcing effect which include mate-
rial servo strengthening and isotropic hardening, and
strain rate change effect, and describes failure strain
simultaneously (O.C. Kay 1985).
According to the rock broken theory, there are two
reasons that explosive causes the rock damage, on
one hand high temperature high pressure gas expand-
ing onto rock; on the other hand, when explosive
stress wave reach free surface, reflecting and form-
ing reflective stretching wave. Because the stretching
stress is greater than tensile strength, the rock is
pulled broken. TAB *MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC
can only define compressive failure criterion. In order
to consistent with the objective facts, select another
TAB *MAT_ADD_EROSION to define tensile fail-
ure criterion of surrounding rock. The rock mechanical
parameters are shown in Table 1.
2.2 Explosive material model
High-energy explosive material, TAB *MAT_HIGH_
EXPLOSIVE_BURN and state equation JWL repre-
sent explosive material model in LS-DYNA (Li 2009,
Wang 2010). State equation JWL could accurately
describe pressure, bulk and energy of detonation prod-
ucts in blasting process, and it could set detonation
point and time. It defines that pressure is the function
of relative volume and internal energy:
A, B, R1 , R2 , w is material constant, coefficient for
JWL; V is relative volume; E0 is initial internal energy
Yield strength Tangent modulus Tensile strength
MPa GPa MPa
150 0.0 5.0
A B E0
Gpa Gpa R1 R2 w Gpa
47.6 0.592 3.5 0.9 1.3 4.5
density. Parameters such as pressure, density, and par-
ticle acceleration, etc. would happen in succession.
Leap because of sharp change of various physical
quantities in blasting. To avoid this situation, put artifi-
cially volume viscosity coefficient into pressure item,
making the strong discontinuous shock wave into con-
tinuous change in fairly narrow area. II rock explosive
is used in cut blasting, whose density is 1.0 g/cm3 ,
explosive velocity is 3600 m/s. Explosive parameter
and JWL sate equation coefficient in calculation is
shown in Table 2.
2.3 Stemming material model
*MAT_SOIL_AND_FOAM state equation could con-
firm stemming model (O.C. Kay 1985, Dai 2002).
The density is 1.85 g/cm3 , elastic modulus is
1.6 × 10−4 GPa, Poisson’s ratio is 0.2.
3 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF CAVITY
FORMATION
3.1 Engineering example profiles
A mining area with granite and peridotite as surround-
ing rock, the density is 2.6∼2.9 g/cm3 , P-wave velocity
of rock is 4000 m/s, Poisson’s ratio is 0.3, ultimate ten-
sile strength is 8.5 MPa, the rock hulking coefficient is
1.5, the internal friction angle is 35◦ ; Use II rock explo-
sive (Ye 2009), density is 1.0 g/cm3 , explosive velocity
is 3600 m/s, coupling charging, the diameter of loaded
hole is 0.04 m; density of stemming is 1.8 g/cm3 , elas-
tic wave velocity of stemming is 3400 m/s, internal
friction angle is 28◦ .
3.2 Loaded hole layout and technical parameters
Layout of loaded hole is shown as figure 1, dis-
tance between the first loaded hole and empty hole
is 0.191 m; distances between other loaded holes and
empty hole, charge concentration, load depth and
stemming length are shown in Table 3. Short-delay
blasting time from the first detonation hole to the
804
Figure 1. Progressive spiral cut blasting model diagram (units: cm).

Table 3. Loaded holes technical parameters.

Loaded Distance between Charging Hole Stemming

hole loaded hole and concentration depth length
NO. empty hole m l kg/m Lm m

1 0.19 0.90 1.10 0.3

2 0.27 1.00 1.60 0.3
3 0.36 1.00 2.00 0.4
4 0.46 1.10 2.50 0.4
5 0.54 1.10 2.80 0.4

Figure 3. Meshed mode.

Figure 2. Simplified model.
follow-up detonation hole is 25 ms, other short-delay
blasting times increase as spiral pattern in turn, they
are 50 ms, 75 ms and 100 ms.
3.3 Progressive large diameter empty hole spiral
cut blasting model
Establish model as figure 2 through ANSYS/LS-
DYNA, in which the big cylinder represent surround-
ing rock, the middle light blue parts represent empty
hole, the five loaded holes’ depth increase in turn, and
in each loaded hole, the upper red part represent stem-
ming, the lower green part represent charging (Zhang
2010).
The simulation ignores dead weight of overlying
strata. Use hexahedron units to sweep meshing charg-
ing, rock and stemming separately. Compared with the
excavated section, the loaded hole is relative sub-size,
so using the principle that refining critical area and
roughening non-critical areas to meshing. That is grids
near charging are relatively dense, and distal boundary
part are relative thin (Wang 2008, Shi 2008). Meshed
model is shown in Figure 3.

805
Figure 4. Longitudinal section when the first loaded hole blasting.
Figure 5. Longitudinal section when the first loaded hole blasting.
Constraint condition: Set nonreflecting boundary
condition on bottom and cylindrical surface of sur-
rounding rock model. Detonation points are set on the
bottom of charging.
3.4 Cavity formation process of progressive large
diameter empty hole spiral cut blasting
The hole depth of the first loaded hole is the minimum,
and charging is minimum too. Observing from the
plane formed by connecting the empty hole to the first
loaded hole, which along with the vertical orientation
of work surface, cavity formation process of progres-
sive large diameter empty hole spiral cut blasting can
be seen.
As shown in figure 4, when the first loaded hole
exploding, the wall of empty hole cracks obviously
because the empty hole plays as a free surface. There is
an obvious boundary between compression failure and
tensile fracture. As the time goes, the blasting crater
expanded. Blasting stress wave spread in the shape
of cylindrical wave, the simulated result indirectly
reflects cavity formation theory.
Shown in figure 5, as the blasting crater spread to the
working face, the working face plays as another free
surface, cracks appeared on interface. There is obvi-
ous boundary between compression failure and tensile
806
fracture too. This is coincidence with the rock frag-
mentation mechanism of progressive large diameter
empty hole spiral cut blasting.
The figure 6 (1) is the longitudinal section formed
by connecting the first loaded hole to empty hole when
the second loaded hole blasting, it can be seen clearly
that the rock below the first loaded hole are broken.
The figure 6 (2) is the longitudinal section formed
by connecting the first loaded hole to empty hole when
the third loaded hole blasting, it can be seen clearly that
under the action of the third blasting hole, rocks below
the first loaded hole are cracked. Although it is not
lie vertically below the first loaded hole, the formed
cavity also can supply free surface for perimeter hole.
The figure 7(1) is the longitudinal section formed
by connecting the first loaded hole to empty hole when
the fourth loaded hole blasting, it can be seen clearly
that under the action of the fourth blasting hole, rocks
below the first loaded hole further damaged on the
basis of the third blasting hole.
The figure 7(2) is the longitudinal section formed by
connecting the first loaded hole to empty hole when
the fifth loaded hole blasting, it can be seen clearly
that under the action of the fifth blasting hole, the cav-
ity further expanded. When the calculation is done,
there formed a consecutive cavity along the longitudi-
nal of the first loaded hole. That means the cutting is
successful.
Figure 6. Longitudinal section when the 2 and 3 loaded hole blasting.
Figure 7. Longitudinal section when the 4 and 5 loaded hole blasting.
4 CONCLUSIONS
By aid of ANSYS/LS-DYNA 3D nonlinear dynamic
finite element software, made the actual engineering
example visualized. Numerical simulated the cavity
formation process of progressive large diameter empty
hole spiral cut blasting. Verify the accuracy and ratio-
nality of the blasting technical parameters. The whole
process and formation of empty cavity of the progres-
sive large diameter empty hole spiral cut blasting can
be seen directly through section screenshots. Although
the empty cavity is not a regular cylinder, it can sup-
ply free surface and compensating space for perimeter
hole. It can save loaded hole and charging, and then
reduce costs eventually.
REFERENCES
Bai, J.Z. 2005. LS-DYNA 3D Theoretical Basis and Cases-
tudy. Science Press, (in Chinese).
Dai, J. 2002. Rock Dynamic Character and Blasting Theory.
Beijing: Coal Industry Press, (in Chinese).
Li, B.P., Wang, S.L. & Wang, Y. 2009. Simulation of Loose
Medium’s Casting Blast. Blasting, 26(02), 15–17, (in
Chinese).
807
Shi, H.C., Din, N. & Zhang, J.C. 2008. Analysis of Vibration
Effects on Surrounding Rock for Small Clear Distance
Tunnel under the Dynamic Action of Blasting. Blasting,
25(1): 74–78, (in Chinese).
Wang, J.J., Yi, C.P. & Cao, Y. 2008. Dynamical Responses
of Surrounding Rock Mass Induced by Cut hole Blasting.
Blasting, 25(3): 25–28, (in Chinese).
Wang, Z.Y., Li, J. & Hu, R. 2010. Simulation and Analysis of
Blasting Vibration near Chamber by LS-DYNA. Blasting,
27(01), 104–106, (in Chinese).
Written by O.C. Kay Albion, Translated by Yi Z.Y, Jiang
B.N. 1985. Finite Element Method. Science Press, 10, (in
Chinese).
Ye, H.W. & Wang, J. 2009. Numerical Simulation of Blasting
in Rock Mass with Joints and Fractures. Blasting, 26(4):
13–16, 37, (in Chinese).
Zhang, H.T., Ji, H.G., Wang, Q.S. & Zhao, Y.F. 2010. Study
of Blasting Parameters for Wellbore Expand of Deep Ver-
tical and Inverse Well [J]. Blasting, 27(3): 22–24, 28, (in
Chinese).
Zheng, X.B., Qu, S.J., Fan, L.H. & Wang, Y. 2008. Numeri-
cal simulation of cavity formation process by single helix
parallel hole cut blasting. Rock and Soil Mechanics, (9),
2589–2594, (in Chinese).
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Technology of deep hole blasting relief of the hard roof of coal seams
and optimization

S.H. Li, X.H. Chen, P.F. Xie, T.L. Wang & J.W. Zhou
College of Resource and Environment Engineering, Liaoning Technical University, Fuxin, China

ABSTRACT: Pressure release by blasting of a deep hole in roof of a fully-mechanized face interconnection
can shorten the first collapse step distance of the roof, and avoid rock burst disasters that may cause a large area
of roof collapse. Based on the actual geological conditions of 6303 working face interconnection in Jining No.3
Coal Mine, this article proposes the two schemes of blasting pressure release of roof interconnection, based
on rock blasting mechanism. By using of Ansys-dyna finite dynamic analysis software, this paper simulates
blasting effect to the two schemes of deep hole blasting. With the analysis of numerical simulation results,
blasting parameters were optimized and a reasonable blasting scheme was obtained.

1 INTRODUCTION compression breakage, initial fissure and stress wave

Ls-dyna is a famous explicit dynamic analysis pro-
gram around the world, as the program’s explicit
method is particularly suitable for analyzing all kinds
of complicated dynamics process of highly nonlin-
ear, such as explosion and impact, structure collisions
and so on. LSTC Company and ANSYS Company
have been working together to develop Ansys/ls-dyna
(Cai 2008) finite element dynamic analysis software,
which combines the powerful explicit dynamic analy-
sis ability of ls-dyna with the convenient and practical,
before and after conducting function of Ansys, and
the software is often used in engineering blasting
simulations.
From the application of Ansys/ls-dyna finite ele-
ment dynamic analysis program, we can analyze rock
destructive process through the angle of rock blasting
traumatology. It is helpful for engineers to intuitively
understand the destructive process of rock through the
angle of phenomenology, revising blasting parame-
ters to choose the best blasting scheme. And what’s
important, this paper is successful to make Ansys/ls-
dyna finite element dynamic analysis program used
in mining engineering, then we can obtain the best
blasting pressure release scheme (Chen 2004) by ana-
lyzing blasting effect and comparing schemes, which
provides a new way to prevent rock burst and guar-
antee safety production and reduce investment cost of
prevention.
2 MECHANISM OF DEEP HOLE BLASTING
PRESSURE RELEASE IN THE ROOF
When the explosives are exploded in blast holes, the
powerful shockwave compressive stress makes rock
pressed and broken around the blast holes, and then
annular tensile stress (Dou 2005) are formed instantly.
Stress waves transmit tensile stress to make rock fis-
sure expanded and rock fractured, including extension
of the initial fissure and formation of the second fis-
sure. Because of the inflation effect of detonation gas,
rock fissures penetrate and form the broken fragments,
whose volumes are increased, move into pieces or
patches, at last form the bank blasting or the blast-
ing funnel. Hard and thick layer sandstone roof is
one of the major factors that influence the occur-
rence of rock burst, the main reason of which is that
it easily accumulates a mass of bending elasticity
(Li 2008). During the fracturing or sliding instabil-
ity of hard roof, abundant flexibility energies release
suddenly, form the strong vibration, generate the roof
coal seam type (Shock pressure type) rock burst or
the roof type (Shock type) rock burst. In order to
reach the purpose of lowering the danger of shock
(Li 2002), the blasting pressure release of deep hole
in the roof uses the method of blasting to change
the physical and mechanical quality of roof in burst
region, destroys the integrity of roof, releases a mass of
bending elasticity energies that they are accumulated
in the roof and shortens the fractured step distance
of roof.
Owning to the technology of deep hole blast-
ing pressure release in the roof, we can presplit
thick layer and hard sandstone roof above the coal
seam in advance, lower their strength and reduce
the fractured step distance; also we can release in
advance parts of elasticity energies that they are
accumulated in the main roof, lowers the concentra-
tion degree of stress; what’s more, operating properly
to guarantee the integrity of destructive roof effec-
tively; loose presplit the roof of gob to a certain
extent, and the technology test is successful relatively
(Qi 2007).

809
Table 1. Blast hole charging parameter

Blast holes Blast holes Blast holes Loaded Charge weight Lute Connecting Detonator
numbers depth/m angle/(◦ ) length/m of single bore length/m mode Sections

1 16 30 9.6 37 6.4 2
2 22 30 13.2 62 8.8 2
3 28 30 16.8 90 11.2 2
4 16 30 9.6 37 6.4 2
5 22 30 13.2 62 8.8 Hole arallel 2
6 28 30 16.8 90 11.2 Hole ascade 2
7 16 30 9.6 37 6.4 2
8 22 30 13.2 62 8.8 2
9 28 30 16.8 90 11.2 2

3 REASONS FOR ADOPTING THE SCHEME OF

DEEP HOLE BLASTING TO MANAGE COAL
SEAM HARD ROOF OF THE 6303 WORKING
FACE IN JINING NO.3 COAL MINE

The immediate roof of 6303 working face in Jining

No.3 Coal Mine is siltstone and fine-grained sand-
stone inter-bed, dark grey, dense hard, f = 4–6, no
immediate roof in part. The main roof is sandstone,
thick ranges from 7.83 to with an average of 20.51 m,
off-white, dense hard, f = 9–12. It is the key reason
for interconnection roof not to collapse in a long time.
Though Jining No.3 Coal Mine and academy of sci-
ences were working together to establish the solutions
to prevent crises, for example, drilled the pressure
release holes – loosed and burst the solid coal, the Figure 1. The top blasting-borehole layout of 6303
roof of gob and other measures, with these methods fully-mechanized face interconnection.
we have obtained some effects of lowering the percus-
sive intensity and the harmful level, the rock burst was
not solved fundamentally (Yan 1993).
Considering this reason, in order to manage the rock
burst of 6303 working face effectively, we can lower
the shock tendency of coal seam with water injection
and blasting pressure release in solid coal, but the nat-
ural porosity of coal seam in Jining No.3 Coal Mine
are all less than 4%, so the water injection is poor and
the effect of blasting pressure release of solid coal is Figure 2. Boreholes charging structure schematic drawing.
limited, through comprehensive analysis we decide to
adopt the method of deep hole blasting to dispose the
hard roof of coal seam, only in this way can rock burst the parameters of loading explosive in blast holes are
be solved fundamentally. respectively shown in Figure 1, Figure 2, and Table 1.

5 MECHANICAL MODEL AND NUMERICAL

4 SCHEME DESIGN OF BLASTING IN THE
ROOF HOLE DEEP OF 6303 WORKING FACE
INTERCONNECTION
The drillings are arranged in 6303 working face, the
place from the center line of interconnection to back-
ing drift is 1m, as shown “one” word distribution, 20
holes in total, hole pitch 10m, the angle distance from
drilling to plane is 30◦ , it contains 7 holes, 16 m pitch;
7 holes, 22 m pitch; 6 holes, 28 m pitch; Vertical depth
is respectively 11 m and 14 m. Drillings pattern, the
structure diagram of loading explosive in drillings, and
CALCULATION OF DEEP HOLE BLASTING
IN 6303 WORKING FACE
INTERCONNECTION
5.1 3D model of the finite element method
At first, numerical calculation analyses the effect of
blasting for “one” word unequal length drill holes
(Scheme 1) in 6303 working face, on the bases of anal-
ysis of these characters, instead of drill holes “triangle”
type (Scheme 2), and compares the harmful results of
blasting fissure. From the practical effect of blasting,

810
with the working face advancing many interconnec-
tion roofs cave and produce a large amount of fissures,
therefore, realize the basic purpose of roof presplit.
Due to the complexity of locale blasting engineer-
ing, we have to select the typical 3 drill holes as
investigate objects to simplify the design issues of
engineering (Figure 3, Figure 4). In order to indicate
the fracture mechanism of deep hole blasting in rock,
consider the difficulty of sloping blast holes in finite
element modeling, when establish the whole model
we should take their half again along the diagonal,
that is to say that we obtain a high-precision finite
element model of sloping drill hole. The drill holes
Figure 3. Numerical model of plan 1.
Figure 4. Numerical model of plan 2.
Figure 5. Plan 1 Mises stress drawing (1.5ms).
Figure 6. Plan 1 Mises stress drawing (3.75ms).
811
decoration of “triangle” type are making drill hole
2 from the roof centerline side move into another
side of the roof, the distance from centerline is also
1m. Length distribution of drill holes 1–3 are respec-
tively 16 m, 22 m, 28 m, namely the same as the
actual drill holes. Apart from roof is free-surface in
numerical model, other four surfaces are all absorbing
boundaries, that is to say that it can cause the stress
wave transmits through them but don’t give birth to
reflex.
5.2 Numerical calculation and results analysis
(1) Along the drill holes arrange centerline, after blast-
ing the stress distribution of Mises in drill holes in
different time can be seen from Figure 5 to Figure 6.
From the direction of blast hole observe model and
choose the place of roof centerline as cut surface to
observe the stress situation of this profile.
As the Calculation results shown: from the profile,
stress distribution of Mises in different time reveal that
the scope of stress concentration in Program 2 after
blasting are much wider and the attenuation of stress
wave is much slower than that of Program 1, which
can make fully use of the energies from explosions to
broken rock. The two blasting schemes both have stress
rebound phenomenon in roof, what indicate that they
are influenced by the reflected tension stress wave,
but the two programs’ tension stress wave effect of
acting on the roof rock are different, obviously, the
Scheme 2 is much better. About 3ms before the roof
rock is in pressurized state, though the effect of the two
schemes are basically identical, as the situation after
3 ms is completely different. Owning to the effect of
reflecting tension stress wave, the tensile condition of
roof rock instead of the pressurized situation of that,
then the tension stress waves of Scheme 2 make the
Plan 2 Mises stress drawing (1.5ms).
Plan 2 Mises stress drawing (3.75ms).
 Figure 9. Plan 1 compressive stress wave graph (1.40ms).
Figure 10. Plan 1 compressive stress wave graph (2.75ms).
Figure 11. Plan 1 compressive stress wave graph (4.70ms).
roof rock stress reach the peak quickly again, however,
the tension stress waves of Scheme 1 only make the
stress increase slowly to a low level. Because rock has
the properties of resisting compression but not stretch,
the roof of Scheme 2 is more easily destroyed, it is more
meticulous to explain the effort of Scheme 2 with the
advantage of reflecting tension stress wave in the late
period, which let the stress waves from the roof of
Scheme 2 attenuate in a slower speed and gather more
energies, what destroy the roof greater and continue for
a longer time. Therefore, the utilization of borehole in
Scheme 2 is much higher, as it makes better use of
explosive energies to break rock.
(2) Propagation characteristics analysis of com-
pressive stress wave, as is shown from Figure 9 to
Figure 11.
As the computational analysis indicated: when the
explosive wave is not reach to the free surface of roof
in the early explosion, the two plans do not have many
differences, Just began the explosives are detonated,
pressure near them increased rapidly, with the spread
of stress wave the pressure attenuates rapidly. Even if in
the late explosion, the pressurized and tensile areas of
the roof are almost equal. But the situation after 3ms is
completely different, when the explosion wave of three
812
Plan 2 compressive stress wave graph (1.40ms).
Plan 2 Compressive stress wave graph (2.75ms).
Plan 2 Compressive stress wave graph (4.70ms).
drilling explosives form superposition and reflection
through the free surface, the distribution range of stress
wave summit in Scheme 2 are much wider than those
of Scheme 1, especially in the tensile stress area. As the
stretching resistance strength of rock is far lower than
compressive resistance strength of rock, so Scheme
2 makes the upper part of roof have more and wider
tensile areas. As this, it can produce more cracks, for
rock breakage, it is better. This is consistent with stress
results of the profile, making the explosives energies
get more fully utilized and control the blasting block
degrees better.
6 CONCLUSIONS
(1) With the technology of roof presplit blasting, we
effectively lowered the first weighting of main roof in
fully-mechanized face, reduced employees’ threat of
the fully-mechanized face and damage of equipment
or facilities.
(2) The blasting pressure release of roof can loose
presplit roof of the gob in advance, along the empty
side of roof release pressure, effectively lowered the
lateral pressure on the entity coal with the stress
concentration degree. After putting deep hole pre-
split blasting of 6303 working face interconnection
into effect, many interconnection roofs caved and pro-
duced massive fissures, realized the purpose of roof
presplit.
(3) Without any increase in construction difficulty
and construction quantity, let part of drill holes inter-
phase dislocation layout, overall let those drill holes
be “triangle” distribution so that they could make full
use of the explosive energies, improved the drillings
utilization, and after blasting the lumpiness were bet-
ter controlled, which was beneficial for the follow-up
work, reducing the influences on equipments.
(4) Traditional blasting scheme optimization
adopted theoretical calculation and engineering ana-
logue method, though it could play a role some-
times, not intuitive accurate enough. In view of the
actual blasting conditions, this article used numeri-
cal simulation software for analogue simulation, which
could show the advantages and disadvantages of each
scheme intuitively and accurately, provided a new idea
to blasting scheme optimization.
813
REFERENCES
Cai, J.D., Liu, J.H., Li, H.M. 2008.Application of relieving
shot in prevention of rock burst. Blasting.
Chen, X.H. 2004.Research on the occurrence conditions of
tectonic stress type of rock burst. Liaoning Technical
University.
Dou, L.M., Lu, C.P., Mou, Z.H. 2005.Intensity weakening
theory for rock burst and its application. Journal of China
Coal Society, (6):1156–1161.
Li, W., Cheng, J.L. 2008.Study on the technology of rock-
burst prevention and control by using advanced break-tip
blast. China Mining Magazine.
Li, Z.H., Pan, Y.S. 2002.Analytical solution of rock burst on
working surface. Journal of LiaoningTechnical University
(Natural Science Edition).
Qi, Q.X., Lei,Y. 2007.Theory and application of prevention of
rock burst by break-tip blast in deep hole. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering.
Qi, Q.X., Mao, D.B., Wang, Y.X., et al. 2003.Study on the
mechanism and control approaches of mining geodynamic
calamities. Geology and Prospecting, (Supplement 1):
94–97.
Yan, S.L., Chen, Y.Q. 1993.Distributions of explosion energy
by concentrated charge in rock. Blasting, (2):35–39.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Characteristics of ground vibration from blasting in a metal mine’s

underground stope below mined area

H.X. Liu & S.J. Qu

University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

H.X. Liu, G.S. Zhong & D.H. Zhong

Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, China

ABSTRACT: A study was conducted to investigate on the ground vibration effect from a block caving by
ring holes blasting in underground strata with gob areas in Changba mine. The maximum peak particle velocity
(PPV ) of rock in different localities was tested. The effect of the explosive weight per delay fired in a blasting
round, gob areas locating between the blasting site and monitoring points, and the spatial relation between the
main blasting free surface of rock and a given monitoring locality on PPV was analyzed. This study shows that
an opportune explosive weight adopted per delay fired in a blasting round benefits the safety of underground
workings adjacent to the blasting site. The gob areas somewhat reduce the PPV magnitude of rock far from the
blasting site by their interfering in the propagation of blasting seismic wave in rock. It is found that the PPV
magnitude of rock in the rear of the main free surface of ring holes blasting is higher than that in other localities
under the same other conditions.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 FORCED CAVING OF MEDIUM-LENGTH

HOLE IN UNDERGROUND STOPE
Since 1980s, large-scale disorder group mining activ-
ities has left hundreds of mined areas in the Changba 2.1 Stope’s engineering and geological conditions
lead-zinc ore, leaving a deadly hazard to the produc- and structural parameters
tion safety in this state mine. Dynamite loading of blast
Test stope # is located in the middle of ore body
hole filled with explosives, would not only lead to the
1202 m, constituted of residual inter-column and the
fragmentation of the ore around the blast hole, but
top column in 34 lines. The main ore are sphalerite
also generate the blasting seismic effect in the distant
and galena, with the ore body thick and large, angle
medium. Charge weight, charge structure, stemming
40∼70◦ . In the mining site, the average thickness of ore
status and initiation, ore geology, mechanical condi-
body is 35 m, angle 60∼65◦ , ore bulk density 2.9t/m3 ,
tion, the blasting site’s topographic conditions together
f = 6∼8, the average grade Pb + Zn 10.37%. Upper
with other factors, have an impact on the seismic effect
and lower plate rock is crystalline limestone, f = 5∼8,
of blasting. The relationship between the vibration
ore rock medium solid (Central South University &
parameters of seismic effect like peak particle velocity
Baiyin Nonferrous Metals Company 2004).
(PPV ) or acceleration and the equivalent and distance
The structure of testing stopes are shown in Figure 1,
of the detonating explosives, has long attracted great
in which the six deep hole drilling drift, perpendicu-
attention of researchers (Chen, Niu & Tan 1991); in
lar to the ore body layout. Average width between the
recent years, some researchers has done researches
columns is 10 m, with both sides as, and the ore close
on how site topography affect the seismic effect (Hu
2003, Sun, Xiao & Wang 2001, Shi, Wang & Lin
2003, Singh 2002); but few studies on how the com-
plicated mined areas affect blasting vibration effect
under the conditions of underground blasting caving
have been conducted. The paper studies the Changba
lead-zinc ore underground mining projects, undergoes
the measurement and analysis of blasting vibration
effect caused by a large number of forced caving of
medium-length holes, explodes the influence of com-
plicated multi-mined-area towards blasting vibration
effect, and provides a reference in avoid of a wide
range of wall rock collapse and the stope’s structural Figure 1. Layout of stope drilling drift section and
instability caused by blasting seismic effect. fan-shaped blast hole (unit: m).

815
Table 1. Detonator section, application area and the amount of initiating charge in the same section.

The amount of The amount of

Detonator Drilling drift initiating Detonator initiating
section section charge / Kg section Drilling drift section charge / Kg

Section 2 1237 1876.4 Section 8 1237 1331.6

1250 1250
Section 3 1213 1042.3 Section 10 1237 1488.3
1224 1250
Section 4 1237 1167.0 Section 11 1258;33crosscut 2282.7
1250 1258;34 crosscut
Section 5 1213 1027.0 Section 12 1258;33 crosscut 1813.0
1224 1258;34 crosscut
Section 6 1237 1292.7 Section 13 1258;33 crosscut 1133.2
1250 1258;34 crosscut
Section 7 1213 750.9 Section 14 1258;33 crosscut 481.1
1224 1258;34 crosscut

to the hanging wall ore collapsing and forming caving
mined areas; in the columns, there is four drilling drift
in the location of 1213 m, 1224 m, 1237 m, 1250 m.
The average width of the top column is about 30 m,
with the mined area at the bottom, and two drilling
drift arranged horizontally in the location of 1258 m.
Blasting caving ore are 34357t, total consumption
are:  15686.2 Kg explosives;  1452 detonators;
 540 m of detonating cord;  6759.7 m of blasting
hole. Explosives consumption is 0.48 Kg/t.

3 MEASUREMENT OF PEAK PARTICLE

2.2 Drilling and blasting technical parameters
in stope
YGZ-90 type rock drill is used to drill fan-shaped
medium-length hole, hole diameter ϕ60 mm. The dis-
tance between fan-shaped blast hole and the adjacent
blast hole (W) is 1.2 m; vertical distance between
another fan-shaped blast hole in the inclined plane row
in the terminal of the drilling drift and the bottom of
the blast hole in the adjacent row (W1) is generally
1.8∼2.5 m.
BQF-100 explosive loading machine is used to load
2#rock with explosives, and demolition line charge
density is 2.83 kg/m. Each blast hole has 2 non-electric
ms detonators in the bottom as detonating explo-
sives. For the blast hole in the vertical plane, the hole
block length is 1.5 m. When the block is removed, the
remaining length will be filled with explosives. For
the inclined plane, the block length is 1∼1.5 m; for
the inclined plane blast hole in the same drilling drift,
every 2 to 3 planes make up of a charge unit, in which
the remaining length in the first blast hole near the
main free blasting face are loaded with explosives, and
only the half of the remaining length near the bottom
of the holes in other planes are loaded with explosives;
for the other inclined plane blast holes, explosives are
loaded like above.
There are several complex goaf around the stope.
The existing mined areas are designed to be the com-
pensation space for free blasting face and caving ore,
with ms detonators, millisecond and condensing blast-
ing technology in the same section are also used, in
order to force caving all stope ore in the first igni-
tion. The detonator section, the application area and
the amount of initiating charge, are listed in Table 1.
VIBRATION VELOCITY
3.1 Instrument
A large number of engineering practices show that:
particle vibration velocity caused by blasting, is
closely related to the extent of damage of structures
caused by blasting; among the three directions of
particle vibration velocity, the vertical one is larger.
Thus, this experiment applies CD-1 type and CDJ-1-
type speed sensor, together with YBJ-1 type blasting
vibration self-recording instrument to measure the ver-
tical particle vibration velocity roadway floor, with its
peak as an evaluation of changes in blasting seismic
effect.
3.2 Measuring point layout and measuring result
According to estimates of the coverage of seismic
blasting, a total of 10 measuring points are arranged
to measure seismic effects of forced caving of stope.
Measuring point 1 to 7 are arranged in the 1202 m level
roadway, in which measuring point 1 and 2 are right
behind the main free surface of the fan-shaped blast
hole caving ore; measuring point 3 to 7 are in side
of the main free surface of the fan-shaped blast hole,
and there are mined areas between these 5 measuring
points and the caving ore. The position relationship
between the sites of the seven 1202 m level measuring
points and the scope caving ore is shown in Figure 2.
Measuring point 8 to 10 are arranged in the 1250 m
level footwall, and these three measuring points are
right behind the main free surface of the fan-shaped
blast hole caving ore.

816
Table 2. The measuring results of peak particle vibration velocity(PPV ) of measuring points.

Distance to Sensor
explosion sensitivity/
Measuring points center/( m) Voltage/(v) Frequency/(Hz) (v·cm-1·s) PPV /(cm·s-1)

Measuring points 1 64.19 4.883 54.39 0.367 13.31

Measuring points 2 64.53 4.414 55.5 0.271 8.144
Measuring points 3 66.34 3.203 60.90 0.269 5.954
Measuring points 5 140.11 4.5699 31.23 0.600 3.808
Measuring points 6 140.11 3.5549 49.21 0.600 2.962
Measuring points 7 161.75 3.3199 27.23 0.577 2.877
Measuring points 8 197.75 0.235 19.69 0.568 0.207

Figure 2. Position of 1202 m level measuring points and the

scope caving ore.

In this field test, a total of seven measuring points

recorded useful signals. The remaining three measur-
ing points get no results, because the self-recording
instrument has not been triggered for the reason of
itself, or the far distance between the measuring point
and the explosion center. The measuring results of
particle vibration velocity results are shown in Table 2.
4 MINED AREA’S INFLUENCE TOWARDS
UNDERGROUND STOPE BLASTING
SEISMIC EFFECT
Sodev’s Formula reveals the empirical relationship
between the medium peak particle velocity (PPV ) and
the blasting explosive charge (Q), the distance between
the measuring point and the explosion center (R), site
factors (k) plus blast vibration attenuation coefficient
(α). A lot of blasting seismic testings have been done in
the open pit of the test mine, so it concludes that under
the conditions of open pit, k = 100 and α = 1.5. Let
k = 100 and α = 1.5, and respectively put the maxi-
mum explosive charge in this blasting caving test (Q =
2282.7 kg), the first explosive charge (Q = 1876.4 kg)
and the minimum explosive charge (Q = 481.1 kg)
into Sodev’s Formula, then the changing trend of PPV
with the change of R under different Q values can
be obtained, just like the PPV in the seven measur-
ing points shown in Figure 3. In the figure, marked
in 7 PPV values obtained. Considering the distance
between the measuring point and the explosion center,
the position relationship between the measuring points
and the main free face of fan-shaped hole blasting
Figure 3. Comparison between PPV calculated value and
measured value.
caving ore, the occurrence conditions of the space
between the measuring point and the explosion center
and other factors, the impact towards the PPV values
can be obtained as:
First, in areas less than 165 m away from the
explosion center, when the same explosive charge
blasting caving ore have the same R, PPV produced
by underground medium particle is greater than the
corresponding value of the open-air environment.
Second, with the same explosive charge and approx-
imately the same distance between the measuring point
and the explosion center, the particle’s PPV value
behind the main free surface of the fan-shaped blast
hole caving ore was significantly greater than the
corresponding value in one side of the main free
surface.
Third, in the mined area between the measuring
point and the explosion center, through diffraction of
seismic waves and dissipation of part of its energy, the
particle PPV value in measuring points would have
different levels of attenuation. For example, measur-
ing point 1 and test point 2 are both located behind the
main free blasting surface and in the approximately
the same distance away from the explosion center, but
because of one chute in front of measuring point 2 its
particle PPV value was significantly smaller than cor-
responding value in measuring point 1, as shown in
Figure 3.

817
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. If blasting caving is undergone in the underground
multi-mined-area, the explosive charge of ms deto-
nator in the same section, the occurrence conditions
of mined area in the ore, together with the space
relationship between medium and blasting free
face, have influence towards PPV value of medium
particle.
2. In areas near the explosion center, when the same
explosive charge blasting caving ore have the same
R, PPV produced by underground medium parti-
cle is greater than the corresponding value of the
open-air environment. Proper control of the maxi-
mum explosive charge in the underground blasting
caving will benefit the stability of the stope and
underground structures.
3. In the mined area between the measuring point and
the explosion center, through diffraction of seismic
waves and dissipation of part of its energy, the par-
ticle PPV value in measuring points would have
different levels of attenuation.
4. With other conditions the same, the particle’s PPV
value behind the main free surface of the fan-shaped
818
blast hole caving ore was significantly greater than
the corresponding value in one side of the main free
surface.
REFERENCES
Central South University & Baiyin Nonferrous Metals Com-
pany 2004. United Mining Technology with Low Dilution
and Loss for Group Mining Multi-mined-area, 3.
Chen, H.T, Niu, Q. & Tan, S.Y. 1991. A Handbook of Blasting
Calculation. Shenyang: Liaoning Science and Technology
Publishing House (in Chinese).
Hu, M. 2003. Earthquake Effect of High-level Large-
diameter & Long Hole Blast in Anqing Copper Mine.
Copper Engineering, (3): 10–12 (in Chinese).
Shi, Y.C, Wang, L.M. & Lin, X.W. 2003. Effect of Blast-
induced Ground Motion in Loess Sites. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 22(11): 1933–1938.
(in Chinese)
Singh, P.K. 2002. Blast vibration damage to underground coal
mines from adjacent open-pit blasting. Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences, 39(2002): 959–973.
Sun, H.R., Xiao, H.J. & Wang, Y.S. 2001. Study on the Adit
Stability Under Dynamic Blasting Load. Metal Mine, (12):
15–18 (in Chinese).
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experiment on dynamic stability of soil filling slope

protected by concrete slab

Y. Qiang & F. Li
Kunming University of Science and Technology, Yunnan, China

Toshikazu-Ikemoto & Masakatsu-Miyajima

Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan

ABSTRACT: The dynamic stability of protected slopes during earthquake is the key issue that determines
the safety of slopes engineering. To study on the dynamical stability of filling soil slope ballasted by concrete
slab is not only the way to know the dynamic mechanism of the slope damage caused by seismic wave, but the
demand of design and treatment of the filling soil slope ballasted by concrete slabs scientifically. By indoor
model experiments, the stability and the failure mode of ballasted filling soil slope under simulating seismic
wave condition have been researched. Some results have been worked out and list as follows: 1) when the strength
of the concrete slab is high enough, in the process of vibration acceleration increasing, the inner structure of
soil in filling soil slope changes and a structure interface appears. Upper side of the interface, the density of
soil descends and the soil become loosens. Lower side of the interface, the density of soil ascends and the void
ratio declines. Because of the loosening in upper side soil, the concrete slab can press back the soil and make
the angle of slope smaller. The whole density of the filling soil slope increases and the slope would be more
stable. 2) When the strength of the concrete slab is not high enough, in the process of vibration acceleration
increasing, a shear crack will appears about in the middle of the concrete slab on the filling soil slope and then a
landslide will shear out from the crack. The interface of the landslide is almost the same as the 0 change interface
of density (structure interface). 3) Vibration will damage filling soil slope by causing concentrated shear stress
on an interface of soil structure. This kind of shear stress can make some kind of concrete slab fracture. These
results can be basis for constructing failure mode of filling soil slope under seismic shake condition.

1 INTRODUCTION be known and on which the scientific design to treat

In recent years, earthquakes are frequent in seismic
belt of circum-Pacific and the strong earthquakes big-
ger than Ms 6 increases obviously. In the mountainous
plateau in west of China, a series of strong earthquakes
happened and hit large number of lifeline engineering
(roads, railways, electricity and water supply pipelines,
etc.) by destroying the filling soil slopes. That not only
increases the difficult on earthquake relief by causing
traffic and transportation and communication blocked
and interrupted, but also increases the social-economic
loss in disaster area (Huang 2009). In present, the
important slopes around all kinds of lifelines have
been treated and the mainly measurement for slopes
protection is covered by concrete slabs. The dynamic
stability of protected slopes during earthquake is the
key issue that determines the safety of slopes engi-
neering. Many exploration results about slope rupture
caused by earthquakes and the formation of rupture
surface have been obtained in recent years (Huang
& Li 2009). Relevant experts have paid much atten-
tion on the problem. To study the dynamic stability of
filling slope ballasted by concrete slab, the dynamic
mechanism of seismic damage of filling slope could
the slope by ballasting concrete slab based.
In this paper, the indoor model test and automatic
monitoring have been used to study the failure law
and stability of filling slope under vibration condition.
The results could be used as the theoretical basis for
treatment and design of the filling slope.
2 EXPERIMENTAL MODEL DESIGN
The mode box is made by plexiglass and the external
is reinforced by angle steel to ensure the strength of
the box is high enough. The scale of the model box
in length and width and height is 120 cm, 80 cm and
100 cm. The height of soil slope in the box is 925 mm.
The surface of the slope is ballasted by concrete slab.
The top thickness of the slab is 67 mm. between soil
and the slab, there is a gravel layer as being filtration
and the top and bottom width are 50 mm and 183 mm
respectively. At the bottom of the box and in front of
the slope, there is a fixed concrete block on which
the un-cemented concrete blocks based. And the fixed
concrete block is covered by soils with 125 mm deep.
The degree of the slope is 66.4◦ .

819

Figure 1. Side section of simulation model box.
The accelerometer in place ① in the shaking table is
to monitor the response acceleration of the shake table.
The accelerometers in places from ② to ⑨ in the soil
model are for monitoring the response acceleration of
relative places. Accelerometers ② to ⑤ are fixed on
the concrete slab and the accelerometers ⑥ to ⑨ are
fixed in the soil slope. From A to C, the sensors for
soil pressures have been placed to monitor the different
soil pressure change from upper to lower part in the
process of vibration. And also the laser displacement
meters are settled on the surface of the concrete blocks
to monitor the displacement changes in different parts
during the shaking input. The details of the design are
shown in Figure 1.
3 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The simulation experiments are carried out in two
different conditions.
The first one is that the concrete slab will not be
damaged by shaking. Under this condition, the adhe-
sive cement strength of the concrete blocks is very high
which make the strength of the whole slab is high. Then
keep the settings in the box unchanged but increas-
ing the input accelerations as the sequence 200 gal,
400 gal, 600 gal, 800 gal, 1000 gal, 1200 gal, 1500 gal,
1800 gal and 2000 gal. At the end of the shaking test,
the concrete slab is still undamaged.
The other condition is that the concrete slab will be
damaged by the shaking test. To reduce the strength of
the adhesive cement of the concrete blocks will let the
adhesive strength less than the strength of the concrete
blocks. Then keep the settings in the box unchanged
but increase the input acceleration from 200 gal by step
of 200 gal. When the input acceleration is 1000 gal, the
concrete slab cracked by shaking and then ends the test.
The main shaking time is 20 s and the time for before
and after shock is 5s.
The properties of the soil sample are as follows:
moisture content is 24.7%, density is 2.69 g/cm3 , sand
820
Figure 2. Relationship between shaking frequency and
response ratio.
content is 70.8%, the fine particle content is 29.2%
(including 15.6% silt and 13.6% clay). Nonuniformity
coefficient Cu is 49.4 and curvature coefficient Cc
is 19.1 and the soil grading is bad. The diameters of
the soil particles are mainly ranged from 0.075 mm to
2 mm of the sand. The fine sand which size ranging
from 0.075 mm to 0.25 mm content is 68.5%. The soil
is clayey sand.
4 SHAKING TEST WITH CONCRETE SLAB
UNDAMAGED
4.1 Natural frequency
Before the experiment, the natural frequency of one-
dimensional vibration along the trend direction of the
slope should to be measured. The input acceleration is
set to 200 gal and the frequency is set to auto-increase
from 5 Hz to 35 Hz. The ratio of the accelerations from
accelerometer ② to accelerometer ① is calculated and
the results are shown in Figure 2. From Figure 2, it
can be seen when the vibration frequency is 14 Hz,
the acceleration response ratio reach the most. So the
input frequency is identified to be 14 Hz as natural
frequency.
4.2 The changing law of acceleration
The changing law of acceleration for condition 1 has
been analyzed as follows:
When input the planed accelerations into shaking
table, the response acceleration of the shaking table
is listed as 33 gal, 112 gal, 225 gal, 366 gal, 535 gal,
695 gal, 933 gal, 1168 gal and 1330 gal. When the
input acceleration increases from 33 gal to 1330 gal,
the accelerations in different parts are shown in
Figure 3.
From Figure 3, the maximum accelerations in dif-
ferent parts increase with the increasing of height.
Figure 4 shows that the most response ratio of accelera-
tion is also increased with the increasing of soil height.
When the input acceleration is 366 gal, the response
ratios of accelerations in all parts reach to the most
values. The linear relationship between response ratio
and soil height is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 3. Relationship between input acceleration and max-
imum response acceleration in different layers.
Figure 4. Relationship between input acceleration and
response ratio in different layers.
Figure 5. Relationship between height and response ratio
of 366 gal input acceleration.
From Figure 3, the maximum response acceleration
in the bottom of the soil (place ⑨) increase linearly
with the increasing of input acceleration. And from
Figure 4, the response ratio of acceleration is almost
keeping stable and unchanged. It shows that the soil
in place ⑨ keeps very stable during the whole shak-
ing process and the changing of response accelerations
keep the same trend to the shaking table. Because of the
shaking, the soil in place ⑨ became denser and more
stable. When the input acceleration is less than 366 gal,
the maximum response accelerations and the response
ratio of acceleration in all parts are obviously increas-
ing with the increasing of input acceleration. The
result shows that the amplification effect of shaking
is ascending higher soil and the biggest amplification
effect is happened on the top of slope surface. The
821
times of amplification is increasing with the increasing
input accelerations.
When the input acceleration is between 366 gal to
933 gal, the changing trend of soil in all parts except
location ⑨ are almost the same. The increments of the
maximum response accelerations are gentle decline
and the response ratios are decline rapidly. It shows
when the input accelerations are more than 366 gal,
the soil structure above location ⑨ is changing obvi-
ously by shaking. When the input acceleration is 535,
the acceleration response ratio in location ⑥ is even
smaller than it in location ⑨ Xu (2008) has explained
that this phenomenon is caused by the increasing of
shear strain and decline of the rigidity and the increas-
ing of damping of the soil. And the nonlinear is more
obvious with the increasing of input shaking strength
and the maximum acceleration could be declined in
the lower part soil of the slope. In this test, this phe-
nomenon is also apparent which maybe caused by
the occurrence of shear deformation surface near to
the location ⑧ Above the shear surface, the shaking
response of the soil is almost the same. Because of
the high strength covering of concrete slab, the shear
deformation in the soil slope does not cause destroying
of the slope.
When the input acceleration is more than 933 gal,
the maximum response acceleration and response ratio
in location is decline continuously and then equal to
the response acceleration in location ⑧ From photo
1, after 933 gal input acceleration, the soil structure
on the top of the slope is damaged heavily which is
the directly reason for the descending of maximum
response acceleration.
4.3 Soil deformation analyzing
Because of the high strength, the concrete covering
slab keeps undamaged in the whole process of shaking.
At the end of shaking by 1330 gal acceleration input,
the concrete slab has no change but the slope angle is
smaller which is caused by the downward of the cen-
ter of gravity. The changing of the center of gravity is
induced by the soil movement from the upper to the
lower and fills the soil pores of lower part. Then the
upper soil is looser and became easy to inner com-
pression by the slab. So the angle of the concrete slab
became smaller and the density of soil slope increased
and the stability of the slope is also enhanced.
5 SHAKING TEST WITH CONCRETE SLAB
DAMAGE
In order to know the failure process of the filling soil
slope ballasted by concrete slab under shaking, the new
shaking test model has been made according to the
design in Figure 1. Compared to the previous model,
the adhesive strength of concrete blocks in this model
is much weaker and easy to be cracked under shaking.
So the whole process of failure can be monitored and
analyzed.
 Figure 7. Relationship between vibration frequency and
response ratio.

Figure 6. Top soil damaged by shaking (at the end of

1168 gal input).

Table 1. Maximum response acceleration in different layers.

Accele. of
shaking
Planed table Maximum response
input Input (gal) accelerations (gal)
Accele. frequency
(gal) (Hz) ① ⑥ ⑦ ⑧ ⑨
Figure 8. Relationship between input acceleration and max-
200 198.6 823.6 431.4 231.7 187.9
imum response acceleration in different layers.
400 372.0 1386.5 715.9 547.6 438.2
600 11.3 598.7 1529.4 1242.3 953.5 801.3
800 784.3 1601.4 1660.4 1381.3 1138.7
1000 979.4 1825.5 2144.6 1722.3 1390.0
1000 5 1016.6 2747.0 2924.1 1470.7 1273.2

5.1 Natural frequency

Before the experiment, the natural frequency of one-
dimensional vibration along the trend direction of the
slope should to be measured. The input acceleration is
set to 200 gal and the frequency is set to auto-increase
from 5 Hz to 35 Hz. The ratio of the accelerations from
accelerometer ② to accelerometer ① is calculated and
the results are shown in Figure 6. From Figure 6, it Figure 9. Relationship between input acceleration and
can be seen when the vibration frequency is 11.3 Hz, response ratio in different layers.
the acceleration response ratio reach the most. So the
input frequency is identified to be 11.3 Hz as natural
frequency.
input acceleration, there is a continuous crack on the
slab between location ③ and ④ (in the soil slope locates
between ⑦ and ⑧). At he next shaking, keep the input
5.2 The changing law of acceleration
acceleration unchanged and reduce the input shaking
The planed input accelerations and the response accel- frequency to 5 Hz and observe the failure process of
erations of shaking table and locations from ⑥ to ⑨ slope by shaking.
listed in table 1. The response accelerations and the response ratios
The input accelerations of shaking table are listed of accelerations are shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8.
in table 1. The input acceleration is from 198.6 gal From Figure 7 and Figure 8, the response accel-
to 1016.6 gal and the main shakings last 20 s and the erations from locations ⑥ to ⑨ are increasing with
before and after shaking are 5 s and the total time is 25 s the increasing of input accelerations under shaking
for each shaking. At the end of shaking with 979 gal with 11.3 Hz. But the response ratios are different. The

822

Figure 10. The failure mode of filling soil slope by shaking.
response ratios in locations ⑧ and ⑨ are increasing
gently and it in location ⑦ almost keep unchanged and
which on top of the slope is decline continuously. It
indicates that the soil structure have changed obviously
with the increasing of input accelerations.
When the shaking frequency changes from 11.3 Hz
to 5 Hz, the response accelerations and the response
ratios in the upper part soil increased rapidly and those
in the lower part soil are declined obviously. It shows
that the soil density has changed. The density of lower
part soil increased for raising the natural frequency
to increase the difference of natural frequency and
input frequency. So the response ratio declined. For
the upper part soil, with the declining of soil density,
the natural frequency also decline to close the input
frequency 5 Hz. So the response ratio in lower part
soil declined.
5.3 Crack law analyzing of concrete slab
At the end of shaking with 979.4 gal and 11.3 Hz, a
crack appears on the place where is 5 cm higher than
location ④ and the landslide just shear out from the
crack. From the interface of landslide, the response
ratios of accelerations in upper soil increased for the
looser of soil and those in lower soil decreased for
the higher density of soil. The failure of the slope is
landslide which caused the concrete slab broken. Not
crushing happened on the concrete slab. It shows that
the dynamic is focus on the middle local part and it
is very weak in other part. The failure of the slope is
shown in Figure 10.
From photo 2, the lower part of the broken concrete
slab is supported by the steel bean on which the laser
displacement sensors have been settled and keep slant
stand. It indicates that if some timbering engineering
has been taken, the destructiveness of engineering con-
structions locates on the foot of the slope also can be
avoided. The upper part of the broken slab is covering
on the landslide as a new ballasted layer. The differ-
entiation of upper and lower soil caused an interface.
On the interface, the concentrated shear stress can be
increased with shaking. When the shaking strength is
high enough, the concentrated shear stress on the inter-
face will high enough to cause a landslide which will
shear out from the crack.
823
According to the experimental analyzing, the shak-
ing causes the failure of soil slope by produce con-
centrated shear stress on an interface. The interface
will develop as a slide face for landslide and also the
stress can shear the covering concrete slab out. For
some slopes reinforced by concrete slab and bolting,
if the bolting cross through a potential interface, maybe
the bolting could be shear out by the concentrated
shear stress caused by shaking. When the bolting has
designed to be used for reinforcing a landslide, the con-
centrated shear stress on a interface caused by shaking
should be thought. How the shear stress on the inter-
face impact on the bolt is still a problem which needs
to be studied.
6 CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
According to the experiment, some conclusions have
been worked out as follows:
• Under the experimental conditions, if the strength
of concrete slab is high enough, with the increase of
input acceleration, a structure differentiation inter-
face will appears in the soil slope. The upper part of
the interface, the density of soil decreased and the
soil structure will be looser. The lower part of the
interface, the soil density increased and the poros-
ity decreased. The upper looser soil compressed by
the concrete slab, the slope angle decline and the
average density has increased and the slope has a
tendency to become more stable.
• If the strength of concrete slab is not high enough,
with the increasing of input acceleration, a crack
will appear in almost middle part of the slab and
a landslide will shear out from the crack. The
soil density on the slide face is almost keep no
changed.
• Shaking causes the failure of soil slope by produce
concentrated shear stress on an interface. This stress
can shear the concrete slab out which ballasted on
the surface of slope.
• If the bolting cross through a potential interface,
maybe the bolting could be shear out by the con-
centrated shear stress caused by shaking. When the
bolting has designed to be used for reinforcing a
landslide, the concentrated shear stress on an inter-
face caused by shaking should be thought. How the
shear stress on the interface impact on the bolt is
still a problem which needs to be studied.
REFERENCES
Huang, R.Q. 2009. Mechanism and geomechanical modes of
landslide hazards triggered by Wenchuan 8.0 earthquake.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering,
28(6): 1239–1249 (in Chinese).
Huang, R.Q. & Li, W.L. 2009. A study on the development
and distribution rules of geo-hazards triggered by “5.12”
Wenchuan earthquake. Science in China (Series E), 52(4):
810–819.
Liu, H.B. & Zhu, X. 1999. Advance on topographic amplifi-
cation effects of seismic response. World Information on
Earthquake Engineering, 15(3): 20–25 (in Chinese).
Xu, G.X., Yao, L.K. & Gao Z.N. et al. 2008. Large-scale
shaking table model test study on dynamic characteris-
tics and dynamic responses of slope. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 27(3): 624–632
(in Chinese).
824
Yin, Y.P. 2008. Researches on the geohazards triggered by
Wenchuan earthquake. Journal of Engineering Geology,
16(4): 433–444 (in Chinese).
Zheng, Y.R., Ye, H.L. & Huang, R.Q. 2009. Analysis and
Discussion of Failure Mechanism and Fracture Sur-
face of Slope under Earthquake. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 28(8): 1714–1723
(in Chinese).
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Wavelet energy analysis on blasting vibration signal of surrounding rock

roof considering confining pressure and fracture

B. Song & Y. Cao

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: With increase of excavation depth, confining pressure strength of tunnel is getting higher, and
accordingly the accumulated energy of rock roof is also getting bigger. The high accumulation energy will lead
to instability failure of tunnel such as roof fall and collapse. In this paper, the blasting vibration response signal
of surrounding rock roof was collected by numerical simulation under different confining pressure strength and
different roof fractures strength. According to the wavelet energy theory, the response signal was decomposed,
then the wavelet frequency band energy distribution of different frequency interval was obtained, meanwhile
the influence of confining pressure strength and different roof fractures strength on wavelet frequency band
energy distribution was also obtained. The early-warning index of roof stability namely Energy Ratio Variation
Deviation (ERVD) were established based on the wavelet energy theory, and the quantitative relationship between
ERVD and the stability degree of roof with the change of confining pressure strength was built, which provides
a reliable method for stability monitoring of tunnel roof.

1 INTRODUCTION
With the exploitation of underground resources, the
depth of metallic mine is over −1000 m, where ground
stress is complicated. The accumulation of the damage
leads to roof fall and collapse of tunnels in the mine.
So it is of great importance to study diagnosis of rock
damage to ensure the safe production in mines (Li,
2003). The problems of rock dynamic response and
the stability analysis methods are eager to solve in the
engineering, which are also the main content in rock
dynamics research (Yan, 2007). Considering the effect
of blasting on rock and roadway characteristics, the
further dynamic analysis and structure model research
can be used to get the signal characteristics of unsta-
ble rock under blasting effect. The reasonable safety
analysis method was proposed and pre-warning diag-
nosis principle was established to guide engineering
practice (Han, 2003; Liu, 2004; Sun, 2005).
S.B AJABAA (2003) found that wavelet trans-
formation was suitable and effective for detecting
multiple local damages in beam and plates. Numer-
ical results showed that not all of the wavelets could
detect the signal discontinuity and that regularity was
an important criterion in selecting the proper wavelet.
Zhong & Fang (Zhong, 2009) studied the energy char-
acteristics of blasting signal using the wavelet analysis
method, obtained the signal energy distribution of the
different frequency bands, then established response
energy criterion considering the various factors, such
as blasting vibration intensity, frequency, duration and
the dynamic response characteristics of controlled
structures (natural frequency and damping ratio).
Chen & Zhao (Chen, 1997) proposed that the frac-
ture played a certain role of high-frequency filtering to
make the seismic wave attenuation. Fracture strength
was the important factor to indicate the variable degree
of rock.
2 BASIC PRINCIPLE OF BLASTING
VIBRATION SIGNALS DIAGNOSIS
Wavelet transform has the different sampling step
length with the different frequency in time domain. It
is coincident with characteristics that low frequency
signal transforms slowly but high frequency signal
transforms quickly. Thus, the original signal could be
easily divided into several bands by using multi-scale
wavelets.
The 2 norm definition of original signals f (t) on
2
L (R) is as following:
In wavelet transform, the square of the 2 norm of
signal is equivalent to the energy of original signal
in time domain, if the basic wavelet is φ(t), so the
equation (1) is as following:
Because there is the equivalence relation between
the energy of wavelet transformation and the energy of

825
original signal, it is reliable that the energy distribution
of original signal is indicated using wavelet energy.
For the energy limited signal like this kind of blast-
 2
ing vibration, its energy is E = R |f(t)| dt, and if we
0
make f(t) ∈ U0 , so based on the wavelet decomposi-
tion theory:

Decompose the discrete signal into the No.i layer,

and assume the energy of the No.i layer decomposition
signal Sj is Ej .
Figure 1. Calculation model.

Table 1. Physic-mechanical parameters of high-energy

After the wavelet energy of different frequency explosive materials.
bands are obtained by Eq. (2), (3) and (4), then the
change rule of wavelet energy in propagation process Explosion
of blasting variation signal. Density velocity A B R1 R2 RCJ E0

kg/m3 m/s GPa / / GPa GPa GPa

1200 5500 241.4 0.182 4.2 0.9 3.6 4.192
3 THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE SIGNAL
ANALYSIS BASED ON FREQUENCY BAND
ERENGY
Table 2. Physic-mechanical parameters of rock materials.
3.1 Engineering background and
calculation model Elastic Poisson’s Shear Attenuation
Density modulus ratio Strength modulus coefficient
The −420 transportation tunnel of a gold mining area
of Shandong province was selected as the engineer- kg/m3 GPa / MPa GPa /
ing background of numerical simulation. Because the 2590 53 0.3 2 0.6 0.6
response signal of surrounding rock after blasting
vibration was the only considering factor, so the ini-
tiation point was simplified on the top position of degree of rock for 10 grades which the first grade is
calculation model. And the calculation model is shown 53GPa (100% relative strength), and another 9 grades
in Figure 1. is corresponding from 90% to 10% of the first grade.
The program ANSYS/LS-DYNA was used to stim-
ulate the spread process of blasting in elastic medium.
3.3 Spread characteristic analysis of
The crack of model was stimulated by means of reduc-
blasting wave
ing the elasticity modulus. The elasticity modulus of
crack was designed as 10% of rock elasticity modulus, The point A located in stable area of tunnel roof and
which was 53 GPa. The explosive elements at top cen- point B located in unstable area are chosen to analysis
tral position were stimulated by high-energy explosive the influence of fracture. Figure 2 presents the time
materials MAT_HIGHEXPLOSIVEBURN. The state history of stress of points A and B under confining
equation JWL (Jones-Wilkens-Lee) was taken which pressure strength 5 MPa.
described the chemical energy when blasting. Comparing the y-stress of points A and B under
4 grades fracture strength, it can be seen that the
peak stress of point A is 4.37 × 107 Pa under frac-
3.2 Calculation conditions
ture strength 100%, but the peak stress of point B
In order to research the quantitative relation between is 9.16 × 107 Pa. And also the times reached peak
the confining pressure strength, facture damage stresses of 2 points are different, which are 659 µs and
strength and roof stability, 40 calculation conditions 372 µs. The peak stress of point A reduces obviously
was selected for numerical simulation. The selected with the decrese of fracture strength, while the peak
engineering tunnel is located in underground 420 stress of point B dosen’t. Meanwhile, the peak stresses
meters, so the confining pressure strength was set for of points A and B reduce slightly with the drecrese of
4 grades as 5 MPa, 10 MPa, 15 MPa and 20 MPa, cor- confining pressure strength.
responding underground 200 meters, 400 meters, 600 The existence of rock fracture has important influ-
meters and 800 meters respectively, and set the damage ence on the spread of blasting stress wave. The bigger

826

Figure 2. Time history of stress of points A and B under
confining pressure strength 5 MPa.
827
Figure 3. Attenuation ratio under different fracture strength.
the fracture strength is, the bigger the transmission
coefficient is. The ratio of difference between peak
stresses of points A and B and peak stresses of points
B is defined as attenuation ratio. The attenuation
ratio increases with decrease of fracture strength, and
the attenuation ratio increases more obviously when
fracture strength is less than 50%.
3.4 Wavelet energy analysis of the response signal
The response signal of blasting vibration is decom-
posed to 7 scales according to db7 wavelet by
using MATLAB Wavelet Tool. Sampling frequency
is 500 Hz, so Nyquist frequency is 250 Hz accord-
ing to Shannon Sampling Theory. The original signal
in frequency domain is divided into 8 frequency
bands, which are below 1.95 Hz, 1.95–3.90 Hz, 3.90–
7.81 Hz, 7.81–15.62 Hz, 15.62–31.25 Hz, 31.25–
62.5 Hz, 62.5–125 Hz and 125–250 Hz.
3.4.1 The total energy of frequency band analysis of
the response signal
Through comparing the total energy of frequency
band of point A and point B in the different frac-
ture strength(shown in Figure 4), it can be seen the
total energy of point B has no obvious change. This is
because point B is located between fracture and initia-
tion point, the existence of fracture has no significant
effect on the response signal of point B.
It can be seen from Figure 4 that the total energy
of point A is much less than the total energy of point
B. The total energy of point A is 9.99 × 10−6 , and the
total energy of point B is 4.91 × 10−5 in the confining
pressure strength 5 MPa and fracture strength 100%.
With the decrease of fracture strength, the total energy
of point A reduces significantly. The total energy in the
fracture strength 10% is only 16.2% of the total energy
in the fracture strength 100%. With the increase of con-
fining pressure strength, the total energy of pointA and
point B both reduce slightly. The total energy of point
A reduces 2.90% from the confining pressure strength
20 MPa to 5 MPa under fracture strength 100%, and the
decrease degree is 14.2% under fracture strength 10%.

Figure 4. The total energy under different fracture strength.
3.4.2 The energy distribution of frequency band
analysis of the response signal
The response signals of point A and point B under
confining pressure strength 5 MPa decompose into 7
scales and the results are shown in Figure 5. It can
be seen that the wavelet energy concentrated in the
frequency band 3, frequency band 4 and frequency
band 5 are named main frequency band. It is showed
that the blasting vibration response signal is composed
by frequency band with different frequency interval,
and the energy distribution of main frequency band is
also uneven. That is because rock mass is divided into
different structures with different frequency response
by fracture or crack in multi-freedom degree damped
vibration system.
The total energy of point A changes obviously with
the decrease of fracture strength, especially t main fre-
quency band changes obviously. But the total energy
of point B basically remains unchanged, because the
energy of point B located in the special position
isn’t affected by fracture. The frequency band energy
reaction of fracture strength is relatively sensitive.
Because the frequency band energy and its change
concentrate in main frequency band, and the total
energy of the main frequency bands is more than 90%
of the total energy of all frequency band, extract the
energy distribution of main frequency bands to be
more detailed analysis. Those are shown in Figure 6.
828
Figure 5. The wavelet decomposition with 7 scales of the
response signal under confining pressure strength 5 MPa.
It can be seen that with the decrease of fracture
strength, the energy of frequency band 5 reduces, but
the energy of frequency band 4 increases slightly.
Combined with the change rule of the total energy,
the energy of different frequency band is shifted when
the total energy reduces with the decrease of frac-
ture strength, which the energy of frequency band 5
shifted to frequency band 4.That is because the fracture
has the different influence on the different frequency
band. When the energy of high frequency is restrained
certainly by rock fracture, then the energy of fre-
quency band is divided into 2 parts, most of which
are restrained by frequency, but the other part shifts to
the frequency band 4.
3.5 Stability analysis of tunnel roof based on
wavelet energy theory
According to the reference Yan (2006), the damage
information of structure is extracted by transform of
the wavelet energy, and then the damage warning index
used to be early warning is also obtained. The ratio
of the energy of each frequency band and the total
energy of all frequency bands is named Frequency
Band Energy Ratio is written as follows:

Figure 6. Energy change of main frequency band of point A.
where Ei,k is the energy of frequency band k, and Ei,k is
the average energy of all frequency band. The change
of Frequency Band Energy Ratio namely Energy Ratio
Variation (ERV) is used to be determine the degree of
rock damaged.
where ERVk is ERV of frequency band k, pck and pdk
are Frequency Band Energy Ratio of frequency band
kunder stable and unstable rock.
The results which calculated using by Eq. (6) are
shown as Figure 6. As in the actual engineering, it
is difficult to find the ideal state of intact rock, so
Frequency Band Energy Ratio of response signal under
fracture strength 90% is selected as pck to calculate.
It can be seen from Figure 6 that ERV of frequency
band 5 increases basically with the decrease of frac-
ture strength, and however ERV of frequency band 3
and 4 under fracture strength 10% is less than that of
under fracture strength 20%. Although average ERV of
all frequency bands monotony increasing, its increase
amplitude is too small so that to carry out efficiently
the development degree of fracture.
829
Figure 7. ERV of main frequency band of point A.
Figure 8. ERVD of point A.
The early-warning index of roof stability namely
Energy Ratio Variation Deviation (ERVD) is estab-
lished based on ERV is written as follows:
where ERVk is the average ERV of all frequency band.
The results calculated by Eq. (5) are shown in
Figure 7. The ERVD of point A is increasing with
decrease of fracture strength, and the different ERVD
is corresponding to different fracture strength. The
tunnel roof is stable when ERVD is less than 0.1 cor-
responding fracture strength is 50%. The tunnel roof
may damage when ERVD is between 0.1 and 0.3 cor-
responding fracture strength is between 50% and 30%.
And tunnel roof damaged easily when ERVD is more
than 0.3 corresponding fracture strength is 30%. It
means that the ERVD can be used to determine effec-
tively the degree of rock damaged combined with the
confining pressure strength grade, and it has the good
damage warning ability.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The main conclusions are shown as follows:
1. Due to the existence of fracture, attenuation of
blasting vibration wave is obvious in spreading
through the fracture, and then the total energy of
all frequency bands reduces obviously. The change
rule of the total energy are as follows: the farther
the distance between initiating point and roof is,
the smaller the total energy of all frequency band
is, the bigger the confining pressure strength is, the
smaller the total energy of all frequency band is,
and the small the fracture strength is, the smaller
the total energy of all frequency band is.
2. After the response signal of tunnel roof is decom-
posed into 7 scales, the wavelet energy concentrated
in the frequency band 3, frequency band 4 and fre-
quency band 5. The energy of frequency band 5
shifted to frequency band 4 with the decrease of
fracture strength.
3. The early-warning index of roof stability namely
Energy Ratio Variation Deviation (ERVD) is estab-
lished based on wavelet energy theory. The ERVD
of tunnel roof increases with decrease of fracture
strength, and the different ERVD is corresponding
to different fracture strength. The ERVD can be
used to determine effectively the degree of rock
damaged combined with the confining pressure
strength grade, and it has good effect of damage
warning.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by National 863 project: NO.
2011AA11A102.
830
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Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering.
22(11): 1 887–1 891.
Liu H., Qu W.L. & Yuan R.Z. 2004. A structural damage
detection method based on modal strain energy dissipation
ratio theory. Engineering Mechanics, 21(5): 198–202.
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cable damage of long-span cable-stayed bridges based on
wavelet Packet energy spectrum. JOURNAL OF SOUTH-
EAST UNIVERSITY (Natural Science Edition). 32(2):
270–274.
Nasser S. Bajabaa. 2003. Multiple Damage Detection in
Structures Using a Coupled Modal Analysis and Wavelet
Transform Technique. University of Central Florida.
Sun Z.H., Han J.G. & Ren W.X. 2005. State-of-the-art
research and development of wavelet analysis based struc-
tural damage detection. Earthquake Engineering and
Engineering Vibration. 25(2): 93–99.
Yan C.B.. 2006. Study on cumulative damage effects and sta-
bility of rock mass under blasting loading [Ph. D. Thesis].
Changsha: Central South University.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Chaotic dynamics study of nonlinear rock beam and application to

rock burst forecast

W.B. Wu
National Key Laboratory of Gas Disaster Detecting Preventing and Emergency Controlling, Chongqing China
Chongqing Research Institute, China Coal Research Institute, Chongqing, China

ABSTRACT: The condition of roof rock burst was studied by using chaotic dynamics. The mechanical model of
rock beam was established to analyze the roof with disturbance. The cubic nonlinear elastic constitutive law was
used to describe the strain-softening characteristics of rock. By using of Galerkin method, differential dynamic
system was obtained, and the mechanical condition of dynamic instability critical state and disturbance criterion
for the instability were determined by Melnikov method. On this basis, the instability criterion for quantitative
judgment is presented for the roof with burst hazard before the first weighting, the influence of initial elastic
modulus and modulus representing material softening for the roof rock burst hazard is discussed, and the dual
criterion is established for the stability control of roof with burst hazard.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 MECHANICAL MODEL AND

CONSTITUTIVE LAW
Rock burst is the most common hazard in mining engi-
neering. Domestic and foreign experts have studied it The rock burst can be occurred under disturbance
from strength, energy, stiffness and impact trend. Insta- when a large quality of elastic strain energy is
ble theory, clamping theory, “three factor” theory and accumulated in roof with strain softening prop-
instability slide theory are put forward by domestic erty before first weighting. The roof can be seen
scholars. These theories reflected the essence of rock a clamped-clamped rock beam under disturbance
burst from different angles, and used in prevention F = δF0 cos ωt sin(πx/ l) which length is l (Figure 1).
work of rock burst. Until now, the essential reasons The dead weighting and overlying strata weighting
of this hazard have not been thoroughly understood simplified as uniform load which collection degree
(Yin 2004, Tan 2008, Pan 1988, Qi 2005). is P.
Blasting, mechanical vibration, strata faulting and Instability is due to softening of the rock medium,
seismic save are important factors of induced rock this softening effect induced instability of the system
burst (Dou 2001, Wang 1998, Dai 2002). Litera- of rock mechanics (Ma 1998). Literature (Feng 2003,
tures thought that rock burst is a dynamic unstable Tang 2003) considered that the characteristics of het-
phenomenon when the steady system is broken, and erogeneity determined the bump proneness of rock.
simulated by finite element method and finite dif- Tang obtained a constitutive law through experiment
ference method. Ma Shaopeng (Zubelewicz 1998) which called Weibull model
established the cusp catastrophe model of rock burst
induced by disturbance.
Nonlinear dynamics provides a new method to
study the rock burst. Literature (Tan 2008) thought that
rock system could be seen as a nonlinear dynamics sys-
tem, the unstable phenomenon of rock burst could be
seen as chaos phenomenon. Literature (Mueller 1991)
thought the reason that rock burst is not control, pre-
diction on quantitative judgment is that there is not
cause to seize the roof movement is the essence of the
impact of rock burst. Therefore, this paper established
the mechanical model of rock beam to analyze the roof
with disturbance in chaotic dynamics, and quantitative
analysis the condition of rock burst. Figure 1. The dynamic model of roof under disturbance.

831
 According to boundary conditions (4), we suppose
following displacement mode w = ϕ(τ)(1 − cos 2πx).
Applying Galerkin method to the governing equation,
differential dynamic system can be obtained

Figure 2. The comparison diagram of σ − ε between non-

linear elastic model and Weibull model.

4 DYNAMIC ANALYZATION
here, E0 denote the initial elastic modulus, εd is the
strain value when stress is largest, m is homogene- Melnikov method can determine that two-dimensional
ity index. Though Weibull model well represented the Poincare maps of a dynamical system have the
σ − ε relationship, it brought the difficult in mathe- Smale horseshoe transformation. Melnikov method
matics. This paper used a nonlinear elastic model to is adopted as chaotic criterion which is easy to be
define the constitutive law: directly calculated, so we can qualitative analysis the
dynamical system.
If system (5) is not perturbed, δ = 0, then Equation
(5) is integral Hamilton system
here E denote the initial elastic modulus, E1 is a
modulus of representing material softening, E > 0,
E1 > 0.
Figure 2 is the comparison diagram between
Weibull model and Equation (2). We can clearly find
that the two model exhibit well consistency and reflect
deformation properties before stress peak with the
same E, and triple nonlinear elastic model could show Hamilton function can be expressed:
the softening characteristics in post-peak stage too.

3 GOVERNING EQUATION AND NONLINEAR

DYNAMIC SYSTEM
This paper has taken into account non-linear soften-
ing nature of the rock, but also taken into account
the role of nonlinear damping on the disturbed
dynamic response of beams. The governing equa-
tion of mechanical model shown in Figure 1 can be
expressed as:
Hamilton proposed the mind which used time t, gen-
eralized coordinate φ and generalized momentum ψ
to describe the mechanical state. Hamilton function
means the total energy of kinetic energy and potential
energy. System keeps the balance when the general-
ized velocity and generalized acceleration are equal to
zero. Therefore the balance condition of the system is

Thus points O(0, 0), Pa (a, 0) and Pb (b, 0) are the

where M denote the bending moment at any point in balance points. Here
rock beam, w is the deflection, δµ is the nonlinear
damping coefficient and m is the mass per unit length.
Boundary conditions of the system are:

The two-dimensional differential dynamic system is

unstable, and the potential energy is minimum value, if

832
system has non-hyperbola equilibrium points or sub-
harmonic (heteroclinic) orbits which link saddle point.
That is

Submitting three balance points into Equation (9),

we can obtain that Pa (a, 0) is saddle point and O and
Pb are centers. Figure 3. Periodic orbit and strange attractor.
The necessary and sufficient condition, system
has sub-harmonic orbit which link saddle point, is
obtained according to the energy keeps constant on
the same orbit, that is the unstable condition of system

The Melnikov function of computing the distance

between stable manifold and unstable manifold is as
follows

Label Melnikov function is equal to zero, we obtain

the critical condition that there exists Smale horseshoe
Figure 4. Influence of different E on instability criterion.
in the system

of structure is insufficient, and system is under distur-

bance. Disturbance can induce marginal and unstable
equilibrium system to fracture, and is a important
influencing factor for rock burst. This paper gets the
critical condition for chaos through Melnikov method
5 EXPLANATION FOR ROOF ROCK BURST

Rock beam with softening characteristic will be

occurred chaos and dynamic instability when it is in the
state of unstable equilibrium. Tight roof, which failed
to reach the strength condition through the static anal-
The unstable equilibrium state of roof is the critical
ysis, can be abrupt fracture, release a large of energy
state of occurring rock burst, when the F0 is greater
and to cause strange shock-vibration, afterwards the
thanF0c , marginal equilibrium state is broken, roof rock
roof rock burst will be occurred. Therefore, the unsta-
burst is induced. Periodic orbit and strange attractor are
ble equilibrium condition for roof system could be the
shown in Figure 3, strange attractor induced when roof
criterion for roof rock burst.
satisfy Equation (14).
System is unstable when two-dimensional dynamic
Medium strength is one of important condition for
differential system has sub-harmonic orbit which
rock burst. If initial elastic modulus E shown in Equa-
link saddle point. Necessary and sufficient condition
tion (2) is equal, the larger absolute value of E1 , the
of sub-harmonic orbit which link saddle point for
lower the peak strength, else if absolute value of E1 is
dynamic system (5) is shown in Equation (10), we
equal, the larger initial elastic modulus E, the greater
expand Equation (10) and obtain that
the peak strength. Figure 4 and Figure 5 display E and
E1 has an effect on instable judgment. In Figure 4, we
found that the larger initial elastic modulus, the larger
the instable span in the same load when E1 is equal.
Figure 5 shown that absolute value of E1 is inversely
That is the instable judgment for roof rock burst. proportional to instable span.
The roof system is in the state of unstable equilibrium The stability of roof is controlled by tensile stress,
when external applied load P and span l fulfill Equa- we usually use ultimate tensile strength RT to decide
tion (13), and could be dynamic buckling under small the limited span in strata control
disturbance.
Structure shows instable morphology on un-
reached the strength condition, this is because stability

833

Figure 5. Influence of different E1 on instability criterion.
Figure 6. The comparison of instability criterion and limited
span.
Statics theory is important for rock burst study,
but dynamics theory is more reasonable for power
disaster. Exact computation for instable span is the
foundation for rock burst prediction and prevention.
Equation (13) obtained by chaos dynamics compared
with Equation (15), here E = 20 GPa, E1 = −40000,
h = 8 m, RT = 10 MPa and RT = 5 MPa, shown in
Figure 6.
In Figure 6, roof failed to reach the dynamic instable
condition when roof collapsed under RT = 10 MPa and
L < LA , we think that roof has not rock burst hazard;
but when L > LA , roof first reached the dynamic insta-
ble condition, afterwards collapsed, in this situation,
we think roof has rock burst hazard, and instable con-
dition can be used to decide the instable span.This view
about RT = 5 MPa is similar to RT = 10 MPa, namely
there is not rock burst hazard when L < LB , and there
has rock burst hazard when L > LB . Limited span is
approximately equal to instable span when L > LB and
LA > LB , this shows that the smaller tensile strength,
the less rock burst hazard.
Therefore we can control the roof by combination of
statics and dynamics, the dual criterion is established
for the stability control of roof with burst hazard
834
here, LCD is the span that satisfy Equation (13), LCR
is the critical span roof keep stability.
6 CONCLUSIONS
This paper established mechanical model which char-
acterizes the rock beam under disturbance, and quan-
titatively analyzed the roof rock burst by using chaotic
dynamics.
1. This paper, according to the instability theory, got
the potential energy function of system through
Hamilton method; obtained the mechanical condi-
tion and disturbance criterion which quantitatively
judged the roof instability. This paper thought roof
could be dynamic buckling when it failed to reach
the strength and it is a further understands and
development for instability theory.
2. System in the unstable equilibrium state could be
occurred chaos under disturbance, so the condition
for roof in the unstable equilibrium state is the cri-
terion for rock burst hazard. The roof control which
has rock burst hazard could combine the dynamic
instable span and limited span, if dynamic insta-
ble span is less than limited span, we could adopt
dynamic instable span to compute the critical insta-
ble span, else adopt limited span. That is the dual
criterion of combination statics and dynamics.
3. Rock burst hazard for roof and tensile strength is
closely related, the smaller the tensile strength, the
less the rock burst hazard.
This paper is the preliminary study on inducement
mechanism of the rock burst under disturbance. The
above conclusions are obtained in this paper condition.
REFERENCES
Dai, G.F. 2002. Rearch on Nonlinear Dynamics Characteris-
tics of Rock and Rockburst in Coal Mine [Ph.D. Thesis]:
100–121. Chongqing: Chongqing University.
Dou, L.M. & He, X.Q. 2001. Theory and Technology of
Prevention and control for Rock burst. Xuzhou: China
University of Mining and Technology Press.
Feng, Z.C. & Zhao,Y.S. 2003. Correlativity of Rock Inhomo-
geneity and Rock Burst Trend. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering, 22(11): 1863–1865.
Ma, S.P. & Wang, L.G. 1998. Study on Mechanism of Rock
Burst induced by ground vibration. Ground Pressure and
Strata Control, 2, 73–80.
Mueller W. 1991. Numerical Simulation of Rock Burst.
Mining Science & Technology, 12: 27–42.
Pan, L.Y., Zhang, L.J. & Liu, X.G. 2006. Technology of Pre-
vention, Prediction and control for Rock burst. Xuzhou:
China University of Mining and Technology Press.
Pan, Y.S. 1999. Study on Rockburst Initiation and Failure
Propagation [Ph.D. Thesis]: 14–48. Beijing: Tsinghua
University.
Qi, Q.X., Kang, L.J. & Mao, D.B. et al. 2005. Rock burst in
China: Past, Present and Future. New Discussion of Min-
ing Engineering-Symposium of Postgraduate in Beijing
Mining institute.
Tan, Y.L. 2008. Ground Pressure and Strata Control: 256–
281. Beijing: China Coal Industry Publishing House.
Tang, C.A., Wang, S.H. & Fu Y.F. 2003. Numerical Test of
Rock Failure. 41–47. Beijing: The Establishing of Science
Press.
Wang, L.G., Huang, R.Q. & Wang Y.J. et al. 1998. Theory
and Application for Motion Stability of Rock Mechanics
System: 114–135. Beijing: Geological Publishing House.
Yin, G.Z., Xian, X.F. & Dai, G.F. 2004. Theory and Apply
for Rock Nonlinear Dynamics. Chongqing: Chongqing
University Press.
835
Zhang, M.T., Xu, Z.H. & Pan, Y.S. et al. 1991. A United
Instability Theory on Coal (Rock) Burst and Outburst.
Journal of China Coal Society, 16(4): 48–53.
Zhang, N.M. & Yang, G.T. 2003. Chaotic Belt Phenom-
ena in Nonlinear Elastic Beam. Applied Mathematics and
Mechanics, 24(5), 509–513.
Zubelewicz, A. & Mroz, Z. 1998. Numerical Simulation of
Rock Burst Processes Treated as Problems of Dynamic
Instability. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 16:
253–274.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Research and application of slope stability control blasting technique

in Shandak open-pit mine

W.Y. Xu, S.J. Qu, J.F. Liu & Z. Zhang

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Experiences showed that application of pre-split blasting nearby designed slope of open-pit mines
can protect the rock from damage caused by, and reduce ground vibrations from, bench blasting operations. In
order to provide a help to slope stability control of Shandak open-pit mine, a pre-split and buffer blasting
technical plan and field procedures were proposed and technical parameters to be applied were designed, based
on mechanical properties of the rock and geological conditions. It is demonstrated from field tests that the pre-
split-hole-wall can be reserved up to about 80% and blast vibration beyond the split can be reduced more than
30%, as the profile of the slope becomes more regular than those from ordinary bench blasting operations, which
implies that the perimeter control blasting technique can be effective for slope stability control of the mine.

1 INTRODUCTION

Field experiences showed that ordinary bench blast-

ing operations can cause vibration and serious damage
to rock slope of the Shandak open-pit mine. Along
with mining production since 2003, the height of the
slope is now up to 100 m from +962 m to +842 m.
The slope mainly consists of two types of rock the
diorite porphyry and silt sand stone, both severely frag-
mented. Two obvious faults are located at NE60∼70◦
and SW240∼250◦ of the slope and sliding of different
scale occurred around the faults. Occurrence of rock
falling from bench top of the slope becomes frequent,
especially at firing of bench blasting practices.
In order to reduce blast induced damage to the
slope and the ground vibrations from bench blasting R0 -Radius of the charge; R1 -Radius of the hole; R0 -Radius
operations, perimeter control blasting techniques are of the fractured zone
reviewed before a pre-split and buffer blasting tech-
nical plan was proposed and technical parameters to Figure 1. Radial decoupled hole charge structure of
pre-split holes and its effect on rock fracturing.
be applied were designed and field procedures were
proposed, based on the mechanical properties of the
rock and geological conditions. Pre-split blasting involves drilling of a row of
closely spaced holes along the final excavation line
and a quite light load of explosive is used in the holes.
2 PRINCIPLES
Pre-split holes are fired before any of the main blast-
holes adjacent to the pre-split are fired.
2.1 Pre-split blasting
Pre-splitting is used to isolate the blasting area from
Ordinary bench blasting nearby a designed slope sur- the remaining rock formation by forming an artificial
face will produce two effects, one is that the detonation crack along the theoretical excavation plane. Although
of the explosive charges in bench bore-holes can cause the specific theory of pre-splitting is in dispute, a
fractures to a certain degree in the rock slope, while the widely accepted interpretation to mechanics of pre-
other is that bench blast induced ground vibrations also splitting is that the pre-split holes are charged with a
have a significant and negative influence to stability decoupling ratio (Figure 1) and fired simultaneously
of the slope. However, Field experiences showed that such that the crushing effect near hole wall can be
application of pre-split blasting, as technical parame- minimized as tensile stresses enhanced within the area
ters are reasonably selected, can provide a useful tool between the adjacent and closely spaced holes being
for controlling the two effects stated above (Qu, 1986). capable of propagating the radial cracks (Commission

837

Figure 2. Distribution of tensile stress σt perpendicular to
the line linking the two adjacent pre-split holes.
Figure 3. Geometrical relationship of main blast, buffer
blasting, and pre-split blasting in a horizontal plane.
of Engineering Blasting of the China’s Society of
Mechanics, 1992).
Another interpretation is that the light explosive
charges propagate a sheared zone preferably a sin-
gle crack, between the holes. It is assumed that when
shock waves from simultaneously detonating charges
in adjoining blast-holes collide, tension occurs in the
rock, forming a crack between the holes (Figure 2)
(Dick, R.A., Fletcher, L.R. & D’Andrea, D.V. 1984).
For that reason it is important that the charges are det-
onated simultaneously or as close to that as possible.
For the best result, detonating cord or instantaneous
detonators are widely used for initiation.
2.2 Buffer blasting
Although the continuous crack produced in rock by
pre-split blasting can decrease the area and extent of
damage around the holes and minimize the ground
vibration from bench blast-holes, a certain degree of
impingement from main blast to the rock beyond the
main blast and the pre-split holes, to minimize this
phenomena, as its hole spacing and burden as well as
the hole charge amount are all smaller than that for
main blast-holes and higher than for pre-split holes
(Duan 2002, Zhang 1994).
3 SELECTION OF TECHNICAL PARAMETERS
3.1 Technical parameters for pre-split blasting
The technical parameters were selected based upon
properties of the rock in slope and geological
838
conditions of the mine. The slope of Shandak open-pit
mine basically consist of two types of rock, the propy-
litized diorite porphyry and sericitized silt sand stone,
both severely fragmented and weathered. Physical and
mechanical properties of the rock are listed in Table 1.
Pre-split hole diameter ϕ of 110 mm is selected
while hole spacing varies from 8ϕ to 12ϕ in accordance
with the site rock-mass conditions.
1) Hole diameter ϕ: 110 mm.
2) Hole angle α: 90◦ .
3) Hole depth H: Sum of bench height and sub-drilling
length.
4) Sub-drilling h: No sub-drilling is needed except
h = 0.5 m for very hard rock.
5) Hole spacing a: a = 8∼12ϕ, of which the smaller a
for continuous rock and larger for fractured.
6) Explosive type: Granular ANFO cartridge of
50 mm in diameter or emulsion explosive cartridge
of 32 mm in diameter.
7) Decoupling ratio λ: λ = 2.0∼4.0
8) Initiation: Pre-split holes are theoretically initiated
simultaneously with detonating cord at least 100 ms
before initiation of any hole of the main blast and
buffer blasting.
3.2 Technical parameters for buffer blasting
Hole diameter ϕ for buffer blasting is 250 mm, the
same as that for main blasts. Hole spacing ah and bur-
den bh for buffer holes are 4.5∼6.0 m and 4.5∼5.5 m
respectively. The burden from a buffer hole to nearest
row of main blast holes is generally 4.5∼5.5 m, as the
burden from a pre-split hole to nearest row of buffer
holes is about 2.5∼3.5 m.
Series millisecond initiation is used as a whole to
buffer holes and main blast holes.
4 FIELD TEST AND RESULT
4.1 Technical parameters for pre-split blasting
The field test was carried out in sericitized silt sand
stone. The technical parameters for pre-split blasting
include:
Hole diameter φ: 110 mm
Hole depth L: 12.5 m
Sub-drilling h: 0.5 m
Hole spacing a: 1.0 m
Total number of holes: 70
Hole charge quantity: 4.75 kg of emulsion explo-
sive, of which 1.25 kg is used as bottom primer.
Stemming length T : 1.0 m
4.2 Field Test procedures
1) Accuracy for drilling
The accuracy of position, angle, depth for pre-
split hole drilling should be controlled if possible.
2) Loading
a) Processing of explosive cartridges for load-
ing of pre-split holes. Four emulsion explosive
Table 1. Properties of the rock in slope in slope of Shandak Open-pit Mine.

Elastic Cohesive Angle of Compressive Tensile

Density modulus Poisson’s force internal friction strength strength
Rock Type ρ, g/cm3 E, GPa Ratio µ C, MPa φ, ◦ σc , MPa σt , MPa

Propylitized diorite porphyry 2.69 43.1 0.296 0.6∼1.0 45∼50 237.6 1.276
Sericitized diorite porphyry 2.63 30.2 0.28 0.5∼0.9 35∼45 133.1 1.33
Propylitized Silt sand stone 2.71 41.4 0.3 0.4∼0.8 35∼40 138.0 1.38
Sericitized Silt sand stone 2.72 31.5 0.275 0.3∼0.7 30∼35 117.3 1.17

cartridges of ϕ32∼35 mm are wrapped up as

a single one for axially continuous loading of
pre-split holes, in order to achieve a proper air
decoupling ratio of about 2.5∼3.5.
b) Use of decks is needed at the along the part
of the hole where the rock is soft or heavily
weathered or cracked.
b) As an effort to avoid damage of pre-split holes,
explosive charges should be loaded coaxially
with the hole as much as possible. Direct touch-
ing of explosive charges with pre-split hole-wall
at the slope side should be avoided at least, in
order to protect the stability of the slope.
3) Stemming Figure 4. A photo showing result of field application of the
Drilling produced dust can be used as the stem- pre-split blasting technique.
ming material. A certain amount of used plastic
pockets are loaded before stemming, in order to Table 2. Monitored data of ground vibrations.
protect falling of the dust into the hole. Stemming
length T is 1.0∼1.5 m. Resultant
4) Initiation in-hole peak particle
Nonel tube-cap at surface is used to initiate the Sensor Distance velocity
double detonating cords down through the length No. direction R/m Vmax /cm·s−1 Note
of the pre-split hole, as the cords will initiate the
primer located at the bottom of the hole. 1 Radial 86 in front of
5) Delay of initiation Tangential 86 9.20 the pre-split
Vertical 86
In order to control the ground vibrations from
2 Radial 91 6.19 beyond the
firing of the pre-split holes, all pre-split holes are Tangential 91 pre-split
grouped as each group consists of 10∼12 pre-split Vertical 91
holes and is fired simultaneously about 200 ms
before or after the other group.

4.3 Result and discussion
4.3.1 Reserved pre-split hole-wall ratio
Reserved pre-split hole-wall ratio is the percentage of
the obvious total length of hole-wall obtained after
pre-split blasting to the total length of per-split holes.
It gives a simple description to the effectiveness of
application of the per-split blasting technique. The
reserved pre-split hole-wall ratio of the test is about
up to 80% (Figure 4), which implies that the use of
the pre-split blasting technique is in a sense helpful to
stability control of the slope.
4.3.2 Seismic monitoring and analyses
Reduction of ground vibrations is one of the functions
of the continuous crack from pre-split blasting. Com-
parison of particle vibration velocity monitored at a
point beyond the pre-split with that in front of the pre-
split can be used to illustrate the effectiveness of this
function and also the quality of crack. The reduction
of ground vibrations is calculated with formula as:
where ξ is the percentage of reduction of ground
vibrations, %; V1 is peak particle vibration veloc-
ity monitored in front of the pre-split, cm·s−1 ; V2 is
the peak particle vibration velocity monitored at a
point beyond the pre-split, cm·s−1 . Monitored data of
ground vibrations are shown in Table 2.
The data in Table 2 shows that the peak particle
velocity monitored in front of the pre-split is 9.20 cm
per second and that beyond the per-split is 6.19 cm
per second, demonstrating that the reduction of ground
vibrations by the pre-split is about 32.7%, as the dis-
tance from center of the monitored bench blast has a
difference of 5 m.

839
5 CONCLUSIONS
Based upon the research work, following conclusions
can be obtained.
1. Application of the pre-split blasting and buffer
blasting technique can provide a significant help
to reserving of the stability of the rock slope by
forming of the per-split between main bench blasts
and the slope.
2. A decoupling ratio of 2.5∼3.5 and hole spacing of
8∼12ϕ are fairly reasonable and can assure result
of the pre-split blasting operations.
3. Application of the buffer blasting between main
blast and pre-split holes is necessary and effective
to avoid possible damage to slope from main blast
and thus beneficial to slope stability.
840
REFERENCES
Commission of Engineering Blasting of the China’s Society
of Mechanics. 1992. Blasting Engineering. Beijing: Press
of metallurgical Industry (in Chinese).
Dick, R.A., Fletcher, L.R. & D’Andrea, D.V. 1984. Explo-
sives and Blasting Procedures Manual. U. S. Bureau of
Mines Information Circular No.8925, 1984-435–472.
Duan H.F. etc. 2002. On Mechanism of Rock Cracking in
Near Final Slope of Strip Mine in Controlled Blasting.
Metal Mine, (12): 154–156 (in Chinese).
Qu S.J. 1986. Experimental Investigation of the Effect of
Geological Discontinuity Conditions on Rock Splitting
by Blasting. Rolla: University of Missouri-Rolla.
Zhang Z.C. 1994. Basic theory and design method of blasting.
Chongqing: Press of Chongqing University (in Chinese).
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Analysis on dynamic response of underground rock tunnel to earthquake load

P.S. Zhang & W. Yan

CREE of Shandong University of Science and Technology, Shandong, China
Key Laboratory of Mine Disaster Prevention and Control, Qingdao, Shandong, China

ABSTRACT: Recently, response problems of extant structures under dynamic loads have been hot spots
with the increase of earthquake disasters. Dynamic response analyses of underground rock tunnel have been
made using the dynamic mode of 3D finite difference software FLAC3D, considering the impacts of different
lateral pressure coefficients on the rock tunnel under the same earthquake load. Some conclusions are drawn:
the vertical displacement of the bottom of rock tunnel arch is the maximum under the same earthquake load; the
maximum vertical displacement at the tunnel top decreases with the increase of lateral pressure coefficient; the
maximum vertical velocity at the tunnel shoulder increases with the lateral pressure coefficient; the maximum
vertical acceleration at the tunnel bottom first increases and then decreases with the lateral pressure coefficient.

1 INTRODUCTION problems of underground structures have attracted

With the rapid development of social economy and the
acceleration of urbanization, lack of land resources
have a serious impact on the city’s various func-
tions, in particular, the normal functioning of traffic.
Development and utilization of underground space is
an important way for easing pressure on urban eco-
logical environment, challenging living space, which
has increasingly become a focus of concern to the
public. In the past 20 years, China’s rapid develop-
ment of tunnel and underground engineering, making
the achievements that attract worldwide attention, has
completed the scale and number among the best.
Meanwhile, China is at the circum-Pacific earthquake
belt, so earthquake activity is very frequent, and China
is the largest continent shallow earthquake activity
area. Failure on the surface structure caused by earth-
quake is well known, and countries have developed
code for seismic design of surface structures. How-
ever, large-scale construction of underground struc-
tures started late, and experienced a low frequency
of large earthquakes, so the information about earth-
quake damages is less, resulting in the seismic study
of underground structures behind that of surface struc-
tures. In recent years, with the increasing in the number
of underground structures and earthquake damage,
such events, as the Kobe Earthquake in Japan (1995),
Duzce Earthquake in Turkey (1999), Chi-Chi Earth-
quake in Taiwan (1999), Wenchuan Earthquake in
China (2008), andTsunami earthquake in Japan (2011)
demonstrated the appropriateness of this statement:
some tunnels were seen to suffer damage beyond the
limits of possible refurbishment. Therefore, seismic
increasing attention of the world.
There are two commonly used methods on seismic
analysis of underground structures: one is numerical
simulation using the finite element method; the other
is shaking table test based on underground structure
model. Numerical simulation, due to its economy and
reliability, has been used widely recently, and the sim-
ulation results play a role in guiding design and study
of underground structure (Liu 2010 & Pakbaz 2005).
Previous studies have shown that damage to under-
ground structures is caused by fault actions, portal
failures due to rockfall or wedge failures, liquefaction-
induced floatation or sinking, and ovaling or racking
deformations due to transverse shear waves (Hashash
2001). Among these, ovaling and racking of the tunnel
structure due to transverse shear waves are reported
to be the most common causes of damage (Penzien
2000). Damage is reported to increase with overbur-
den depth. The reasonable computing width is greater
than six times width of hole diameter during seismic
numerical simulation (Chen 2005). The above research
objects are mainly soil tunnels, and the conclusions
are not always applicable to rock tunnel. So this paper
aims to analyze the dynamic responses of rock tunnels
under earthquake loads.
2 DYNAMIC ANALYSIS METHODS OF
FLAC3D (IASCA 2005)
There are two methods of dynamic analyses in
FLAC3D, including nonlinear vibration analysis and

841
equivalent linear vibration analysis, considering the
mechanical properties of structural materials and large
deformation. Equivalent linear method is usually used
to analyze seismic wave propagation in rock-soil mass,
as well as dynamic interaction between rock-soil mass
and structures. Nonlinear dynamic analysis is to build
the model considering the nonlinearity in space and
time of the physical and mechanical properties of
materials, and the different stages of deformation and
failure on the model elements adopt different damp-
ing ratio and shear modulus to calculate the dynamic Figure 1. Model for earthquake analysis of surface struc-
tures and free-field mesh.
responses.

2.1 Calculation steps

Dynamic analysis is generally divided into the follow-
ing two steps: the first step is static equilibrium calcu-
lation under a certain geological conditions including
model range, initial conditions, material types, consti-
tutive model as well as filling, excavation and lining
of model; the second step is dynamic response anal-
ysis after applying dynamic load involving dynamic
boundary, mechanical damping, properties of dynamic
load as well as propagation properties of load in
medium etc.
2.2 Dynamic boundary
2.2.1 Truncation boundary
If truncation boundary is used for simulation, need to
set model boundary to be far enough to obtain large
enough model range so that the boundary reflection is
as small as possible, however, the model is too large,
need more computer storage and long calculation time.
2.2.2 Viscous boundary
Viscous boundary, as the first local artificial bound-
ary, put forward by Lysmer (Lysmer 1972), using the
principle of viscous damper energy dissipation, that
is, setting damper in the imaginary boundary of finite
model to absorb the dissipation wave energy using its
viscous damping force proportional to the velocity.
For example, incident P -wave on viscous boundary,
normal stress σn and shear stress σs are:
2.2.3 Free-field boundary
In FLAC3D, use Apply ff to apply free-field boundary
to all the sides of model. The principle is to simulate
static boundary using viscous dampers coupling with
free field, which is also a viscous boundary, shown in
Figure 1. Therefore, the calculation results from free-
field boundary are basically the same with those from
viscous boundary. However, if using free-field bound-
ary, input of dynamic load may adopt the acceleration
time history, without conversion.
2.3 Selection of damping
FLAC3D provides two kinds of damping methods
including Rayleigh damping and local damping. Local
damping is used in static calculation to achieve the
ultimate structure equilibrium, and is also used in
dynamic analysis. Rayleigh damping is used for sup-
pression of system self-vibration in structural analysis
and elastic analysis, and is usually expressed in the
following formula:
where α is the mass-proportional damping constant;
β is the stiffness-proportional damping constant.
That is, the critical damping ratio and the cen-
ter frequency, In FLAC3D, Rayleigh damping need
to set two parameters including the critical damping
ratio and the center frequency, determined by formula
(4)–(6):

where vn is the positive component of boundary

velocity; vs is the tangential component of boundary
velocity; ρ is medium density; Cp is the propaga-
tion velocity for P-wave in the medium; Cs is the
propagation velocity for S-wave in the medium.
During the dynamic calculation, the input of
dynamic load can use the following four methods
such as acceleration time history, velocity time his-
tory, displacement time history and stress time history.
However, stress time history must be used for viscous where ξmin is the damping fraction; ωmin is the angular
boundary. Acceleration time history is firstly con- frequency; fmin is the center frequency.
verted into velocity time history, and then into stress In this paper, the above three parameters are set as
input by formula (1) and formula (2). follows: α = 0.1, β = 0.03, ξmin = 0.055, fmin = 0.3.

842
2.4 Determination of iterative time step
Critical time step is generally calculated using the
following formula:

where Cp is the P-wave speed, V is the tetrahedral

sub-zone volume, and Amax is the maximum face area
f

associated with the tetrahedral sub-zone.

A safety factor of 0.5 is used, because formula (7)
is only an estimate of the critical time step. Hence,
the time step used for dynamic runs, td , when no Figure 2. Three dimensional grid.
stiffness-proportional damping is used, is:

If stiffness-proportional damping is used, the time

step must be reduced, for stability. Belytschko provides
a formula for critical time step, tβ , which includes
the effect of stiffness-proportional damping:

Figure 3. Three dimensional grid.

where ωmax is the highest eigen-frequency of the sys-
tem, and λ is the fraction of critical damping at this
frequency. Both ωmax and λ are estimated in FLAC3D,
since an eigen-value solution is not performed. The
estimates are:
are both applied horizontal restricts, and the bottom
boundary is applied vertical and horizontal restricts.
The model is divided into 22640 units and 24345
nodes, and the calculating range and grid generation
are represented in figure 2. In order to correctly ana-
lyze the effect of earthquake load on the tunnel, the
layout of the monitoring sites are located at the critical
points to reflect the stability of surrounding rock, and
the specific layout is shown in Fig 3.

3.2 Calculation plans

where ξmin and ωmin are the damping fraction and
angular frequency specified for Rayleigh damping.
The resulting value of tβ is used as the dynamic time
step if stiffness proportional damping is in operation.
3 APPLICATIONS
3.1 Flac3D Model
The project adopts the deep roadway of a coalmine.
The Flac3D Model is constructed without consider-
ing the effect of geologic structure and groundwater.
Original stress is geodesic static stress and soil lay-
ers are continuous conformable contact medium. In
order to remove the influence of borders, the geomet-
ric size of the Model is 100 meters in the X direction,
100 meters in the Y direction and 60 meters in the
Z direction. The X and Z directions of the model
The numerical simulation was made proper simplifi-
cation according to the actual excavation, and adopted
full-face excavation, then primary support and sec-
ondary lining. The primary support includes bolt and
concrete spray layer: the former is simulated by cable
elements; the latter is simulated by cshell elements.
Due to paper length, the paper only analyzed the
impact of the same earthquake load on the tunnel under
different lateral pressure coefficients, in which lateral
pressure coefficients were 0.5, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2 and 1.5.
3.3 Analysis of results
By numerical simulation, due to length, the paper
only gave the vertical peak displacement, vertical
velocity and vertical acceleration of critical sites
for surrounding rock stability under different lateral
pressure coefficients, as shown in Tab 1–3.

843
Table 1. Vertical Displacement of Different Monitoring Sites.

Top point (mm) Shoulder point (mm) Toe point (mm) Base point (mm)
Monitoring point
K0 max min max min max min max min

0.5 3.319 −0.5472 5.376 −0.8569 12 −1.817 14.14 −2.077

0.8 3.308 −0.5559 5.367 −0.8942 11.97 −1.927 14.09 −2.211
1 3.306 −0.5562 5.366 −0.9056 11.97 −1.956 14.07 −2.246
1.2 3.303 −0.5606 5.365 −0.9171 11.96 −1.985 14.06 −2.282
1.5 3.3 −0.572 5.363 −0.9359 11.96 −2.08 11.04 −2.332

Table 2. Vertical Velocity of Different Monitoring Sites.

Top point (m/s) Shoulder point (m/s) Toe point (m/s) Base point (m/s)
Monitoring point
K0 max min max min max min max min

0.5 0.0443 −0.0435 0.0623 −0.0535 0.1155 −0.1026 0.1288 −0.1125

0.8 0.0439 −0.0434 0.0628 −0.0533 0.1170 −0.1025 0.1289 −0.1124
1 0.0437 −0.0436 0.0631 −0.0533 0.1174 −0.1026 0.1292 −0.1127
1.2 0.0439 −0.0439 0.0633 −0.0531 0.1177 −0.1027 0.1292 −0.1129
1.5 0.0444 −0.0444 0.0636 −0.0529 0.1184 −0.1027 0.1294 −0.1130

Table 3. Vertical Acceleration of Different Monitoring Sites.

Top point (m/s2 ) Shoulder point (m/s2 ) Toe point (m/s2 ) Base point (m/s2 )
Monitoring point
K0 max min max min max min max min

0.5 8.635 −9.819 7.458 −11.34 10.38 −11.1 12.37 −10.67

0.8 7.579 −10.48 6.913 −10.71 11.9 −11.43 14.06 −13.7
1 7.804 −10.02 7.821 −11.17 12.47 −11.38 13.94 −14.34
1.2 8.619 −10.93 7.613 −10.69 12.2 −12.03 13.79 −14.9
1.5 9.05 −11.68 7.591 −11.09 12.17 −12.33 13.83 −13.78

Figure 4. Maximum vertical displacement at different Figure 5. Impact of different lateral pressure coefficients
monitoring sites. on maximum vertical displacement at the top.

The impact curves of different lateral pressure coef-
ficients on vertical peak displacement, peak velocity
and peak acceleration at the critical sites can be
obtained according to the data from Tab 1–3, and the
specific fitting curves are shown in Fig 4–7.
From Fig 4, the maximum vertical displacements
are different at different sites of the tunnel under
the same vibration load, in which the top is mini-
mum, 3.319 mm, the bottom is maximum, 14.14 mm,
so the closer the distance from the vibration source
is, the larger the corresponding maximum vertical
displacement is. From Fig 5, the maximum vertical
displacement at the top decreases with the increase
of the lateral pressure coefficient, from 3.319 mm to

844

Figure 6. Impact of different lateral pressure coefficients
on maximum vertical velocity at the shoulder.
Figure 7. Impact of different lateral pressure coefficients
on maximum vertical acceleration at the bottom.
3.3 mm, which is due to binding effect of lateral
compression on tunnel vault deformation under dif-
ferent lateral pressure. As can be seen from Fig 6,
the maximum vertical velocity increases with the lat-
eral pressure coefficient at the shoulder. When the
lateral pressure coefficient is 0.5, the corresponding
maximum vertical velocity is 0.06229 m/s, and the
lateral pressure coefficient of 1.5, the corresponding
maximum vertical velocity of 0.0636 m/s.
As can be seen from Fig 7, the maximum verti-
cal acceleration at the bottom increases first and then
decreases with the increase of lateral pressure coef-
ficients. Calculated from this result, the maximum
vertical acceleration of 14.06 m/s2 is the largest when
the lateral pressure coefficient is 0.8.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The paper made the study on the impact of static
lateral pressure coefficients on dynamic response of
845
rock tunnel under the same earthquake load using
3D numerical analysis method. Some conclusions are
drawn:
1. Under the same vibration load, the maximum ver-
tical displacements at different tunnel sites are
different, in which that at the top is minimum, that
at the bottom is maximum. In short, the closer the
distance from the vibration source is, the larger the
corresponding maximum vertical displacement is.
2. With the increase of lateral pressure coefficients,
the maximum vertical displacement at the top
decreases, the maximum vertical velocity at the
shoulder increases, and the maximum vertical
acceleration at the bottom first increases and then
decreases.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported in part by the Shandong
University of Science and Technology and Key Lab-
oratory of Mine Disaster Prevention and Control.
Research was sponsored by the Research Project of
China Post-doctor Fund (No.20090461257) and SUST
Spring Bud (No.2009AZZ180) and SDUST Research
Fund (No.2010KYTD106) and Qingdao Urban Con-
struction Committee Research Fund (No. JK2010-14).
REFERENCES
Chen, G.H. 2005. Analysis of the affecting factors for seismic
response of immersed tunnel. China railway science 26
(6): 93–97.
Hashash, Y.M.A., Hook, J.J., Schmidt, B., etc al. 2001.
Seismic design and analysis of underground structures.
Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 16(4):
247–293.
Iasca Consulting Group Inc. 2005. FLAC3D (Fast
Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 Dimensions),
Version 3.0, Users Manual. USA: Itasca Consulting Group
Inc.
Liu, N.N., Men, Y.M., Peng, J.B., et al. 2010. Dynamic
response of shield metro tunnel in earthquake load.
Hydrogeology & Engineering Geology 37(4): 58–62.
Lysmer, J., Waas, G. 1972. Shear Waves in Plane Infinite
Structures. ASCE J. Eng. Mech 98(1): 85–105.
Pakbaz, M.C., Yareevand, A. 2005. 2-D analysis of circu-
lar tunnel against earthquake loading. Tunnelling and
Underground Space Technology 20(5): 411–417.
Penzien, J. 2000. Seismically induced racking of tunnel lin-
ings. Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics
29(5): 683–691.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical simulation of uncoupling charge blasting

Y.P. Zhang & Y.M. Xu

Hebei United University, Tangshan, China

ABSTRACT: The stress process of uncoupling charge blasting is reappearance and the stress cloud and time
process curve of stress and displacement of blasting are educed by modeling and numerical calculating with the
help of LS-DYNA. Pressure and breakage of hole wall are analyzed when the uncoupling coefficient K = 2, 3,
4, and the functional relation of borehole pressure and uncoupling coefficient are educed. Axis stress, i.e. stress
along link line of the two holes, during diplopore simultaneous blasting is also analyzed.

1 INTRODUCTION DIPLOPORE Table 1. Material parameters of explosive.

Uncoupling charge is the most important technical ρ/ D/ CJ / A/ B/ E0 /

measure of pre-splitting blasting. The principle of g·cm−3 m·s−1 GPa GPa GPa R1 R2 ω GPa
uncoupling charge blasting can be summarized as
follows: to decrease the borehole pressure through 1.63 4300 5.06 42.0 0.44 3.55 0.16 0.41 3.15
uncoupling charge to protect hole wall and form
pre-splitting or smooth. This paper discusses the rela-
tionship of uncoupling coefficient and rock failure on Table 2. Material parameters of rock model.
the foundation of simulating the borehole pressure and
stress field of rock on the condition of different uncou- Elastic Poisson Yield Tangent
pling coefficients, and provides theoretical basis for Density modulus ratio strength/ modulus Hardening Critical
pre-splitting coefficients calculation. ρ/g·cm−3 E /GPa ν MPa ET /GPa parameter strain

2.6 55 0.27 117 2.0 0.5 0.06

2 UNCOUPLING CHARGE BLASTING MODEL

2.1 Physical model 3) Rock model and material parameters

The model is composed by explosive, air and rock,
using cm-g-µs unit system. The model is a cube with
100 cm side length. Linear charge is a cylinder in
model center with 5 cm diameter, and 100 cm length.
1/4 model is built and YZ mirror image is made
in post-processing to reduce computation of solving
process.
2.2 Material constitutive model and state equation
coefficients
1) Explosive model and state equation
The relationship of pressure and specific volume
in blasting is simulated by state equation of JWL.
Material parameters of explosive can be seen in
table 1.
2) Air model and state equation
Air under high pressure is described usually by
state equation of Gruneisen (Mahfuz 2000 & John
1998).
Parameters of air: ρ0 = 0.001252 g/cm3 , C =
0.344, S1 = 0, S2 = 0, S3 = 0, γ0 = 1.4, E0 = 0.0.
Elasto-plastic model with *MAT_PLASTIC_
KINEMATIC definition mode is selected in rock
model. Material parameters of rock model can be
seen in table 2 (Bai 2005).
3 ANALYSIS OF NUMERICAL SIMULATION
RESULTS
3.1 Borehole pressure of coupling charge
The maximum borehole pressure in coupling charge is
300 MPa more than the ultimate compressive strength
of any rock, and the hole wall is destroyed severely.
3.2 Borehole pressure of air uncoupling charge
When the uncoupling coefficient K = 2, 3, 4, the
time-process curve of stress of air uncoupling charge
blasting can be seen in fig. 2, fig. 3, and fig. 4.
The maximum borehole pressures are 45MPa,
40 MPa and 36 MPa respectively in air uncoupling

847
Figure 1. Time-process curve of stress of coupling charge
blasting. Figure 3. Time-process curve of stress of air uncoupling
charge blasting (K = 3).

Figure 2. Time-process curve of stress of air uncoupling Figure 4. Time-process curve of stress of air uncoupling
charge blasting (K = 2). charge blasting (K = 4).

848
Figure 5. Relation of borehole pressure and uncoupling
coefficient in air uncoupling charge blasting.
Figure 6. 2D time-process curve of stress and displacement
of uncoupling charge blasting (L = 10d).
charge when K = 2, 3, 4 and successive charge radius
is 5 cm. The borehole pressures are less than the ulti-
mate compressive strength, which can protect hole
wall effectively.
3.3 Functional relation of borehole pressure and
uncoupling coefficient
Borehole pressure is decreased with increase of uncou-
pling coefficient when the detonator diameter is 5 cm,
see Fig. 5.
The fitting function when the detonator diameter is
5 cm is:
P – borehole pressure; K – uncoupling coefficient.
849
Figure 7. Tensile stress of blast hole axis in diplopore
simultaneous blasting (L = 10d).
Figure 8. 2D time-process curve of stress and displacement
of uncoupling charge blasting (L = 15d).
3.4 Stress analysis of blast hole axis during
diplopore simultaneous blasting
Fig. 6, 7 are axis stresses when two holes spacing is
10 times of the diameter (L = 10d). Fig. 8, 9 are axis
stresses when holes spacing is 15 times of the diameter
(L = 15d).
4 CONCLUSIONS
The stress process of uncoupling charge blasting is
reappearance and the stress cloud and time process
curve of stress and displacement of blasting are educed
by modeling and numerical calculating with the help
of LS-DYNA. When K = 1 namely coupling charge

Figure 9. Tensile stress of blast hole axis in diplopore
simultaneous blasting (L = 15d).
the borehole pressure is more than the ultimate com-
pressive strength of any rock, and the hole wall is
destroyed severely. The borehole pressure is reduced
from 45 MPa to 36 MPa when K = 2, 3, 4, and get a
functional relation of borehole pressure and uncou-
pling coefficient when the charge weight is a cer-
tain quality. In diplopore simultaneous blasting, the
850
detonator diameter is 5 cm and K = 3, when two holes
spacing is 10 times of the diameter (L = 10d) the radial
tensile stress of X direction of line connecting of two
holes is no less than 5MPa in diplopore simultaneous
blasting, and when L = 15d the radial tensile stress of
X direction between two holes is no less than 4.2 MPa,
the fissure will be formed in connecting line direction
between two holes if the rock tensile strength is less
than the above data.
REFERENCES
Bai, J.Z. 2005. LS-DYNA3D Theoretical Basis and Example
Analysis. Beijing: Science Press.
John, O. Hallquist. 1998. LS-DYNA Theoretical Manual.
Livermore Software Technology Corporation.
Mahfuz, H., Zhu, Y.H., Haqu, E.A., et al. 2000. Investiga-
tion of High-velocity Impact on Integral Armor Using
Finite Element Method. International Journal of Impact
Engineering 21: 203–217.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical simulation of blasting excavation across a soil-rock

interface of highway tunnel

X.T. Zhao, Y. Liu & X.D. Zhu

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Numerical analysis of blasting excavation across the soil-rock interface of Heishan highway
tunnel was carried out using FLAC3D . The effects of blasting on the stability of tunnel were analyzed. The
method of spherical blasting wave was adopted to analyze the blasting excavation and the magnitude of charge
weight by safety was suggested. Blasting control during tunnel excavation process was discussed by numerical
simulation at last. The numerical results indicated that stress was redistributed at the vault and hence. Besides,
earth zone in the vault was sensitive to the blasting vibration as well as plastic failure is prone to develop. There
was also some damage in the center soil connecting with rock, however, which had little effect on the stability
of the tunnel.

1 INTRODUCTION Heishan tunnel and the application in blasting excava-

Blasting excavation has been a main method in a
mountain tunnel. It could be done safely and effec-
tively as the surrounding rock is in good condition.
Since geotechnical condition is changing, great distur-
bance and damage caused by blasting shock cannot be
controlled easily, even unstable failure would happen
when the surrounding rock is in complex geological
condition.
In the study about shock vibration effect of tun-
nel blasting excavation, researchers using method of
probability and statistics conducted a research on
the propagation law of blasting seismic wave and
its effects to underground structures mainly based
on blasting vibration field measurement and labora-
tory tests. Then they discussed and analyzed influence
factors on blasting vibration and interaction between
vibration wave and structures. Some empirical for-
mulas and security measures were proposed, too. In
recent years, numerical methods like finite element,
boundary element has been employed to analyze the
response of the underground structures affected by
blasting wave.
Heishan tunnel, located at the Zhangjiakou of
Zhangzhuo highway, came across soil-rock interface in
excavation process. Although the earth zone could be
excavated directly by machine, the rock zone should
be blasted firstly. The second part, rock blasting, is
difficult to be controlled, since it may disturb the
adjacent earth masses and induce unstable destruction
to the surrounding rock. Numerical simulation using
FLAC3D was applied to analyze the response of sur-
rounding rock. Stress and plastic deformation induced
by blasting vibration in the soil-rock interface of
tion control was also discussed in this paper. FLAC3D
could analyze the three-dimensional behavior of rock
and other materials that undergo the process of plastic
deformation.
2 OVERVIEW OF TUNNEL WITH
EARTH-ROCK INTERFACE
Heishan tunnel is a long separated tunnel in Zhangzhuo
highway connecting Zhangjiakou and Zhuozhou. The
left line and right line are 2766 m and 1305 m, respec-
tively. The tunnel lies in middle mountain region, in
which the topography is complex and both sides of the
tunnel portal are loess landscape as well as the scarp
and gully have been developed.
The whole mountain takes the shape of NE-SW
direction. The main lithology of the tunnel area is
Quaternary Pleistocene loess soil, Mesoproterozoic
Wumishan Jixian System dolomite and intrusive dior-
ite. Groundwater was not found in the region as well as
the drillings of tunnel portal. Where the tunnel portal
lies is hilly landscape and the grade of slope, loess
with gravel and stable under natural conditions, is
15◦ –18◦ . The median septum method was used in the
initial excavation of the tunnel, and then, the upper and
lower excavation construction method was adopted in
subsequent excavation.
Soil-rock interface appears at about 310 m from
tunnel portal. Loess properties are pale yellow, hard
plastic, vertical joints, gravel (5–30%) and mid-
dle density. Rock properties are gray, small amount
of dissolved gaps, aphanitic structure and massive
structure.

851
3 PRINCIPLE OF NUMERICAL SIMULATION

Blasting with drilling method is the most commonly

used manner in the excavation of mountain tunnels.
The principle is to smash rock by doing work of shock
wave and resultant material of explosion which are
generated by explosive placed in the drilling blasting.
In a tunnel blasting, explosives are generally
embedded in the rock mass closing to the free surface.
Since explosion compression stress wave is reflected Figure 1. Model profiles of FLAC3D .
tensile wave near the free surface, tensile failure hap-
pens. As this tensile failure connects with internal Table 1. Physical and mechanical parameters of rock and
damaged zone, excess pressure of inside detonation loess.
gas drives out the broken rock, and funnel-shaped pit
is subsequently formed. Material name Rock Loess
Blasting simulation concerns the propagation of a
spherical wave induced by impulsive pressure. The Parameter
following governing equation is employed, Bulk density γ/(KN·m−3 ) 25.00 17.30
Shear modulus G/Gpa 11.10 3.85
Bulk modulus K/Gpa 22.60 6.39
Poisson ratio υ 0.29 0.32
Tensile strength σt/Mpa 2.58 0.016
Cohesion C/Mpa 5.30 0.06
Internal friction angle (◦ ) 42 32
where Cp is compression wave velocity; t is time. φ is
a potential function; ∇ 2 is Laplacian operator.
To assume impact jumps from zero to p0 imme-
diately, and decays exponentially with the time con- 4 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF BLASTING
stant α−1 . EXCAVATION

4.1 Calculation model

The computational domain mainly consists of two sec-
tions that the upside is hard plastic loess while the
underside is dolomite rock by analyzing the geological
conditions, tunnel face conditions and geological pre-
The potential function as α = 0 is,
diction materials. The three dimensional model size is
140 m × 120 m × 120 m, of which the tunnel is located
in the centre. The width of the tunnel and the height
of the upper part are 16 m and 8 m, respectively. Blast-
ing holes are simulated by hollow spheres, with 1 m in
space and 3 m in depth.
Y-axis points to direction of tunnel and negative
direction of Z-axis is the direction of gravity. X-Z
1−v Cp r−a plane is parallel to the tunnel cross section. The angle
In which K = , α0 = ,τ = t− , between soil-rock interface and X-Z plane is 40.89◦ .
2(1 − 2v) 2aK Cp
c √ In order to simulate the stress field and geological con-
ω0 = 4K − 1 dition of the tunnel better, the centre of the tunnel is
2aK
selected for the study and the former part is excavated
where a is radius of the sphere; v is Poisson’s ratio; r by steps. The FLAC3D simulation model is given in
is radial coordinate; α0 is radiation damping constant; Figure 1, and blast holes in the model are also shown
ω0 is natural frequency. So the radial displacement is, in the upper right of the Figure.
Gravity stress field, combined with data of pressure
cells and strain gauge set in scene are referred to gen-
erate the initial stress field of the tunnel. A viscous
condition proposed by Lysmer is imposed on the outer
boundary. Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion is used for
both dolomite and hard plastic loess. The mechanical
parameters of rock and loess list in Table 1.

4.2 Blasting load

In order to determinate impact load, blasting load of
any point can be generally simplified as a triangle load

852
Figure 2. Blasting load curve.

in the rock media, which is formed by a rising stage

and a falling stage. Time-history curve of blasting load
is shown in Figure 2, typical action time of the rising Figure 3. Distribution of maximum principal stress.
stage is 8–10 ms and the falling stage is five times the
rising stage.
Initial peak pressure of shock wave is right the initial
pressure acting on the rock, so the initial peak pres-
sure of blast hole can be calculated by the following
formula,

where pm is initial peak pressure of shock wave; ρr Figure 4. Distribution of plastic zone.
is density of rock; ρe is density of explosive; Cpr is
longitudinal wave speed of rock mass; De is detona-
tion velocity of explosive; pe is detonation pressure of
explosive.

5 RESULTS ANALYSIS OF NUMERICAL

SIMULATION

5.1 Analysis of the former part of tunnel excavation

Figure 3 and Figure 4 are the distribution of the maxi-
mum principal stress and the plastic zone development
during tunnel excavation, respectively. It can be seen
from the Figures that stress is redistributed in the vicin-
ity zones of the tunnel after excavation and stress
develops rapidly in the border and corner zones. There
is apparent phenomenon of unloading in the vault and
hance regions, so it is necessary to set advance anchor
bolt at the vault in the field excavation. There is great
decline of stress in the region of tunnel face due to its
freedom, especially in the middle region.
Tensile stress in loess region could be seen appar-
ently in the soil-rock interface of tunnel face. As is
shown in the distribution of plastic area, the bottoms
of hance on both sides of the tunnel and vault have
been occurred some yield. However, yielded zones do
not develop further under the initial lining support, and
only produced yield in the surface area. At the same
time the central region of loess also had some plastic
area, but this region does not in-depth within the soil,
and the surrounding rock is stable on the whole.
5.2 Analysis of blasting excavation
Figure 5 shows distribution of maximum principal
stress on a section after blasting. The section is 1m
Figure 5. Profile of the maximum principal stress contour.
deeper into the tunnel face. It can be seen that the whole
tunnel section has been affected due to the blasting
impact force.There are also some stress fluctuations on
the outer rock of the tunnel, but the change of stress is
mainly in the blasting rock zone. Although in Figure 6
central loess reacts largely, which combined with Fig-
ure 5 shows that this area is an effect by both blasting
impact and upper excavation. However, this area is an
excavated part and stress is not much developed in
vault and hance zones of loess, so there is little effect
on the stability of the tunnel.
Figure 6a is the distribution of plastic area after
blasting. It can be seen that rock region of excavation
has been into plastic state. Because of blasting dis-
turbance, the loess of vault comes into plastic state
partly. Therefore it is necessary to set advance anchor
bolt reinforcing surrounding rock of vault. At the same
time the blasting shocks have less impact on the back
area of the blast hole than the front free surface area,
which is consistent with the blasting mechanism.
Figure 6b is the distribution of plastic area on a
section after blasting. As is shown in Figure, plastic
region does not expand outward. Blasting does not

853

Figure 6. Distribution of plastic zone of excavation region
(Cutline is same as Figure 5).
break the surrounding rock of the vault and the right
hance. Nevertheless, excessive blasting can be seen
obviously in the left hance, and this could result in
over-excavation. The amount of explosive at left hance
should be reduced properly in the actual blast.
6 CONCLUSIONS
FLAC3D is applied to undergo numerical analysis
including the effects on tunnel stability by blasting
vibration and its application in blasting control during
the blasting excavation of Heishan tunnel with earth-
rock interface. Some conclusions can be preliminarily
obtained as follows.
1) Vault soil could be affected by the blasting shock
when blasting excavation, coming into plastic state
and losing stability. Blast hole near the vault zone
should appropriately reduce the charge weight, to
both ensure that blasting rock, and does not cause
soil instability.
2) Center soil yields under the common effects of
blasting shock and last excavation. But it is in
the excavation area, so there is little effect on the
stability of surrounding rock.
3) The numerical simulation of blasting excavation
can be used to design the blasting excavation
control of tunnel with earth-rock interface as a
supplementary means.
854
REFERENCES
Cheng, Y.M. & Xu, D.P. 2009. Basis and Engineering
Example of FLAC/FLAC 3D . Beijing: China Waterpower
Press.
Dai, J. 2005. Kinetic characteristics of rock and blasting
theory. Beijing: Metallurgical Industry Press.
Huang, F. 2010. Study about dynamic mechanism and con-
trolling of rock-burst in tunnel by experiments. Rock
and Soil Mechanics 31(4): 1139–1142. Itasca, Consulting
Group, Inc. 1993–2002. FLAC3D (Fast Lagrangian Anal-
ysis of Continua in 3D) Version 3.0, Users Manual. USA:
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.
Liang, X.F. 2010. Application of Static Demolition in the
tunnel excavation. Railway Engineering (2): 44–46.
Lin, X.L. & Li, Y.Y. 2008. General Description about the
Controlling Methods of Hazardous Blasting Effects. In
Jinquan Zhang et. al (ed), Proc. of the 10th Coal Blasting
Academic Conference. Coal Industry Press: 131–136.
Ni, H.L., et al. 2010. Research on distribution charateristics
of Traffic Accidents in Expressway Tunnel. Highway (4):
126–129.
Qian, D.S. 2005. Construction Technology of Highway Tun-
nel. Beijing: China Communications Press.
Rafael, R., et al. 2007. Prediction of the airblast wave effects
near a tunnel advanced by drilling and blasting. Tunneling
and Underground Space Technology 22(3): 241–251.
Ramulu, M., et al. 2009. Damage Assessment of Basaltic
rock mass due to repeated blasting in a railway tunneling
project. Tunneling and Underground Space Technology
24(2): 208–221.
Su, J., et al. 2009. Numerical Simulation of Impacted Scope
of Wall Rock by Underground Mining with FLAC3D .
Nonferrous Metals (4): 161–165.
Wang, X.X., et al. 2007. Constructing skill of bad gelogical
tunnel. Shanxi Architecture 33(33): 317–319.
Wang,Y.G. &Yue, Z.H. 2009. Development Present Situation
and New Progress of Engineering Blasting. Nonferrous
Metal 61(5): 40–43.
Wen, Y.S., et al. 2010. Study of bench blasting technology
under difficult geological conditions. Mining Engineering
8(1): 44–46.
Xiong, C.D. 2007. Discussions on Pull-out Length and Pow-
der Factor of Drill and blast Tunnel. Tunnel Construction
27(1): 62–64.
Zhu, Y.Q. 2007. Tunnel Engineering. Beijing: China Railway
Publishing House.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Block element method for time-history stability analysis of a rock slope

H.F. Zheng & G.Y. Wu

East China Investigation and Design Institution under CHECC

ABSTRACT: Block element method (BEM) for dynamic analysis is developed and applied to historic stability
analysis of rock slope. Combining the idea of visco-elastic boundary with the theory of BEM, the artificial
boundary condition of BEM is formulated. Visco-elastic boundary has the merits of numerical stability and
convenience to integrate with computational program. The inertial force of rock block is firstly computed from
its acceleration obtained by dynamic analysis and then decomposed according to supposed sliding model into
sliding force and force perpendicular to the supposed sliding direction, which is used for calculating resistance
force. The stability factor against sliding is defined by the ratio of the resistance force to the sliding force. As the
seismic process finishes, the time-history curve of stability factor against sliding of rock block can be obtained.
The application of the water intake slope in a hydropower project demonstrates the capacity of this method.

1 INTRODUCTION

The dynamic stability analysis for rock slopes under

seismic load often makes use of finite-element method
(FEM). But FEM still has difficulties in the simulation
of numerous rock discontinuities (faults, joints, etc.)
which are discreted by special elements. To overcome
the disadvantage of FEM in seismic stability analy-
sis of rock slope, new dynamic methods based on the
discontinuous medium model have been developed
which can simulate a large quantity of discontinu-
ities. At present, there are various methods for the
deformation and stability analysis of multi-rock block
system containing a large quantity of discontinuities, Figure 1. Global and local coordinate systems of the repre-
of which distinct element method (DEM) (Cundall sentative block element rl.
and Hart 1992), discontinuous deformation analysis
(DDA) (Shi 1992), and BEM (Chen et al. 2002, 2003, a horizontal plane; the y-axis point to the west on
2004) are typical. the same horizontal lane; and the z-axis is oriented
In this paper, the block element method (BEM) is vertically. For each discontinuous plane, a local coor-
generalized to the seismic stability analysis of rock dinate system is also needed for the convenience of
slope containing discontinuities. The form of mass the mechanical analysis. The origin of the local coor-
matrix is elaborated, the visco-elastic artificial bound- dinate system of the jrlrmth discontinuity plane is at
ary condition for dynamic BEM is proposed, and the the plan’s centroid; the z-axis is perpendicular to the
seismic stability safety factor of a rock block element plane; the direction of the x-axis and y-axis are coin-
combination within the slope is defined. The applica- cident with the strike and dip directions, respectively.
tion study of the water intake slope of an arch dam Besides, the x-axis is always horizontal. Any vector
(292 m high) project which is under the construction {A} in the global system can be transformed into the
is presented. local system as follows:

2 GOVERNING EQUATION
2.1 Coordinate System
The block element shown in Figure 1 is delimited
by seven discontinuities, the strikes, dips, and central
points of each discontinuity which can be determined
through a geological investigation. Let the x-axis of
the global coordinate system point to the north on
the transformation matrix [L]jrlrm = function of the
strike φjrlrm and dip angle θjrlrm of the jrlrmth plane.
In the following deduction, the rlth block
element = used as representative block element, the
boundary plane of the block element rl is denoted as
jrlrm. The block element which contacts the rlth block
element through the jrlrmth plane is marked as the
rmth block element.

855
Figure 2. Compatibility of the block displacement and
deformation of discontinuity. Figure 3. Equilibrium of the block element rl.

At the point {x}jrlrm = [xjrlrm yjrlrm ]T on the jrl- 2.5 Equilibrium equation of the whole block system
rmth plane the stress and deformation are denoted
as {σ}jrlrm = [τzx τzy σz ]T and {δ}jrlrm = [δzx δzy δz ]T . Substituting Eqs. (2) and (4) into Eq. (3), the dynamic
The external load acting at the centroid of the rlth block equilibrium equation becomes
element is expressed in the global coordinate system
as {F(t)}rl = [FX FY FZ MX MY MZ ]T . The dis-
placement of the rlth block is also expressed in the
global coordinate system as {U}rl = [UX UY UZ WX
W Y W Z ]T .
where rm runs over all the neighbor block elements
2.2 Deformation Compatibility Equation
around the block element rl in corresponding to the
The displacements of the rlth and rmth block ele- discontinuity plane jrlrm, and
ments will cause deformation {δ}jrlrm on the jrlrmth
discontinuity plane (Figure 2).
By kinematics, the relationship between them can
be expressed as

in which [M] is the transformation matrix.

2.3 Force and Moment Equilibrium Equation
Summing stresses {σ}jrlrm on each boundary plane of
the rlth block element (Figure 3) and combining them
to the block centroid, the equilibrium equation for the
rlth block element is
For the other blocks there also exist similar equa-
tions as above, which are combined to form the
dynamic governing equation of the rock block system

A Gaussian integral method on the discontinuity

where nr = total number of the block elements; and
{pi} rl = volumetric inertia in the block element.
2.4 Constitutive Equation
The deformation and stress increments at any point
(xjrlrm , yjrlrm ) of the discontinuity plane jrlrm will have
the following relationship:
The elastic matrix [D]jrlrm can be expressed by the
normal and tangential stiffness coefficients.
and in the rock block has been proposed (Chen et al.
2002), which is convenient for the calculation of the
mass and stiffness in the Eqs. (6) and (7).
Damping is usually to be considered in practice.
Similar to the dynamic FEM, the Rayleigh damping
(Bathe 1982) is used in this paper
where α and β should be determined by the test.
For the earthquake problem of the block element
method considering damping is expressed as

856
in which {a} = earthquake acceleration, {Ür } = rela-
tive acceleration, and {U̇} = velocity of the rock block
system.
The dynamic governing Eq. (10) is similar to that
of the dynamic FEM in form. Therefore, the Wilson
method or Newmark method used in the dynamic FEM
can be applied to solve the dynamic governing equa-
tion of the BEM without difficulty. In this paper, the
Wilson method is implemented.
3 VISCO-ELASTIC ARTIFICIAL BOUNDARY
CONDITION
3.1 Concept
For rock slope problem, the calculation is conducted in
one part of the rock masses that is cut from the moun-
tain. The seismic wave will be completely reflected on
the boundary if it is not treated, which will lead to erro-
neous results. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce
restrictions at the boundary to eliminate the bound-
ary reflection; such restrictions are referred to as an
“artificial boundary condition”.
Various artificial boundaries have been proposed.
In this paper, the visco-elastic artificial boundary con-
dition proposed by Deeks and Randolph (1994) is
adopted for the dynamic BEM, which is the devel-
opment of the visco boundary condition by Lysmer
and Kuhlemeyer (1969). The general forms of such
condition in dynamic FEM can be expressed as
where σli (t), uli (t), u̇li (t) = stress, displacement, and
velocity of the node l along the direction i at time t,
respectively, and Kli, Cli = elastic modulus and damp-
ing factor of the node l along the direction i. They are
the functions of the material characteristics.
The physical meaning of the visco-elastic boundary
is: at every point and each direction of the boundary,
an element containing spring and damping is designed,
which is used to simulate the absorption and recovery
of the boundary.
3.2 Specification for the BEM
In the block element method, the spring-damping
element is put at the boundary as shown in the Figure 4.
For the block element rl contacted to the boundary
j, the dynamic governing equation can be written as
By the concept of visco-elastic boundary, we have
857
Figure 4. Visco-elastic boundary in BEM.
in which {δ}j and {δ̇}j = displacement and displace-
ment rate at the artificial boundary j, respectively; [K]j
and [C]j are the stiffness matrix and damping matrix
respectively.
4 APPLICATION TO XIAOWAN YDROPOWER
PROJECT
4.1 Presentation of the Xiaowan project
The Xiaowan project with arch dam of 292 m high
and installation capacity of 4200 MW is located at the
upstream of the Lanchang River, Yunnan province,
China. The water intake slope of the underground
power plant is excavated in the sound gneiss rock. The
rock is cut by several faults and one main joint set (with
SN strike and dip angle of 90◦ ), which causes danger
of rock block sliding.
After the consideration that all the potential unstable
rock blocks delineated by discontinuities are included,
the calculation domain is defined as: 200 m along the
flow direction (N50◦ E); 160 m perpendicular to the
flow direction.
4.2 Computation Model and Parameters
The main faults considered are f1, f2, f3, f5, f6, f89–1,
f89–6, gm89–8 and SN joint (Figures 5). The parame-
ters are listed in the Table 1. The volumetric weight of
the rock is 0.027MN/m3.
El Centro earthquake N-S wave with the peak
ground acceleration = 0.32g (g = 9.81 m/s2 ) is used in
the seismic calculation of the slope (duration time is
10 s).
In the calculation, the curve of earthquake accel-
eration versus time is to be input [Eq. (10)], the out-
puts are the response procedures of the displacement,
velocity, and acceleration. These output messages can
be further analyzed to calibrate the safety of the
slope.
4.3 Results
Dynamic stability state can be defined on the basis
of safety factor or on the permanent displacement.
 Table 2. Description and Static Safety Factors of the Rock
Block Element Combinations.

Block element Static safety

combination Description factor

f3 -Jf 6 Enclosed by f3 , 0.93

SN joint J, f6
f3 -Jf 5 Enclosed by f3 , 0.92
SN joint J, f5
f89−6 -Jf 2 Enclosed by f89−6 , 1.04
SN joint J, f2

Figure 5. Plan of the rock block element combination

f3 -Jf 6.

Table 1. Parameters of the Faults.

Friction Shear Normal

Cohesion, coefficient, stiffness, stiffness,
Fault c (MPa) f ks (MPa)/m kn (MPa/m)

f1 0.04 0.50 4,000 10,000

f2 0.04 0.50 4,000 10,000 Figure 6. Three-dimensional view of the rock block element
f3 0.04 0.45 4,000 10,000 combination f3 -Jf6 .
f5 0.04 0.50 4,000 10,000
f6 0.04 0.50 4,000 10,000
f89−1 0.045 0.50 4,000 10,000
f89−6 0.03 0.40 4,000 10,000
gm89−8 0.04 0.045 4,000 10,000
J 0.125 0.80 6,000 15,000

For the elastic analysis the safety factor is more

suitable

Figure 7. Dynamic stability safety factor of the rock block

where K = stability safety factor against sliding;
T = sliding resistant force; and S = sliding force.
For the dynamic BEM, the safety factor of any block
element combination at time t can be calculated by a
method similar to the static case
in which σt , = normal and shear stresses on the sliding
face j at time t, and f j, cj = friction coefficient and
cohesion of the j, respectively.
The potential failure mode of block element com-
bination and the corresponding sliding faces are iden-
tified by a technique called “enlightening search by
combination f3 -Jf6 .
the information with deep treelike structure”. With the
identification technique, three block element combi-
nations are found with lower static safety factors. They
are f3-Jf6, f3-Jf5, and f89-6-Jf2 whose descriptions
and corresponding static safety factors are listed in
the Table 2. The plan position and three dimensional
view of the rock block element combination f3-Jf6 are
shown in Figure 6.
The dynamic stability safety factors of the above
three block element combinations is then further stud-
ied by the method proposed in this paper, to provide
complete messages for reinforcement design. Figure 7
shows the dynamic stability safety factor of the rock
block combination f3-Jf6 during the earthquake. It can

858
be found that the dynamic stability safety factor is time
dependent and varies around the static stability safety
factor (0.93, see Table 2), with a minimum value of
0.69. Since the permissible static and dynamic stabil-
ity safety factors for the water intake slope in Xiaowan
project are 1.20 and 1.05, respectively, the stability of
the rock block combination f3-Jf6 is insufficient, and
the reinforcement measures should be taken during the
slope excavation.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the formulations of the matrices of stiffness,
mass and damping, the dynamic governing equation
for the rock block system is established. To elimi-
nate the reflection on the artificial boundary in the
seismic stability analysis of rock slope, the visco-
elastic artificial boundary condition is introduced to
treat the unbound domain problem. The proposed
method is applied to the seismic stability analysis of
the water intake slope in a hydropower project, from
which the dynamic safety factors of key block element
combinations during earthquake and their dynamic
amplification factors of acceleration are evaluated.
The dynamic block element method developed in
this paper could be useful in the slope engineering
where the rock mass is discreted into complicated
block system by faults and joints. It succeeds to
859
the advantages of static BEM: simplicity in the pre-
process and convenience in the potential failure mode
identification.
REFERENCES
Chen, S.H., Li, Y.M., Wang, W.M., and Shahrour, I. 2004.
Analysis f gravity dam on a complicated rock founda-
tion using an adaptive lock element method. Geotech.
Geoenviron. Eng 7: 759–763.
Chen, S.H., Shahrour, I., Egger, P., Wang, W.M. 2002. Elas-
toviscoplastic lock element method and its application to
arch dam abutment slopes. Rock Mech. Rock Eng 35(3):
171–193.
Chen, S.H., Xu, M.Y., Shahrour, I., Egger, P. 2003. Analysis
of rch dams using coupled trial load and block element
methods. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng 11: 977–986.
Cundall, P.A., & Hart, D.H. 1992. Numerical modelling of
discontinua. Eng. Comput 9(2): 101–113.
Deeks, A.J., & Randolph, M.F. 1994. Axisymmetric time-
domain transmitting boundaries. Eng. Mech 120(1):
25–42.
Ringen, A.C., & Suhubi, E.S. 1974. Elastodynamics. New
York: Academic press.
Kramer, S.L. 1996. Geotechnical earthquake engineering,
Prentice- all, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Lysmer, J., & Kuhlemeyer, R.L. 1969. Finite dynamic model
for infinite media. Engrg. Mech. Div 95(3): 859–877.
Shi, G.H. 1992. Discontinuous deformation analysis: A
new numerical model for the statics and dynamics of
deformable block structures. Eng. Comput 9(2): 157–168.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study of impact of surface blasting on stability of underground tunnel

D. Zhou, Z.Y. Tan & X.F. Cai

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
State Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China

H.G. Ren
Beijing General Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: In order to ensure the stability of underground engineering and safety of explosive when surface
blasting during underground mining-while-opencast mining (UMWOM), the blasting vibration on the wall of
tunnel is monitored with IDTS3850 and its impact of vibration on stability is analyzed and assessed. Based on
the testing data, the characteristics of vibration of blasting seismic wave are simulated with ANSYS/LS-DYNA
and its attenuating law in vertical direction is revealed, which provides a guide for design and production of
UMWOM mine.

1 INTRODUCTIONS 2 TEST ANALYSIS

Yongping Copper Mine is located in Yanshan County, 2.1 Test method

Shangrao region, Jiangxi province. According to the
exploration, the dip angle of ore body is varies from
40 to 70 degree, ore body thickness is more than 15 m.
However, the difficulty of open pit mining increases
with the increase of mining depth. Through compre-
hensive technical comparison, an open-underground
joint mining solution has been determined. Recently,
explosive charge of dynamite for open-pit daily pro-
duction blasting is up to 30 t each time, underground
infrastructure has been almost completed, the designed
production has planed to be reached in May 2011. By
then, the open-pit mining location is just over the upper
part of underground mining, with increasing depth of
surface mining, the distance between the bottom of
the open-pit mining and the first underground mining
construction field is gradually shortened. The impact
of open blasting on underground engineering is a new
problem in open-underground mining, and the stabil-
ity of underground engineering is becoming an urgent
issue to be solved. Extensive researches about the sta-
bility of underground works subjected to the open
blasting have been done at home and abroad, such as
Guanghui Jia (Jia 2001) obtained response character-
istics of underground structures under seismic wave
by experiments and numerical simulations, but most
of these studies focus on the study of transverse waves,
very few researches on the longitudinal wave. In order
to give a better guide for the production practice, field
monitoring and numerical simulation was carried out
and the law of seismic wave in the vertical direction
was identified in this paper.
The vibration velocity of particle is served as a
key physical parameter here. Vibration velocity is a
non-electric parameter. It is difficult to directly be
determined during high speed vibration process. So
it needs the transducer to translate other non-electric
parameters into electrical signals, then the electri-
cal signals are inputted into vibration measurement
instrument and recorded. After that, the signal strength
is converted into vibration velocity according to the
sensitivity of sensor. (Chen 1996)
2.2 Test instrument
IDTS 3850 blasting vibration analyzer is used
here. It has lightweight, efficient, ant-vibration, anti-
electromagnetism interference, low noise, high relia-
bility and other characteristics. It is mainly used in seis-
mic wave, mechanical vibration and various impact
signal records, data analysis, output, display, print and
data storage. It directly attaches to pressure, velocity,
acceleration and various kinds of sensors, and converts
simulation voltage to digital signal for storage. By an
RS232 serial interface and computer communication,
computer can make waveform display with various
spectra of different waveform feature parameter, and
test results can be displayed, saved and printed.
2.3 Sensor arrangement
According to the relationship between the open blast-
ing and underground engineering, the testing points

861
 Table 1. Blasting parameters in the mine.

Category Parameter Category Parameter

(1) hole depth 13∼14 m (8) the length of filling 5∼6 m

(2) exceed depth 2m (9) charge weight per blast hole 280∼330 kg
(3) angle of inclination 75◦ (10) Cannon aperture count 22∼43
(4) hole diameter φ200 (11) delay blasting time 42,65 ms
(5) toe burden 8∼10 m (12) blasting duration <1 s
(6) pitch of holes 6m (13) lithology Hard rock
(7) array pitch 5m

should try to be ranged along a straight line crossing Table 2. The monitored parameters of blasting vibration in
the blasting center. Based on the realistic condition, particle Z axis.
the testing points were arranged on −30 m, −50 m,
and −80 m level for measuring the impact of blasting Particle Z
Most From axis peak
seismic wave on different level.
blasting Total blasting vibration
explosive charge dispersion center velocity
2.4 Blasting mode and parameters Station (kg) (kg) (m) (m) (cm/s)

Emulsified explosives and vertical deep hole with mil- 1 320 7000 118 300 0.1000
liseconds short-delay blasting was applied inYongping 2 360 15000 170 220 0.2000
mine’s open stripping and mining as initiating way. The 3 390 14000 140 393 0.7178
blasting parameters are listed in Table 1: 5 280 6500 180 199 1.0700
6 420 17000 108 219 1.2800
comment level: the relative height difference between
2.5 Test data and analysis measuring point and explosion source
According to blasting vibration waveform figure in
Z axis for 5 testing points, the particle Z axis direc- Then the above equation can be expressed by a
tion can be decided, namely, the vertical direction peak simple linear one (3):
vibration velocity (Zhang 1981), shown in Table 2.
The monitoring of blasting vibration is an important
measure for better prevention of blasting accident. At
present, the main parameters of blasting vibration cri- Through the regression analysis of SaDaoFu yan-
terion index are measured by the peak vibration veloc- kees, the vertical value k, α of the formula is shown
ity of particle located in the protect object. Particle below:
vibration velocity was determined by the empirical for-
mulas, SaDaoFu yankees formula, by blasting testing k = 140.96 α = 1.5044
data of the engineering.
So the velocity of blasting seismic wave propaga-
tion under the testing conditions is:

where v is vibration velocity of medium particles

(cm/s); R is distance from explosion source to mea-
suring point; K, α is coefficients related with blasting
conditions, rock properties and others; Q is Quantity
of explosive (kg) each time.
In practical applications, the v, R, Q three parame-
ter values will be obtained through the field monitor-
ing. Then linear regression can be carried out with the
SaDaoFu yankees formula and media coefficient value
and attenuation coefficient value can be achieved.
Common logarithm is carried out on both sides of
formula (1):
The extent of damage induced by vibration is dif-
ferent from particle’s peak vibrating velocity. In order
to prevent the underground cavern from damage or
loss, and according to the law of blasting seismic wave
attenuation, the vibration velocities of blasting caused
at underground cavern roof and corresponding adja-
cent rock were calculated. The GB 6722-2003 standard
for safety vibrating velocity was applied to identify the
safety and the GB6722-1986 gives the safe vibrating
velocity for mine roadway:
(1) Rock is unstable but in good supporting, when
v < 10 cm/s;
(2) Rock is moderate stable and in good supporting
when v < 20 cm/s;
(3) Rock is unstable without supporting capacity
when v < 30 cm/s.

862
Table 3. The most large charge (v = 1 cm/s).
Distance
from the
blasting
center (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Explosive 6.5 51.8 174.9 414.4 809.4 1398.6 2220.9
load (kg)
According to mining plan of mine, the shortest dis-
tance between open-pit blasting zone and underground
cavern is 50 meters. Then opencast will end.
The closer from cavern to explosion source, the
more dangerous it is. So it is necessary to calculate the
vibration velocity and further to determine whether or
not it is safe when in the closest distance. At present,
the largest charge when blasting in the mine is rarely
more than 400 kg each time.
In order to insure the security, the largest amount
of charge calculation is 500 kg. By blasting vibration
decay law (4), the vibration velocity is calculated when
blasting vibration wave transmits to the underground
50 m:
It is clear that the adjacent rock of underground
cavern inYongPing Copper Mine is stable without sup-
port. So, in the case of the largest charge blasting of
500 kg in the open pit, the underground caverns are
safe and stable.
2.6 Determination of maximum safe charge
According to different structural buildings protected,
the allowing ground particle safe vibrating velocity
is different. When the safety vibrating velocity is
evaluated, the safety of ground architectural and the
stability of the cavern will be taken into consideration.
Because Blasting Safety Regulations (GB6722-1986)
refers that the safety vibrating velocity value for under-
ground tunnels (v < 10 cm/s) is larger than that of
general brick house on ground (v < 1 cm/s). So take
v = 1 cm/s to determine the largest blasting allows. The
largest safe charge can be calculated with the following
formula:
where v = 1 cm/s:
Based on the formula (6), the most large dose of
different distance from of the blasting center, shown
in Table 3.
863
Table 4. The most large charge (v = 10 cm/s).
Distance
from
blasting
center (m) 50 100 150 200 250 300
Explosive 638.7 5110 17246.2 40880 79843.7 137970
load (kg)
The distance between the Open blasting zone and
the nearest ordinary houses is about 250 meters.
This paper mainly considers the impact of open
blasting on the safety of underground engineering. So
the largest construction safety should be taken into
consideration and at the same time ensure the safety
of underground engineering. For the sake of safety,
the allowed blasting safe speed is determined to be
v = 10 cm/s, then
The most large charge is shown in Table 4.
From Table 3 and 4, we can see if control the largest
open blasting charge less than 630 kg, the structures,
buildings and the underground cavern group wouldn’t
be damaged around the blasting zone.
3 COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS
3.1 Modelling and initial condition
According to the present geological exploration and
related information, the underground chamber in
Yongping Copper Mine is U-shaped cross-section
without any supporting structure. The radius of the
U-shaped cross-section is 2.4 meters, the lower height
and width of the rectangle are 2.4 and 4.8 meters
respectively, the depth of chamber is 50 meters.
Included angle of initiation point in Y direction and
central point connections of initiation point cavern
roof is assumed to be incidence angle of blasting
vibration wave. Assuming the model of the rock mate-
rial is composed of the same homogeneous material
and the linear elastic model is isotropic for purposes
of calculation. 3D solid element SOLID164 is used
for model element, and hexahedral element for space
discretization and only a quarter of a model is cal-
culated here. The thickness of model after symmetric
process is 1.6 meter, cylindrical charging hole which
is filled with explosives is simplified cuboid and is
set at 10 meters under the surface. In order to avoid
computing interruption that shape distortion grid lead
possible, using Euler grid and multi-material ALE
method which allows a variety of substances in a grid
to the air, rocks and explosives. Two coordinates sym-
metry of the model are imposed planes normal to the
displacement constraints, the model of top surface is
free boundary and the remaining boundary impose
non-reflecting boundary conditions.A cm-g-µs is used
for System of units throughout the modeling process.
The model is divided into the open air, explosive place-
ment area and rock. ANSYS/LS-DYNA grid is applied
for the overall model and the study area is shown in
Figure 1.
According to survey data, the rock parameters are
shown in Table 5.
Emulsion explosives of the mine is homemade,
based on the density, detonation velocity and other data
from emulsion explosives plant and combined with lit-
erature (Song 2000), the equation of state parameters
such as material can be decided and is shown inTable 6.
3.2 Blasting velocity analysis
The maximum amount of explosive charge is 638.7 kg
which is calculated by blasting vibration attenuation
law, according to spot date at the depth of −50 meter
level, this maximum charge is chosen to be simu-
lated. The blasting impact of the pressure distribution
diagram with time is shown in Figure 2.
The peak velocities of particle A in underground
chambers on the roof, particle B at the junction of tun-
nel wall as well as the arched roof and the particle C in
the middle of chamber surrounding are compared with
the allowed safe velocity. The main damage vibration
velocity at chamber roof is the velocity in Y direction
and the surrounding rock is the velocity in X direc-
tion. Therefore, peak velocity in X and Y direction can
be extracted from those particle velocities. (Li 1993)
Table 7 is the three chosen particles’ peak velocity
under the explosion source, the three chosen particles’
peak velocity under the non-explosion source is shown
in Table 8.
Figure 1. Integral calculation model and study area.
Table 5. Mechanical parameters of rock mass.
Modulus of
density/kg·m−3 elasticity/Gpa Poisson’s ratio
2600 30 0.22
Table 6. Mechanical parameters of rock mass.
ρ/kg·m−3 D0 /m · s−1 PCJ/GPa A/GPa
1220 5000 7.625 326.42
864
Through simulation we can see: the maximum peak
particle velocity appears at the explosion surface in
the chamber particle around; peak vibrating velocity
in Y direction is faster than peak vibrating velocity
in X direction just under the explosion source around
the cavern; The chamber roof particle’s peak vibrat-
ing velocity in Y direction just under the explosion
source is always faster; The chamber roof particle’s
peak vibrating velocity in Y direction just under non-
explosion source. The chamber roof and adjacent rock
particles’ peak vibrating velocity in Y direction just
under the explosion source is not the maximum, peak
vibrating velocity in X direction varies from large at
the beginning and then to small when the seismic wave
incident angle gradually increases from 0 degree and
its decaying rate is slower than peak vibrating velocity
in Y direction decaying rate.
The new Blasting Safety Regulations gives the mine
roadway safe velocity from 15 to 30 cm/s, each parti-
cle’s peak vibrating velocity in Y direction and in X
direction in Table 4 are in the safe range, therefore, the
underground caverns are safe.
4 CONCLUSIONS
1. According to the measured data of blasting vibra-
tion instrument IDTS 3850 and SaDaoFu formula,
the blasting seismic wave vertical attenuate laws is
determined and the largest safe charge is back cal-
culated, which provide a basis for safe explosion
operations and shockproof as well as absorption
steps.
2. The finite element dynamic simulation solver
LS-DYNA is conducted for numerical simulation.
proper finite element model was established by
Figure 2. Blasting effect of the pressure distribution dia-
gram with time.
B/GPa R1 R2 ω E0 /J · m−3
5.81 5.80 1.56 0.57 2.674 × 109
Table 7. Three chosen particles’ peak velocity under the explosion source.

Cover Incident angle peak vibrating velocity peak vibrating velocity of

Order Ladung (kg) depth (m) (degree) of Y direction (cm/s) X direction (cm/s)

Particle A 624 50 0 4.23 1.18

Particle B 624 50 0 3.45 1.25
Particle C 624 50 0 3.43 1.31

Table 8. Three chosen particles’ peak velocity under the non-explosion source.

Incident peak vibrating velocity of peak vibrating velocity of

Order Ladung/kg Cover depth/m angle/degree Y direction/cm/s X direction/cm/s

Particle A 624 50 1.83 4.05 1.22

Particle B 624 50 1.83 3.55 1.28
Particle C 624 50 1.83 3.33 1.38

selecting proper air, rocks and explosive mate- REFERENCES

rials model and explosives of various parame-
ters. Numerical simulation for the impact of open
pit blasting vibration on underground horseshoe-
shaped like cavern was carried out, and different
particle peak vibrating velocity of rock cavern was
analyzed. It can conclude that the underground
roadway in Yongping Copper Mine is stable and
safe under the current open blasting conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper is financially supported by National High-
tech R & D Program (863) (No. 2007AA062132), and
National Key Basic R & D Program of China (973)
(No. 2010CB731501). and Key Program of National
Natural Science foundation of China (No. 51034001).
*Corresponding author: Z. Y. Tan, Professor in
geotechnical engineering, E-mail: markzhy_tan@163.
com
Chen, J. F. 1996. Effect of Blasting in OPen-pit on Stability of
Surrounding Rock of Underground Stopes in Tonglushan
Mine. China Mining (24): 24–26.
Jia, G.H. 2001. Effect of Blasting Stress Waves on Under-
ground Structure. North China journal of engineering
(22): 445–448.
Li, X. B. 1993. Influence of The Structural Weakness Planes
in Rock Mass on The Propagation of Stress Waves.
Explosion and Shock Waves (10): 334–342.
Song, J. Q. 2000. Research on Detonation Characteristics of
Emulsion Explosives. Beijing: university of science and
technology Beijing.
Zhang, X.L, Huang, S.T. 1981. Blasting seismic effects.
Beijing: Earthquake Press.

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Predication and prevention of geo-environmental hazard
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

A comprehensive evaluation model for rockburst risk prediction based on

analytic hierarchy process and probabilistic optimization

G.L. Feng, X.T. Feng, B.R. Chen, Y.X. Xiao & H.J. Ming
State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China

ABSTRACT: The rockburst problems cause serious casualties and economic loss and become a major disaster
in the field of industrial safety. According to the shortcomings both of the single assessment index and the
comprehensive evaluation methods for rockburst prediction at present, and considering the randomness and
relative accuracy of basic factors in geotechnical engineering, a comprehensive evaluation model for rockburst
risk prediction on the base of analytic hierarchy process and probabilistic optimization is put forward. The model
adopts multiclass indexes and a normalized thinking, coupled with the combination of qualitative and quantitative
analysis. It can predict not only the intensity grade but also the occurring probability of rockburst. Moreover, a
method with extended application including its condition is presented to make the model more applicable. The
model is applied to deep-buried tunnel section of auxiliary tunnels of Jinping II hydropower station. The result
shows that this model is more than available, but also comprehensive, simple and convenient.

1 INTRODUCTION are subject towill produce error inevitably. Particularly,

The rockburst problems involve multi-fields such as
mine exploitation, hydropower projects, and tunnel
projects of railway. They can cause serious casual-
ties and economic losses and become a major disaster
in the field of industrial safety. Many single assess-
ment indexes for rockburst prediction have been pro-
posed from different aspects, such as intensity, energy,
rigidity, fracture, damage, catastrophe, bifurcation
(Kidybinski 1981, Tao 1987, Hou et al. 1992, Ortlepp
1994, Linkov 1996, Li 1997, Xu et al. 1999, 2002,
Cai et al. 2001, Pan et al. 2004, Xiong et al. 2007.).
Rockburst is one of the most complicated dynamic
geological phenomena, with intricate mechanisms and
numerous affecting factors. A single assessment index
usually focuses on one or two factors, which will eas-
ily lead to one-sidedness and limitations (Wang et al.
1998). Therefore, comprehensive evaluation methods
for rockburst prediction have been proposed, includ-
ing fuzzy mathematics assessment, fractal, neural
networks, comprehensive integrated intelligent, AHP-
FUZZY, grey system, genetic algorithm and so on (Tan
1989, Xie et al. 1993, Feng et al. 1994, 1998, Wang
et al. 1998, Yang et al. 2000, Chen et al. 2002, jiang
et al. 2004, Yang et al. 2005, Li et al. 2008). How-
ever, these methods have not been widely used due to
their complexity or the unclear relationships of influ-
encing factors these methods used (Yang et al. 2000).
So far, rockburst has always been a fuzzy concept,
with intricate mechanisms and numerous randomness
affecting factors. Meanwhile, the basic factors are only
relative accuracy in geotechnical engineering (Wang
et al. 1998). So the comprehensive prediction methods
when the actual intensity of one rockburst is near the
boundary of two adjacent intensity grades, it will not
get a right prediction result due to some random fac-
tors. Therefore, as a fuzzy concept for rockburst, it is
not wise to predict it just with the accurate intensity
grade.
According to the shortcomings of the one-sidedness
and limitations of the single assessment index, as well
as the complexity and restriction of the comprehensive
evaluation methods for rockburst prediction at present,
and considering the randomness and relative accuracy
of basic factors in geotechnical engineering, a compre-
hensive evaluation model for rockburst risk prediction
on the base of analytic hierarchy process and proba-
bilistic optimization is put forward in the paper. It is
a proper model for rockburst prediction. Moreover, a
method with extended application including its condi-
tion is presented to make the model wider applicability.
The model is applied to deep-buried tunnel section of
auxiliary tunnels of Jinping II hydropower station. The
result shows that it is more than available, but also
comprehensive, simple and convenient.
2 A COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION MODEL
BASED ON ANALYTIC HIERARCHY
PROCESS
2.1 Analytic hierarchy process
Analytic Hierarchy Process is a hierarchical and struc-
turing decision-making method based on the combi-
nation of qualitative and quantitative analysis to solve

869
multi-target complex problems. It is a concise, system- to the existing references (Wang et al. 1998, Tan 1989,
atic and reliable method. The main steps of AHP can Yang et al. 2005), the paper adopts eight indexes which
be summarized as follows (Saaty 1980, 1985, Kamal relate to the three aspects mentioned above as assess-
2001). ment factors. They are intensity brittleness coefficient,
(1) Model the problem as a hierarchy elastic energy index, linear elastic energy, Turchaninov
Structure the hierarchy from the top through the criteria, Tao zhenyu criteria, Russenes criteria, RQD
intermediate levels to the lowest level which usually and classification of surrounding rock. And based
contains the list of alternatives. on these assessment factors, a comprehensive AHP
(2) Construct the judgment matrix in pairs of prediction model is established.
relative factors
Construct a set of pair-wise comparison matrices 2.2.1 Hierarchy structure model of rockburst
for each of the lower levels with one matrix for each A hierarchy structure model is set up form the top to
element in the level immediately above by using the the bottom hierarchy after comprehensive analysis of
relative scale measurement shown in Table 1. The pair- the eight indexes, as shown as in Figure 1.
wise comparisons are done in terms of which element
dominates the other. Reciprocals are automatically 2.2.2 Construct the judgment matrix in pairs of
assigned in each pair-wise comparison. relative factors
(3) Ranking of single factor and its consistency According to the existing references (Wang et al. 1998,
check Tan 1989,Yang et al. 2005), the paper adopts the mark-
Having made all the pair-wise comparisons, the ing method and builds the judgment matrix in pairs of
consistency is determined by using the eigenvalue, relative factors in every hierarchy, namely, W, f1 , f2 ,
λmax , to calculate the consistency index, CI as fol- and f3 judgment matrix.
lows: CI = (λmax − n)/(n − 1), where n is the matrix  
size. Judgment consistency can be checked by taking   1
1 1 2 1 1
the consistency ratio (CR) of CI with the appropri-  3 
1 1 3  
ate value in Table 2. The CR is acceptable, if it does W =  f1 = 3 1 3
1 1  1 
not exceed 0.10. Otherwise, the judgment matrix is 1 1 1
inconsistent. To obtain a consistent matrix, judgments 2 3 3
should be reviewed and improved.  
1 3 2
(4) Total ranking and its consistency check 1 1  
Steps (3) are performed for all levels in the  1  1 1/3
f2 =  3 2  f3 = 3 1
hierarchy. 1 
2 1
2
2.2 A comprehensive evaluation model
2.2.3 Ranking of single factors and its consistency
Rockburst is one of the most complicated dynamic check
geological phenomena, with intricate mechanisms and The result of single rank is shown as in Table 3. As all
numerous affecting factors. Rock property, stress con- of the values of CR are less than 0.1, the judgments
dition and structure condition of rock mass are three are acceptable.
aspects of important affecting factors for rockburst
(Ortlepp 1996, Zhang et al. 1998, Xu 2005).According

Table 1. Pair-wise comparison scale for AHP preferences.

Numerical rating Verbal judgments of preferences

1 Equally preferred
2 Equally to moderately
3 Moderately preferred
4 Moderately to strongly
5 Strongly preferred
6 Strongly to very strongly
7 Very strongly preferred
8 Very strongly to extremely
9 Extremely preferred

Table 2. Average random consistency (RI).

n 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

RI 0 0 0.58 0.90 1.12 1.24 1.32 1.41 1.45 Figure 1. The hierarchy structure model for rockburst
prediction.

870
2.2.4 Total ranking and its consistency check When the rockburst is strong, most of the single
The value of CR of the total ranking is 0.00699, which assessment indexes Vi will likely be big and then
is less than 0.10. So, the judgments are perfect. the value of W will also likely be big. Conversely,
And the comprehensive weight vector (U) is when the value of W is big, most of the single assess-
U = [0.077, 0.232, 0.077, 0.239, 0.072, 0.132, 0.043, ment indexes Vi will likely be big and the intensity
0.128]. of rockburst will likely be strong. Therefore, there is
Finally, a comprehensive AHP evaluation index for a one-to-one corresponding relationship between the
rockburst risk prediction (W) is established as follows. value of W and the intensity of rockburst. Applying the
ideas above, we can establish the AHP comprehensive
evaluation model for rockburst risk prediction on the
base of the parameter W.
where V = [Vi ](i = 1 ∼ 8) is the index vector of the The classification borderlines of the eight indexes
object hierarchy. above have been determined by existing research
achievements.According to the references (Wang et al.
1998, Yang et al. 2005, Li et al. 2008), the boundaries
2.3 0–1 linear mean quantization are adjusted for a few assessment indexes appropri-
ately to classify the intensity levels of rockburst by four
The comprehensive AHP evaluation index (W) is a grades, that is: none, feeble, moderate and intensive.
full reflection of rockburst and it is based on the sys- The assessment criteria for single index and rockburst
tem engineering decision-making method AHP, with classification are established, as shown as in Table 4.
multiclass conditions and indexes. There must be a In order to simplify and unify the assessment crite-
corresponding relationship between the value of W ria, the paper adopts a normalized thinking and carries
and the intensity of rockburst. The relationship among out 0–1 linear mean quantization for every single index
rockburst, single assessment index and comprehensive and the comprehensive evaluation index W, as shown
evaluation index is shown in Figure 2. as in Table 5.
There is a one-to-one corresponding relationship
Table 3. Result of hierarchy single ranking. between a quantized value and an actual value. And
the quantized values of Vi are obtained by a linear
Layer Weight vector λmax CR interpolation method. The function is listed as follows:
W −f [0.387,0.443,0.170] 3.018 0.0157
f1 − V [0.200,0.600,0.200] 3.000 0.0000
f2 − V [0.540,0.163,0.297] 3.009 0.0076
f3 − V [0.250,0.750] 2.000 —
where vi is 0–1 linear mean quantized value of Num-
ber i index, Vi is actual value of Number i index,
R = {none, feeble, moderate, intensive} = {0, 1, 2, 3},

Table 5. Quantitative assessment criteria for grade of rock-

burst intensity.

Rockburst grade
Quantized
indexes None Feeble Moderate Intensive

Indexes vi 0–0.25 0.25–0.5 0.5–0.75 0.75–1

Comprehensive 0–0.25 0.25–0.5 0.5–0.75 0.75–1
Figure 2. The relationship among rockburst, single assess- index W
ment index and comprehensive evaluation index.

Table 4. Grade of rockburst intensity and assessment criteria for single index.

Rockburst grade
Num Assessment indexes None Feeble Moderate Intensive

V1 Intensity brittleness coefficient 0–10 10–14 14–18 18–22 & >22

V2 Elastic energy index 0–2.0 2.0–3.5 3.5–5.0 5.0–6.5 & >6.5
V3 Linear elastic energy 0–40 40–100 100–200 200–400 & >400
V4 Turchaninov criteria >23.5 & 23.5–14.5 14.5–5.5 5.5–2.5 2.5–0
V5 Taozhenyu criteria 0–0.20 0.20–0.30 0.30–0.55 0.55–0.8 & >0.8
V6 Russenes criteria 0–0.3 0.3–0.5 0.5–0.8 0.8–1.1 & >1.1
V7 RQD 0–0.25 0.25–0.50 0.50–0.70 0.70–1
V8 Classification of surrounding rock V-IV IV-III III-II II-I

871
Rmin and Rmax are the minimum and maximum actual
value in R grade of rockburst intensity.
Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation model for
rockburst risk prediction based on AHP is established
as follows.
where v = [vi ](i = 1 ∼ 8) is the quantized index vector
of the object hierarchy.
3 PROBABILISTIC OPTIMIZE FOR THE AHP
COMPREHENSIVE MODEL
Though multiclass indexes have been adopted to
improve the accuracy of prediction, the comprehensive
prediction model is still subject to error inevitably due
to the complexity, randomness and relative accuracy
mentioned above. Therefore, a probabilistic optimiza-
tion method is introduced in this paper to optimize the
AHP comprehensive model. By using this method, we
can predict not only the intensity grade but also the
occurring probability of every grade of rockburst.
3.1 Probabilistic prediction model
The relationship between intensity grade of rockburst
and its probability-distribution function is established,
shown as in Figure 3. The paper gets this relation by
the principles as follows. Firstly, when the value of W
is equal to one of the critical values in Table 5, the
occurring probability of the two adjacent grades of
rockburst will be the same, namely 50% respectively.
Secondly, when the value of W is equal to the inter-
mediate value of one grade, it will have nothing to do
with the adjacent grades. So, the probability for that
grade will be 100%. And W = 0 means none rockburst
with 100% probability. W = 1 means intensive rock-
burst with 100% probability. Then, the result of the
comprehensive model for rockburst prediction is rel-
ative reliable. It will not have a terrible deviation. The
worst is to cause the result to adjacent grade. Finally,
make the probability-distribution function linear for
simplification.
Based on these principles, a comprehensive evalua-
tion model for rockburst risk prediction is put forward
as follows.
In the equations above, w(R) = 0.25R is the crit-
ical value of rockburst intensity of gradeR; P(R)
872
Figure 3. The relationship between rockburst intensity and
its probability-distribution function.
is the intensity grade of rockburst and its occurring
probability.
Therefore, we can predict the intensity grade and its
occurring probability of rockburst as follows:
(a) Get the actual value Vi of all single assessment
indexes;
(b) Calculate the quantized value vector by Eq. 2;
(c) Calculate the comprehensive evaluation index by
Eq. 3;
(d) Predict the intensity grade and its occurring prob-
ability of rockburst by Eq. 4.
4 AN EXPANSION OF THE COMPREHENSIVE
MODEL
According to the modeling principle, the paper puts
forward a method with extended application including
its condition to make the model more applicable. When
a few indexes used in this paper can not be otained
in practical engineering, we can revise the model as
follows.
(1) Make the value of the absent indexes equal to 0;
(2) Make a new quantitative comprehensive assess-
ment criterion for grade of rockburst intensity. The
critical values of each grade minuses the weight
coefficient (Ui ) of the absent indexes. Meanwhile,
keep the minimum critical value of none rockburst
intensity zero.
And the application conditions for expansion:
(1) The comprehensive evaluation model is on the
basis of rock property, stress condition and struc-
ture condition of rock mass, so there must be
one index related to them at least. Otherwise, the
model will not be a comprehensive one.
(2) The object of big weight coefficient should be
existed because it is extremely important to the
result of the comprehensive evaluation according
to the principle of AHP.
On the basis of thinking mentioned above, the tech-
nical route of comprehensive prediction for rockburst
is summarized in Figure 4.

Figure 4. The technical route of comprehensive evalua-
tion model for rockburst risk prediction based on AHP and
probabilistic optimization.
Figure 5. Geological profile of auxiliary tunnels of Jinping
II hydropower station.
5 APPLICATION
The proposed model is applied to deep-buried tunnel
section in auxiliary tunnels of Jinping II hydropower
station. The geological profile of the tunnel is shown
in Figure 5.
5.1 Comprehensive evaluation for rockburst risk
prediction
(a) Results of the eight indexes actual value are
V = [31.34, 3.42, 196.33, 1.43, 2.08, 1.04, 0.92, II].
(b) By the eq. 2, the result of the 0–1 linear mean
quantized value vector is v = [1, 0.487, 0.741, 0.857,
1, 0.95, 1, 0.75].
(c) By the eq. 3, W = UvT = 0.788;
(d) By the eq. 4,
That is to say, the occurring probability for inten-
sive rockburst is 65.2% and for moderate rockburst is
34.8%. The result shows that there will be a moderate
873
or intensive rockburst and it is more likely to be an
intensive one.
5.2 An expansion of the comprehensive evaluation
model
The paper takes the absence of the third index which
is of small weight coefficient as example to show an
expansion application.
(a) Results of the eight indexes actual value are
V = [31.34, 3.42, 0, 1.43, 2.08, 1.04, 0.92, II].
(b) By the eq. 2, the result of the 0–1 linear mean
quantized value vector is v = [1, 0.487, 0, 0.857, 1,
0.95, 1, 0.75].
(c) By the eq. 3, W = UvT = 0.731.
(d) By the eq. 4,
That is to say, the occurring probability for inten-
sive rockburst is 73.3% and for moderate rockburst
is 26.7%. The result shows that there will be a mod-
erate or intensive rockburst and it is very likely to
be an intensive one. This result agrees well with the
comprehensive evaluation result discussed above.
Practical results show that some intensive rock-
burst indeed occured there. It is in accordance with
the prediction result.
The method of AHP and the thinking of 0–1 linear
mean quantization deal well with the shortcomings of
the one-sidedness and limitations of the single assess-
ment index and the complexity and restriction of the
comprehensive evaluation methods. The probabilistic
optimization reflects the phenomenon of randomness
and relative accuracy of basic factors in geotechni-
cal engineering. The theory and results show that the
model is more than available, but also comprehensive,
simple and convenient.
6 CONCLUSION
(1) According to the shortcomings of the one-
sidedness and limitations of the single assessment
index, as well as the complexity and restric-
tion of the comprehensive evaluation methods
for rockburst prediction at present, and consid-
ering the random-ness and relative accuracy of
basic factors in geo-technical engineering, a com-
prehensive evaluation model for rockburst risk
prediction based on analytic hierarchy process and
probabilistic optimization is put forward in this
paper.
(2) A method with extended application including its
condition is promoted to make the model wider
applicable.
(3) The proposed model is applied to deep-buried
tunnel section in auxiliary tunnels of Jinping II
hydropower station. The result shows that the
model is more than available, but also compre-
hensive, simple and convenient.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by China 973 Program under
Grant No. 2010CB732006 and National Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China under Grant No. 50909092.
The authors also would like to thank Professors Hu
Xinli and Hu Bin in China University of Geosciences
(Wuhan) for their help.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Development and application of BIM-based highway construction

management platform

Q. Fu, L.W. Zhang, M.W. Xie & X.D. He

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Building Information Modeling (BIM) covers most of the information of a construction project,
and becomes a powerful for construction management nowadays. In this paper, a BIM-based highway con-
struction management platform was established. There are mainly three part in this platform, including data
management, data updating and query. High-precision images from QuickBird were taken as the main data
source. SQL server database was used to manage all the construction data. GIS was then applied as a tool to
integrate all the functions together. The platform was then applied on a part of the Jinghua highway. It is shown
that a construction management platform established based on BIM concept could make the construction more
efficient and effective.

1 INTRODUCTION In this paper, a BIM-based platform for the high-

way construction management is established, with
The concept of Building Information Modeling (BIM), the support of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
also named Building Product Models (Eastman 1999), andweb services. The integrated platform was then
was first clearly presented by Bernsteinand Bhatt. applied in actual construction management processof
This concept was then broadly accepted by engi- a highway in China. It is shown that the platform estab-
neers. It creates and applies digital models to help the lished in this paper could be a helpful tool forhighway
project management in the whole life circle of a build- construction.
ing, including design, construction and operation. To
achieve this, BIM integrates all kinds of information
for the building into a digitalized system.
2 BASIC STRUCTURE
Study on the BIM standard gains more and more
attentions after advantages over 10 year. In 1991,
Construction of a highway is a kind of comprehen-
Industry Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) released
sive project. It could be subdivided into many units,
the first full version of Industry Foundation Classes. In
including bridges, tunnels, slope cuttings and fillings,
2006, a practical BIM standard was proposed based on
foundations and pavements, and some attachments like
IFC in USA, named by National Building Information
drainage, slope protection and the service area, etc.
Model Standard (US National Institute of Building
Compared with other facilities such as public build-
Sciences Facilities Information Council, BIM Com-
ings and hydropower station, highway is more like a
mittee 2006). According to newly released version
line carrying traffics. So the modeling of highway con-
of NBIMS in 2007, a BIM defines the cumulative,
struction is quite simpler than other facilities. We do
shared knowledge resource containing many different
not need to make the digital model so fine to identify
kinds of information from many different application
all the details of a specific attachment.
platforms (US National Institute of Building Sci-
Considering what kind of information we need to
ences Facilities Information Council, BIM Committee
know to manage the highway construction, and what
2007). The definition could be logical, physical or
kind of function need to be realize to support the
virtual for the life cycle of a facility.
management, a brief structure of BIM-based highway
Because of the ability to efficiently manage and
construction management platform is presented here,
control the project process, BIM is widely applied in
shown in Figure 1.
the construction of many kinds of facilities, especially
There are mainly three levels in this basic structure.
highway.
The total length of highway in China is now about (1) Persons level categorized people into mainly five
74,000 km. Furthermore, the total length is planned to groups, including owners, designers, constructors,
108,000 km by 2015. So it is obvious that lots of high- supervisors, and operators.
way need to be built from now on. Under this condition, (2) Phrases level mainly deals with timing. It covers
it is necessary to make the highway construction more all those work related with construction, such as
efficient. survey, design, testing, and monitoring.

875
Figure 1. Structure for BIM-based highway construction
management platform.
(3) Construction units level covers the units in high-
way construction, including bridges, tunnels,
roadbed, pavement, slope protections, and so on.
According to the characteristics of highway, con-
struction could be subdivided into units mentioned
above. Different unit might be constructed by dif-
ferent contractors. In this way, construction of the
highway could be also managed by unit. For exam-
ple, the schedule of each unit could be controlled
separately.
3 DEVELOPMENT
Based on the above three-leveled structure, a sim-
ple platform for highway construction management is
established here. The main data structure and function
of this platform is illustrated in Figure 2.
To overcome the shortcoming of traditional man-
agement method, BIM integrate all the information
needed into a digitalized system, shown in Fig-
ure 2. As for highway construction, data like geology,
topography, transportation, building facilities along
the highway are necessary.These are environmental
parameters. Besides, the design data for facilities, as
well as the construction information like real schedule
of a unit, are directly used to describe the construction
itself.
This system is not static. On the opposite side, the
system must be open or dynamic so that any change
differs from plan could be considered. In another
words, the system must grow up or update dynamically
as it does in reality.
Before the construction of a highway, there are
already many roads along it, which makes it inevitable
to pass through those roads built already. From this
876
Figure 2. Data and function design of a simple BIM-based
highway construction management platform.
aspect, three-dimensional visualization seems critical
for efficient construction management.
To achieve the management ability using this plat-
form, basic query functions such as query about
detailed three-dimensional parameters of some units
need to be included. Furthermore, schedule manage-
ment for each unit construction is also necessary. In
this paper, simple bar graph is used to describe the
construction schedule.
4 APPLICATION
Based on all the above consideration, a simple plat-
form was established and applied on the construction
management of one part of a highway in Hebei
province, China.This part ofhighway is designed to
connectTumu and Jiaoniwan.
The route is roughly 72 kmlong, with 25 super major
bridges, 4 tunnels, and 100 grade separations.
4.1 Data source
Quickbrid satellite images along the highway with
high precision were firstly gathered. Afterbeing pre-
processed and adjusted, they are merged with the
digital elevation model (DEM). By this way, three-
dimensional image for the study area was successfully
created, as shown in Figure 3.
Other data, such as traffic, facilities, and CAD
files for design, are transformed after importing into
Figure 3. Quickbird satellite images for study area.

Figure 5. Data management.

Figure 4. GIS database of highway construction.

a geodatabase. The raw data usually stores in dwg for-

mat. Using ArcGIS, data in dwg format is transformed
into shp format by layers. The vector data is shown in
Figure 4.

4.2 Data management

Figure 6. 3D visualization.
In design stage of the platform, basic data, such as
the geological and topological information, is static
and could be managed with GIS. Other attribute data,
such as the schedule information input by constructor
with web, is dynamic and is not suitable to be man-
aged with GIS. Here SQL server was selected as the
dynamic data management tool. So actually, a hybrid
data management system is utilized, with both ArcGIS
and SQL server, shown in Figure 5.
Different person were authorized to mainly two
types, i.e. constructors and managers. Constructors
input the schedule information in reality, and they
could only read those data that they charges. Man-
agers could read, query, and analyze all the schedule
Figure 7. In site photos taken at real time.
information.

4.4 Construction schedule management

4.3 3D Visualization
Three-dimensional visualization is realized using Sky-
line, as shown in Figure 6. Three-dimensional query
could be easily performed by this GUI. In order to
make the management more efficient, in-situ photos
taken at real time are updated by constructors, so that
managers could check by simply click on the links, as
shown in Figure 7.
To manage the construction schedule, basic informa-
tion should be updated dynamically. Here, an input
interface for constructors is supplied as shown in
Figure 8.
Based on the schedule information stored in the
database, managers could query and analysis tasks.
As shown in Figure 9, the construction of a bridge
is divided into many levels of subunits. The manager

877

Figure 8. Schedule information input GUI for constructors.
Figure 9. Query about the construction schedule of a bridge.
Figure 10. Schedule of a unit construction.
878
could easily query and check the construction through
this interface. To analyze whether the schedule is left
behind or not, or which part of the unit is left behind,
Gantt chart is used here, as shown in Figure 10.
5 CONCLUSION
A simplified BIM-based highway construction man-
agement platform was established, withQuickbird
satellite images and DEM. Three-dimensional visual-
ization, construction schedule input, query and anal-
ysis could be easily performed by this plat form. The
platform was then applied on one part of the Jinghua
highway construction management. It is shown that
the platform could be a helpful tool to make the
construction management more efficient and effective.
REFERENCES
Eastman, C.M. Building Product Models: Computer Environ-
ments Supporting Design and Construction. 1999, Boca
Raton, FL: CRC Press
US National Institute of Building Sciences Facilities Informa-
tion Council, BIM Committee. NBIMS (2006), National
BIM Standard Purpose.
US National Institute of Building Sciences Facilities
Information Council, BIM Committee. NBIMS (2007),
National Building Information Modeling Standard Part-1:
Overview, Principles and Methodologies.
Bazjanac,V. 2007. Impact of the U.S. National Building Infor-
mation Model Standard (NBIMS) on Building Energy Per-
formance Simulation. Proceeding of Building Simulation
Beijing, China, pp 1377–21382.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

The study of casing collapse deformation for slump fault

B. Hou, M. Chen & Y. Jin

Key Laboratory for Petroleum Engineering of the Ministry of Education, China University of Petroleum Beijing,
Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The research presented attempts to simulate the tectonic stress field distributions by inverting
the actual well logging and by establishing the finite element model of structural fault. Since the earthquakes
can lead to abrupt change instantaneously of tectonic stress field, slump fault could be simulated owing to abrupt
change stresses inside the tectonic stress field by increasing edge loading instantaneously in the two opposite
side of the field. Sliding on fault can result in casing collapse deformation. So the quantity analyses between the
rock formation slippage and the casing strength were conducted. Meanwhile, the influence of casing load was
analyzed by simulating parallel wellbore fault and shear casing fault. From a new aspect, the paper investigated
the impact of the tectonic stress field due to the earthquake and then analyzed its influences on the casing collapse
deformation. It shown that this method is applicable and effective for casing strength design.

1 INTRODUCTION

Qunkuqiake structural zone is located in Taxinan

depressed area of Tarim basin, where the earthquake
frequently occurs. During the process of India plate
being propelled toward north, the changes of structure
load were reflected by the increasing of pressures of
Taxinan in close-north and close-south. There is a huge
Bashituopu faulted zone in the south of Qunkuqiake
structural zone. Therefore, some slump faults will be
emerged due to the seismic activity, which causes the
sliding of the formations along different directions and
consequently leads to the casing collapse. This prob-
lem brings serious damage to casing security (Yang et
al. 2000, Zeng et al. 2007, Sone et al. 2005, Zhou &
Yang 2005).
2 INVERSION OF STRUCTURE STRESS FIELD
BY USING FINITE ELEMENT
The task of the study was to obtain the collectable
actual measured stress data of studied wells on the
field and to utilize finite element method to invert the
stress distribution in the whole field (Cristescu 1991,
Chan & Bodner 1992).
2.1 Elastic principal equation
Elasticity variables are displacement, stress and strain.
The variables need to satisfy the geometry equation Eq.
(1), the balance equation Eq. (2), and the constitutive
equation Eq. (3) as follows.
where, σij , εij , ui , fi represent stress tensor component,
strain tensor component, displacement tensor compo-
nent, and volume vector respectively. δij is Kroeneker
delta. While i = j, δij = 1; and i  = j, δij = 0. λ and µ
are Lame’s constant.
According to the actual measured stress data and
engineering geology condition in the studied field, the
field was idealized as a complete elastomer and the
medium of all rock formations were isotropy in order
to find out the distribution pattern of stress. To acquire
the stress in the filed by using the method of inversion,
that was to invert the magnitude and the direction of
stress in the field with given magnitude and directions
at several measuring point.
2.2 Establishment of finite element model
Tectonic force was assumed to be horizontal orientated
in a real two-dimensional model and applied on the
border of calculated field. Fixed constraint was applied
on the point of left bottom corner of the model, and
normal direction constraint on the points of left upper
corner and right bottom corner of the model. Tectonic
force was loaded on the four borders of the model.
Sixteen loading coefficient was applied, as shown in
Figure 1.
2.3 Objective function optimization
Assume the actual measured magnitude of stress and
calculated finite element for n well holes are available,
the minimum residual sum of square was (Szczepanik

879

Figure 1. Loading on two-dimensional finite element
model.
Figure 2. The distribution of maximum stress contour line
in qunkuqiake structure.
1991, Fossum et al. 1993, Chan et al. 1996, Potluri
et al. 2005):
In the equation, σi was the calculated finite element
of stress in the i th well hole, σi0 (for example x, y, z
well) was the actual measured stress in the i th well
hole.
During the optimization, objective functions were
residual sum of square S and two major components of
the known stress in observational data.After calculated
the optimized Pi , it was placed in the model mentioned
above to obtain tectonic stress field eventually.
X, y, z represent three actual wells in the area of
Qunkuqiake (see Figure 2). We need actual data of
those wells to inverse the whole field of stress.
3 SIMULATION OF THE IMPACT OF SEISMIC
ACTIVITY ON TECTONIC STRESS FIELD
Firstly, assume that with the influence of earth quake,
tectonic loading induced by fault activity increased
20%, and 50% over the original magnitude, respec-
tively. The distribution of tectonic stress in the studied
880
Figure 3. Distribution of maximum stress contour line in
qunkuqiake structure (with 120% load applied).
Figure 4. Distribution of maximum stress contour line in
qunkuqiake structure (with 150% load applied).
field was calculated by utilizing the stated inversion
method which was fulfilled through changing tectonic
stress Pi located in the reverse fault of south and north
studied field.
The result of tectonic stress field simulation indi-
cated that with the influence of earthquake, the dis-
tribution of tectonic stress was reflected by the stress
changes. The tectonic stress changes were very simple.
The magnitude compression stress and stress gradient
in the edge of the field were high. Broken and defor-
mation of reaction area mainly occurred at the edge of
the field. The center part was relative stable. In addi-
tion, magnitude of stress was low in downwarp area,
and high in uplifted area.
4 FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF SHEARED
CASING IN FAULT
Quantitative analysis on the relation between slippage
of rock formation and casing strength was performed.
A three dimension model, as was showed in Fig-
ure 5, was established with casing, cement sheath and
fault surface. Mechanical parameters of materials were
given in Table 1. The model was 2 meters in width.
Well hole was in the centre. Considering the impact
of formation slip on casing strength and small space
of the model, the influence of dip angle of formation
was neglected (Fossum et al. 1993, Chan et al. 1996,
Potluri et al. 2005, Cruikshank et al. 1991, Tenshaw
1994, Thomas & Pollard 1993).
Figure 5. The analysis model of rock formation slip and
Figure 6. A casing deformation map after rock slippage.
casing strength.

Table 1. Mechanical parameters of materials of the model. slipping. The maximum deformation was close to the
contact surface of slippage. The casing was dilated in
Number Material number E (GPa) µ
the direction perpendicular to rock slippage direction,
and was neck down in the direction parallel to rock
1 casing 206 0.3
2 Cement circle 20 0.25 slippage.
3 rock formation 20 0.18

Table 2. Correspondence shearing stress at different dis-
placement (slippage of rock formation).
Displacement 1 3 5 7 9 12
Shear (MPa) 71.1 213 354 497 638 850
The thickness of rock formation was 2 meters. The
corresponding shearing stresses of cross section at
different displacement (slippage of rock formation)
which was 1 meter away from the centre of well
were given in Table 2. Casing deformation map was
exhibited in Figure 6.
As the Table 2 shown, shearing stress of casing on
rock slipping surface and slippage of rock formation
had linear relationship if disregarding plastic deforma-
tion. In terms of normal steel products, the permissible
shearing stress of one material and permissible tension
stress of the same one had the following relationship
below:
For 110 steel casing, the yield limit was about
758 MPa, and the shear yield stress was about
568.5 MPa ∼ 606.4 MPa, thus, as the fault slid 9 mm,
the casing had been broken. Of course the actual
fault would not destroy the casing only by simply
cut as it was done in the model. However the calcu-
lated result could prove the casing damage caused by
fault slide was very serious. Movements in centime-
ters magnitude was enough to distort, even to fault the
casing.
In addition, as shown by Figure 6, a part of casing
was compressed and flexural deformed while rock was
5 CONCLUSION
(1) By using the inversion method, it was able to
acquire the initial stress in the filed, and also to
obtain the magnitude and the direction of stress
of the whole field with known magnitude and
directions at several measuring point
(2) The magnitude of compression stress and stress
gradient at the edge of the field were high. Broken
and deformation of reaction area mainly occurred
at the edge of the field. The center part was relative
stable. In addition, magnitude of stress was low in
downwarp area, and high in uplifted area.
(3) The local part of casing was compressed and
bended while rock was slipping. The maximum
deformation was close to the contact surface of
slippage. The casing dilated in the direction per-
pendicular to rock slippage direction, and was
neck down in the direction parallel to rock slip-
page.
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Chan, K.S., Bodner, S.R., Fossum, A.F. & Munson. D.E.
1992. A Constitutive Model For Inelastic Flow and Dam-
age Evolution in Solids Under Triaxial Compression.
Mech. Mater, 14:1.
Chan, K.S., Bodner, S.R., Fossum, A.F. & Munson. D.E.
1996. A damage mechanics treatment of creep failure in
rock salt. Int. J. Damage Mech , (6):121.
Cristescu, N. & Hunsche, U. 1993. A Constitutive Equation
for Salt. In: Proc. 7. Int. Congr. on Rock Mech., Workshop
on Rock Salt Mech., vol. 3, Aachen, Sept. 1991. Balkema,
Rotterdam: 1821.
Cruikshank, K.M., Zhao, G. & Johnson, A. M. 1991. Analysis
of minor fracture associated with joints and faulted joints.
Journal of Structural Geology, 13: 865–886.

881
Fossum, A.F., Brodsky, N.S., Chan, K.S. & Munson, D.E.
1993. Experimental evaluation of a constitutive model for
inelastic flow and damage evolution in solids subjected to
triaxial compression. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. Geom.
Abst 30:1341.
Potluri, N., Zhu, D. & Hill, A.D. 2005. Effect of Natural
Fractures on Hydraulic Fracture Propagation. SPE 94568
presented at the SPE European Formation Damage Con-
ference held in Scheveningen, The Netherlands, 25–27
May.
Renshaw, C.E. 1994. Are large differential stresses required
for straight fracture propagation paths? Journal of Struc-
tural Geology 16(6), 817–822.
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regularity of salt bed and measures for avoiding casing
damage in Zhongyuan Oilfield.Acta Petrolei Sinica 26(2):
119–121.
Szczepanik, S.D. 1991. Time-dependent acoustic emission
studies on potash. In: Roegies D ed. Rock Mechanics as
a Multidisciplinary Science. Rotterdam: A. A. Balkema:
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Thomas, A.L. & Pollard, D.D. 1993. The geometry of echelon
fractures in rock: Implications from laboratory and numer-
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323–334.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on the effect of underground blasting on slope stability based on the

AE monitoring

L. Qiao & Q.W. Li

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: After opencast mining in metal mines for a long time, the shallow ore resources are gradually
exhausted. In order to further mine deep resources, mining location is transferred gradually from opencast
to underground, and mines will face simultaneously the situations of open-air hanging wall ore mining and
underground mining. Under such circumstances, underground mining has great influence on the open-air slope
stability. Its influence does not only depend the immediate dominance conditions such as the relative position
of the wells and open pit, lithologic conditions and so on, but also depends the indirect factors, such as roadway
excavation method, mining method. etc. Among these factors, the underground mining vibration can produce
significant affect on the stability of the slope. In this article, the monitoring method of locale field acoustic
emission is employed to obtain the parameters of the underground blasting vibration. The blasting energy size
and signal propagation rules are analyzed and the open-air slope stability is studied by using FLAC3D code.

Introduction with the increment of mining time, the
open-air metal mine will face resource exhaustion.
If the opencast way is used sequentially for metal
mine, the cost must be very huge. In order to use the
deep resource rationally, we have to change the min-
ing method from the open-air mining to underground
mining. It must form the situation that open-air hang
mining and underground mining are performed at the
same time, the blasting of underground mining will
have great influence on the open-air slope stability.
1 ENGINEERING BACKGROUND
edge of Qian-an region, uplift in the middle of North
China platform. Deposits occur in Qianxi group of
three ancient chariot battalion groups. It is included in
the dark clouds become grain of rock, Shallow grain
of rock, inclined horns flash rocks and mixed rock.
It belongs to Anshan type of sedimentary metamor-
phic iron ore bed. The deposit subject is syncline. It is
divided into two parts by F-9 fault. Syncline head is
350 degree and slope is to the south. The deposits are
divides for two parts, one is the big Apricot mountain
and the other is the small Apricot mountain.

Apricot mountain iron mining of Shougang mining 3 ACOUSTIC EMISSION MONITORING OF

company located in Qian-an city, Hebei province. It is
an open-air mining originally, with the highest actual
production scale of 3 million t/a. After that the scale
of production is maintained as 1.5 million t/a. With
continuous mining, open-air resource is gradually
exhausted. The deep ore body resources exploitation is
expected. The apricot mountain iron mining gradually
transfers from the open pit mining to the underground
mining. In order to keep the original production ability
and ensure the mine to achieve a reasonable production
capacity, both of the open-air mining and the under-
ground mining must be carried out at the same time.
So the apricot mountain iron mining will experience
the changing from open-air mining to underground
mining, from 2006 to 2011.
2 GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS
Apricot mountain iron mining is located in the com-
plex syncline of south Apricot mountain at the west
BLASTING VIBRATION
Acoustic emission technology is a method that can
observe internal state and mechanical properties of
the rock. When rock is under pressure, the originally
existing or new formed crack in the rock will result
in stress concentration. When external force increases
to a certain value, crack defect in micro scale causes
deformation. With the crack propagation, the energy
will to be released in elastic wave form (Tan 2007).
The sound waves of rock can be observed and ana-
lyzed, so we can understand its internal fracture and
development state. Acoustic emission signal can not
only reflect the mechanical properties of rock, but also
be received and analyzed easily. It owns the advan-
tages in fast response, big monitoring range, dynamic
monitoring and so on (Jiang 2009).
We use the SWAES with 8 digital channels to build
the effective security monitoring system for monitor-
ing the blasting vibration during the mining changing
from open-air to underground.

883
 Figure 5. Energy for second channel.

Figure 1. Point distribution.

Figure 6. Ringing count for third channel.

Figure 2. Ringing count for first channel.

Figure 7. Energy for third channel.

Figure 3. Energy for first channel.

Figure 8. Ringing count for fourth channel.

Figure 4. Ringing count for second channel.

6 sets of real-time acoustic emission equipment are

employed monitoring blasting vibration. The monitor-
ing range is 50 m with the interval of 2–3 hours; each
recorded signal is in four channels.
Through the analysis of the monitoring data it is
shown that signals can be induced by stress changing
in the surrounding rock after drilling, blasting and dis-
tributing. The signal which is produced by blasting is
most strong.
Through the analysis of relationship between ring-
ing and energy, we can get the information of the
Figure 9. Energy for fourth channel.
destruction of surrounding rock mass. And through
the analysis of signal strength in different channels
induced by blasting, we can state that the influence
in vertical direction is bigger than that of horizontal
direction (Peng 2005).

884
Table 1. Blasting energy parameters.

Data 8–18 8–24 8–26 9–22 9–25 11–2

Maximum energy mv*us 889627 1044631 1270350 5389116 6012173 2001906

Duration time us 113743353 103123427 124092491 1608288315 155349607 1255960

Table 2. Physical and mechanical parameters of each layer.

Density Modulus of Poisson’s Internal friction Cohesion

Lithology (kg/m3) elasticity (GPa) ratio ν angle (◦ ) (Mpa)

artificial soil 2000 1.76 0.3 29 1.3

sandstone 2570 31.76 0.25 39 0.485
magnetite 3200 12.5 0.23 40 0.917
hornblende 2708 42.10 0.22 42 0.754
Mix granite 2604 69.19 0.225 49 0.646

Through the analysis of signal after blasting, it indi-

cates that the damage caused by blasting is in the
range of 30m and blasting can generate the vibration
of open-air slope.

4 SLOPE STABILITY ANALYSIS

4.1 Prediction result of slide

We use the software FLAC3D to do the numerical sim-
ulation in this paper. The slope is near to the blasting
point in the simulated model. The length in X, Y, Z
coordinate is 1000 m, 800 m, 600 m, respectively. The Figure 10. damage before blasting.
model has been divided into artificial soil, sandstone,
and magnetite, hornblende and mix granite from the
top down (Ma 2004).
Slope boundary is set free, the bottom boundary
of model is fixed, the around of model set as one-
way border (Chen 2008). Do the Excavation analysis
by Mohr-Coulomb. Excavation is divided into 6 steps
and each step is 40 m. According to the real-time
monitoring data of acoustic emission, we can get the
blasting vibration wave propagation law and its influ-
ence range. We load the blasting on 3 roadways at
−45 m level of the model after the excavation (Jiang
2010).

Figure 11. Plastic damage after blasting.

4.2 Results analysis
Through analysis of the whole slope and the typical
profile it is shown that different damage features and
damage zones of the slope are caused by the difference
in blasting disturbance degree and lithology. Because
of poor lithology, the plastic damage of the article soil
has expanded slightly after blasting. The range of plas-
tic damage in slope face is about 50 m after blasting. In
the slope bottom, due to the disturbance and influence
of the release of stress, the plastic damage has dilated
in vertical direction. Meanwhile, blasting disturbance
can make the rock on the slope face loose, which may
peel off the slope, but can not affect the stability of
slope (Yan 2003).
From these graphs one can also concluded that, the
damage expanding of F-9 fault is much larger than that
before blasting due to poor lithology.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Through the field acoustic emission monitoring of
blasting vibration, we can obtain each signal strength

885
 REFERENCES
Chen, Y.M., 2008. Basic engineering and examples of
FLAC3D. Beijing: China Water Power Press.
Jiang, H.K., Wu, Q., Dong, X. 2009. Behaviors of AE
Strain release under the different temperature and pres-
sure condition. Chinese Journal of Geophysics 52(8)
2064–2073.
Jiang, H.P. 2010. The slope stability analysis of FLAC in
applied research. Beijing: Modern mining.
Ma, S.L., Lei, X.L., Liu, L.Q., 2004. Effects of heterogeneity
in rock samples on spatial and temporal distribution of
acoustic emission and their significance in seismology.
Chinese Journal of geophysics 47(1) 127–131.
Peng, W.B. 2005. FLAC3D use tutorial. Machinery industry
Figure 12. damage on plane before blasting.
press (in Chinese).
Tan, Y.L., Li, F.C., Zhou H., 2007. preliminary research of
acoustic emission of Shock pressure, Chinese Journal of
Rock mechanics and Engineering 19(4) 425–428.
Yan, Z.X., Wang, Y.H., 2003, Safety standards of blasting
vibration test, Chinese Journal of Rock mechanics and
Engineering 22(11) 1907–1911.

Figure 13. Plastic damage on plane after blasting.

and influence range of blasting vibration. It is proved

that using the field acoustic emission to monitor
blasting vibration is feasible.
According to the monitoring data of blasting, we can
see that slope blasting vibration can produce the big-
ger influence on the poorer lithology. During the tunnel
excavation through the F-9 fault, we should make some
supporting in the tunnel. At the same time, the min-
ing should avoid the situation that both of slope hang
mining and underground mining are performed at the
same time.

886
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Experimental research on early identification of landslides by D-InSAR

technique

M.W. Xie, J.H. Huang, Z.F. Wang & M. Hu

Lab of GeoSpatial Information for GeoHazard Application, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing,
China

ABSTRACT: Monitoring and early warning are the main means to reduce the harm of landslide disaster
effectively. Differing from the traditional method of monitoring differential interferometry synthetic aperture
radar (D-InSAR) technique has the advantage of detecting and penetrating earth surface in all weather conditions
and in all time, with large area and low cost, it can meet the needs of wide-area landslide moving early recognition
and dynamic time-spatial monitoring. It have been verified the layover and shadow greatly influence the results
of monitoring in mountain areas, in order to obtain reliable monitoring results, 5 images Radarsat-2 programming
data are used, and the three-pass differential interferometric processing method is adopted for D-InSAR analysis.
In the data analysis process, many aspects may probably produce errors, some methods of filter processing are
performed on obtaining vertical displacement value. As result, 6 landsliding areas are identified by D-InSAR
analysis. It is proved that the combination of D-InSAR technology and data filtering for deformation analysis is
a feasible approach for detecting landslides moving.

1 INTRODUCTION factors, some methods of filter processing are per-

China is a country with a lot of landslide hazards. Mon-
itoring and early warning are the main means to reduce
the harm of landslide disaster effectively. However,
Differential Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) inter-
ferometry is an emerging technique for large-scale
detection and monitoring of ground displacements
due to geophysical phenomena at centimeter to mil-
limeter accuracy and high spatial resolution (Bamler).
In recent years differential SAR interferometry
(D-InSAR)has been widely applied for the monitoring
of landslide movements (Berardino et al., Liu 2004).
D-InSAR makes use of two SAR images acquired
from slightly different orbit con?gurations and at dif-
ferent times to exploit the phase difference of the
signals. The phase signal derived from an image pair
relates both to topography and line-of-sight surface
movement which has occurred between the acquisi-
tions, with atmospheric phase distortions, signal noise,
and inaccuracy in the orbit determination as main error
sources. The basic idea of D-InSAR is to subtract the
topography related phase from the interferogram to
make a displacement map (Zebker et al 1994, Wang
et al 2002, Li & Yang 2006).
Differing from the traditional method of monitor-
ing, D-InSAR technique has the advantage of detecting
and penetrating earth surface in all weather conditions
and in all time with large area and low cost.
Taking the Radarsat-2 preprogrammed images as
the data sources in this paper, the three orbits differ-
ence technique is adopted to obtain surface deforma-
tion value. Considering the influence of many-sided
formed on obtaining vertical displacement value to
extract six regions of variation.
Deformation location and trends are consistent with
on-site investigation results. Accordingly, the pur-
pose of detecting changes and monitoring trends is
achieved. Also, this research proves that the com-
bination of D-InSAR technology and data filtering
for deformation analysis is a feasible approach of
monitoring landslides.
2 RADARSAT-2 PREPROGRAMMED IMAGES
ORDERING
The study area is located in the mountains as shown in
Figure 1. The layover and shadow impact the results of
monitoring in mountain areas greatly. In order to obtain
reliable monitoring results, we ordered Radarsat-2
programming data.
Radarsat-2 is second-generation commercial SAR
satellite in Canada. It is designed with powerful
technical advancements that will provide enhanced
information for applications such as environmental
monitoring, ice mapping, resource mapping, disaster
management, and marine surveillance.
Radarsat-2 offers new imaging capabilities and a
faster turn-around schedule for data acquisition and
product delivery. New imaging capabilities include:
a finer resolution (3 m), flexibility in selection of
polarization, and left and right-looking imaging.
In addition, Radarsat-2 has superior data storage
and more precise measurements of spacecraft position

887
 Figure 2. Map of vertical displacement A.

Figure 1. Region of study.

Table 1. Parameters of Radarsat-2 preprogrammed Images.

Index Obtained data polarization Incidence angle

1 2010-05-30 HH 39.57◦
2 2010-06-23 HH 39.57◦
3 2010-07-14 HH 39.57◦
4 2010-08-10 HH 39.57◦
5 2010-09-03 HH 39.57◦

Figure 3. Map of vertical displacement B.

and attitude. Radarsat-2 is the world’s most advanced
commercial C-band SAR satellite and heralds a new
era in satellite performance, imaging flexibility and
choice of products and service offerings.
Considering of many aspects comprehensively,
such as the period of rainy season (June to September),
the slopes of the critical monitoring area and the aspect
of survey valleys, eventually we ordered 5 images
which is ultra-fine product mode, HH polarization,
resolution for 3 m, shooting scope for 20 km × 20 km
and incident angle for 39.57 degree descend orbit data.
Detailed information is shown in table 1.
3 RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS
The five images were processed by the three orbits dif-
ference monitoring technique in order to obtain surface
vertical displacement value.
In this process, many aspects may probably pro-
duce errors. Considering the influence of many-sided
errors, some methods of filter processing are per-
formed on obtaining vertical displacement value.
Finally, we selected the effective vertical displacement
by threshold value.
The threshold includes coherent coefficient, the
errors in the displacements and consistency of aspect
and sliding direction. The result of the first three
images differential interferometry after filtration pro-
cess is shown in Figure 2. In the figure the unit is
centimeter and positive represent ascent. Due to time
continuous of three scenes (Every scene interval a
revisit period), the displacement area is less expressed,
and deformation value is less than 3 centimeters.
The results which are obtained from the first, second
and fourth images are shown in Figure 3. The shooting
time of the fourth image was collected during the rainy
season, so the displacement is larger in value and scope
than that shown at Figure 2.
Figure 4 shows the results obtained from the first,
second and fifth images. The 5th image was taken
after the rainy season. Considering the results shown
in Figure 3, the deformation area expanded further and
the displacement value increased.
Regard to the analysis results of all time series in the
whole monitoring period, we can extract six abnormal
areas as shown in Figure 5.
In order to grasp the every regional characteristic,
we analyze each change region one by one.
The 6th region is only showed in Figure 2. It is far
away from reservoir area, and has no effect to reservoir
area. So it is not necessary to do detailed analysis.

888
 Figure 6. Detail displacement drawing of No.1 change area.

Figure 4. Map of vertical displacement C.

Figure 7. Detail displacement drawing of No.2 change area.

Figure 8. Detail displacement drawing of No.3 change area.

Figure 5. Distribution charts of change regions.

The 1st region was reflected in three times differ-

ence results, as shown in Figure 6. The characteristic Figure 9. Detail displacement drawing of No.4 change area.
appeared to have space-time continuum, and the data
and range of change increases gradually. According to
the above features, this region is considered to be a
landslide.
The 2nd region was especially apparent in two times
results, as shown in Figure 7, but the characteristics are
scattered splashes change in space domain. Combined
with remote sensing image data and other basic geo-
logical data, it is determined that the displacement of
change region here may be due to the local collapse.
In Figure 8, the 3rd region was also reflected in two Figure 10. Detail displacement drawing of No.5 change
times difference results. The 4th and 5th images were area.
collected during the rainy season. This deformation of
change area may be due to rainfall. 4 CONCLUSIONS
The 4th region displayed some continuity change
over time, but the scattered splashes changed in Comparing the differential interference results with
space. And the displacement increases with time as the field investigation result, it is found that deforma-
the Figure 9 shows. Therefore, it may be caused by tion locations and trends are consistent with on-site
collapse phenomenon. investigation results. This research proves that the
The 5th region is once reflected in difference results combination of D-InSAR technology and data filter-
(see Figure 10). So the areas must be make further ing for deformation analysis is a feasible approach
judgments according to the in-situ validation later. for monitoring landslides, and the technology also

889
achieved the purpose of discovering changes and Liu, G.X. 2004. introduction of InSAR-new remote sensing
monitoring trends. technology of Synthetic aperture radar. Si chuan surveying
and mapping 27(2):93–94.
Wang, C., Zhang, H., Liu, Z. 2002. Spaceborne synthetic
REFERENCES aperture radar interferometry. Beijing: Science Press.
Zebker, H.A., Rosen. P.A., Goldstein, R.M., et al. 1994. On
Bamler, R., Hartl, P. Synthetic aperture radar interferometry. the derivation of coseismic displacement fields using dif-
Inverse Probl 14:R1–R54. ferential radar interferometry: The Lander earthquakes,
Berardino, P., Costantini, M., Frances chetti, G., lodice , A., Geophys Re, 99B(10):19617–19634.
Pietraera, L., Rizzo, V. Use of differential SAR interfer-
ometry in monitoring and modeling large slope insta-
bility at Martea (Basilicata, Italy). Engineering Geology
68(1–2):31–51.
Li, P.X., Yang, J. 2006. Principle and application of Radar
Interferometry. Beijing: Surveying and mapping press.

890
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Reliability analysis of tailings dams under both seepage and earthquake

actions

K. Yang
Key Laboratory of Mine Disaster Prevention and Control, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao,
Shandong, China

Z.C. Ma
College of Resource and Environmental Engineering, SUST, Shandong, China

ABSTRACT: Tailings dam is an important manufacturing facility for mine. Among all kinds of factors influ-
encing the safety of tailings dams, earthquake and seepage are very important. In the existing stability analysis
methods, each risk is analyzed separately and the mutual relations of different risks are not considered. Aiming
at solving this shortcoming and on the basis of previous study, this paper discussed the coupling risks induced by
permeated deformation and horizontal earthquake force. As a typical example, the means is applied to a practical
engineering. In this project, the reliability of Tailings Dams is evaluated under natural multi-random factors.

1 INTRODUCTION inherent relations between them. For example, the sta-

China is a great mining nation. Tailings produced by
ore dressing is 300 million tons every year. Besides a
small part being used as mine filling, most of them are
stockpiled in tailings storehouse. According to statis-
tics, there are 1500 tailings dams of a certain scale
in China (Teng 2003). Tailings dam is an important
manufacturing facility for metal mines and metal-
loid mines. At the same time, they are the major
hazardous sources. According to the study of public
nuisance evaluation group in Clark University in USA
(Li 1996), the harm of tailings storehouse accident
ranks 18th in 93 public nuisance events.
According to the analysis on the causes of tailings
dam break at home and abroad, slip and flow caused
by earthquake are the most serious in various kinds of
accidents (Antiseismic 1986). On 15 December 1928,
Balahana Copper Mine in Chile was subject to earth-
quakes. Because of liquefaction, the tailings in dam
boby outflowed about 4000 thousands cubic metres
and caused 54 deaths. At present, worldwide seis-
mic activity is abnormal. Violent earthquakes have
occurred in China Japan and America, and result-
ing loss is serious. So, it is urgent and necessary to
study the seismic stability of tailings dam (Wu 2006).
On the other hand, a large quantity of water is stored in
the tailings dam and the disasters caused by seepage
constitute about 30% in all tailings storehouse acci-
dents. So, seepage failure is also an important factor
which influences tailing dam stability.
In the existing stability analysis methods, each risk
is analyzed separately and the mutual relations of dif-
ferent risks are not considered. In fact, some risk
factors are not entirely independent and there are some
bility of dam is influenced directly by the coupling
of seepage and earthquake. So, it is not appropriate
to determine a factor independently to analyze dam
stability (Yang 2009). In order to well coincide with
facts, the dam risk is studied coupling the risk of
deformation under seepage and the risk of horizon-
tal earthquake force and dam risk is evaluated under
natural multi-factors in this paper.
2 STABILITY ANALYSIS OF TAILINGS DAMS
UNDER NATURAL MULTI-FACTORS
2.1 Motion equation
The governing motion equation for dynamic response
of a system in finite element formulation can be
expressed as:
where: [M] is the mass matrix; [D] is the damping
matrix; [K] is the stiffness matrix; {F}is the vector of
loads; {ä} is the vector of nodal accelerations; {ȧ} is
the vector of nodal velocities; {a} is the vector of nodal
displacements.
The vector of loads could be composed by different
forces:
where, Fb is the body force; Fs is the force due to
surface boundary pressures; Fn is the concentrated
nodal force; Fg = [M]{äg }, the force caused by earth-
quake load, {äg } is the vector of nodal earthquake
accelerations.

891
 The mass matrix [M] can be denoted by: Substituting Eq. (10) into Eq. (9):

where, ρ is the mass density; [ψ] is a diagonal matrix

of mass distribution factors Under steady-state conditions, ∂H
∂t
is zero and the
Damping matrix [D] can be denoted by: equation reduces to:

∗∗∗

where, α and β are scalars and called Rayleigh damp- Under steady-state conditions of quality isotropy:
ing coefficients. They can be related to a damping
ratio by:

Above-mentioned equation is famous Laplace

equation.
where, ω is the particular frequency of vibration for
In practice, often consider the situation of pumping
the system
water, water injection, rainfall and evaporation. So,
The stiffness matrix [K] is:
source/sink terms W can be added in basic differential
equation:

where, [B] is the strain-displacement matrix.

For a two-dimensional plane strain analysis:
where W is source/sink terms; µs = function of posi-
tion and time.

2.3 Coupling equation

According to principle of effective stress and con-
tinuity equation of seepage, the coupling equation
of dynamic response analysis and seepage can be
obtained:
where, Nis the interpolation function, [C] is the
constitutive matrix and it can be denoted:

where, E is the Young Modulus, µ is the Poisson’s

ratios.

2.2 Seepage equation

The universal principle of mass conservation is intro-
duced into porous media fluid mechanics followed by
obtaining the continuity equation of seepage:

According to Darcy’s law: Under certain initial conditions, boundary conditions

and with known displacement and pore water pressure,
the simultaneous equations listd above can be solved
at any arbitrary time and point (Wu 2006).

892
Figure 1. Calculation Model for Tailings Dam.

Table 1. The parameter values of material in tailings

storehouse.

Unit Internal Coefficient of

weight Cohesion friction permeability
Material (KN/m3 ) (kpa) angle (◦ ) (m/s)

Tailings 1 20.5 0 27.1 6.5e10−6

silty sand
Tailings 2 20.4 0 28 4.8 e10−6
silty sand
Tailings 20.1 0 26.7 1.5 e10−6
silt Figure 3. x-y shear stress changing with time in node 275.
Tailings 20 0 18.3 4.7 e10−7
mud
Rockfill 19 0 35 4.0e10−6
dam
Silty 19.7 40 22 1.15e10−7
clay
Intesively 20 22 34 8.61e10−6
weathered
diorite Figure 4. The liquefaction area caused by earthquake.
porphyrite
Muddy 19.5 27 19 7.0e10−7
silty clay
Silty 19.4 9 22 4.8e10−7
clay, sand

Figure 5. Potentiometric contour of total head.

variables which follow normal approximation distribu-

Figure 2. The distribution of x-y shear stress.
3 ENGINEERING PROJECT
In this paper, we take Jishan tailings dam for an
example to study the dam reliability under the action
of seepage and earthquake simultaneously. Selected
model for calculation is shown in Figure 1:
The materials in tailings storehouse includes nine
types and the parameter values are shown in Table 1.
First, consider the stability of tailings dam under
earthquake. Apply a horizontal acceleration of 0.3g
to the model and vertical acceleration is not consid-
ered. The distribution of x-y shear stress is shown
in Figure 2. The diagram of x-y shear stress chang-
ing with time at Node 275 is shown in Figure 3. The
liquefaction area caused by earthquake is shown in
Figure 4.
Stability analysis is done under this condition. The
unit weight and internal friction are taken as random
tion. 5000 times of Monte Carlo simulation is adopted
and the stability indexes are obtained:
Safety factor F = 1.214;
Reliability index β = 1.024;
Failure probability pf = 12.893%
Then, seepage condition is considered separately
and the potentiometric contour of total head is shown
in Figure 5.
Stability analysis is done under this condition and
5000 times of Monte Carlo simulation is also adopted.
The stability indexes are:
Safety factor F = 1.315;
Reliability index β = 1.623;
Failure probability pf = 2.313%
Finally, when earthquake and seepage are coupled,
the critical surface is searched and shown in Figure 6:
The obtained stability indexes are:
Safety factor F = 1.179; Reliability indexβ = 0.867;
Failure probability pf = 17.2%
The results obtained above are collected in Table 2:
From results shown in Table 2, we can see that the
stability of dam after coupling is lower than before and
failure probability increases obviously. Though the
safety factor is greater than 1, the failure probability

893
 2) The proposed method is applied to an engineering
project and results show that the failure probabil-
ity is higher by multi-factors analysis. Thus, the
stability of dam needs to be improved.

Figure 6. The critical surface coupling earthquake and ACKNOWLEDGMENT

seepage.
This work was supported by Program of SDUST
Table 2. stability indexes under different working condition. Research Fund (2010KYTD106).
Working Safety Reliability Failure
condition factor index probability (%) REFERENCES
earthquake 1.214 1.024 12.893 Antiseismic research team of tailings dam. 1986. Antiseismic
seepage 1.315 1.623 2.313 analysis of tailings dam. Site investigation science and
coupling 1.179 0.867 17.2 technology Research Institute, Ministry of Metallurgical
Industry.
Li, Z.Z., Xu, R.S. 1996. safety technology for tailing pond.
Beijing: Aviation Industry Press.
is very big and up to 17.2% because of the stochastic Teng, Z.G. 2003. Analysis and Evaluation about Tailings Dam
nature of dam material. So, the stability of dam should Earthquake Stability. HEBEI METALLURGY (1): 16–17.
Wu, Y.L. 2006. DYNAMIC STABILITY ANALYSIS OF
be improved. TAILING DAM. Xi’an: Xi’an University of Technology.
Yang, K., Zhou, C.B. 2009. Risk analysis of dam slope under
external random multi-loadings. Rock and Soil Mechanics
4 CONCLUSIONS 30(10): 3057–3062.

1) According to the deficiencies in the present

research on tailings dam, a risk analysis method
coupling seepage factor and horizontal earthquake
force is put forward in this paper. Dam risk is
evaluated under natural multi-factors.

894
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on real-time monitoring and pre-warning system of rock burst based

on equivalent drilling cuttings quantity

Z.X. Yu
School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
Department of Mining and Geological Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, US

F.X. Jiang & X.C. Qu

School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

S.H. Yang
School of Information Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Based on the relationship between drilling cuttings quantity and relative stress, a real-time
monitoring and pre-warning system of rock burst was designed in order to reinforce the field monitoring of a
highly burst-prone coal working face. Taking equivalent drilling cuttings quantity as the indicator, monitoring
relative stress method is adopted combined with the technology of fiber communications and Ethernet. The
characteristics, structures, arrangement and installment of the system are introduced.Acquisition, storage, inquiry
of real-time relative stress data, monitoring of relative stress field and pre-warning of dangerous zone are realized.
Continuous monitoring and real-time classified warning categories are proceeded with dangerous area of rock
burst by drilling cuttings to determine the alert values. The practice proved that the system was implemented
reliably. Moreover, the system is timely, safe, and accurate in the area of in situ monitoring and pre-warning of
rock burst. It is of significance to prevent rock burst in coal mine.

1 INTRODUCTION analysis, and can perform real-time monitoring, not

Rock burst is one of the serious disasters in coal mine
exploiting. With the increment of exploiting depth,
more and more coal mines are threatened by rock burst
which occurrs more frequently. It not only seriously
damages the equipments, but also giving rise to casual-
ties even. In the area of monitoring and pre-warning of
rock burst, the drilling cuttings method still is widely
applied to field warning (Zhang 2001). The prominent
advantages of drilling cuttings method are practicabil-
ity and reliability, and the disadvantages are dangerous
for operator, non-continuous monitoring and operation
error by personnel, thereby, causing useful informa-
tion and warning omitted. The influence of gas and
damage of coal mass was considered and the target of
drilling bits for high-gas coalbed was deduced (Cui et
al. 2006). Electromagnetic emission method (Nie et al.
2000, Dou et al. 2002, Dou et al. 2004) was used for
in situ forecast, and received better effect; however,
there is larger affect on monitoring results, because
of the complicated electromagnetic environment. The
portable electromagnetic emission instrument (Yang
et al. 2007) cannot conduct continuous monitoring.
Acoustic emission method (Qi et al. 1994, Dou et al.
2000) and microseismic method (Pang et al. 2004,
Cheng et al. 2006, Jiang et al. 2006) are mainly used
for regional monitoring and rock burst mechanism
real-time warning.
In order to realize accurately and timely warning
in situ of rock burst and overcome the shortcomings
of normal drilling cuttings method, Research Center
of Mine Microseismic in University of Science and
Technology Beijing took the lead in developing and
designing real-time monitoring and pre-warning sys-
tem of rock burst based on equivalent drilling cuttings
quantity in China. The system can be directly arranged
to monitor in working face underground coal mine,
and the data is transferred to ground to real-time anal-
ysis and warning, so timeliness, safety, and accuracy
of monitoring are realized. This paper introduces the
principle and practice of the system.
2 TECHNICAL PRINCIPLE EQUIVALENT
DRILLING CUTTING QUANTITY
With the effection of mining-induced, the stress state
in rock or coal mass will change, and the main per-
formances are stress concentration and elastic energy
accumulation in rock or coal mass. When stress con-
centration achieves a certain extent, it is possible that
phenomenon of rock burst would occur in rock or coal
mass for the characteristics of sudden, rapid and fierce.
The occurrence of rock burst is related to the stress

895
Figure 1. Relationship curve of relative stress, stress incre-
ment and the drilling cuttings quantity.
state; hence rock burst can be forecasted by monitor-
ing the stress state in rock and coal mass. Although
absolute stress, in situ stress, is obtained by field
stress measurement, it is unable to be used for field
pre-warning, because of complicated manipulation,
expensive cost, and unrealized real-time and dynamic
monitoring.
Variation of stress state is attained by relative stress
monitoring, while the pregnant procedure of rock burst
accompanies with variation of stress. Borehole stress-
meter, which is one of effective tools to measure
relative stress in rock or coal mass, is widely used for
measuring relative stress in rock or coal mass, espe-
cially for monitoring stress variation mining-induced
of ore body and rock mass. Reasonable initial stress is
set up when borehole stressmeters are installed. Rela-
tive stress is monitored during mining, and the relative
stress value and incremental curves are obtained by
means of the calculation of initial stress and stress
increment. Drilling cuttings method is measuring coal
cuttings with different depth to judge the stress state of
coal mass, depending on test drilling in coal seam. By
testing the drilling cuttings quantity near the monitor-
ing hole in which borehole stressmeter is installed, the
relationship curve of relative stress, stress increment
and the drillings cutting quantity with different depth
is obtained in typical coal seam, as shown in Figure 1.
Based on the relationship between drilling cuttings
quantity and relative stress, rock burst is preceded
pre-warning by the relative stress threshold value
determined by drilling cuttings method. Not only
expressing the advantages of practicability and reli-
ability of normal drilling cuttings method, but also
overcoming the shortcomings of heavy workload and
high danger, monitoring the relative stress, technically,
is apt to realize continuous monitoring and real-time
warning of rock burst, thus, the method illustrated in
this paper is named equivalent drilling cuttings.
3 SYSTEM STRUCTURE
3.1 Hardware structure
The hardware structure of system is constituted
of stress sensors, the monitoring instrument and
896
Figure 2. Structural diagram of real-time monitoring sys-
tem of rock burst.
computers of data analysis and pre-warning. Figure 2
shows the structure of rock burst real-time monitoring
and pre-warning system.
(1) Stress sensors
Stress sensor is composed of borehole stressme-
ter and pressure transmitter. The former is installed
in the coal seam, and the latter located on the wall
of gate road is connected with borehole stressmeter.
Pressure transmitter is the device by which the stress
value of borehole stressmeter is converted to electronic
signal. Stress sensors are connected with monitoring
instrument by electric cables.
(2) Monitoring instrument
Monitoring instrument, which is installed in cham-
ber of electrical switching near the working face, is
that data acquired is transferred to ground data server
and warning computer by fiber communication. If the
monitoring instrument is placed on ground, it will
decrease the accuracy, sensitivity and reliability of
monitoring, and increase the difficulty of system main-
tenance, due to the far distance from working face to
ground. All the parts of monitoring instrument must be
putted into the airtight anti-explosion box which is not
so large in order to facilitate carrying and installation.
Power supply for monitoring instrument is lined
up the power underground, and various kinds of volt-
age that all parts needed are transformed by industrial
power. The larger heat quantity of industrial power
will result in temperature in airtight box rising, and
then it will affect the stability of other parts and the
whole system, therefore, airtight box is divided into
power box and instrument box which are used for being
placed industrial power and other parts of monitoring
instrument respectively. The two boxes are separated
by a board with binding post.
The industrial control computer is fixed in the
airtight anti-explosion box by rubber mat with high
strength and elasticity, in order to ensure that the
instrument possesses the functions of better shock
absorption and seismic resistance. Owning to the seal-
ing properties of anti-explosion, there are still the
functions of waterproof, moistproof and dustproof,
besides anti-explosion. The cover of anti-explosion
box with an observation window which is made of
Figure 3. Monitor instrument underground (a) signal wire
(b) junction box (c) power box (d) instrument box (e)
observation window (f) optical cable (g) power cord.
tempered glass is designed. Running conditions of
the computer in anti-explosion box can be observed
directly through the window. In addition, there are
cable interfaces in the box by which power cord, signal
wire, optical cable are connected with the monitoring
instrument. The system can realize restarting auto-
matic, real-time monitoring and unattended operation.
Figure 3 shows the monitoring instrument used for
project practice was monitoring the relative stress of
two gate roads in a certain working face simultane-
ously, and each junction box was connected with one
gate road.
(3) Computers of data analysis and pre-warning
Computers of data analysis and pre-warning are
placed in the control office, consisted of two indus-
trial control computers. One computer as a data
server to store data communicates with monitoring
instrument underground; the other proceeds real-time
pre-warning through reading data from server, and
connects to industrial Ethernet.
(4) Main technical indicators of system
Minimum interval of data acquisition: 1s; Explosion-
proof degree: intrinsically safe type; Maximum acqui-
sition channels number: 64; Accuracy: 0.01 MPa.
3.2 Software
Softwares of the system were developed based on
Visual Studio 2005 and database software SQL Server
2000. In order to query and analysis, collected data is
saved in ground server by database software.
Monitoring instrument is equipped with data acqui-
sition and communication softwares. Through under-
ground optical fiber communication, data monitored
is transmitted to ground data server. Parameters varia-
tions, such as data acquisition interval and acquisition
channel and so on, are controlled by ground host
directly.
Main functions of ground monitoring and pre-
warning software are modifying acquisition parame-
ters, querying and displaying data, setting pre-warning
parameter and displaying pre-warning results. Modes
of query and display pressure data include pressure
histogram, pressure changing diagraph, pressure data
sheet and relative stress contour and so on.
897
Figure 4. Arrangement parameters diagram of borehole
stress meter.
Inquiry software for client is based on the struc-
ture of server/client. The pre-warning computer is as
server in Ethernet, and the computers of responsible
departments are as client. The pre-warning results can
be inquired by Ethernet.
4 MONITORING SYSTEM ARRANGEMENT
AND CONSTRUCTION
Generally, the regions that are influence of abutment
pressure and apt to rock burst occurring, are that
is located in the front of working face 150∼200 m
and within the depth of 15∼20 m away from wall
of gate road, or that is ensured after evaluation of
rock burst dangerous, hence the borehole stressmeters
ought to be arranged in the coal mass of these regions
above. According to the principle of equivalent drilling
cuttings quantity, the drilling cuttings quantity and rel-
ative stress with different depths in the same hole need
to be monitored. Because one borehole is only installed
one borehole stressmeter, borehole stressmeters with
different depths are installed around one location in
practice. Insuring no disturbance between boreholes,
the appropriate distance is 1.5∼2 m between two adja-
cent borehole stressmeters in a group. The group
quantity of borehole stressmeters arranged in moni-
toring region is 10 (G1 to G10 as shown in Figure 4);
the group space is 15∼20 m; there are 2∼3 borehole
stressmeters each group. The depths of each bore-
hole stressmeter in a group can be adjusted according
to the practical conditions, such as 10 m and 20 m.
The installment height of borehole stressmeters is
1.2∼1.5 m above gate road floor. Depending on the
arrangement, variation of relative stress of three gate
roads is monitored at most by the system. Arrangement
parameters of borehole stress meter in region near goaf
in some working face, as shown on Figure 4.
The installment construction of borehole stressme-
ters is the same as normal method, and it is required that
borehole stressmeters must closely couple with wall
of the borehole. With the advance of working face, the
group of borehole stressmeters nearest to working face
Figure 5. Histogram of relative stress value.
Figure 6. Variation curve of single channel stress.
is replaced to farthest rear, and successively replac-
ing. The relevant parameters are modified in ground
monitoring software after replacement, and the new
location and distance from open-off cut of borehole
stressmeters is automatically identified and shown in
the system.
5 FUNCTIONS OF MONITORING SYSTEM
The data is acquired and stored by monitoring and
pre-warning software of computers ground, and data
analysis and pre-warning are real-timely conducted.
This method is used for performing rock burst pre-
warning, by means of monitoring the mining-induced
stress because of working face abutment pressure,
floor caving or faults activation.
(1) Stress value inquiry
Upon the monitoring and analysis software ground,
the stress value of every channel is illustrated, as shown
on Figure 5. Horizontal axis indicates the absolute
distance of that borehole stressmeters group far away
from open-off cut; vertical axis means relative stress
value; the left side of histogram means the current
location of working face; red and green colors rep-
resent that the arrangement depths of every borehole
stressmeters group are 8 m and 14 m, respectively.
(2) Inquiry of stress variation
Each monitoring channel represents a certain loca-
tion of borehole stressmeter. Stress state varied with
time is obtained by stress inquiry. Figure 6 shows stress
variation curve of a certain channel in some working
face from 23, April 2009 to 4 May, 2009, and the loca-
tion had been judged as yellow alert according to the
warning principle.
(3) Contour of relative stress field
Stress state and variation of monitoring region are
shown real-timely and dynamically, according to mon-
itoring relative stress of dangerous area of rock burst.
898
Figure 7. Contour of relative stress field of front area in
long wall face.
Figure 7 shows that contour of relative stress field of
front area in long wall face some moment. Vertical
axis means the depth from coal wall of gate road into
coal seam; horizontal axis means the group number of
borehole stressmeters; the color bar on the right side
of plot defines relative stress (unit: MPa); the left side
of the contour indicates the location of working face.
Stress state and magnitude in coal mass diverse dis-
tance and depth which is apart from working face can
be visual through contour.
(4) Real-time classification warning
By means of setting stress threshold values which
are determined by drilling cuttings test and modified
after running for some time, the system can automat-
ically alert depending on these values. Alert report
includes warning categories, location and scope, mag-
nitude and curves of stress. Warning categories are
divided into yellow alert and red alert. Diverse mea-
sures of prevention and stress relieving are taken
according to alert results. If yellow alert appears, the
production ought to be suspended, and deal with the
dangerous area. If red alert appears, the production
ought to be stopped, and workers and staffs must be
withdrawn immediately; it is quite necessary to relief
stress after experts’ demonstrations.
This system was conducted initial industrial exper-
iment at working face No. 16300 with high burst
tendency in Ji-ning No. 3 Coal Mine, Yanzhou Coal
Mining Co. Ltd. Because the distressing measures of
coal seam and gate road floor cut for dangerous area of
working face were adopted in advance, the system did
not report any red alert, and just report yellow alert 5
times. Dangerous areas were handled in time accord-
ing to the alert results, and the safe exploitation of this
working face was realized.
Besides the functions above, the system still can
be used for monitoring the stress exceptional region,
and first weighting interval and periodic weight-
ing associated with pressure characters of hydraulic
supports.
At present, the system has been applied in more
than 10 coal mines, and forecasted dangerous region
and level several times. It received satisfied effection.
6 CONCLUSIONS
1) Based on the principle of equivalent drilling
cuttings quantity, rock burst monitoring and
pre-warning system not only overcomes the
 risk of drilling cuttings methods and operation
errors, upgrades general drilling cutting methods,
enhances safety and accuracy of monitoring, but
also realizes continuous monitoring and real-time
pre-warning.
2) Rock burst monitoring and pre-warning system uti-
lizes underground instrument which are low power
consumption, intrinsically safe type anti-explosion,
waterproof and dustproof. Through fiber-optical
communication, Ethernet and visualization pre-
warning analysis software, it makes that real-time
field classified rock burst pre-warning comes true.
Provide a new method to prevent and control rock
burst.
3) After successful industrial experiment, rock burst
monitoring and warning system is improved in
operability and ground monitoring analysis soft-
ware interaction. The system has already applied
in many coal mines after improvement. Monitoring
application results show that the monitoring sys-
tem has advantages of stability and reliability in
long time operation, easy operation and high accu-
racy monitoring results. It obtains favorable safety
benefit and economic benefit. Extend use of this
monitoring system in coal mine threatened by rock
burst is feasible.
ACKNOWLEGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge National Nat-
ural Science Foundation of China (contract number:
50774012) for providing funding. Engineer B. Gui,
Vice Chief Engineer S.B. Zhang, working in Ji-ning
No. 3 Coal Mine, Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. Ltd.
provided kind helps in installment, debugging and
monitoring of the system.
REFERENCES
Cheng, Y.H., Jiang, F.X., Cheng, J.L., et al. 2006. Primary
study on microseismic locating and monitoring technol-
ogy of shock bump caused by key stratum movement.
Journal of China Coal Society 31(3): 273–275.
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Cui, N.X. Li, Z.H., Pan, Y.S. 2006. Study on index of drilling
bits for coalbed rockburst influenced by gas. Journal of
Liaoning Technical University 25(2): 192–193.
Dou, L.M., He, X.Q., Bernard, D. 2000. AE method of evalu-
ating the danger of rock burst. Journal of China University
of Mining & Technology 29(1): 85–88.
Dou, L.M., He, X.Q., Wang, E.Y. 2004. Electromagnetic
emission technique of monitoring rock burst and its appli-
cation. Journal of China Coal Society 29(4): 396–399.
Dou, L.M., Xu, F.J., Zhang, X.F. 2002. EME rockburst
monitoring in Coal Mine Huafeng. International
Scientific–Technical Symposium Rockburst 2002 Research
and Prevention Systems Proceedings. Poland: Glowny
Instytute Gorniczy Press: 261–267.
Jiang, F.X., Yang, S.H., Cheng, Y.H., et al. 2006. A study
on microseismic monitoring of rock burst in coal mine.
Chinese Journal of Geophysics 49(5): 1511–1516.
Nie, B.S., He, X.Q., Wang, E.Y., et al. 2000. Forecasting
rockburst with the electromagnetic emission method in
coalmine. Journal of Taiyuan University of Technology
31(6): 609–611.
Pang, H.D., Jiang, F.X., Zhang, X.M. 2004. Application of
microseismic monitoring method in disaster prevention
of underground mine. Metal Mine (12): 58–61.
Qi, Q.X., Li, S.B., Wang, S.K. 1994. Application of AE
method technique in monitoring ground pressure. Journal
of China Coal Society 19(3), 221–232.
Yang, Y., Pan, Y.S., Li, G.Z. 2007. Research on monitoring
dangerous area of rock bursting with portable electromag-
netic emission instrument. Coal Mine Technology 12(2):
62–64.
Zhang, M.T. 2001. Forecast and prevention of rockburst in
China. Journal of Liaoning Technical University (Natural
Science) 20(4): 434–435.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Reliability analysis of rock slope stability

L.W. Zhang & L.Q. Yang

Civil Engineering and Architecture Department, University of Jinan, Shandong, China

ABSTRACT: Slope engineering is usually designed under condition of without sufficient sample test data.
So it is of great theoretical and practical significance to fully integrate all aspects of information collection by
using statistical theory and reliability analysis to obtain engineering design parameters. Based on the measured
experimental data of two faults of a slope engineering and numerous relevant results of similar projects, rock
classification method was used to determine the internal friction angle of the fault; back analysis method and
least-squares fitting method with consideration of the residuals were used to determine the cohesion of fault.
The correlation of the four failure modes of anti-slide pile was considered, and back analysis method was
used to determine statistical parameters of resistance of anti-slide pile. The norm recommended coefficient
transmission method was used to determine function of random variables of slope sliding, and discretization
dimension reduction method was utilized to obtain reliability index of slope stability. The results show that
using back analysis method to modify the parameter can decrease the uncertainty and improve the reliability of
engineering design and provide a design method using reliability in small sample data; the reinforcement effect
of anchor anti-slide pile on slope is remarkable.

1 INTRODUCTIONS

Analysis of slope stability is a very important subject

in Geotechnical Engineering. Because of random-
ness of geotechnical parameters, people pay more and
more attention on reliability analysis of slope stabil-
ity today (Wang 1996). Only test on the first-degree
slope according to specifications as Zheng Yingren
et al 2007’s results considering of the engineering
conditions and restrictions on funding. Therefore,
the insufficient number of samples in geotechnical
engineering has become a key factor that limites appli-
cations of reliability theory (Leng 2000). Based on the Figure 1. Section 1 + 178 of the West Slope of shangchi.
measured data of the faults of a reservoir slope, sta-
tistical data and theory of similar projects was used
to determine statistical parameters of the faults and 3 DETERMINATIONS OF RANDOM
resistance of anti-slide pile by back analysis method. PARAMETERS OF THE SLIP SURFACE

The cohesion C and friction angle of quick shear

2 INGINEERING PROFILE
There is a pumped storage power station with shangchi
is the original reservoir and xiachi is built by excava-
tion and dam. The pool top is 568 meters in height and
10 meters in width. Normal water level is 566 meters
and dead water level is 531 meters. Operating water
depth is 35 meters. Slope ratio is 1:1.5. Total storage
capacity is 445 × 104 m3 . There are many creeps with
signs of landslide in the west slope of shangchi since
built fromApril, 1991. Reliability analysis of slope sta-
bility was carried out on section 1 + 178 of the west
slope of Shangchi. The random variables of reliability
analysis should be made statistically on the basis of
test data.
strength (peak strength) in natural state on slip sur-
face are selected to make statistical analysis. Test data
and statistical value are shown in Table 1. It is shown
that data is not sufficient to perform statistical analysis
because there are only four groups of fault F-212. It is
usually considered that F-207 and F-212 have a good
correlation in engineering. So that the four groups of
data of fault F-207 were used as additional information
to make statistical analysis of F-212.
According to field practic, parameters obtained by
back analysis method are the most convincing. But
characteristic of back analysis is given only a key
message. It is a great advantage that accuracy of calcu-
lation model, effect of space random field, difference
between scene and laboratory can be all intergrated

901
Table 1. Statistic value of fault shear strength.

Natural state (Peak strength)

Cohesion/kPa Friction angle/(◦ )

F207 fault (n = 4)
F207-n-2-1 55.000 11.900
F207-n-5-1 54.000 16.200
Figure 3. Optimum slope method and intercept method.
F207-1 63.000 11.000
F207-3 70.000 9.900
Mean 60.500 12.250
Standard
√ deviation 7.506 2.757
σ/ n 3.753 1.379
Distribution type Normal Normal
F212 fault
F212-n 40.0 7.1
Mean 40.000 7.100
Standard
√ deviation 7.506 2.757
σ/ n 3.357 1.233

Figure 4. Least-squares method with residuals.

1) Considering the resistance as truncated distribu-

Figure 2. Value of statistics parameter.
together. There are four methods to improve the relia-
bility of analysis (Lothar 1982, A.H-S.ang et al. 1991)
as shown in Fig. 2.
Take the right truncated of the stable slope as exam-
ple. The original distribution is normal N(µO, σO) and
the inversion value is RO.
tion, µr and σr are determined by integral and the
model is shown in Fig. 2(a);
2) It is regarded as normal distribution N (µR, σR);
3) Only adjust the mean, then it is N (µR, σe);
4) It is N (R, σO) with special emphasis on inversion
value R.
Obviously, it become more and more conservative
from the first method to the forth one. So the fourth
method would by used for safety consideration. If the
inversion values R is smaller than the original mean,
the third method can be used. On the contrary, left
truncated should be studied for back analysis on slope
instability. The first and second methods are conser-
vative and the third method can be used when the
inversion values R is larger than the original mean.
It is known that multiple parameters can not be mod-
ified by only one strip of information at the same time.
It is worth studying how to choose parameters because
there are four parameters in shear strength ϕ and C.
Even using the fourth method, parameters are needed
at least. Optimum slope method is recommended in
rock engineering according to rock classification by
geology, because ϕ of rock is usually rather concen-
trated. Take ϕ as fixed value in analysis as shown
in Fig. 3(a) and make statistical analysis of value C
separately. Intercept is also taken as fixed value in sta-
tistical analysis of ϕ, as shown in Fig. 3(b). However,
C and ϕ present positive correlation in this method
which dose not match experience by Zhang et al.
(Zhang et al. 2001). Value of each group of specimens
can not be directly calculated by least-squares fitting
method after the appliciation of optimum slope method
because of additional
value of
the residuals, as shown
in figure 4. It means ε2 ≥ ε2 . So

when calculate

2
the statistical value of C, the effect of ( ε2 − ε )
should be added to σc2 .

902

Figure 5. Anchor anti-slide pile.
Optimum friction angle is φ. Positive pressure of
each group is pi and there are m levels in total with
basic average value p. Then the relationship between
adhesive force c and the original value of ϕ and C of
each group is
Take equivalent depth as
mainly because of normal section bending problems
and shear of oblique section does not be controlled; (2)
Moment in pile is larger than design value since resis-
tance of bedrock is inadequate; (3) Strength of anchor
is insufficient; (4) Anchor head is pulled out because
the depth of anchoring section of the anchor is not
enough. The first three factors can be considered to be
independent of each other so that it is a series system.
Concrete quality of the anchor head and the pile is sim-
ilar and statistical parameters are perfect correlation
in analysis. Results show that sensitivity coefficient
is very small according to analysis of resistance varia-
tion of embedded bedrock. The pile is embedded under
the rock surface with the distance of h by equivalent
moment concept in calculation (Fig. 5).
By analyzing, when the resistance coefficient K of
rock is:

The additional error of the specified slope is:

Limit state equation of pile is

Single-valued statistical parameter of four experi-

ments of F-207 is optimum friction angle ϕ = 13◦ .
Then the mean and variance of c are µc = 57.17(kPa),
σc = 7.11(kPa). Section anti-torque [M] is


n
Additional error is (ε2 − ε)2 = 0.2972 ,
j=1
Variance of variable c after adjusted is σc2 = 8.92 .
There is only one group of experimental value of
F-212, therefore, parameters of F-212 are considered Horizontal resistance T of anchor is
by the fourth method for safety consideration. There
are:

Then the pile resistance P is

4 DETERMINATION OF RANDOM
PARAMETERS OF THE ANTI-SLIDE PILE

Anti-slide pile consists of a thirty-meter-high pile of

rail concrete structure. The top is fixed by prestressed 5 RELIABILITY ANALYSIS OF SLOPE
anchor and the bottom is embedded in bedrock with STABILITY
depth of 10 meters. Profile of reinforced concrete is
considered accord with general design standards. Dis- Suppose failure probability of structure Pf = P(Z < 0).
tribution of strength is regarded as normal distribution Z is the function of random variables of structure
and the coefficient of variation is 0.2. Design resis- denoted by Z = g (·) and x1, x2, …, xm are basic
tance is 12000 kN. Profile is 2 m × 3 m. There are four variables. If they are independent of each other, then
anchors in top and the tension of each is 1100 kN. Pile
spacing is eight meters. Accordingly internal forces
in the root (rock) of each pile are: Bending moment
M = 63030 kN · m, shearing stress = 810 kN.
The failure modes of pile are including: (1) Strength
of the reinforced concrete section is insufficient

903
Table 2. Result of slope stability.

Value of slip surface random variables

Resistance of Internal friction

anti-slide pile/kN angle/(◦ ) Cohesion/kPa
Reliability
Slip surface Statistical method µR σR µφ σφ µC σC index

F207 Before Determination 12.25 1.379 60.5 3.75 3.521

reinforcement This paper 13.0 0.0 57.17 8.9 3.644
After Classic 6870 1400 12.25 1.379 60.5 3.75 6.372
reinforcement This paper 6870 1400 13.0 0.0 57.17 8.9 6.837
F212 Before Determination 7.1 1.233 40.0 3.357 −2.754
reinforcement This paper 13.0 0.0 68.9 4.98 −2.231
After Classic 12000 2210 7.1 1.233 40.0 3.357 1.869
reinforcement This paper 12000 2210 13.0 0.0 68.9 4.98 2.134

where, fx1(x1), fx2(x2) … fxm (xm) are probability
density function of random variables x1, x2, …, xm.
Get reliability index β by discretization dimension
reduction method (Zhang et al. 1999) as follows:
Basic variables xi is dispersed into quantification
xik(k = 1,2, …, m). Substitute xik into the limit state
equation g(•). Then get dimension reduction equa-
tion g =(x1k, x2, …, xm) according which condition
reliability index βx1k can be solved. By transform
soil slice i; r[i] is anti-slide component force along the
sliding surface of soil slice i; ψ[i] is transfer function
and the expression is:
where ϑ[i] is inclination of soil slice i; φ[i] is internal
friction angle of soil slice i.
Function of random variables to check slope
stability [9] is:

Curve x1∼βx1k is mapped upon standard normal

coordinate system (x1 ox2 ) and it can be regarded as
two-dimensional limit state. x1 is load and x2 is gen-
eralized resistance representing discretization of all
basic variables except x1 on function of random vari-
ables. If the discrete variable is resistance, consider

it as x2k and reliability index of calculation condi-
tions is βx2k regarding x1 = βx2k as generalized load.
The minimum distance between curve and origin of
standard coordinate system is reliability index β:
Reliability index can be obtained by multiple dimen-
sion reduction method and recursive method. Limit
state of reliability analysis is established based on the
transfer coefficient method which is suitable for any
shape of slip surface. Supposing force between soil
slices is parallel to the and bottom of the previous
soil slice, perform recursion gradually according to
the force equilibrium conditions until thr ust of the last
soil slice is equal to or less than zero. The following
simplified formula (Gu et al. 2006) is often used.
where p[i] is remaining sliding force of soil slice i;
t[i] is sliding component force of sliding surface of
Value of the random variables and results of reliability
are shown in Table 2. Reliability index of slope stabil-
ity is given in this table with chasm F-207 and chasm
F-212 considered as sliding surface separately. The
results show that we can ensure the reliability index
reliability index to meet norm requirements by using
anchor anti-slide pile, although original slope stability
is uncertain.
The most dangerous sliding body in west slope is
section 0+178 sliding along the F-212. Failure proba-
bility is more than 99% analyzed by conventional data
and index. However, it can be reduced lower than 3%
when prestressed anchor anti-slide pile is additional
designed and even to 0.006% with shear strength index
modified. Moreover, failure probability can be consid-
ered close to zero if there are no signs of damage. That
is to say slope is fully safe after reinforced.
6 CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
Conservative methods and parameters are usually
selected in field as to obtain a reliable guarantee of
safety, such as probability analysis model, the fourth
method used in back analysis, homogenization effect
of random field not considered too much and some

904
correlation (negative correlation of ϕ and C, no cor-
relation of moment and shear of pile) not considered
which were uncertain and so on, therefore, the conclu-
sion was secure. Sufficient relevant information of site
conditions and modifying parameters by back analysis
method can decrease the uncertainty and improve the
engineering reliability.
Slope engineering is usually designed under condi-
tion of without sufficient sample test data. Statistical
parameters were determined by making full use of the
information collected in all aspects. It is feasible to
use rock classification method to determine the inter-
nal friction angle and then obtain cohesion C by back
analysis.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by the ShanDong
Science Program (2010GFS10607).
905
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Zheng, Y.R., et al. 2007. Engineering treatment of slope &
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Application of relevance vector machine to predict rockburst

H.B. Zhao, Z.L. Ru, X.J. Zhao & Y. Meng

School of Civil Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University

ABSTRACT: Rockburst is a complex, nonlinear dynamic mechanics phenomena and its mechanism is very
complex. Using monitored data for analysis and prediction of rockburst is an important research method.
However, it is difficult to present the complex, nonlinear relationship between rock burst and its influence
factor using conventional mathematics, mechanics methods. Rockburst forecast on the basis of time series anal-
ysis is a key research direction. For the time series analysis problem of rockburst, the rockburst is regarded as a
time series process, then build the nonlinear relationship between time series using relevance vector machine.
RVM based rockburst prediction method is proposed. The proposed method is applied to forecast the rockburst.
The results show this method is scientific, feasible and precise.

1 INTRODUCTION in many applications where RVMs have been used

Rockburst is a disaster and occurs frequently in hydro-
electric powerhouses, mining tunnels, road and railway
tunnels, and nuclear power stations, etc. Many a time
have rockbursts caused fatalities and extensive dam-
ages to the safety and mine product. How to predict
the rockburst and decrease the damage has become
an urgent but difficult problem to solve with the
proceeding of underground excavation.
Rockburst is generally influenced by many factors
including tectonic stresses, geological discontinuities
and mining activities. Many efforts have been made
by researchers to fully understand the mechanism in
order to predict the occurrence of rockburst more
accurately. However, due to the complexity (includ-
ing complex nature of rock mass and the complex
physical process of rockburst), uncertainty (includ-
ing geological data and in properties of rock masses)
and nonlinearity (between rockburst and the influ-
ence factors), the results predicted by the conventional
methods such as theoretical methods and test methods,
which look for the exact mathematical descriptions,
are not satisfactory yet. In such cases the intelligent
method such as neural network is an attractive way to
address the rockburst prediction Feng (1997a). Feng
(1994, 1996, 1997b) built the neural network model
of assessing the rockburst risks for deep gold mines
in South Africa. Chen (2003) predicted the rockburst
using neural network.
Tipping (2001) proposed the relevance vector
machine (RVM). The RVM is a general Bayesian
learning framework for obtaining sparse solutions to
regression and classification tasks utilizing models
that are linear in the parameters. RVM has shown a
comparable generalization performance with a higher
sparse solution than support vector machine (SVM).
State-of-the-art of prediction results has been reported
(Chen et al. 2001, Agarwal & Triggs 2004). In this
paper, the RVM is used for predicting the rockburst.
2 INTRODUCE OF RELEVANCE VECTOR
MACHINE
RVM is a special case of a sparse kernel model, which
represents a Bayesian treatment of a generalized linear
model of identical functional form to support vec-
tor machine (SVM). It differs with SVM in the case
of solution, which provides probabilistic interpreta-
tion of its output (Tipping 2001). RVM evades the
complexity by producing models which have both a
structure and a parameterization process that, together,
are appropriate to the information content of the data.
RVM starts with the concept of linear models, which
are commonly used in a variety of regression prob-
lems, i.e. the function of y(x) needs to be predicted at
some arbitrary point x given a set of (typically noisy)
measurements of the function t = (t1, y, tN) at some
training points x = (x1, y, xN):
where εi is the noise component of the measurement
with mean 0 and variance σ2.
Under a linear model assumption, the unknown
function y(x) is a linear combination of some known
basis functions fi = (x), i.e.
where w = (w1,y,wn) is a vector consisting of the
linear combination weights.

907
 Eq. (1) can then be written in vector form as To facilitate the solution, the posterior distribution of
weights is given by

where ϕ is an N×M design matrix, whose i th column

is formed with the values of basis function ϕi(x) at
all the training points, and ε =(ε1, y, εN) is the noise
vector.
As a supervised learning, RVM starts with a set Thus, the posterior over the weights is then obtained
of data input {xn }M from Bayes’ rule:
n=1 and their corresponding target
vector {tn }M
n = 1 . The aim of this training set is to learn
a model of the dependency of the target vectors on
the inputs in order to make accurate prediction of t for
previously unseen value of x.
In the context of SVM, the prediction is estimated
based on a function of the form.
Eq. (10) has an analytical solution where the posterior
covariance and mean are

where w = (w1; w2; …; wN) is weight vectors, w0 is

bias and K (x; xi) is a kernel function.
Given a data set of input-target pairs {xn , tn }N
n=1 , we
follow the standard formulation and assume p(t|x) is
Gaussian N(t|y(x),σ2). The mean of this distribution where we have defined A = (α0 , α1 , …, αN) and
for a given x is modelled by y(x) as defined in Eq. (4). B = σ −2 IN . Note that σ −2 is also treated as a hyperpa-
The likelihood of data set can be written as rameter, which may be estimated from the data.
Therefore, machine learning becomes a search for
the hyperparameters posterior most probable. Pre-
dictions for a new data are then made according
to integration of the weights to obtain the marginal
where t = (t1, y, tN),w = (w0, y, wN) and ϕ is the likelihood for the hyperparameters:
N × (N+1) design matrix with φnm = K(xn, xm−1)
and φn1 = 1. Maximum likelihood estimation of w
and σ2 in Eq. (5) often results in overfitting. There-
fore,Tipping (2001) recommended imposition of some
prior constrains on the parameters w by adding a
complexity to the likelihood or error function. This
a priori information controls the generalization abil-
ity of the learning process. Typically, new higher-level
parameters are used to constrain an explicit zero-
mean Gaussian prior probability distribution over the
weights.
3 ROCKBURST PREDICTION MODEL BASED
ON RELEVANCE VECTOR MACHINE

3.1 Rockburst prediction Model

where α is a vector of (N × 1) hyper parameters that
controls how far from zero each weights is allowed to
deviate.
Using Bayes’ rule, the posterior overall unknowns
could be computed, given the defined non-informative
prior-distributions.
However, we can not compute the solution of the poste-
rior in Eq. (7) directly since we can not perform the nor-
malizing integral p(t) = p(w|t, α, σ 2 )p(w, α, σ 2 )
dwdαdσ Instead, we decompose the posterior as
Rockburst is important information in the evolution-
ary process of rock. Using the monitored data, we can
predict the future rockburst law, which is important for
the real project. Up to now, methods of predicting time
series mainly include conventional time series anal-
ysis, neural networks, etc. Conventional time series
analysis builds the statistics model using measured his-
tory data. This model has some advantages and we do
not need to know the mechanics procedure and mech-
anism of rock when employ it, but this model can be
used only when the function relationship of the time
series is linear and simple. Neural network is a method
on the basis of big samples. Because of the complexity
of rock and soil structure, engineering geology condi-
tions and parameter of rock and soil are uncertain and
fuzzy, and lead to very complex nonlinear relationship

908
between time series. So it is difficult to present time Table 1. Magnitude record data of rockburst.
series relationship by conventional methods.
For a nonlinear rockburst time series, we can get Monitored No. Rockburst magnitude
the rockburst magnitude {xi} = {x1, x2, …, xn} at
different time by monitoring. Predicting this rock- 1 1.0
2 2.2
burst time series is to find the relationship between
3 1.4
rockburst magnitude xi+p at i+p and rockburst magni- 4 1.1
tude xi, xi+1, …, xi+p−1 at before p,i.e. xi+p = f(xi, 5 1.6
xi+1, …, xi+p−1), f( ) is a nonlinear function and 6 1.3
presents the nonlinear relationship between rockburst 7 1.2
time series. 8 1.0
According to the relevance vector machine, the non- 9 2.1
linear relationship stated above can be obtained by 10 1.5
learning using n monitored rockburst magnitude on the 11 1.5
12 2.1
basis of relevance vector machine, i.e. perform learn-
13 1.1
ing by n-p rockburst time series xi, xi+1, …, xi+p−1, 14 2.1
i = 1, …, n-p, and get the following relationship. 15 1.6
16 1.1
17 1.9
18 2.6
where, f(xn+m ) is the rockburst magnitude at time n +
m; xn+m is the p rockburst time series before time
n + m, xn+m = (xn+m−p , xn+m−p+1 ,…,xn+m−1 ); xi is
the p rockburst magnitude before time p + i, xi = (xi ,
xi+1 , …, xi+p−1 ); K( ) is kernel function.

3.2 Rockburst prediction based on RVM and

monitored data
To verify the proposed method, the rockburst of Da’an
Mountain coal mine was studied using earthquake
method on the basis of the monitored data in Beijing
coal mine bureau. In this paper, the monitor data
based on earthquake was studied by relevance vec-
tor machine. The monitored data in February, 1989
was listed in Table1. Eighteen samples were built by
using the data in Table 1, and then use the former four-
teen samples to build the rockburst predicting model
by relevance vector machine. The last 4 samples was Figure 1. Comparison between rockburst prediction result
predicted using proposed method and compared with by RVM and monitored data.
the monitored data in Table 1. The comparison result
was shown in Figure 1. In testing samples, the pre- relationship well. Based on the discussion above, the
dicted values of the former three are in agreement following conclusions can be drawn:
with the monitored values. The last one has more error
because it has longer time distance with the train- 1) The process for building relevance vector machine
ing data. This shows the predicted history step can model is quite simple, the data does not need to
not be too big. We can delete the old data and add be preprocessed, and the data can be the logical
new data in training samples to improve the prediction number, integer or float.
accuracy. In conclusion, the rockburst model on the 2) Relevance Vector machine has a better generaliza-
basis of relevance vector machine is feasible and more tion performance and a higher accuracy.
reliable. 3) Relevance Vector Machine is feasible, scientific
and suitable to solve the complex problem in rock
mechanics and engineering. And exciting prospects
4 CONCLUSION are expected.

Because of the complexity, nonlinear relationship

between rockburst time series, it is difficult to ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
present the relationship using conventional meth-
ods. Relevance vector machine is an excellent and The financial support from Science Funds of Henan
robust machine learning method and can map such Department of Education (No. 2009A44004) and

909
Doctoral funds of Henan Polytechnic University (No.
648197) are greatly acknowledged.
REFERENCES
Agarwal, A., Triggs, B. 2004. 3D human pose from silhou-
ettes by relevance vector regression. In: Proceedings of
the IEEE International Conference on Computer vision
and Pattern Recognition.
Chen, H.J., Li, N.H., Nie, D.X., et.al. 2003. Prediction of
rockburst by artificial neural network. Chinese Journal of
Rock mechanics and engineering 22(5), 762–768.
Chen, S., Gunn, S., Harris, C. 2001. The relevance vec-
tor machine technique for channel equalization appli-
cation. IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks 12 (6),
1529–1532.
Feng, X.T. 2000. Introduction of intelligent rock mechanics.
Beijing: Publishing House of Science.
910
Feng, X.T. 1994. Rockburst prediction based on neural
network. Trans. NonFreeous Met. Soc. China 4(1):9–14.
Feng, X.T., Katsuyama, Wang, Y.J., Lin, Y.M. 1997a. A new
direction-intelligent rock mechanics and rock engineer-
ing. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining
Science 34(1), 135–141.
Feng, X.T., Seto, M., Katsuyama, K. 1997b. On rockburst in
South African gold mines. Proc. of Mining and Materials
Processing of Japan.
Feng, X.T., Webber, S., Ozbay, M.U., Wang, Y.J. 1996. An
expert system on assessing rockburst risks for South
African deep gold mines. Journal of Cola Science &
Engineering (2):23–32.
Tipping, M., 2001. Sparse Bayesian learning and the rel-
evance vector machine. Journal of Machine Learning
Research 1211–244.
Zhao, H.B., Feng, X.T. 2003. Application of support vector
machines function regression in the evalution stabil-
ity of slope. Chinese Journal of Rock mechanics and
engineering 22(2), 241–245.
Case studies of typical rock engineering
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Rock mass instability evaluation at the La Volcana segment of the Valle de

Aburrá – Río Cauca road, Colombia – South America

J.A. Arévalo-Cardona & E. Muñoz-Hoyos

Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Minas, Medellín, Colombia

L.O. Suarez-Burgoa
Universidade de Brasília, Pós-graduação em Geotécnica, Brasília DF, Brazil

ABSTRACT: In this article it is described the rock mass instability evaluation performed in the Valle de
Aburrá-Río Cauca road, which is located at the Central Andes range in Colombia, South America. In this sector:
plane, and wedge failures were identified by means of a previous rock mass orientation description at the site
and the use of the block theory method. Also, block falls where found, which were evaluated by rock fall models
using commercial software. Finally, with the resulting evaluation, the hazard of the road sector was quantified,
which will be useful for stakeholders for the risk evaluation and the implementation of prevention measures.

1 INTRODUCTION

Forty years ago began the construction of the Aburrá –

Río Cauca interconnection road. The road connects the
city of Medellín with the west part of the Antioquia
department in Colombia and facilitates the displace-
ment to the Urabá Port, at the North West coast of the
department. For the project execution, it was necessary
to construct 36 km of road and a 4.6 km tunnel.
Because the topographic nature of the Andean hills,
designers proposed cuts of great height and steep
slopes, but the improperly protection of them, accom-
panied with external conditions as the clime, resulted
in the occurrence of various catastrophic events.
One of the critical segments of the road is the
so called La Volcana, in where a cut of more than
50 m o height was performed with the removal of
approximately 70 000 m3 of material, generating the
un-confinement of the rock mass and resulting in rock
falls of blocks up to 3 m3 of volume. Figure 1a shows
the La Volcana segment, short after the culmination
of the cut this located at the progressive K16 + 300 of
the mentioned road, and Figure 1b the location in the
Antioquia department ant in Colombia.

2 GEOLOGY OF THE SITE

The La Volcana segment is located in the Palmitas

gneissic Granite composed by Quartz and Orthoclase
with concentrations of Biotite and Plagioclase, this last
in minor proportion.
The tectonic at the zone id under the domain of
the Cauca-Romeral fault system, therefore is com-
mon the presence of faults and shear zones in the rock
mass. The fault system presents a regional orientation
North-South with inverse and thrust components
Figure 1. The study segment of the La Volcana in the
Aburrá – Río Cauca interconnection road (Arenas, 2009).
a) Photography; b) location in the Antioquia department.
(Ordoñez et al. 2003). The most representative fault
system near the road is the San Jerómico fault system,
which defines the limits between two geological ambi-
ents in the occidental part of Colombia: the continental

913
Table 1. Discontinuities concentrations.

Family Set Dip Direction Dip Strike Dip

1 247 87 N23W 87W

2 202 56 N68W 56W
3 206 86 N64W 86W
4 074 43 N16W 43E

ambient (to the east of the fault) and the oceanic crust
(to the west of the fault).

3 PROCEDURE

The field work was carried out by first identifying the

relevant characteristics of rock material and the dis-
continuities that the rock mass has, such as the uniaxial
compressive strength of rock material and the orienta-
tion, roughness, aperture, persistence and water flows
out of the discontinuities. In addition, the geometric
characteristics of the slope were measured, such as:
slope, height and space orientation.
The orientations of planes measured with compass
were corrected for magnetic declination at the place,
which was of 5◦ 34’ for those field work dates.
The mechanical parameters of rock material and
rock mass were obtained from previous research
projects in the segment (Henao 2008, Arenas 2009)
and correlations from the data collected in the field.
With these and the collected structural information,
an analysis of failure mechanisms was carried out
by fundamentals of structural geology and the use of
commercial software.

4 THE ROCK MASS

4.1 Rock material

Relevant rock material properties were determined
with the objective to obtain usefulness information that
allows assess the mechanical behavior of it. The mean
uniaxial compressive strength of rock material at the
study segment has a value of 90 MPa and the specific
gravity of rock mass has a mean value of 27 kN/m3 . Figure 2. Representative discontinuity sets. a) Pole concen-
trations; b) Mean planes.

4.2 Discontinuities Table 2. Geometrical properties in discontinuities.

4.2.1 Discontinuities sets
The most representative discontinuities observed at the Property Value
rock mass were elected, by considering them to have a
concentration greater than 6% after a statistical anal- Spacing (m) 0.6 to 2
Aperture (mm) 0.5 to 2.5
ysis performed in the stereographic projection. From Waviness Undulate
this process, four discontinuities sets were obtained, Roughness Smooth
all of them with a predominant strike of NW (Table 1
and Figure 2).

4.2.2 Geometrical properties 4.2.3 Mechanical properties

In most discontinuities, their geometrical properties The presence of water at discontinuities and the alter-
were identified, those which do not present great ation material between their surfaces were evaluated.
variation along the studied slope. Results are resumed In some locations, water flow under low pressured
in Table 2. where found, but in general, the rock mass presented

914
fry conditions. Because the field work were performed
in a dry station, it is probably that high pressures and
greater amount of flow rates may be present in the
wet station, even more because the zone presents high
rainfall volumes.
Because, no infill between rock mass surfaces and
no decomposition in rock material were observed,
the considered discontinuities were classified as un-
altered. This may be possible, because the rock mass
cut is relatively new.
Another important variable to asses, to be useful
for the failure mechanism evaluation, is the total fric-
tion angle of the discontinuities, which depends from
the basic friction angle and the additional angle given
by the rock surface roughness. Because this is a pre-
liminary analysis, this angle (the total one) was not
measured by laboratory tests, and was assumed to be
around 35◦ , which may be a conservatory value.

5 FAILURE MECHANISM ANALYSIS

The failure mechanism was performed according to

the stereographic analysis exposed, for example, in
Chica (1984), and by using the commercial program Figure 3. Failure in a single plane.
DIPS.
In order to do this work, the geometrical spatial
information of the slope was also measured. It has a
strike oriented N50W with a mean dip of 75W.

5.1 Planar failure

There is a plane failure potential through the discon-
tinuity set number 2 (Table 1). This set presents the
major concentration, which it makes possible to have
a great number of failures of this type in the segment.
Figure 3 shows the planar failure analysis.
It is important to show that in order to develop this
type of failure, it is necessary to have lateral distress of
the potential block and that the discontinuities involved
be total persistent.

5.2 Wedge failure

The intersection of discontinuities sets 1 and 2 (Table
1) develops also a wedge failure. These two sets have
the most concentrations values, so exist also a high
probability to develop (Figure 4).
This type of failure was corroborated at the field
work, because evidences were observed at the study
slope.
Figure 4. Wedge plane failure.

5.3 Toppling failure

This type of failure was not observed in field work,
and the analysis also does not show it. This because no
discontinuity set orientation accomplished in order to
develop toppling failure relative to the slope cut orien-
tation. Only the discontinuity set 4 accomplishes with
a possible orientation to develop toppling failure, but
is not parallel or sub-parallel to the slope orientation.
6 DISCUSION
The performed work explained here corresponded to a
pre-feasibility analysis and concentrated its attention
to the potential rock mass slope failures though their
discontinuities orientations.
The obtained results discussed here are very impor-
tant for slope stability analysis, because they give a

915
general overview of the major problems to be neces-
sary treat in the studied road segment, but at se same
time, results are insufficient in order to afford stabi-
lization measurements or a detailed characterization
of the rock mass condition in the zone.
According to these, it is recommended to perform
mechanical tests at discontinuities and rock mate-
rial, as: direct shear tests on each family set defined
here as potential sets to create failures and uniaxial
compressive strength tests on rock material. This will
allow assess failure probabilities and propone stability
measurements.
7 CONCLUSIONS
The distinct stability phenomena play an important
role in the functionality of road projects in moun-
tainous regions in altitude, such as the presented
here.
The La Volcana segment of the road connection
Aburrá – Río Cauca, is one of other zones in this road in
where rock mass cuts were performed, without a basic
rock mechanical analysis. This resulted in the men-
tioned instability problems that are against security
and functionality.
As it can be shown in this analysis, the geometrical
conditions of the slopes and rock mass are fundamental
in the instability processes.
916
In this research, two potential instability processes
were identified: wedge and in-plane failure. It shows
the necessity to evaluate the structural conditions of
rock masses when civil works are programmed inside
them.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Authors are grateful to the Young Research Group
about Underground Works (GEOS) of the National
University of Colombia, Medellin headquarters, and
to professors Oswaldo Ordoñez and Alejandro Chica
for their advices.
REFERENCES
Arenas, M., Fuentes, C., González, J. 2009. Geotechnical
characterization of the Valle de Aburrá – Río Cauca trans-
portation corridor (in Spanish). BSc. Thesis. Universidad
Nacional de Colombia: Medellín.
Chica, A. 1984. Elements for the analysis of geological struc-
tures (in Spanish). Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Press: Medellín.
Henao D. 2008. False Tunnels in the Valle de Aburrá – Río
Cauca transportation corridor (in Spanish). BSc. Thesis.
Universidad Nacional de Colombia: Medellín.
Ordóñez, O., Ángel-Cárdenas, P. Mesa-Sánchez, M. 2003.
Geology of theAburráValley (in Spanish). In: Proceedings
of the IX Colombian Congress of Geology.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on the control of thick and hard roof strata of Wongawilli face
in mining shallow coal seam

S.G. Li
Mine Safety Technology Branch, China Coal Research Institute, Beijing, China

D.Y. Li
Chongqing Mine Safety Training Center, Chongqing, China

W. Li & B. Zhang
Mine Safety Technology Branch, China Coal Research Institute, Beijing, China
State Key Lab of Coal Resources Mining and Environment Protection, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Because Wongawilli technology never takes measures to the goaf, the roof strata above goaf
are easy to fall in large area under some conditions, which will lead to serious disasters. Based on the mining
practice in Shendong coal mine area, the advantages and disadvantages of previous hard roof control methods
are analyzed according to the principle of roof handle. Four advanced plans are proposed for the control of thick
and hard roof of Wongawilli face in mining at shallow coal seam, and the most reasonable plan, termed as the
plan of roof border forced caving through deep hole blasting and anti-shock bulkhead, is proposed by feasibility
analysis and optimization methods. The implementation principle, the shortcomings of the program, and two
basic questions need to be understood are pointed out.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 BASIC PLAN OF THICK LAYER OF HARD

Wongawilli mining method, developed by Australia
mining experts on the basis of room pillar method
and started in use in the late 1950s, is a kind of
high efficient short wall mining method. The biggest
characteristic of the Wongawilli mining method is the
flexibility of working face, which could be used in
irregular block segments, pillar recovery, remaining
coal mining distract etc. Compared to the room-pillar
method, it has high mechanization degree, great capac-
ity of production, low tunnel excavation, high resource
recovery, simple production system, and it shows eas-
ier in production management. As Wongawilli mining
method didn’t take effective control method to the
gob roof strata, it inevitably brings about some diffi-
cult problems during extraction process. For example,
at 16:05:55 of Dec 10th, 2005, more than 10000 m2
area roof falling accident occurred in Daliuta colliery,
caused the tragedy of one death and one seriously
injured.
At present, there are two different standpoints and
approaches of the control for hard roof strata: the first
one is to maintain the roof stability, which produced
coal safety; the second one is to promote and enhance
the fall of roof, maintaining the mining space safety.
Coal pillar support method and gob filling method
belong to the first one; caving method and weakening
the roof strata by hydraulic injection method belong to
the second one.
ROOF CONTROL IN SHALLOW BURIED
FLOURISHING MINING FACE
The purpose of roof treatment is to reduce the hazards,
ensuring the safe production and enhancing economic
efficiency. Therefore, by taking into account the exist-
ing mine equipment and development principles and
technical conditions, the control plan should be safe,
low-cost, less interference to mine production, better
operability, resource-efficient, and easy to perform.
Accordingly, the study preliminarily put forward
four control plans for Wongawilli mining face with
thick and hard roof strata, which is at a mine in Shenhua
group.
2.1 Anti-shock bulkhead plan of small section
According to the first kind of hard roof control point,
Wongawilli mining face is divided into several small
community sections, every community section area of
all is far less than the extreme collapse span of the
mining face, and about 10 m separating pillar between
each section, and the anti-shock bulkheads are built in
the roadway to isolate the gob, as shown Figure 1. The
biggest advantage of this plan is that the roof strata
do not need to not to handle, the separating pillars
and boundary pillars together support the roof. Thus,
the impact of large-scale roof disasters will not occur,
but the upper roof strata may form a large overburden

917
Figure 1. The anti-shock bulkhead of small district.
Figure 2. Anti-shock bulkhead of district.
structure with the roof surrounding mining district,
resulting in an effect to the extraction of the sur-
rounding mining district even the extraction in lower
seam.
2.2 Anti-shock bulkhead plan of district
After extraction to the limit collapse area, the mining
area is completely recovered, leaving 20 m separating
pillar, and anti-shock bulkhead is built in the roadway
or the transportation lane, then the mining proceeds to
the next district (Figure 2). There is no need to handle
the roof when the gob roof arrives at the limit hang-
ing roof area, and this is the biggest advantage of this
plan. Due to undergoing process of “crack formation,
crack growing and buckling collapse”, the roof stra-
tum collapses under its own weight; and the air-impact
appears easily.Thus, it is need to build the high strength
anti-shock bulkhead.
2.3 Plan of deep hole blasting and compulsive roof
cave-in in branch roof
The second kind of hard roof control is to blast the roof
of branch after each branch was mined out, (Figure 3),
918
Figure 3. The forced caving through deep hole blasting in
the roof of branch way.
the advantage of this plan are as follows: the blasting
is in small-scale, thus the roof can fall regularly by
certain distance, and the anti-shock bulkhead needs
not to build. However, the blasting may pollute the
working face air and id harmful to worker health.
2.4 Association scheme of forced caving through
deep hole blasting and anti-shock bulkhead
After extracting to the limit collapse area, in order to
complete recovery of the mining area, to ensure the
roof can cave-in opportunely and plenty and not to
form the large-scale hanging roof, the blast should
be carried out at the maximum tensile stress area of
roof and middle of the gob boundary (Figure 4), after
the withdraw of equipment and the accomplishment of
anti-shock bulkhead.
3 DETERMINATION OF THICK AND HARD
ROOF CONTROL PLAN FOR WONGAWILLI
FACE IN MINING SHALLOW COAL SEAM
3.1 Optimization and feasibility Analysis of control
plan
Although the anti-shock bulkhead plan of small section
is simple that only need to build anti-shock bulkhead,
the upper roof may form large overburden structure
with the roof surrounding mining district, affecting
the extraction of the surrounding mining district even
Figure 4. The association scheme of forced caving through
deep hole blasting and anti-shock bulkhead.
Figure 5. The layout of shot point.

the extraction of lower seam. It is a drawback for long-

term development of the mine, so it does not fit for this
program.
Anti-shock bulkhead plan of district needs only to
construct anti-shock bulkhead, and the process is sim-
ple, but it can not fully guarantee the roof cave-in. A
large-scale hanging roof may form which will affect
the surrounding district and the lower seams. And if
the anti-shock bulkhead has not been built on time, a
sudden large-scale roof cave-in will cause personnel
casualties and damage to the equipment when the dis-
trict was just mined out. Thus, the plan can hardly be
put into use.
Figure 6. The parameter of charged location in shot drill.
Although the blasting scale is small and without
anti-shock bulkhead being built, deep hole blasting
compulsive roof cave-in plan in branch roof will still
The break point position is shown in Figure 5, and
pollute the working face air, and is harmful to work-
the blasting drilling charging parameter is shown in
ers. Moreover, mining in each branch lane should be
Figure 6. The blasting is divided into five different
carried out while drilling and it will seriously affect
types, as shown in Figure 7.
the mining work.
The first kind of breaking point includes 12 break-
The “association scheme of forced caving through
age points; they are from No.2 to No.13 break
deep hole blasting and anti-shock bulkhead” plan has a
points, respectively. The second kind of breaking point
better feasibility, because it uses fully the stress charac-
includes No.1, No. 14 to No.20 break point, and No.26,
teristics of critical state when the top roof area reach the
No.28, No.30, No.31, No.34, No.41, No.44 break
limit, and it can ensure the roof cave-in fully by way of
points. The third class break point includes No.25,
blasting disturbance, which also solve the problem of
No.27, No.29, No.32, No.33, No.35 to No.40 break
large-scale hanging roof.
point, No.42 and No.43 break point. The fourth class
break point includes No.21 to No.24 break points. The
fifth class break point includes No.45 and No.46 break
3.2 Rules of forced caving through deep hole
point.
blasting
(2) Charging method
(1) Arrangement and parameters of drilling When charging, the detonating cord (6 mm) and
The ammonium black high strength explosives (75- the first volume of explosive are tied together, and
4) are used. Its power is 1.9665, cartridge specification the exterior length is 1.0 m or so when putting the vol-
is 70 × 500 mm, and MS Delay Electric Detona- ume into the cable through the borehole explosion, and
tor for mine is used. The layout is on-line for each the detonating cord is contacted with all explosives
border way, making series between drilling QL2000 in the drilling. Because of the explosive detonation
type powerful detonating device with delay detonator cable guide at a very fast rate (6000 m/s), when the
explosive detonator, the charge coefficient is 0.6 with detonating cord is charged, the entire cartridge is det-
charge density 1.2 g/cm3 , stemming filling factor is onated instantaneous, and there are no miss-fire and
0.2∼0.4, total charge is 1.7 t. detonation phenomena.

919

Figure 7. The parameter of different kinds of shot point.
920
To accelerating the charging time and ensuring the
charging quality, 6 people must be ensure to participate
in the job when charging in the site, and the spe-
cific division is described as follows: one person sends
explosives, one person records and passes explosives,
one person pulls cable, two persons make retreats gun
mud. It is proven by the field that 6 persons cooperation
is reasonable and it only takes about 30 minutes.
(3) Construction methods
When borehole construction is completed, the hole
is checked one by one and the number and the depth are
recorded. The charge stemming and detonating cord
should be installed into the PVC pipe by the actual
hole depth and numbered one by one in advance, at
the same time, to prepare the sliding cork and sealing
cork. Blasting materials will be shipped to the working
face and start charge when the working face impelled
about 4.5∼5.5m. Each hole adds the prepared explo-
sive and part stemming. In order to prevent the decline,
the sliding cork must be used and the stemming is filled
with stick by hand, and then sealed with cork. At last
detonator is joined and the bus shooting is hanged.
(4) Implementation requirements
① The floor of car transporting explosive, detonat-
ing cord and detonators must be cushioned with
boards, detonators and explosives must be trans-
port independently. In order to avoid officers going
and downing time, transportation work should be
arranged by the control room before transportation.
During the transportation process, there must be
safety supervision personnel to monitor the whole
transportation.
② Before charging, all the officers in the return air sys-
tem must evacuate, and set alert at the place where
people can go into the return air system, then turn
off all the power of the equipment in the working
face and trough;
③ The distance of alert and blasting must longer than
500 m, because the charge amount is so big, and
head count must be do before blasting;
④ “A cannon three inspection system” and “three
chain blowing system” must be enforced strictly
in the blasting operation;
⑤ The anti-shock bulkhead must be checked perfectly
after the blasting.
3.3 Shortage of forced caving through deep hole
blasting
“Forced caving through deep hole blasting” plan is a
good solution to the large-scale hanging roof in shal-
low buried flourishing mining face. However, there
are still two basic problems need to be clarified. The
first problem is: before the roof is blasted, the gob roof
will arrive to the limit area, and whether or not cave-in
appears in a large scale? After the roof arrives the limit
area, how long is the time interval from crack develop-
ment in the roof to the roof caving. The second problem
is: large-scale roof caving can form the air impact after
blasting, whether the anti-shock bulkhead is sufficient
strong to resist the shock or not.
4 CONCLUSIONS
1. According to the principle of dealing with the
roof, four basic control plans are put forward, i.e.
anti-shock bulkhead plan of small section, anti-
shock bulkhead plan of district, deep hole blasting
compulsive roof cave-in plan in branch roof, and
association scheme of forced caving through deep
hole blasting and anti-shock bulkhead, respectively.
2. After optimization, “the association scheme of
forced caving through deep hole blasting and anti-
shock bulkhead” plan is adopted in practice, and
the corresponding drilling layout and parameters,
charge methods, construction methods and imple-
mentation requirements are described in detail.
At last, two basic questions about this plan are
pointed out.
REFERENCES
Geng, H.L. 2006. Forced Caving with Middle Deep – hole
Blasting. Scientific and Technological Achievement, (3):
87–88.
921
Lu, Z.F. & Sun, J.M. et al. 2002. Application of Wongaw-
illi mining technology to Shendong Mining Area. Coal
Science and Technology, (30): 11–18.
Lv, J., Hou, Z.J. & Zhang, J. 2004. Ground Pressure and Strata
Control, (3): 66–68.
Sun, X.G., Zhou, H.Q. & Wang, G.W. 2007. Digital Simula-
tion of Strata Control by Solid Waste Paste-Like Body for
Backfilling. China Mining Magazine, 16(3): 80–83.
Wang, Y., Gao, J.D. & Xu, S.P. 1997. Injection caving of hard
roof. HeBei Coal, (2): 13–15.
Wei, G.R. 2005. Application of deep-hole blasting cave-in
of fully mechanized mining face. Coal Engineering, (7):
36–38.
Zhao, H.Z. 1999. India roof collapse shallow depth difficult to
fully mechanized mining of coal surface blasting . Ground
Pressure and Strata Control, (3): 57–60.
Zhao, X.C. & Wu, J.C. 1993. Coal Science and Technology,
21(11): 21–23.
Zhu, H.Q., Liu, J. & Zhang, J.L. 2006. Application of the
deep hole of blasting in the treatment of gob. Mining
Technology, 6(1): 71–72.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical analysis on the stability of the lining structure of a tunnel

X. Chen, S.J. Miao, F.H. Ren, L. Shi, W.C. Wu & Q.S. Wang
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science
and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: In this paper the displacement field and stress field of a tunnel were investigated in complicated
engineering geology condition. The numerical modeling program FLAC2D was used to analyze the distribution
and variation of the displacement and stress. The stability of the lining structure of the tunnel was also studied,
especially the part in the soft rock strata. According to the analysis results, the relative unstable areas with the
main areas which should monitored and reinforced have been determined.

1 INTRODUCTION

A tunnel with length of 2240 m is located in the

north border of the arcuate tectonic belt of Sichuan
province. The tectonic structure presents an arc fold
which is deflecting from northeast to east gradu-
ally with a general trend of northeast. Most part of
the surrounding rock of the tunnel is grade III and
IV, while the part of K46 + 545∼755 with length of
210 m, K47 + 565 ∼ 765 with length of 200 m and
K47 + 965 ∼ K48 + 065 with length of 100 m are the
Grade V surrounding rock. As this rock is cataclas-
tic Mosaic structure, there would be water inrushing Figure 1. The model and the boundary conditions.
and water gushing during the constructing. The under-
ground water there can be divided into three types: pore
water in the loose accumulation layer, fissure water in
the bedrock and the karst water in the carbonate rock. Table 1. Surrounding rock calculation parameters.
Among these, the karst water in the carbonate rock is
The grade of the
in the majority. So the stability analysis of the lining surrounding rock III IV V
structure is very important.
Bulk density d(kg/m3 ) 2450 2250 2100
Elastic modulus E (MPa) 6000 2000 1300
2 MODELING AND PARAMETER Poisson ratio 0.28 0.33 0.3
cohesion force c (MPa) 1.1 0.45 0.2
SELECTING Friction angle j(◦ ) 40 30 26
Tensile strength sT (MPa) 0.02 0.02 0.02
2.1 Numerical calculation modeling Bulk modulus BU(MPa) 4545.45 1960.78 1083.33
The size of the tunnel is 2240 m long, 715 cm net Sheat modulus SH(MPa) 2343.75 751.8797 500
high and 1106 cm wide. After selecting the section, a
numerical calculation model was set up, with a length
of 200 m long along the horizontal axis(X axis) and a
height of 150 m high along the vertical axis(Y axis). 2.2 The selection of numerical calculation
The top of the model is the free surface of the peak. The parameters
displacement boundary conditions have been added
on both the left and right side to limit horizontal According to the field geological survey and design,
movement. The top of the model is limited to move ver- the final decided physical parameters of rock and soil
tically.The final formed calculation model is presented used in calculation are shown in Table 1. The structural
in Figure 1. During the calculating, the stress field is mechanics parameters are in Table 2 and Table 3, and
applied according to the field measurements in which the values are in line with Concrete Structure Design
the horizontal stress is 0.8 times of the vertical stress. Code (GB50010-2002).

923
Table 2. Structural mechanics parameters.

Elastic modulus
Component Density (kg/m3 ) (GPa)

C25 concrete 2500 28

Poisson ratio Bulk modulus (GPa) Shear modulus (GPa)
0.167 14.0 12.0

Table 3. Mechanical parameters of the tunnel anchor.

Elastic Yield Tensile

modulus (GPa) strength (kN) strength (kN)
Figure 2. The maximum principal stress field of grade III
210 150 150 surrounding rock.
friction angle (◦ ) section area (cm2 ) Density (kN/m3 )
30 3.8 78.50

3 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS

In this study, the FLAC2D program is used to analyze

the stability of the tunnel’s surrounding rock.
The specific simulation process is: first of all, set up
the initial stress field, apply displacement to constrain
boundary conditions. Under the initial stress, make
the system in the balance of the initial stress by iter-
ative computation, and simulate the condition before
the excavation. On the basis of the NATM construction
principle, simulate the process of the tunnel’s construc-
tion, and install the supporting structural elements in Figure 3. The maximum principal stress field of grade IV
surrounding rock.
time. Install the history variable that need to survey
(the deformation of the tunnel’s inner wall, the axial
force of the anchor, etc.), and iterate them to make the
model into the balanced and stable condition.
The compound lining structure is used. The pri-
mary support is anchor-plate retaining. The shotcrete
strength is C25, and the mortar anchor is selected with
the diameter of 22mm, the length of 3m and a designed
strength value of 210MPa. The form concrete is used
for the second lining, and the concrete strength is C25.

3.1 Stress field analysis

According to the analysis of the tunnel’s cross sections’
maximum principal stress field, principal stress vec-
tor field and the failure field, the effect of the lining
is obvious especially the compound lining structure.
The lining structure can resist the pressure from the
surrounding rock, and can reduce the displacement of
the tunnel.
The original stress state of the rock is changed after
the excavation, turning out that the three dimensional
stress state was replaced by the two dimensional stress
state. And the stress redistributes again. The worse of
the rock, the bigger the area of the stress redistributing
is. The maximum principle stress mainly concentrates
on the part of the compound lining structure which
forms a pressure arch to keep the tunnel stable. The
Figure 4. The maximum principal stress field of grade V
surrounding rock.
top of the compound lining structure is under great
pressure particularly. The above analysis show that the
compound lining structure is under high stress, and
the peripheral rock of the lining structure is under
low stress. The lining structure has made an effect of
resisting the pressure from the surrounding rock.
The rock surrounding the tunnel is under two dimen-
sional stress states. The principal stress distributes like

924
Figure 5. Principal stress vector field of grade III surround-
ing rock.
Figure 6. Principal stress vector field of grade IV surround-
ing rock.
Figure 7. Principal stress vector field of grade V surround-
ing rock.
a circle, and this forms a pressure arch around the tun-
nel. The lining structure is mainly under the pressure
from the axis, and this does well to the stability of
the lining structure. The higher the surrounding rock’s
level is, the bigger the maximum press structure is. The
maximum press structure of the Grade III surrounding
rock is 13.7 MPa, the maximum press structure of the
Grade IV surrounding rock is 24 MPa and the maxi-
mum press structure of the Grade V surrounding rock
is 24.3 MPa.When going deep in the surrounding rock
the vertical stress of the arch springing is becoming
bigger, until the same as original rock stress, while the
925
Figure 8. The tunnel’s failure field of grade III surrounding
rock.
Figure 9. The tunnel’s failure field of grade IV surrounding
rock.
Figure 10. The tunnel’s failure field of grade V surrounding
rock
vertical stress in the tunnel area is very small for the
excavation releases the stress.
From the figures, it is obvious that there appears
a little yield in the Grade III surrounding rock,
more plastic failure on the upper part of the tunnel in
the Grade IV surrounding rock and plastic failure in a
large area around the tunnel in the Grade V surround-
ing rock, as the grade of the surrounding rock levels
Figure 11. The tunnel’s displacement field of grade III
surrounding rock.
Figure 12. The tunnel’s displacement field of grade IV
surrounding rock.
up and the scope of the surrounding rock’s failure area
is larger. However, there is not any plastic failure in
the lining area. The lining structure protects the tunnel
effectively, and avoids the tunnel’s damage.
3.2 Displacement field analysis
After the tunnel’s excavation, the rock’s original stress
is released. Then the stress distributes again, turned
out into two directions condition instead of three. At
that time, the surrounding rock within a certain range
around the tunnel is into a plastic state in varying
degrees (Figure 9, 10, 11), and the extrusion into the
inside of the tunnel leads to deformation. The amount
of the floor heave and the lateral deformation of the
sidewall is larger than the settlement of the top plate
(see Figure 12, 13, 14). It is suggested that the inten-
sity of the inverted arch and the sidewall be enhanced
with the displacement monitor carefully.
After the lining, the displacement of the tunnel is
very small with a maximum of less than 50 mm. from
the Figure 12, 13, 14 we can see that the displace-
ment of the two sides and bottom is larger, and the
displacement of the top plate is very small. Along
with the rock lithology turned worse, the maximum of
the tunnel’s displacement becomes bigger obviously—
the maximum of the displacement of the Grade III
926
Figure 13. The tunnel’s displacement field of grade V
surrounding rock.
Figure 14. The calculation model of the tunnel in the soft
rock strata.
surrounding rock is 3.86 mm, the maximum of the
displacement of the Grade IV surrounding rock is
14.96 mm and the maximum of the displacement of the
Grade V surrounding rock is 48.25 mm. The vertical
displacement out of the area of the tunnel is extremely
small, while the vertical displacement in the tunnel
area is bigger relatively, and the amount of the floor
heave is increased up to the grade of the surround-
ing rock’s level up. So the protection of the higher
grade surrounding rock (i.e. the soft rock strata) should
be enhanced to control the deformation of the tunnel
firmly.
4 THE STABILITY ANALYSIS IF THE TUNNEL
IN THE SOFT ROCK STRATA
4.1 Calculation model and parameters
The numerical simulation model of the tunnel in the
soft rock strata is shown in the following Figure 16.
According to the geological survey and reconnais-
sance design information, the final determined rock
and soil’s mechanic parameter for the simulation is
shown in the Table 4.
Table 4. The calculation parameter of the rock and soil.

Bulk Weight Elastic Modulus Poisson’s Cohension

(kg/m3 ) (MPa) Ratio (MPa)

2000 1200 0.2 0.058

Tensile Bulk Shear Friction
strength modulus modulus angle
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (◦ )
0.11 666.667 500 24.63

Figure 17. The failure field.

Figure 15. The maximum principle stress field.

Figure 18. The displacement field.

the compound lining area. This accounts that the lining

structure is not ran out and can work normally.
The figure of the displacement field shows that the
maximum displacement is at the tunnel floor, and the
maximum value reaches 90 mm. So the tunnel’s bot-
tom heave in the soft rock strata should be controlled
strictly, and effective measure should be taken in the
working area to integrated control the bottom heave
problem

Figure 16. The principle stress vector field.

4.2 Stability analysis
By means of analyzing the stress field, failure field
and displacement field, the stability of the tunnel
surrounding rock has been evaluated generally.
The figure of the principle stress field shows that the
compound lining structure is under the high stress, and
the maximum value reaches 17.5MPa which is much
bigger than the original stress, while the other rock
around it is under the low stress. Therefore, the lining
structure has controlled the stress of the surrounding
rock excellently.
The figure of the failure field shows that the plas-
tic failure area caused by the tunnel in the soft rock
strata is very large. There are many area of shear fail-
ure around the tunnel, but there is no plastic failure in
5 CONCLUSION
1. By means of analyzing the stress and displacement
of the tunnel lining structure and surrounding rock,
the stress distribution, failure area and deforma-
tion discipline of the tunnel have been revealed,
and the security of the tunnel has been analyzed
and evaluated.
2. The effect of the compound lining structure is
obviously. The lining structure can afford the sur-
rounding rock pressure, decrease the deformation
amount around the tunnel, and reach the security
requirement to achieve the expected results. Dur-
ing the construction, look out the deformation of
the tunnel floor and sidewall, control the extrusion
from the floor heave and sidewall, and monitor the
tunnel cross-section’s convergence.

927
3. Through the analysis, it is obvious that the stress
of the tunnel’s vault, arch feet and floor is bigger.
Therefore, if is important to enhance the monitor-
ing and supporting of these three points. And these
avoid the blind monitoring and supporting, save
the cost, and can also set example to this kind of
engineering.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by National Nat-
ural Science Foundation of China (No.11002021), the
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Univer-
sities and Major Program of National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No.51034001).
REFERENCES
Amorosi, A. & Boldini, D. 2009. Nemerical modeling of
the transverse dynamic behavior of circular tunnels in
clayey soils. Soil Dynamics and earthquake engineering,
29: 1059–1072.
928
Azadi, M. & Mir Mohammad Hosseini, S.M. 2010. Analysis
of the effect of seismic behavior of shallow tunnels in
liquefiable grounds. Tunneling and Underground Space
Technology, 25: 543–553.
Cai, M.F. 2002. Rock mechanics and engineering. Science
Press.
Cai, M.F. & Liu, D.M. 2009. Study of failure mecha-
nisms of rock under compressive–shear loading using
real-time laser holography. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 46(1): 59–68.
Li, W. 2009. FLAC analytic methods of tunnel and under-
ground engineering. China Waterpower Press.
Liu, D.M., Cai, M.F., Zhou,Y.B. & Chen, Z.Y. 2006. Dynamic
monitoring on developing process of rock cracks. Chi-
nese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, 25(3):
467–472.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Inversion analysis of mechanical parameters of slope rock mass

in Baiyunebo open pit iron mine

D.Q. Gan, H.J. Lu & Z.J. Yang

College of Mine Engineering, Hebei United University, Tangshan, Hebei, China

ABSTRACT: An inversion analysis model for mechanical parameters of open pit slope rocks was established.
Based on orthogonal design, finite element method and RBF neural network. According to orthogonal design,
the value levels of the mechanical parameters were chosen, and simulation schemes were arranged; the related
analytical samples for neural network were given by calculations with MIDAS/GTS finite element software; RBF
neural network was trained; the mechanical parameters of open pit slope were inversely analyzed by well-trained
RBF neural network using the actual landside body mechanical parameters of Baiyunebo iron mine Finally the
mechanical parameters of the open pit slope were obtained. The error between the inverse analysis results and
the theoretical ones is much little and meets the demand of precision. The results provide a reasonable basic data
for analyzing the stability of mine slope.

1 INTRODUCTION Table 1. Value levels of the mechanical parameters of slope

rocks.
Baiyunebo open pit iron mine is located in northwest
Parameters of dolostone Parameters of fault
of Inner Mongolia. The top length of northeast side
of the slope of the mine is 750 m at 1650 level with Level E1 /GPa C1 /MPa ϕ1 /◦ E2 /MPa C2 /MPa ϕ2 /◦
100 m of slope foot length at 1230 m level. The aver-
aged vertical height of the slope in this side is about 1 24 0.3 36 50 0.006 18
400 m. The overall slope angle is 43◦ . The lithology 2 30 0.4 38 100 0.01 21
of slope mainly includes mica schist, mica slate, long 3 36 0.5 40 150 0.04 24
slate, dolostone and basic dikes. 4 42 0.6 42 200 0.07 27
In order to make analysis on stability of the 5 48 0.7 44 250 0.1 30
slope, it is important to get correct information of
the physical and mechanical properties of the rock.
To the purpose, the orthogonal design method was
parameters that will be inversely analyzed. Parameter
used to choose initial value levels of the mechani-
to be inversely analyzed are divided into five levels
cal parameters and the related analytical samples for
according to its possible change range, as shown in
neural network were produced by calculations with
Table 1. Modeling calculation scheme is determined
MIDAS/GTS finite element software. RBF neural net-
by the orthogonal table with six factors five levels.
work was trained; the mechanical parameters of open
There are 25 groups of numerical simulation scheme,
pit slope were inversely analyzed by well-trained RBF
as shown in Table 2.
neural network using the actual landside body mechan-
ical parameters of Baiyunebo iron mine Finally the
mechanical parameters of the open pit slope were
obtained. 3 THE FINITE ELEMENT NUMERICAL
ANALYS

2 ORTHOGONAL EXPERIMENT DESIGNS 3.1 Procedure chosening

The slope lithology in the research range mainly is
dolostone and iron ore .The major effect on the slope
stability is the dolostone and physical-mechanical
parameters of the fault, in which elastic modulus and
adhesive stress, and the friction angle are overriding.
According to the received geological data and physi-
cal mechanics experimental results, we can determine
the upper and lower limit range of rock mechanics
This paper selects MIDAS/GTS large finite element
numerical simulation software to build the neural net-
work training samples. Due to complex, too many
elements (about 200,000 elements) and long calcu-
lation time of 3-D analysis, this study selects open
slope typical sections to build a 2-D model and thereby
obtains the data training samples needed such as slid-
ing surface center coordinates, sliding radius, safety
coefficient.

929
Table 2. Orthogonal test scheme.

Parameters of dolostone Parameters of fault

Scheme E1 /GPa C1 /MPa ϕ1 /◦ E2 /MPa C2 /MPa ϕ2 /◦

1 24 0.3 36 50 0.006 18
2 24 0.4 38 100 0.01 21
3 24 0.5 40 150 0.04 24
4 24 0.6 42 200 0.07 27
5 24 0.7 44 250 1 30
6 30 0.3 38 150 0.04 30
7 30 0.4 40 200 0.07 18
8 30 0.5 42 250 1 21
9 30 0.6 44 50 0.006 24
10 30 0.7 36 100 0.01 27
11 36 0.3 40 250 1 27
12 36 0.4 42 50 0.006 30
13 36 0.5 44 100 0.01 18 Figure 2. Scheme one result.
14 36 0.6 36 150 0.04 21
15 36 0.7 38 200 0.07 24 Table 3. Orthogonal test schemes and numerical calculation
16 42 0.3 42 100 0.01 24 results.
17 42 0.4 44 150 0.04 27
18 42 0.5 36 200 0.07 30 Numerical results
19 42 0.6 38 250 1 18
20 42 0.7 40 50 0.006 21 Center coordinates Radius of Safety
21 48 0.3 44 200 0.07 21 Slip surface factor
22 48 0.4 36 250 1 24 Formula X/m Z/m R/m k
23 48 0.5 38 50 0.006 27
24 48 0.6 40 100 0.01 30 1 139.07 265.63 135.89 0.94
25 48 0.7 42 150 0.04 18 2 161.56 235.80 98.56 1.017
3 139.07 265.63 135.89 0.9491
4 152.96 304.31 159.90 0.9519
5 154.06 245.75 111.00 0.8856
6 152.96 304.31 159.90 0.9585
7 139.07 265.63 135.89 0.7588
8 212.39 254.03 81.33 0.7355
9 161.56 235.80 98.56 0.9144
10 145.57 255.69 112.47 1.003
11 146.01 284.97 144.29 1.002
12 145.57 255.69 112.47 1.000
13 146.01 284.97 144.29 1.004
14 139.07 265.63 135.89 0.9281
15 124.07 285.52 164.43 0.9715
16 161.56 235.80 98.56 0.8633
17 138.52 294.91 156.73 0.7600
18 219.89 244.09 66.89 0.6775
19 146.57 255.69 123.44 0.7937
20 161.56 235.80 98.56 0.8135
21 146.01 284.97 147.89 0.7196
22 109.63 276.13 146.32 0.8742
23 146.57 255.69 138.03 0.7062
Figure 1. Two-dimensional model. 24 138.52 294.91 163.93 0.9887
25 161.56 235.80 98.56 1.009

3.2 Analysis model and the results

After considering the actual situation of the typical
profiles, a calculation model was established, as shown
in Figure 1.
In the MIDAS/GTS software£¬enter the rock mass
parameters in turn form the orthogonal table, and
record the results of each calculation data, includ-
ing the center coordinates of sliding surface, sliding
radius, the safety factor, etc., as shown in Figure 2.
A list of neural network training samples is shown in
Table 3.
4 RBF NEURAL NETWORK INVERSE
ANALYSIS
4.1 Characteristics of the RBF neural networks
The maximum effective ability of neural network is
approximation of the complex nonlinear function,
which is widely used for slope stability analysis (Li
et al. 2008, Qin et al. 2009, Wang & Zhai 2010). Due

930
 Figure 4. Training pre and post data comparison.
Figure 3. Variation of error with training steps

to very slow approach speed, the use of BP neural

network is limited.
RBF (radial basis function) neural network uses
local approximation technique, so its approximation
capability, classification and learning rate are much
better than BP network (Wu et al. 2006, Zeng et al.
2009, Zhang et al. 2002, Zhou et al. 2005).

4.2 RBF neural network training

In the RBF network, the 4 input layer nodes in the
input vector {X, Z, R, k} represent the landslide cen-
ter of the horizontal, vertical coordinates, radius of
slope landslide and minimum safety factor, respec- Figure 5. Training pre and post error.
tively. Six output layer nodes in output vector {E1, C1,
ϕ1, E2, C2, ϕ2} represent the mechanical parameters
of dolomite and faults. Set the training error of 10-6, Table 4. Inversion analysis results of rock parameters.
the spread constant 1, with 25 groups date in Table 3
as training samples. Dolomite parameters Fault parameters
Before training the normalization of the training
E1 /GPa C1 /MPa ϕ1 /◦ E2 /MPa C2 /MPa ϕ2 /◦
mode is used.
36 0.4 42 150 0.01 30

In which: 4.3 Mechanical parameters inversion

xi is the input or output data;
xmin is the minimum value of data changes;
xmax is the maximum value of data changes;
xi is the normalized input or output data.
After the normalization, the training data was sub-
stituted into the neural network, after training of 1000
times, the RBP network with 18 hidden layer neurons
is best, so the number of neurons in the hidden layer
was set as 18. Substituting this result to the RBP neural
network, through 301 training, the final error is 10−6
that meets the accuracy requirements. The error curve
is shown in Figure 3
Substituting p of the network training samples into
the trained RBP network, after training, comparison
with the output samples is shown in Figure 4. The error
between them is shown in Figure 5. It can be seen that
only a very few individual point’s error is more than
0.01, 95% of the test point error less than 0.005. The
results show that network with mapping between p and
t meet the precision requirement.
Based field measurement, the coordinates of 2# sliding
body of the center is (178,224), the radius of the sliding
body is 129.45, and landslide safety factor is 1. After
data normalized, substituting to trained RBF neural
network, the inverse analyzed value of the mechani-
cal parameters of landslide rock mass is obtained, as
shown in Table 4.
Substituting the inversion parameters into the
MIDAS/GTS program, the landslide-related inver-
sion parameters and the actual landslide parameters
is shown in Table 5.
5 CONCLUSIONS
1. The model for rock mechanical property inverse
analysis based on orthogonal design, finite element
method and RBF neural network is feasible and
relatively accurate.

931
Table 5. Comparison of parameters between the inversely Huang, H., Bai, J.C. & Lu, Z.S. 2009. Electrode wear predic-
analyzed and the actual landside body. tion in milling electrical discharge machining based on
radial basis function neural network. J.Shanghai Jiaotong
Center coordinate Radius of Safety Univ.(Sci.) 14(6): 736–741.
Landslide slip surface factor Kang, F., Li, J.J. & Xu, Q. 2009. Ant colony clustering
parameters X/m Z/m R/m k radial basis function network model for inverse analysis
of rockfill dam. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Calculated 175.29 228.48 126.36 0.96 Engineering 28(Suup.): 3639–3645. (in Chinese)
inversion Li, C.D., Tang, H.M. & Hu, B. 2008. Research on application
parameters of wavelet analysis and RBF neural network to prediction
Actual value 178.00 224.00 129.45 1.00 of foundation settlement. Rock and Soil Mechanics 29(7):
Absolute error 2.71 4.48 3.09 0.04 1117–1122. (in Chinese)
Relative error/% 1.52 2.00 2.39 4.00 Qin, Y., Zhang, Y. & Xing, Z.Y. 2009. RBF neural net-
work design based on multi-objective hierarchical genetic
algorithm. J. Cent. South Univ. (Science And Technology)
40(Suup.): 35–41. (in Chinese)
Wang, L.F. & Zhai, H.Y. 2010. Orthogonal test and regression
2. GTS simulation program arranged by orthogonal analysis of compressive strength of nanometer silicon and
design, with a uniform dispersion and uniformity cement-stabilized soils. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical
comparability, reduced the number of experiments Engineering 32(Sup.): 452–457. (in Chinese)
and saved test time. Wu, S.C., Gao, Y.T. & Yang, Z.F. 2006. Random predic-
3. RBF neural network has strong ability of non- tion of rockfall of high-steep slope in open-pit mine
linear mapping and is suitable for solving slope based on orthogonal experiment. Chinese Journal of Rock
displacement inversion analysis problems in which Mechanics and Engineering 25(Suup.): 2826–2832. (in
the relationship between input and output have no Chinese)
Zeng, D.L., Zhou, Z.H. & Xie, S.L. 2009. Construction of
determine mathematical expression.
compact RBF network by refining coarse clusters and
4. The results provide reasonable basis data for the widths. Journal of Systems Engineering and Electronics
stability analysis of slope in Baiyunebo iron mine. 20(6): 1309–1315.
Zhang, X.H., Xu, R.Q. & Gong, X.N. 2002. Significance
analysis of slope stability parameter in circular slice
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Chinese)
Chen, L.Q, Peng, Z.B. & Chen, W. 2009. Artificial neural Zhou, Z., Chao, W.L. & Liu, B.C. 2005. Orthogonal test
network simulation on prediction of clay slope stability on strength of planting material for rock slope. J. Cent.
based on fuzzy controller. Journal of Central South Uni- South Univ. (Science And Technology) 36(6): 1112–1116.
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Guo, J., Wang, Y.H. & Miao, Y.A. 2008. RBF neural net-
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932
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Using coupled fluid-solid theory to forecast the water inflow for conveyance
project of Dahuofang reservoir

M.D. Guo, S.H. Wang, X.Y. Rong & W.Y. Cui

School of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China

ABSTRACT: Water inflow is a key parameter in the design and construction of tunnel with rich water. The
geological condition of Dahuofang water conveyance project is complicated and the fault structure is well
developed, which is endowed with abundant water, such that gushing water is prone to happen. According to
the geological survey of Liuhe section, which is the key control of the project, three-dimensional numerical
model was built to represent the actual mechanical behavior under the scope of coupled fluid-solid theory. FISH
language program was compiled to record the water inflow information in the process of excavation by using
’gp_flow’ command. At the same time, empirical formula was applied to predict the water inflow amount. It
was indicated that large velocity of flow water before working face of fault and vault of section 15 + 750 was
observed, which will lead to higher gushing water hazard. Both numerical result and empirical value fit with the
field survey very well, in which the maximum water inflow reached 590 m3 /d. It was proposed that strengthening
the geological forecast in the process of construction is required. According to the actual survey value, geological
parameters are modified to guarantee the safety of the project.

1 INTRODUCTIONS 2 ENGINEERING GEOLOGY

Gushing water phenomenon usually occurs in the
process of tunnel excavation, which affects the con-
struction schedule and economic cost to a large extent.
Therefore, water inflow of tunnel construction is an
important factor to be considered by construction
operators and designers.
Theoretical formula, empirical formula and numer-
ical calculations are common used to forecast water
inflow. Since theoretical formula is often deduced by
rigorous mathematic of hydrology and hydraulics prin-
ciples, the actual project is difficult to meet all strictly
applicable conditions. The result of such formula is
hardly to predict the real mechanical behavior and
is lack of practical significance. Empirical formulas,
which especially are based on groundwater dynamics
theory and derived from large practical engineering
data, are easy to apply with relative high forecasted
precision. The requirements of tunnel project sur-
veys, preliminary design and construction can be
guaranteed. Meanwhile, numerical simulation, which
is based on the coupled of stress and flow, is also
more widely used due to its better applicability. If
the selection of numerical model and parameters is
carefully carried out, the satisfactory results will be
achieved.
Therefore, according to the Liuhe section of Dahuo-
fang water conveyance project, empirical formula
and numerical simulation are used to forecast the
water inflow and analyze the stability of construc-
tion, which provide a reference for other similar
projects.
Dahuofang water conveyance project is east-to-west
water diversion project in Liaoning province, which is
to transfer Hunjiang River water through Suzihe River
into Dahuofang reservoir. Thus water supply to six
southern cities can be guaranteed. The whole tunnel
is 85.3 kilometers long with 8m diameter, which is a
worldwide water conveyance project.
Liuhe section is a control engineering of Dahuo-
fang water conveyance project, which is located in the
south of the Sandaohe village, Huanren town in Huan-
ren county, from where the tunnel drills through Liuhe
valley. The lowest depth of tunnel is 63m. The geo-
logical condition of such key engineering section is
complicated and the fault structure is developed. The
rock is serious weathered, dissolved, broken, loose,
and endowed with abundant water. The cavern in such
geological conditions is easy to collapse and leads to
gushing water, loss of life safety, property, or environ-
ment pollution. Without careful dealing with, it will be
a section of geological disasters. The piles number of
Liuhe engineering is between 15 + 700 and 15 + 840,
and the whole length is 140 m. Due to the poor geo-
logical conditions, Liuhe section is the most difficult
tapping section of whole project, which is directly
related to the success of the project.
3 FORECASTING WATER INFLOW BY
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS METHOD
Empirical analysis method is based on the the-
ory of groundwater dynamics and combined with

933
vengineering experience, to forecast water inflow.
According to the pre-construction survey and during
construction acquisition data, maximum water inflow
and normal water inflow are calculated. The empirical
formulas are as follows:
1) Maximum water inflow q0
① Oshima yousi formula:
② Empirical formula in Railway Survey code:
where q0 , maximum water inflow per unit length
(m2 /d); K, permeability coefficient of rock mass
(m/d); H, distance between the static water level in
the aquifer layer to the tunnel bottom (m); r0 , equiv-
alent radius of tunnel cross-section (m); d, diam-
eter of tunnel croß-section (m); m, modification
coefficient, 0.86.
2) Normal water inflow qs
Empirical formula in Railway Survey code:
where the symbolic definitions are as before men-
tioned.
4 FORECASTING WATER INFLOW BY
NUMERICAL CALCULATION
4.1 Numerical model
According to the survey of the geological data, a
three-dimensional numerical model was built, and
its dimension was 60 m × 140 m × 97 m. To increase
computing speed without decreasing result accuracy,
the density of units was adjusted according to the influ-
ence of different area. The model contains 47040 units
and 50103 nodes, which is illustrated in Figure 1.
The mechanical boundary conditions of model were
as follows: ① front and back of the model were con-
strained with zero horizontal displacement; ② the
bottom boundary of model was fixed, whose horizon-
tal and vertical displacement of bottom boundary are
zero; ③ top of the model is free.
The fluid boundary conditions of model were as
follows: around the model and the excavated part
were impermeable, and the face of excavation was
permeable.
4.2 Material parameters
The mechanical parameters used in the numerical
simulation are listed in table 2.
4.3 Numerical results
(1) Vector distribution of flow
When the project was excavated to 50m at section
15 + 750, the corresponding flow vector of working
934
Figure 1. Numerical model.
face is presented in Figure 2 (a), which was the initia-
tion development of the fault seepage in the tunnel. It
is inferred that the flow velocity at the roof of tunnel
was large enough to result in the disaster of gushing
water.
When tunneling is carried out to 70 m at section
15 + 770, working face of the tunnel is within the fault
entirely. According to Figure 2 (b), high occurrence
possibility of accident can be expected due to more
severe flow velocity at the working face. Therefore,
strengthening data acquisition of frontage groundwa-
ter and grouting to prevent accident of gushing water
are necessary.
(2) Results of water inflow by numerical simulation
The variable ‘gp_flow’ in FISH language was used
to compel program to record the water inflow infor-
mation in the process of excavation. The results were
list in the table 3.
Based on the above-mentioned Table 1 and Table 3,
some conclusions can be achieved as following:
1. The maximum water inflow reached 590],m3 /d
in the fault (where section numbers are between
15 + 750 and 15 + 781), so that disaster of gush-
ing water is likely to occur. Therefore, water inflow
was not to be ignored in the process of construc-
tion, on contrary, which had become an important
parameter to guarantee the safety of engineering
construction.
2. The prediction of water inflow has big difference
due to different forecasting methods, since disparity
of simplification of the geological conditions was
assumed. Therefore, more realistic results should
be obtained by comparing a variety of calculation
 Table 1. Calculated results of water inflow.

Maximum water Normal water

inflow q0 /(m3 /d) inflow/qs /(m3 /d)

Oshima yousi Empirical Empirical

Section K/(m/d) H/m r0 /m d/m formula formula formula

15 + 700 ∼ 15 + 750 0.1482 60 4 8 196.2 250.4 87.3

15 + 750 ∼ 15 + 781 0.0432 60 4 8 417.3 530.8 183.9
15 + 781 ∼ 15 + 840 0.0432 60 4 8 231.5 295.5 103.0

Table 2. Material parameters.

Permeability
Rock Density/ Modulus/ Poisson’s Cohesion/ Coefficient/
Type (kg/m3 ) GPa Ratio MPa Friction/◦ (m2 /Pa·sec)

rock1 2150 3.0 0.35 0.15 28 2.75e−10

rock2 2450 4.5 0.35 0.25 30 5.10e−11
fault 2450 1.0 0.45 0.05 27.5 5.10e−11

Table 3. Simulated results of water inflow.

Maximum Normal
water inflow/ water inflow/
Section (m3 /d) (m3 /d)

15 + 700 ∼ 15 + 750 270.5 140.7

15 + 750 ∼ 15 + 781 593.3 145.9
15 + 781 ∼ 15 + 840 304.5 131.5

5 CONCLUSIONS

1. It was concluded from the data of water inflow

2. Gushing water may happen at section 15 + 750
Figure 2. The flow vector of working face.
forecasted by the empirical analysis and numeri-
cal method that water inflow was a key parameter,
which is impossible to be ignored in the process
of project construction. Different reasonable fore-
casting methods should be chosen and compared in
order to obtain more realistic result, which exerts
big influence on the construction strategy selection.
At the same time, modifying the forecast results and
the numerical calculation parameters according to
the actual survey value is required to guarantee the
safety of the project.
due to high velocity of flow before the working
face of fault and the vault. Therefore, detecting
frontage groundwater and stopping water by grout-
ing are recommended to prevent potential gushing
accident.

methods. At the same time, strengthening the geo-
logical forecast in the process of construction, and
modifying the forecast results are key factor to
ensure the success of construction.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research has been supported jointly by the Liaon-
ing Natural Science Foundation of China (20092011),
National basic research program of China (973

935
Program; 2007CB209405), National Natural Science
Foundation (NNSF) of China (751074042), National
College Basic Science Research Special Foundation
of Ministry of Education, China(N090401008), State
Key Laboratory for Geomechanics & Deep Under-
ground Engineering of China (SKLGDUEK1009) and
“985 project” of Northeastern University (China); all
of these are gratefully acknowledged.
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rock—a three-dimensional hydro-mechanical numerical
study. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 43: 705–725.
Heuer, Ronald, E. 1995. Estimating rock tunnel water inflow.
Proc Rapid Excavation Tunneling Conf. Littleton: Soc for
Mining Metallurgy & Exploration Inc Press.
Jin-Hung Hwang, Chih-Chieh Lu. 2007. A semi-analytical
method for analyzing the tunnel water inflow. Tunnelling
and Underground Space Technology 22:39–46.
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Li, T.C., Li, S.C., Chen, W.Z et al 2004. Coupled fluid-
mechanical analysis of Xiamen subsea tunnel. Chinese
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering 26(3): 397–401.
Nie, Z.H., Zhang, M., Bai, L.Y. 2000. Calculated the water
inflow of tunnel by experiential formula. Railway Stan-
dard Design 20(6–7): 48–49.
Retqvist, J., Stephansson, O. 2003. The role of hydromechan-
ical coupling in fractured rock engineering, Hydrogeology
J 11:7–40.
Wang, H., Zhu, R.S.,Yang, B. 2010. Forecast method of water
inflow in tunnel. Soil Engineering and Foundation 24(1):
73–75.
Wang, J.X., Zhu, H.H., Ye, W.M. 2004. Forward and inverse
analyses of water flow into tunnels. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 23(7): 1150–1153.
Wu, Y.Q., Zhang, Z.Y. 1995. The introduction of rock
hydraulics, Chengdu: Southwest Jiaotong University
Press.
Zhang, Y.J. 2009. Numerical simulation on forecasting water
inflow and characteristic of overburden failure based on
fluid-solid coupling theory. Journal of China Coal Society
34(5): 610–613.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

False tunnels as prevention measures against impact from rock falling

on mountainous roads: Experience in Colombia

D.A. Henao-Vergara
Universidade de Brasília, Pós-graduação em Geotécnica, Brasília DF, Brazil

M. Arenas-Rios & L.O. Suarez-Burgoa

Universidade de Brasília, Pós-graduação em Geotécnica, Brasília DF, Brazil
Grupo de Estudios y Obras Subterráneas – GEOS, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia

ABSTRACT: The geographic, geological and topographic complexities of most poles of development in
Colombia, included with the rough tropical climate, make this area susceptible to natural hazards, which are
commonly triggered by the anthropogenic development. Such is the case of debris flows and rock blocks falls
from slopes to the roads, a common phenomenon in many transportation ways in Colombia. In most of these
cases, these hazards have been not mitigated, and they carry out the associated risks to the road users, as also
economic impacts with the closure of some unstable road stretches and environmental impacts by landslides. This
work propones false tunnels as viable solutions to prevent rock-fall impacts (regardless of its type), including
geometric, construction and numerical modeling aspects.

1 INTRODUCTION The authors are expecting that the information pre-

A great part of the Colombian social and commercial
developments take place in the mountainous regions
which corresponds to the Los Andes range. This situ-
ation forces engineers to project road infrastructures
at high elevations and rough topography (Figure 1),
which imply geometrical designs with high slopes,
small curvature radii and a lot of earth movements.
The mentioned situation within the rough climate
conditions that characterizes tropical regions and the
geologic complexities immersed in this climate, make
common to find in some Colombian roads all kind of
geotechnical challenges related to slope stabilization
measurements, special those against debris flow and
rock blocks falls.
Specially, due to economical deficits and bureau-
cratic reasons, in Colombia it is not common to solve
these kind of geotechnical problems with efficient
and definitive measurements; instead, it is common to
make the continuously, eternal and traditional material
collection in order to avoid the slope stability problem,
especially those coming from rock masses.
According to the above mentioned general context,
efforts were concentrated to consider false-tunnels as
a feasible solution against the impacts sourced by rock
block falling.
In this article, authors are exposing basic concepts
and recommendations for the numerical modeling of
false-tunnels and its posterior construction measure-
ments. Also, they comment the state of practice in
Colombia related to false-tunnel construction.
sented here will motivate take holders to implement
this kind of solution in Colombia.
2 FALSE TUNNELS
A false tunnel is a structure over the road that consti-
tutes a shield against material falling, which is used to
evade specially landslides and rock falling, permitting
give the road continuity in their transit. False tunnel
may be constructed with reinforced concrete, pre- and
post-stressed concrete or steel structures (Kishi et al.
2002).
False tunnels are not considered as stabilizing sys-
tems, because its principal function is to avoid and/or
retain the material coming from landslides or rock
falling (Betancur 2007).
In their basic configuration of a false tunnel, it
consists on a shock-absorbing structure of selected
compacted granular material and reinforced with geo-
synthetics or other elements as expanded polystyrene
or used tires. It has also a foundation structure (could
be of steel or reinforced concrete), a support struc-
ture and a confinement structure (natural or artificial)
(Figure 2).
3 FALSE TUNNELS IN COLOMBIA
Only since the nineties of the last century, false tun-
nels have been implemented in Colombia as a solution

937
Figure 1. Section across the Medellín – Santa Fé de Antio-
quia road. Typical cross section in mountainous roads, where
is common to have small curvature radii and high elevation
differences.

Figure 3. False tunnels in the Bogotá – Villavicencio road,

a) K64 + 200 and b) K56 + 000.
Figure 2. Basic configuration of a false tunnel.

for this problem, this because landslides near princi-

pal roads have been recognized as critical emergencies
for the country. In that time, one observed an evi-
dent backward about false tunnel related knowledge
and technology if one compares with the state of
the art and practice of countries as Japan and Swiss;
especially in themes about the concepts, experience,
design, construction and operation.
The most two distinguished false tunnels found in
mountainous roads in Colombia are those at the Villav-
icencio – Bogotá road. The first one (Figure 3a) has
120 m of longitude, consist on a roof of galvanized
steel, confined by a retaining structure with buttresses
in reinforced concrete and anchored to the rock mass.
Between the concrete retaining structure and steel
structure, and between this last one and the rock mass,
the spaces were filled with selected material. This
makes a combined structure of earth, steel and con- Figure 4. False tunnel in the Peña de San Pablo site at the
crete materials. The second false tunnel at this road Bucaramanga – Barrancabermeja road.
(Figure 3b) has a longitude of 40 m. It has an arcade
concrete structure with a slab deck. This false tun-
nel does not have a shock-absorbing, so the slab-deck site rock fall problems at the Bucaramanga – Barran-
receives all the impact energy of the block rocks. cabermeja road before the construction of the false
Another false tunnel that enhances among the oth- tunnel.
ers is one at the Bucaramanga – Barrancabermeja road Finally, it is important to stand out the actual con-
(Figure 4) at the known site of Peña de San Pablo. It struction of the twin false tunnels in the Villeta –
consists on an arcade structure with a shock-absorbing Bogotá road, in the site named El Cune. They are
roof to support specially rock blocks, which are com- constructed with pre-fabricated concrete segments that
mon in the site. Figure 5 shows the Peña de San Pablo constitute the tunnel vaults. Figure 6 shows the rock

938
 Figure 6. El Cune site problem, landslide in shale rock mass
(Suarez-Burgoa, 2006).

Figure 5. Peña de San Pablo site rock fall problems at the

Bucaramanga – Barrancabermeja road before the construc-
tion of the false tunnel.

mass landslide problem which has been present for

around 20 years.

4 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON DESIGN

One has to take into account the problems involved

in each project. It is essential have a previous knowl-
edge about geological, geotechnical and geometrical
configuration of unstable slopes, as also the recogni-
tion of hazard zones. In the following paragraphs it
is present some basic considerations about forces of
impact, geometry, and materials.
It is of utmost importance to know the forces at
which the structure will be submitted. Taking the
suggestions of Henao (2009), the forces should be esti-
mated by assessing first the probable path of falling
rock blocks. This calculation can be done, for example,
by using the program Rockfall (Figure 7).
Once known the above mentioned paths, the impact
energy of the falls must be assessed, which can be cal-
culated, for example, with the models used by Henao
(2009) Yoshida et al. (2007), Delhomme et al. (2007,
2005), Mougin et al. (2005) and Kishi et al. (2002).
By knowing the impact energy, one should con-
sider the false tunnel as a protective structure. Criteria
based on impact energy are given by Yoshida (2007)
and Montani (1998).
The impact forces that act on the false tunnel during
the fall of rock blocks are related with the interac-
tion of the materials involved. Pre-stressed concrete
structures and reinforced concrete have high stiff-
ness, contrary to steel framing, whose mechanisms
of impact energy dissipation make them less likely to
break (Yoshida et al. 2007).
The roof acting as a shock-absorbing layer must:
absorb compression and shear energies, be cheap and
durable, have low density (to minimize dead loads)
Figure 7. Path of rock blocks falling (Henao, 2009).
and withstand impact without damage. Yoshida et al.
(2007) compares three classic materials as shock-
absorbing layer materials: expanded polystyrene
(Styrofoam), sand and used tires. The interpretation of
Yoshida et al. (2007) graphics, for the three materials,
is described in the following points:
Rubber tires piles have considerable air space. In
fact it can fail in compression. Once failure is present,
the load force may increase rapidly as the rubber tires
system is compressed.
Sand fill present a parabolic stress-strain curve with
a small amount of energy absorbed in the range of
deformation. The load force increases rapidly as the
deformation increases. This behavior is due to the ini-
tial consolidation of the sand, because it is usually
loose.
Most of the energy absorption of expanded
polystyrene occurs between 5% and 70% of the defor-
mation, being of plastic nature. After reaching 70%,

939
this material is almost fully compressed, causing a
sudden increase in force.
Knowing the nature of the behavior of both the
structure and the shock-absorbing layer facilitates the
structure modeling, which can be resolved using for
example the finite element method (Delhomme 2007).
The calculations should optimize the geometric con-
figuration of the structure, minimize costs and ensure
its safety.
Final considerations
Even though, some false tunnels where constructed
in Colombia, the knowledge about this theme is based
on engineering experience imported from other coun-
tries, private property which is owned by foreign
construction companies and almost null investment in
academia was performed. Therefore, little has been
published in the country on the subject.
Authors consider necessary to extend future
research on new damping materials to be used in false
tunnels, preferably recycled and easily accessible. The
criteria to evaluate these systems should be presented
in national currency, in order to not enter in sophism
that can not correspond to the actual local situations.
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Rockfall sheds: application of Japanese designs in North
America. 1st North American Landslide Conference:
Landslides and Society: Integrated Science, Engineering,
Management, and Mitigation. Vail, Colorado (3 to 8 June
2007).
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Intelligent back analysis of constitutive parameters for soil slope based

on unified strength theory

J. Li, Y.T. Gao, Y. Li & B. Cui

School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

Z.B. Deng
Pingshuo Coal Industry Co., Shuozhou, Shanxi, China

ABSTRACT: Based on the engineering condition of the soil slope where two large-scale landslides occurred
successively in Eastern Open Pit Mine of Pingshuo Company, intelligent back analysis of various constitutive
models and strength parameters were carried out by using of BP neural network and unified strength theory.
Moreover, three-dimensional numerical simulation of the slope was implemented in conjunction of C++ pro-
gramming technique and finite difference method. A back analysis method was proposed, which can take into
account both the constitutive model and the strength parameters, the study promotes the solution in numerical
simulation of slope stability under the condition of uncertain constitutive relation. Compared with traditional
methods, the accuracy of the numerical simulation for slopes has been greatly improved, which provides an
effective way for similar engineering applications.

1 INSTRUCTIONS designed annual output 20 million tons. From March

With the rapid development of intelligent technology,
intelligent retrieval of strength parameters for numeri-
cal simulation of slope stability has widely and deeply
developed, and a series of research results has been
made (Zhang et al. 2006, Cai et al. 2006, Zhang et al.
2010 & Feng et al. 1995). However, the constitutive
relations of rock and soil may vary in different parts
of a slope, a uniformed mechanical constitutive used in
numerical calculation will inevitably lead to inaccurate
results.
According to the unified strength theory as pro-
posed by Mao-Hong Yu, the most current constitutive
relations and accurate expression can achieve through
changes of parameters, which provides the theoreti-
cal basis of intelligent back analysis of constitutive
relation of rock and soil (Yu 1994).
Taking two landslides in Eastern Open Pit Mine of
Pingshuo company as engineering background, and by
employing BP neural network and the unified strength
theory, intelligent retrieval of different constitutive
models and strength parameters were achieved in
association with Visual C++ programming technique
and finite difference method, the specific constitutive
model suitable for the slope was established. The 3-D
numerical simulation results show that their accuracy
is higher than traditional methods.
2 PROJECT OVERVIEW
Eastern Open Pit Mine, located in Shuozhou City,
Shanxi Province, is a large open coal mine with a
to June in 2010, twice slips successively occurred in
the northeast soil slope of the mine during the infras-
tructure. The total volume of landslide soil reached
1.53 × 105 m3 , the production and construction of the
mine were seriously influenced. In such a case, sta-
bility analysis with a higher accuracy for the mine is
imminent to ensure the normal production of mine.
2.1 Simulation model
In order to analyze stability, a typical representative
slope nearA-A profile was selected, as shown Figure 1.
In actual projects, the slope was excavated to +1380 in
the first time, followed by a second level of excavation
to +1360, and monitoring point was set at the edge of
the first excavation. The monitoring shows that the
displacement in Y direction is 2.8 cm, and 2.3 cm in Z
direction after two excavations.
2.2 Numerical simulation based on Mohr-Coulomb
constitutive relation
At present, the most commonly used constitutive rela-
tion in geotechnical engineering simulation is Mohr-
Coulomb constitutive relation. However, because
Mohr-Coulomb strength theory has nothing related
with the intermediate principal stress, it can’t reflect
the effect of intermediate principal stress (Yu et al.
2004), the results of numerical simulation based on
Mohr-Coulomb constitutive relation are often differ-
ent from the actual conditions. Under the condition

941
Figure 1. Numerical simulation model.
Figure 2. Computational results based on the Mohr-
Coulomb constitutive relation.
described in this paper, based on Mohr-Coulomb con-
stitutive relation numerical simulation, we can get the
results as follows:
As shown in Figure 2, the maximum displacement
is 7.33 cm inY direction and 20.93 cm in Z direction in
the slope; for the monitoring point, the displacement
is 2.13 cm in Y direction, and 1.61 cm in Z direction,
compared with the measured data, the monitoring dis-
placement is smaller, the ratios of the displacement
error in Y and Z direction have reached to 23.93% and
30%, respectively.
2.3 Numerical simulation based on double shear
constitutive relation
Taking the effect of intermediate principal stress into
account, double-shear strength theory (Yu 1998) was
coded by Visual C++ and then dynamic link library
files dshear.dll was generated, which was loaded into
the UDM module of FLAC3D , and then the same
conditions were simulated, the results were shown in
Figure 3.
942
Figure 3. Shear constitutive relationship based on double
shear computational results.
According to the numerical calculation based on
double shear constitutive relation, the maximum dis-
placement is 4.55 cm in Y direction and 13.03 cm in
Z direction in the slope; for monitoring point, the dis-
placement is 3.38 cm in Y direction, and 2.64 cm in
Z direction, compared with the measured data, the
monitoring displacement is bigger, the ratios of the
displacement error in Y and Z direction have reached
to 20.71% and 14.78%, respectively.
3 INTELLIGENT INVERSION BASED ON THE
UNIFIED STRENGTH THEORY
3.1 The unified strength theory
According to monograph ‘Engineering Strength The-
ory’ by Mao-Hong Yu (Yu 1999), the basic expression
of the unified strength criterion is:
where, F is a generalized strength function, σ 1 is max-
imum principal stress, σ 2 is intermediate principal
stress, σ 3 is minimum principal stress, α is the ratio
of material strength in tension and compression, b is
intermediate
√ stress parameter.
1/1 + 3 Unified strength theory included some
new strength theories. According to different material
properties, adjusting the intermediate stress parameter
b or the ratio of materials strength in tension and com-
pression α, different strength criteria can be derived.
If b = 0, the Mohr-Coulomb strength criterion is the
Table 1. Factor level.

Intermediate Poisson Elastic Modulus Silt Elastic Modulus Silt Tensile

Parameter Stress Parameter Ratio Of Silt Tensile Strength Of Silty Clay Strength
b γ E1 /MPa σ t1 /kPa E2 /MPa σ t2 /kPa

Upper Limit 1.00 0.25 5 19 6 28

Lower Limit 0 0.45 21 54 26 100

Table 2. Orthogonal test plan and numerical calculation results.

Stay parameters Results of the numerical simulation

Elastic Elastic
Constitutive Poisson modulus Silt tensile modulus Silt tensile Displacement Displacement
parameter ratio of silt strength of silty clay strength of Z of Y
Scheme b γ E1 (MPa) σ t1 (kPa) E2 (MPa) σ t2 (kPa) (cm) (cm)

1 0 0.25 5 19 6 28 3.29 4.29

2 0 0.3 9 28 11 46 2.2 3.35
3 0 0.35 13 37 16 64 1.93 3.14
4 0 0.4 17 46 21 82 1.52 2.56
5 0 0.45 21 54 26 100 1.13 2.06
6 0.25 0.25 9 37 21 100 1.91 3.29
7 0.25 0.3 13 46 26 28 1.89 3.09
8 0.25 0.35 17 54 6 46 2.13 3.19
9 0.25 0.4 21 19 11 64 1.92 2.93
10 0.25 0.45 5 28 16 82 2.48 3.57
11 0.5 0.25 13 54 11 82 2.11 3.30
12 0.5 0.3 17 19 16 100 1.82 2.61
13 0.5 0.35 21 28 21 28 1.36 2.35
14 0.5 0.4 5 37 26 46 2.21 3.32
15 0.5 0.45 9 46 6 64 2.49 3.72
16 0.75 0.25 17 28 26 64 1.58 2.19
17 0.75 0.3 21 37 6 82 2.06 3.58
18 0.75 0.35 5 46 11 100 2.43 3.62
19 0.75 0.4 9 54 16 28 2.18 3.19
20 0.75 0.45 13 19 21 46 1.93 2.85
21 1 0.25 21 46 16 46 1.85 2.97
22 1 0.3 5 54 21 64 2.13 3.29
23 1 0.35 9 19 26 82 1.96 2.87
24 1 0.4 13 28 6 100 2.12 3.15
25 1 0.45 17 37 11 28 1.99 3.08

single-shear strength theory; when α = 1 and b = 0,
dodecagon yield criterion proposed by Mao-Hong
Yu in 1961 is obtained, which can approach and
alternative Von Misses criterion; Since the error of
Drucker-Prager criterion is larger than real case, when
b = 0.5 (Zhao 2003), it can replace the Drucker-
Prager criterion as a new and more reasonable strength
guidelines.
3.2 The BP neural network training samples
The research designed the initial value of the inverse
parameters by orthogonal test. According to the uni-
fied strength theory, six factors are selected as research
factors, i.e. intermediate stress parameter, poisson
ratio, elastic modulus and tensile strength of silt,
elastic modulus and tensile strength of silty clay.
According to test results, engineering geology data, the
upper and lower limits of each research factors were
determined, and five levels were divided, as shown in
Table 1.
Compiling unified strength constitutive model
coded by using Visual C++, generating dynamic link
library files Unified strength.dll, with the function
of the FLAC3D ’s UDM (the user defined constitu-
tive model), numerical simulation of the same working
conditions about the designed 25 groups of data and
the Neural network training samples were achieved,
the results are shown in Table 2.
3.3 The BP neural network training and results
The nodes of BP network input layer is 2, the input
vector is {Z, Y}, respectively representing the dis-
placement of monitoring points in Z direction and Y

943
Figure 4. Neural network training performance.
Table 3. Parameter inversion results.
Elastic
Elastic Silt modulus
Constitutive Poisson modulus tensile of silty
parameter ratio of silt strength clay
b γ E1 /MPa σ t1 /kPa E2 /MPa
0.17 0.30 9.76 33.56 13.41
direction.The nodes of output layer is 6, the output vec-
tor is {b, γ, E1, σ t1 , E2 , σ t2 }, respectively representing
the intermediate stress parameter, poisson ratio, elastic
modulus of silt, silt tensile strength, elastic modulus
and tensile strength of silty clay.
When analyzing the factors, as different index types
have different dimensions, the indexes have not ride
of each other, so the following formula was used to
normalize the training modes before training:
In the formula, xi is the input or output data, xmin is
the minimum value of data changed, xmax is the maxi-
mum value of data changed, x0 is the normalized input
or output data.
Substituting the normalized training data into the
neural network, after 5000 times of training, the BP
network, whose hidden layer neural is 7, made the best
approximation. Therefore, 7 was set as the number of
neurons in the hidden layer. The result was substituted
into the BP neural network for training, until the net-
work output error met the convergence criteria. After
5000 times of training, the network’s performance has
tended to 0, the neural network training results are
shown in Figure 4.
3.4 Inversion results checking
Putting the back analyzed parameters into the unified
strength constitutive model for calculation, and the
results are shown in Figure 5.
Accordingly, the maximum displacement is 5.94 cm
inY direction in the slope, 16.15 cm in Z direction after
the numerically calculation based on user-defined
constitutive; Whereas the displacement at monitoring
Silt
tensile
strength
σ t2 /kPa
60.37
Figure 5. Computational results based on specific constitu-
tive relation
point are 2.68 cm inY direction, 2.05 cm in Z direction,
respectively. Compared with the measured data, error
ratio in Y direction is 4.29% and 10.87% in Z direc-
tion. Compared with the numerical simulation result
in the case of Mohr-Coulomb constitutive relation and
Double shear constitutive relation, the accuracy of
monitoring displacement was improved greatly.
4 DISCUSSION
A new idea is provided for numerical simulation of
geotechnical engineering. BP neural network, which
was a fairly matured method, was used to back analyze
the related parameters in unified strength theory. The
approach realized the purpose of back analyzing for
both constitutive parameters and intensity parameters
at same time. The accuracy of numerical simulation is
much higher than the traditional method. At present,
with the rapid development of artificial intelligence
and other new techniques, the more the new techniques
is introduced to the field of geotechnical engineering,
the more accurate numerical simulation will be.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The research about intelligent back analysis of soil
slope constitutive parameters based on the unified
strength theory shows that:
1. Based on the unified strength theory, different
constitutive models can be set up by means of
changing constitutive parameters, which provide
the theoretical basis of back analyzing constitutive
parameters.
944
2. Combined with BP neural network, the constitu-
tive parameters and the special constitutive model
suitable for special condition can be back analyzed
according to the monitoring displacements.
3. Using inversion of specific constitutive model,
writing Visual C++ program code and producing
DLL files, with the aid of FLAC3D UDM mod-
ule, the numerical simulation calculation of dif-
ferent constitutive models can be achieved, which
improved the accuracy by a large margin compared
with traditional methods.
This research proposed a back analysis method
which considered both constitutive model and the
intensity parameter, which provides a solution in the
case of uncertain constitutive parameters in numerical
simulation of slope stability analysis.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by National High
Technology Research and Development Program of
China (863 Program: 2009AA11Z105) granted by the
Ministry of China Science and Technology.
REFERENCES
Cai, M.F., Feng, J.Y., Wang, J.A. 2006. Three-dimensional
hydraulic coupled stability of a high steep open pit slope.
Journal of University of Science and Technology. Beijing
28(1): 6–11.
945
Feng, X.T., Wang, Y.J., Ding, E.B. 1995. Intelligent method
of stability analysis of open-pit slopes. Journal of North-
eastern University(Natural Science) 16(5): 453–457.
Yu, M.H. 1994. Unified strength theory for geomaterials
and its applications. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical
Engineering 16(2): 1–9.
Yu, M.H. 1998. Double shear theory and application. Beijing:
Science Press.
Yu, M.H. 1999. Engineering strength theory. Beijing: Science
Press.
Yu, M.H., Liu, J.M., Oda, Y. et al. 2007. On basic character-
istics and innovation of yield criteria for geomaterials.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
26(9): 1745–1757.
Zhao, J.H. 2003. Strength theory and engineering applica-
tion. Beijing: Science Press.
Zhang, Y.H., Sheng, Q., Leng, X.L. et al. 2010. Two dimen-
sional displacement back analysis of left bank slope of
Longtan hydropower station. Rock and Soil Mechanics
31(s2): 396–401.
Zhang, Z.Z., Gao, Y.T., Zhang, X.P. 2006. A new backward
analysis method for mechanical parameters of slope rocks.
Journal of University of Science and Technology. Beijing
28(12): 1106–1110.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Analysis on ground settlement induced by shield tunneling undercrossing

railways and tall buildings

T. Li, B. Liu & H.Y. Dou

School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: It is very important to keep railways and tall buildings safe when tunnels are excavated under-
crossing them. The horizontal distance between the tall building and its right tunnel is only 9.1 m, and the vertical
distance between the railway and its left tunnel is 11.1 m. In order to assess the ground settlement caused by
shield tunneling, numerical simulation is made by FLAC3D . The parametric on the reinforcement area of soils
around tunnels, the earth pressure, shield machine driving forces and grouting pressure were studied to decide
the appropriate range in the process of shield tunneling construction. At the same time, the settlement of tall
building, the ground settlement of railways, the culvert displacement and the convergences of the tunnels were
monitored in-situ. The monitoring results and the numerical results coincide very well with each other. The
reinforcement of soils around the tunnels was successfully decreased the ground settlement of railways and tall
buildings. The case can provide reference for shield tunneling undercrossing all kinds of structures.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the increasing development of urban tunnel con-

struction in China, the shield method which is security
and high efficiency is widely used. In most cases,
urban tunnels are constructed in urban area with
dense buildings and many underground utilities. In
fact, environmental damage induced by urban tunnel-
ing is inevitable, which will make structures, roads
and underground pipelines work improperly. For this
reason, how to evaluate the displacement and envi-
ronmental influence caused by shield tunneling is an
important problem. At present, most researches were
focus on the influence of surrounding soil, while the
influence on the existing railway lines and buildings
were less noticed.
Figure 1. Location of tunnels, box-culvert and building.
In this paper, the influence of shield tunneling of
a Beijing subway on the existing railway and adjacent
high building will be analyzed by numerical simulation thick roof; in the south and north sides of box culvert,
and field measurement. slope piles were set, which was 14 m length, and 29 m
length cable was set on each pile. The adjacent high
building had 21 stories, with frame structure and raft
foundation, 2 story basement with 3.16 m deep. The
2 GENERAL SITUATION OF PROJECT respective relations between the tunnels exist railway
and high building was shown in Figure 2.
This project is a part of Beijing Subway Line 6. The
shield tunnel would beneath the existing rail and adja-
cent to high building, which was shown in Figure 1.
3 NUMERICAL CALCULATION
The general construction sequence was tunneling suc-
cessively. The right line was prior to left line; both lines
3.1 Computational model
were tunneling from west to east, and kept 300 m dis-
tance from each other. The existing railway was located The analysis was implemented by FLAC3D , a soft-
on the reinforced concrete box culvert, which contains ware based on finite difference method, and the impact
two parts: east half and west half. The outsourcing of boundary effects could be eliminated basically by
size of the box was 43.15 m × 8.75 m × 29.73 m, with the model size. A total of 177050 units and 185610
1.05 m thick floor, 1.05 m thick side wall, and 1.0 m grid points were contained in the model. The FLAC3D

947
 Table 1. Parameters of the soils.

Soil D B S C ϕ Depth
◦
No. Kg/m3 MPa MPa KPa m

1 1900 4.63 2.12 10.0 12.0 2

2 2020 5.20 1.82 23.9 24.8 7
3 2000 10.15 5.23 0 16.8 5
4 2010 9.17 4.23 0 30.0 2
6 2010 9.2 4.3 0 12.3 1
7 2005 16.67 8.59 10.2 17.6 5
8 2000 19.82 8.37 22.5 14.0 18

Table 2. Parameters of lining and foundation of building.

No. Name D kg/m3 EGPa ν

Figure 2. Cross-section of location of tunnels, box-culvert
and building (unit: mm). 1 lining 2500 31.5 0.25
2 foundation 2400 25.0 0.25

3.3 Parameters of model

Figure 3. Grid of computing model.
model was shown in Figure 3. The calculation of soil
model was based on elastic-plastic theory, and Mohr-
Coulomb criterion was used for the rock-soil model;
three-dimensional physical unit was used for segment
of the shield tunnel and foundation of the building,
which was applicable to Hooke’s law in mechanical
behavior; flexible shell unit was used for the simula-
tion of the raft foundation of the adjacent building.
Detailed simulation process as follows: (1). the inter-
nal force balances on the gravity load. (2). the second
internal force balances on the load of building and
exist railway. (3). the excavation of the right tunnel
in stages, the segments assemble and the back filling
injection. (4). the excavation of the left tunnel in stages,
the segments assemble and the back filling injection.
3.2 Boundary conditions
The side and bottom parts of the model were displace-
ment boundary, the displacement boundary conditions
of both sides of the model was restrict horizontal shift-
ing; the displacement boundary conditions of bottom
of the model was fixed boundary, which could restrict
both horizontal and vertical shifting; the top boundary
of the model was free boundary, which represented the
ground surface.
The section tunnel would across the stratums from top
to bottom as follows: silty clay layer, silt layer, fine
sand layer, gravel layer, coarse sand layer, silty clay
layer, clay layer and silt layer. In the range of the scope
of the Jing-Bao railway culvert tunnel, the upper strata
was gravel layer and the lower strata was silty clay
layer. According to the regional hydro-geological sur-
vey data, 3 layers of underground water exist: perched
water, phreatic aquifer, and interlayer water. The high-
est water level was 31.00 m in recent 3–5 years, which
belonged to perched water. The modelling calculated
physical and mechanical parameters were shown in
Table 2, the lining and mechanical parameters of the
building foundation were shown in Table 3.
3.4 Analysis on the settlement induced by shield
tunneling
3.4.1 Analysis on the ground settlement
In Figure 4(a), the ground surface cross section settle-
ment trough distribution curve was shown, which was
above the tunnel. In the condition of the two tunnels
tunneling simultaneously, the settlement curve basi-
cally consistent with Peck’s normal distribution curve;
however, when the two parallel tunneling had a cer-
tain order, the settlement curve became anisomerous.
In Figure 4(a), the settlement curve was shown devi-
ate to the direction of the left tunnel, by which the
behind position of the left tunnel. The maximum sur-
face settlement value of the midline of right tunnel
was −10.3 mm, which was −12.7 mm on the left mid-
line, and the total maximum surface settlement was
−14.1 mm. This was not only concluded by differ-
ence geological conditions, but also the influence of
the precedent tunnel (right tunnel), in addition, the
grouting amount, the grouting pressure and the rotate

948
direction of cutter should also be concerned. Conse-
quently, the maximum surface settlement was often
away from the midline of tunnel, but between the two
midlines of two tunnels, especially close to the midline
of the behind tunnel.
The surface longitudinal settlement distribution
curve of the ground above the tunnel was shown in
Figure 4(b). Surface settlement curve was one of the
most important indicators of the tunnel construction.
In this paper, three-dimensional computation and anal-
ysis were used for comparison of the measured data of
a certain point, which was more comprehensive cor-
respondingly. It could be shown in Figure 4(b) that
the maximum surface settlement value of this point
was −10.8 mm, and the settlement tended to be sta-
ble after the excavation face passed the point for about
20 m, accompany with a tiny floating.

3.4.2 Analysis on the building settlement

The high building foundation settlement curve was
shown in Figure 5. After the excavation of the right
tunnel, the stratum inner load was released and
re-distributed, which made the settlement trough
nearby the building developed towards ground surface
above the tunnel. The maximum vertical surface settle-
ment was −16.2 mm after the two-lane tunnel through;
the maximum foundation settlement of the side nearby
tunnel was 12.1 mm; and the maximum foundation
settlement of another side was only −3.8 mm, which
was shown in Figure 5(a). Compared with the V-type
which presented on the ground surface above the tun-
nel (Figure 4(a)), this curve presented W-type, which
was attributing to the building loads. It could be con-
clude from the mutation in the curve of the building Figure 4. Ground settlement.
area that this concerned building was in the influence
area of the tunnel constructing.

3.4.3 Analysis on the settlement of railway culvert
In Figure 5(b), the building settlement curve after the
through process of the two-lane tunnel. No. 1,2,3 in
figure means the time when right tunnel through the
certain point respective; No. 4,5,6 in figure means the
time when left tunnel through the certain point respec-
tive. Because the right tunnel was close to the building,
settlement and tilt appeared in the building after the
through process of the shield. The settlement of Point
B was −11.6 mm, Point G was −3.6 mm, and Point
A was −10.0 mm. After the two-lane tunnel through
the building, settlement of the building tended to sta-
ble; settlement of Point B was −14.5 mm, Point G was
−6.6 mm, and Point A was −12.6 mm.
In Figure 6, the existing railway culvert settlement
curve was shown, where the ground above the two-
lane tunnel through respectively. It could be seen from
the figure, the through process of each tunnel would
lead to settlement of the culvert; after the right tun-
nel through, the settlement of railway culvert was
−4.8 mm, and the two-lane tunnel through lead to the
final settlement value was −12.6 mm. The differential
settlement was −0.5 mm, that mainly due to the high
structural strength and well integrity of the railway
culvert.
4 FIELD INSTRUMENTATION AND ANALYSIS
In order to assure the safety for the box culvert and tall
building during the excavation of the tunnel, the field
monitoring and measurements were presented and
conducted during the construction. The in-situ instru-
mentation includes the ground settlement, settlement
of tall building and box culvert.
4.1 The settlement of ground surface
The monitoring sections of ground settlement are
every 5–10 m along the direction of tunnel driving.
For purpose of getting the distribution of longitudi-
nal surface subsidence, the monitoring starts as soon
as there is 40 m between the shield tunnel machine
and the monitoring section. As shown in figure 7, the
ground settlement begins when the shield tunneling
is closing to the monitoring section, especially when

949

Figure 5. Displacement of the ground surface about the tall
building foundation.
Figure 6. Displacement of the box-culvert.
the shield tunneling reaches the monitoring section.
The settlement last until shield tunnel machine has
passed monitoring section for 40 m,then the average
settlement of monitoring points was −10.47 mm.
950
Figure 7. Ground settlements at different time with shield
tunneling at different monitoring points.
4.2 The settlement of tall building
The figure 8 showed that as the right shield tunnel-
ing approach to monitoring sections of tall building,
the measure points tend to go up in different extent at
the beginning, and then settlement increases slightly.
After the right shield tunneling passing the section,
the settlements of measure points J2,J3,J4 are obvi-
ously increasing while the others points that away
from shield tunnel are almost invariableness. When the
left shield tunneling reaches the monitoring section,
the average settlement is −4.57 mm, the maximum is
−12.98 mm and the minimum is −0.19 mm. The set-
tlement last until the left shield tunnel machine has
passed monitoring section for 200 m, meanwhile the
average settlement of monitoring points is −5.20 mm,
the maximum is −14.30 mm and the minimum is
−5.20 mm.
The gradient of slope of building foundation as
shown in figure 9 is calculated though differential
settlement of measure points of building foundation.
The maximal value of gradient of slope of building
foundation is −0.0459% of section J5–J6 when the
right shield tunneling has passed monitoring section
for 150 m. The stable gradient of slope of section J1-
J2 and J5-J6 are −0.0313%and−0.0273% respectively
after left shield tunneling passing.
4.3 The settlement of box culvert
There are 12 measure points above the box culvert,
the settlements of 4 main points are showed in fig-
ure 10. The settlement increases gradually when the
shield tunneling approach to monitoring section, and
the maximal displacement is −1 mm. When the shield
tunneling passes the section, the settlement surges
significantly, and it is restored steadily after the grout-
ing. The maximal settlement value of box culvert is
−7.17 mm when the right shield tunnel machine has
passed the monitoring section for 200 m. And the max-
imal settlement value is −10.51 mm, the minimum is
−3.38 mm while the average value is −7.46 mm after
the left shield tunnel passing the monitoring section.

Figure 8. Settlement of the tall building.
Figure 9. Gradient of slope of building foundation.
Figure 10. Settlement of the box-culvert.
5 CONCLUSIONS
When two parallel tunnels were excavated with cer-
tain order, the maximum surface subsidence is not
at the center line, is between the center line and the
second tunnel. The ground settlement curve has large
subsidence near the tall building. With the distance to
the tall building increasing, the influence of building
951
load becomes smaller. The settlement of the box-
culvert caused by left tunnel construction is larger
than the right tunnel, and the results show the earth
reinforcement is important to the box-culvert safety.
The field instrumentation shows that when shield-
driven tunnel arrives at the box-culvert, the ground
surface is slightly uplifted, and when shield-driven
tunnel undercross the box-culvert, the ground surface
appear obviously settlements. After back filling injec-
tion, the ground settlement is going up, and then the
ground displacement is stable.
This study can provide reference for the interaction
of shield-driven tunnel and the existing railways and
tall buildings.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The research is supported by the National Natural
Science Fund of China (50974127), Doctoral funds
of Education Ministry of China (20100023120003),
China university basic research operating expenses
Special funds (2009QL02), Key project of ministry
of education scientific and technological research
(109034).
REFERENCES
Li, T., Liu, B., Jiang, Y.S. et al. 2008. Field instrumen-
tation and 3-D numerical modeling on two adjacent
metro shield tunnels beneath tall buildings, Boundaries
of rock mechanics recent advances and challenges for
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649–654.
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excavation and nearby high-rise buildings. Journal of
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Optimization of structural parameters for mining large iron ore stope

by filling method in Sijiaying district

X. Li, Q. Gao & S.H. Zhai

University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), Beijing, China

S.Q. Nan
Hebei Iron & Steel Group Mining Co., Ltd., (HBIS)

ABSTRACT: According to the phases-subsequent filling method in large iron ore of southern district Sijiaying,
the current conditions of ore body and requirement of mining are analyzed in detail. By taking into account of
factors such as protection of water resources and environmental, control of rock movement, efficient and large-
scale mining, deceasing of losses and dilution, the stope structure optimization is carried out. After analysis on
the main factors of economy and security, the value range and constraint conditions are defined, and a series of
three-dimensional numerical analysis are performed. By regression analysis, the functional relationship between
mining safety-rock movement parameters and the design parameters are achieved. By solving the optimization
model, the optimization structural parameters of the stope are obtained.

1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS and constraint functions compose of mine design

In Southern district of Sijiaying Iron ore mine, the
average thickness of the deposits is 207 m. The ore is
a heavy and low-grade mineral with an ore content
about 30.9%. There are 100∼120 m quaternary sys-
tem aquifer at upside of the ore-body, and villages and
farmland on the surface need to be protected. In such a
case, cutting and filling mining method was employed
in southern district.
According the requirements of HBIS, MCC (Qin-
huangdao design institute) made a design of 20 million
t/a phase subsequent filling of mining program in July
2009. Such a large production capacity of mining-
filling is rare in domestic before and in foreign
countries.
To achieve the large production capacity of mining,
MCC proposed structure parameters of an ultra-large
stope by 100 × 25 × 100 m (length × width × height),
and the spacing-stoping method is used to ensure
10 m3 ore output for mining requirements. Although
the structural parameters of the stope can be applied
by large mining equipments to improve production
capacity, the stability of large stope would be serious
challenge. It is the necessary to ensure the security and
control the rock movement. Therefore, the ultra-large
stope stability analysis and structural optimization is
essential for the achievement of the southern district
safe, efficient and economic exploitation.
variables which need to be optimized. Through the
orthogonal numerical test and regression fitting tech-
niques, the objective function and constraint functions
are established. The multi-section stope optimization
models of southern district are established and solved,
and the optimal design parameters are gained.
2.1 Mining economic value for single panel
2.1.1 The amount of ore mined for single panel T:
where, Q-Industrial reserves of ore body for single
panel, t; Q0 - Ore loss; R-Waste rock mixed with mined
ore;
Q = 207 m (average width of stope) × 100 m
(high) × (100 + B) m (length of extends) × 3.3 t/m3
(density) = 68310(100 + B) t
Mineral loss of the pillar was considered, so that
According to the mining design, waste rock mixed
is 9%, that is

2 THE STOPE PARAMETERS OPTIMIZATION

2.1.2 The amount of metal ore mined in single
BASED ON NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS
panel P
The optimization model of a stope consists of objective
function and constraint functions. Objective function

953
Table 1. Geological grade change with elevation level of engineering and filling artificial cost are involved.
southern iron ore in Sijiaying district. The mining operation cost designed by institute is
16.3 yuan/t, equivalent to 30.97 yuan/m3 .
Oxidized ore Primary ore Relation of filling strength, cement-sand ratio and
Elevation (TFe %) (TFe %) Elevation
filling concentration is
(m) Average Average (m)

Upper
−100 m 33.17 33.54 33.29 where, RW -filling strength; X1 -filling concentration;
−150 m 32.54 30.51 31.56
X2 -cement-sand ratio; filling concentration is 65%, so
−250 m 32.09 30.14 30.48
−350 m 31.71 30.26 30.31 the formula (8) is
−450 m 25.89 30.93 30.91
Average 32.41 30.50 30.80
Upper
−450 m Lower Since
−450 m 29.07 30.94 30.75
Average 31.90 30.60 30.79

Solving equation (10), we have


where: α -Mixed waste rock grade, %, assumed waste
rock Grade is 0, α1 -Ore grade, %; α = α(1 − ρ1 );
α2 -Ore grade of stope room, %; α = α(1 − ρ2 ); ρ1 ,
ρ2 -Room dilution rate and pillar dilution rate, %;
ρ1 = 8.0%, ρ2 = 0.6/W + 0.08.
Ore industrial grades were seen in Table 1.
Equation (11) shows the relationship between fill-
ing ratio and compressive strength, so with the cement-
sand ratio increased, the filling compressive strength
increase.
Single panel production cost of concentrate iron ore
equals to iron ore production costs plusing the filling
costs.
Thus, the Cs is

2.1.3 Metal recycling capacity of single-panel M
The amount of recovered metal in single panel equals
to mined metal ore in single-panel multiplies the metal
recovery rate:
where, e- Metal recovery rate, the metal recovery rate
of southern district for design is 80%.
2.1.4 Total economic value of single-panel ore
mined CT
where, CS -Production cost of iron concentrate for
single-panel; C0 – cemented filling volume of rooms;
C1 – non-cemented filling volume of pillars; C2 –
cemented filling volume of roofs; b1 – Cemented
backfill cost of a single volume; b2 – Non-cemented
backfill cost of a single volume.
2.3 Objective function of mined profit
Profit of single panel C

Thus, the objective function of mined profit is

where, η-Grade of iron concentrate (66%); cj -Price of
iron concentrate (66%), cj = 700 yuan/t

2.2 The total cost of mining for single panel
2.2.1 Production costs of iron concentrate: b0
According to costs of production, processing, manage-
ment and operating, the iron concentrate cost given by
MCC institute is 399.35 yuan/t.
2.2.2 Production cost CS
Filling costs include the filling material cost and
filling operation cost. The filling systems, filling
Substituting all physical quantities into the formula,
the objective function of mined profit can be obtained.
2.4 Constraint conditions and constraint functions
of stope structure parameter optimization
Constraint conditions are technical specifications and
security conditions which meet to the design. Different
mines have different mining technical conditions.
Since the main purpose is to control surface movement
and environmental impact, the constraint conditions

954
 Table 2. Optimization factors and test level of multi-stage
orthogonal test in south district.

Factor
Level B/ m W/ m H/m q/MPa Q/MPa

1 10 10 10 1.0 1.0
2 15 15 15 3.0 3.0
3 20 20 20 5.0 5.0
4 25 25 25 7.0 7.0
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of surface movement param-
eter.

are the maximum of surface deformation allowable movement of the segment endpoint and the length of
and water inflow. this segment, the average value is (Figure 1):
Constraint conditions are to control of the surface
deformation caused by mining in allowable range and
to avoid damage to the building by surface subsi-
dence. In order to avoid the damage to the building by
rock subsidence, it is necessary to control rock move-
ment. According to the actual situation of buildings in where, uE , uF -Horizontal displacement of surface
0
Sijiaying iron mine, the surface building structure is points E & F, mm; lEF -Horizontal distance between
ordinary, belonging to the three categories protection, the surface points E& F, m.
as the constraint conditions of surface deformation, the
threshold value of surface tilt is 10 mm/m, the thresh-
old value of curvature is 0.6/km, and the threshold 3 ORTHOGONAL NUMERICAL TEST OF
value of horizontal deformation is 6 mm/m. PHASE SUBSEQUENT FILLING-MINING

3.1 Orthogonal design optimization of interval

2.4.1 Surface inclination i
As shown in Figure 1, the surface inclination is an indi-
cator reflecting the uneven subsidence of the surface,
it is a slope value of the surface subsidence basin along
the direction, the average value is subsidence divided
by the horizontal spacing of two points, that is
where, iAB - Surface inclination of A & B; wA , wB -
the subsidence value of A and B on the surface
(vertical displacement), mm; WAB -Different value
0 height, strength of filling, pillar width and sequence
of subsidence; lAB - Horizontal distance between A&
B, m.
2.4.2 Surface curvature K
Surface curvature is the crooked degree of the sec-
tion line on the subsidence basin, the average value is
difference in slope divided by the horizontal distance
0
between the two adjacent segments lAB (Figure 1), that:
mining
The first step is to mine the room and the second step
is to mine pillar. The interval mining and subsequent
filling method is used, and phase rock lifting, phase
mining out and subsequent filling are carried out.
The purpose of orthogonal numerical test is to
establish functional relationship of surface movement,
and designed structure and mechanical parameters. In
accordance with constraint conditions, optimal mine
design parameters can be gained. In order to select
the orthogonal numerical experiments factors prop-
erly, the specific geological conditions of Sijiaying
Iron mine are analyzed, the main factors are room size,
of mining-filling and so on.
Five factors and six levels orthogonal experiments
are used in this program. Optimum design parameters
are: the width of intervening pillar B, the width of room
W (width of pillar as same as room), the thickness of
cement roof h, the cemented backfill strength of first
step q, the cemented backfill strength of roof Q (see
Table2). Accordingly, 16 3D-numerical experiments
for the first design of mining parameter optimization
are required.

3.2 Orthogonal numerical test of phase subsequent

According to customary provisions, convex is pos-
itive, concave is negative.
2.4.3 Horizontal deformation ε
Horizontal deformation is the surface movement in
the basin, it is the ratio between difference horizontal
filling-mining
The numerical analysis aims at gain of the surface
movement and stability of stope induced by filling-
mining method with different parameters. The length
of southern district orebody is 3200 m. In order to sim-
plify the calculation, three panels along the ore body

955
 Table 3. The maximum surface deformation of the program.

Surface Horizontal Surface

tilt Curvature/ deformation subsidence
No. mm/m km mm/m mm

1 1.927 −0.044 −1.914 −203.6

2 1.97 −0.04424 −1.76 −198.8
3 1.278 −0.02757 −0.9318 −140
4 1.153 −0.02473 −0.7937 −126.5
Figure 2. Stope structure model of subsequent filling in 5 0.777 −0.01683 −0.5587 −99.45
south district. 6 0.711 −0.01539 −0.5112 −91.07
7 1.420 0.02924 1.2060 −162.3
8 1.272 0.02691 0.9963 −146.9
9 1.056 0.0237 0.878 −132.9
10 0.940 −0.02114 −0.914 −108.4
11 0.876 −0.01933 −0.6818 −114.6
12 2.649 0.04672 −2.304 −236.6
13 2.830 −0.0507 −2.23 −278.7
14 2.530 −0.0482 −1.76 −260.9
15 2.780 −0.049 −2.49 −276.3
16 1.820 −0.04023 −1.486 −183.2

Regression formula of horizontal deformation ε

Figure 3. Stope integrated structure model of subsequent
filling in south district.

were selected in 3D modeling. In accordance with

the mine design, mining field structure of the model
includes the parameters as follows: interval pillar, the
first step is to mine room, the second step is to mine pil-
lar to meet the transport requirements of high-strength
filling roof. The model size is 900 × 600 × 560 m, as
shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3.
The maximum tilt, curvature radius and horizon-
tal deformation of surface induced by various mining
scheme are shown in Table 3. According to regression
theory, the constraint conditions of results in quadratic
polynomial are regressed gradually. The regression
results are shown in Eqs (18) ∼ (20).
Regression formula of surface inclination i
where, X1 , X2 , X3 , X4 , X5 correspond to the width
of intervening pillar B, width of room W (width of
pillar as same as room), thickness of cement roof h,
cemented backfill strength of room q, and the strength
of cemented roof backfill Q, respectively.
Quadratic polynomial gradual regression method
is used, each correlation coefficients of function R is
greater than 0.94, showing that the regression equa-
tion of constraint functions can be used for parameter
optimization.
3.3 The nonlinear programming of objective
function
According to deformation threshold value the follow-
ing constraint conditions are obtained as follows

Regression formula of curvature K

Where, i is the surface inclination, K is the surface
curvature, ε is the surface horizontal deformation, v is
loss rate of ore.
After set the initial value, non-linear program-
ming was used to perform the optimization, optimized
parameters are obtained: width of intervening pil-
lar B = 20 m, width of room (pillar) W = 20 m, roof
thickness h = 10 m, the first step cemented backfill

956

Figure 4. Schematic diagram of stope which based on the
optimization.
Figure 5. Rock stress contours.
strength q = 2.93 MPa, the strength of cemented roof
backfill Q = 3.72MPa. The economic benefit of ore is
201.96 yuan/t.
4 THE OPTIMAL DECISION OF STRUCTURE
PARAMETERS
4.1 Optimization model of stope structure
parameter
According to the results of stope structural optimiza-
tion, a 3D geometric model was established, the stope
structure is shown in Figure 4, the width of interval
pillar is 20 m, the width of room is 20 m, the width of
pillar is 20 m and the length of stope is 100 m.There are
total 236,612 elements and 278,730 nodes. In order to
improve the computational accuracy, the grids around
ore body is refined. From top to bottom of the strata
are: quaternary stratum, weak weathered stratum and
deep rock stratum.
Assuming the model consistent with Mohr
Coulomb yield criterion, mechanical parameters for
rock mass are chosen, and the original rock stress is
simulated as shown in Figure 5. As it is shown, the
original stress before miming is laminar distribution
with the maximum stress of 12.5 MPa.
957
Figure 6. Surface subsidence curves whit mining and fill-
ing.
4.2 Analysis of surface movement
According to the actual mining, the changes of surface
subsidence with mining steps are shown in Figure 6.
In the mining process from −450 m to −150m, the
surface subsidence gradually becomes larger, the sur-
face subsidence center gradually moves downward.
Especially in −150 m section of mining, the surface
subsidence dramatic changes. In mining step 4, the
maximum subsidence is 77 mm, and after mining
step 5, the maximum subsidence value will become
133 mm, and at the same time, the transferring rate
of subsidence center will be bigger. After the second
step of pillar mining-filling in −150 m section, the
maximum subsidence value will become 225 mm, the
subsidence center will move downward.
Similarly, the surface inclination and curvature
curve with mining steps are shown in Figure 7 and
Figure 8). The surface inclination and curvature are
both increased with the mining area enlarged, it is more
obvious in the final stage of exploitation, and the max-
imum value is apparent. But the value does not exceed
the limit of surface deformation.
Surface subsidence is like an ellipse, the long axis
of ellipse perpendicular to the ore body. The maximum
subsidence at the center is 225 mm, the maximum
inclination is 2.112 mm/m, the maximum curvature
is 0.047/m, the maximum horizontal deformation is
1.875 mm/m, none of them exceeds the surface con-
trol standard. Therefore, these design parameters can
meet the surface movement control standards. And the
results of the study have been applied to mining-filling
design in Southern area of Sijiaying iron stope.
5 CONCLUSION
1. Based on the optimization results, numerical simu-
lation is used to analyze the surface movement, the
maximum principal stress and interval pillar stabil-
ity. The results show that the surface movement is in
the maximum control permit, the principal stress of
stope doesn’t exceed compressive strength of mine
rock, the distribution of plastic zone doesn’t show
large subsidence area through one side to another,
and the whole stope is stable.

Figure 7. Surface tilt curves whit mining and filling.
Figure 8. Surface curvature curves whit mining and filling.
2. The mining leads to change in stress state near
the stope, the vertical stress on field transfers to
the sides, and leads to stress concentration in both
sides increase with the exploitation. Meanwhile, in
whole stress contour distribution, stress concentra-
tion is reduced because of the stress absorption by
the filling after mining-filling, it is more obvious
after cement filling. In general, stress concentra-
tion only occurs around the mining site, it has little
effect on the stability of surrounding rock.
3. In mining-filling process, the upper part of room
with tailing sand filling appeared partly tensile fail-
ure, and high-section cemented tailing sand will
appear a large area shear failure. It is due to the low
cohesion and low intensity of the tailing materials.
In high-intensity artificial stope, the roof appeared
complete in the elastic state without damage, which
reflects the strength of the design of the roof filling
is reasonable. After mining −250 m∼ −150 m sec-
tion, the weathered layer above the −150 m part are
disturbed in mining process, presenting instability
due to low intensity. Therefore, in the actual mining
process of 150 m section, the upper strata it should
be reinforced to ensure the safety of the stope.
958
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Application of three measurement methods for determination of in-situ

stress state in Qianan area

Y. Li, L. Qiao & S.J. Miao

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing,
Beijing, China
State Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines, Ministry of Education,
Beijing, China

Z.L. Sui
City Construction Department, Beijing City University, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The level and distribution of in-situ stresses are the important factors to affect the stability and
failure mode of tunnel. Measurement of in-situ stresses is an essential project for the construction of pipeline
engineering, tunnel engineering and slope engineering. Among the methods, hydraulic fracturing test and CSIRO
overcoring gauge method are the most popular ones and recommended by ISRM. As a new and convenient way,
the combining of techniques of acoustic emission and core orientation is also used for determination of in-situ
stress state in Qianan area. The application of three methods for the in-situ stresses determination of Qianan area
is introduced in this paper. It is about 30 sites that measurements operated in. The magnitudes and directions
of in situ stress at all sites are obtained. And by analysis, the relationships between the stress distribution and
geological structures are revealed.

1 INTRODUCTION 2 IN-SITU STRESS MEASUREMENT

METHODS APPLIED IN THE PROJECT
In-situ stress is referred to the undisturbed stress states
of rock mass. The measurement of in-situ stresses 2.1 CSIRO methods
provides base data for mining engineering, hydraulic
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
engineering, civil engineering, railway engineering
Organization recommended an overcoring gauge
and military engineering (Cai 2005). The stress state
method for in-situ stress measurement. The greatest
at a given point in a rock mass is generally pre-
advantage of this method is that the complete stress
sented in terms of the magnitude and orientation
state can be determined with one installation. But as
of the principal stresses (the stress state is com-
mentioned above, this technique has its limitations and
pletely described by six parameters), (J.A. Hudson &
disadvantages. One major problem is the environment
J.P. Harrison 2000). There are many methods rec-
within the borehole. To ensure the reliability and accu-
ommended for in-situ stress measurement. Among
racy of the measurement, a series of new techniques
them, CSIRO, hydraulic fracturing test and acoustic
including complete temperature compensation tech-
emission (indicator approach) were carried out in the
nique and improved hollow inclusion strain devices
project.
were used in the measurement. The whole measure-
There are many factors, such as temperature and
ment procedure was divided into four steps (as shown
analysis theory, which are critical to the accuracy of
in Figure 1).
in-situ stress measurement (Li et al. 2005). The data
obtained by the in-situ measurement need to be post-
processed to eliminate influence of the noises. During
the analysis period, geological structures are basic to 2.2 Hydraulic fracturing test
determine the validity of the data. For example, Stress The Hydraulic fracturing method of stress mea-
concentration will take place in hollow region, and surement takes two pressure values (the breakdown
the first principle stress points to the strike direction pressure and the shut-in pressure) into analysis and
of the valley; near to the reverse fault, the maximum assumes that the vertical principle stress is equal to
principle stress’s direction normal to the strike of the the weight of overlying strata. From the results of
fault (Li 2008). stress measurement of the world, the assumption is not

959

Figure 1. Typical process of CSIRO in-situ measurement.
according with the accurate situation, but it is the only
method for in-situ stress measurement in deep strata.
Consider that the difficulties of in measurement pro-
cedure, some technique improvement were carried on
in this measurement: a new type of straddle packer was
used; two sets of systems were applied for the control
of water pressure and mud pressure, and so on (Cai
et al. 2006).
2.3 Acoustic emission in combination with core
orientation techniques
The rock emits low-intensity ‘noise’when it is stressed.
The principle of in-situ stress measurement method in
which acoustic emission is recorded is that the sig-
nals emitted by rock specimens are weak when the
impressed stress is smaller than the largest one of in-
situ rock mass in history, and are strong when the
impressed level exceeds the largest historical stress.
The point where the critical transformation is occurred
is called Kaiser Point, and the associated stress is rec-
ognized as the in-situ stress of rock mass. It is founded
that the Kaiser effect can be obviously obtained during
granite, marble, quartzite, sandstone, andesite, etc. is
stressed.
Specimens can be drilled out through rock core in
different directions. And with the help of data obtained
from core orientation, the directions of specimens in
space can be calculated. Then the separated critical
stress can be decided by the tests of Kaiser Effect, and
the stresses are the component ones of in-situ principle
stresses. So the principle stresses can be computed
out with mathematic methods, if enough relationships
between principle stresses and component stresses are
obtained. There were four specimens drilled out from
the core in one measurement point, one was parallel to
the axial direction and the others were along the cross
section (as shown in Figure 2).
3 GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURES IN QIANAN
REGION
There are many factors can affect the value and dis-
tribution of in-situ stress, among them the gravity and
tectonic movement is major ones. It is very important
that exploration and analysis of geological structures
during measurement and data processing.
960
Figure 2. Specimens core-drilling direction.
The measurement region located at the southern
foot of the branching of the Yanshan mountain ranges
and consist of a series of low-middle mountains. The
ridges strike NNE ∼ NE, and the elevations are all
higher than 170 m. The landforms are low hills with
the east slope steep and west slope gently in central
and south-east part, and mostly in company with deep
ditches. The tectonic is located in transition zone of
Shanhaiguan shelf and Jixian depression of Yanshan
settlement belt, and the directions of strike shows a
series changing of NE- SN-NW-EW in the range from
the north to the south. The tectonic is about 38∼40 km
long and 5∼8 km wide. A synclinorium belt with the
shape of “W”, which is composed of two parallel syn-
clinoriums and an anticlinorium, is located at the north
of the mine and a more complex geological asso-
ciation of two syniclinoriums and an anticlinorium
lies in the south. Effected by latitudinal fault sys-
tem, a regional arcuate tectonic belt are formed and
made of Wuchongan fracture, Huangjinzhai fracture,
Liuguanying fracture, etc. The mine lies between the
Huangjinzhai fracture and Liuguanying fracture.
4 IN-SITU STRESS MEASUREMENT AND
DATA ANALYSIS
The research team began to carry out in-situ stress
measurement in 2001, and three methods were chosen
for the Hydraulic fracturing tests. Add up to 27 points
were surveyed and the relationships between depth and
principle stresses were reduced.
1) Results from Hydraulic fracturing test. The mea-
surements with the method of Hydraulic fracturing
were operated by the research team in 2001. The
measurement by hydraulic fracturing was carried
out in 3 sites which were divided into 11 sections,
and the coordinates are shown in Table 1.
2) CSIRO measurement results. The measurement
was operated in tunnels of Shuichang iron mine.
Three points were chosen for the overcoring, and
the results are shown in Table 2.
3) Measurement results from acoustic emission test.
There are two drilled holes for in-situ stress mea-
surement this time. The oriented cores are drilled
through rock mass, and three cylinder specimens
with angles of 0◦ , 45◦ , 90◦ which measured in the
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Effect of excavation dewatering on adjacent underground metro structure for

super large diameter piles in weathered rock foundation

B. Liu, W. Xu & C.Y. Yang

School of Mechanics & Civil Engineering, China University of Mining & Technology, Beijing, China
State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics & Deep Engineering, Beijing, China

Y.Q. Zhou
China Construction First Division Group Construction & Development Co., Ltd. Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The influence of super large diameter piles’ dewatering and excavation of Shenzhen Ping-An
International Finance Centre Tower on the adjacent metro structure is presented in this paper. The main tower
for this Centre will be the tallest high-rise building in China. The super large piles with diameter of 9.5 m for
this foundation are considered as the world-wide largest piles to be constructed in the intermediary and slightly
weathered rock foundation. FLAC 3D numerical modeling is conducted to predict the metro structure deformation
of soil and rock mass with four different schemes of whole construction processes, each construction scheme
is simulated with three dewatering conditions. Analysis shows that backfilling the deep foundation to the depth
of 26 meters in the north (the side that near the metro station with distance 5.65 m) and 28 meters in other
place, setting the fifth support and deepening the waterproof curtain to slightly weathered rock will reduce the
impact and control the metro structure deformation effectively. The field instrumentation and monitoring results
are presented and investigated finally to illustrate the current research. This research proposed suggestions are
adopted during the mega-piles construction.

1 INTRODUCTION It could relatively reflect different factors that could

In order to alleviate contradictions between the lim-
itation of land resources and augment of density of
architecture and traffic, the underground spaces are
widely developed and utilized. However, it is unavoid-
able to construct the high-rise buildings near the
existing underground structures such as a subway.
Since metro structure has an extremely strict require-
ment of deformation, it is very important to evaluate
the deformation of the metro structure before any
adjacent construction project starts (Sun 2005). Now
days the large diameter piles have been used for pur-
pose of meeting the requirements of long span and
space structures, high-rise building structure, heavy
load and complicated geological conditions (Terzaghi
1996, Sagaseta 1987). The incomplete statistics show
that more than 200,000 large diameter piles have been
used in China per year (Zhang 2005). However, the
situation similar to this engineering project is rare.
Although the Shenzhen Jingji building which is under
construction has some similarity with this project, its
maximum pile’s diameter is only a half compared to
this project (Luo 2009). The often-used methods for
pile engineering include theoretical analysis method,
time-space effect method, field monitoring method,
etc. Along with computer technology enter into var-
ious subjects, the numerical analysis method of rock
mechanics has been rapidly developed in recent years.
affect the displacements through space and time (Liu &
Han 2005). The generally accepted finite-difference
geomechanics code FLAC 3D (Itasca 2005) has been
widely applied. The purpose of this study is to predict
the deformation of metro structure which caused by
its adjacent super large diameter mega-piles’ dewater-
ing and excavation in weathered rock foundation. By
simulating different working conditions aim at find-
ing an optimum working condition and construction
scheme.
2 ENGINEERING PROFILE
2.1 Project description
Upon its completion, the main tower of Ping An
International Finance Center will be 658 m high; this
115-story building will be located in Futian district of
Shenzhen. The construction area is fenced by Yitian
Road, Fuhua Road, No.2 of Zhongxin Road and No.3
of Fuhua Road. A metro-tunnel below Yitian Road
is in planning for the express railway connecting
Guangzhou to Shenzhen. More importantly, No.1 sub-
way beneath Fuhua Road is in operation. The distance
between the foundation pit boundary and the entrance
of metro station is only 5.65 m. And about 24.3 m
away from the foundation pit boundary to the metro

963
 axis counter-clockwise from the marked dip direc-
tion of hole in cross section are taken (as shown in
Figure 2). Up to 13 sections are measured in the
holes and the results are shown in Table 3. where, Sig(h.max) is the maximum horizontal princi-
ple stress, Sig(h.min) is the minimum horizontal prin-
ciple stress and Sig(vertical) is the vertical principle
stress.
5 CONCLUSIONS

From the results of measurements the main features of

filed stresses can be deduced as follows. Table 3. Results of in-situ stress measurement by acoustic
emission test.
1. The direction of the first principle stress is about
NEE in this area, and the results coincides with The maximal The minimum Vertical
the rules of in-situ stress of North China. It is Depth Hole horizontal horizontal principle
(m) num principle stress principle stress stress
shown that the stresses are mainly affected by New
Cathysian Tectonic System.
1 110 5.64 4.11 3.06
2. The largest horizontal stress is about 1∼2.9 times 140 8.23 3.89 4.11
the vertical stress, and it show that the stress 200 10.22 4.72 5.36
level is mainly affected by the horizontal tectonic 260 12.72 5.98 6.93
movement. 310 16.35 8.01 8.22
3. Linear regression is manipulated for the conclusion 370 17.90 8.25 9.87
of relationships between depth (m) and princi- 3 160 7.18 4.34 4.11
ple stresses (MPa) (as shown in Figure 3). The 190 9.55 4.12 5.06
equations are shown as follows: 250 11.95 6.65 6.85
310 14.85 8.09 8.86
370 18.26 10.08 9.78
430 22.25 10.93 11.26
490 24.25 12.34 12.81

Table 1. Results of in-situ stress measurement by Hydraulic

fracturing method.

Depth of Direction
fracture Stress value (MPa) of
Sequence section fracture
No. number (m) σ1 σ2 σv (◦ )

1 1 84 2.16 1.66 2.21

2 116 6.68 4.08 3.07 N77◦ E
3 155 11.93 6.98 4.11 N88◦ E
4 182 12.65 7.83 4.80
5 233 14.79 9.25 6.15
2 1 265 9.28 5.96 7.02
2 274 9.79 6.26 7.26 N70◦ E
3 302 13.21 8.00 8.00
3 1 119 6.07 3.96 3.15 N77◦ E
2 148 7.35 4.65 3.90
3 186 9.53 5.42 4.92

* σ1 : maximum horizontal principle stress; σ2 : minimum

horizontal principle stress; σV : estimated vertical stress. Figure 3. Liner fitting of principle stresses.

Table 2. Results of in-situ stress measurement by CSIRO method.

Depth (m) σ1 σ2 σ3
value direction Dip angle value direction Dip angle value direction Dip angle
(MPa) (◦ ) (◦ ) (MPa) (◦ ) (◦ ) (MPa) (◦ ) (◦ )

81 4.07 272.2 −7.3 2.38 3.9 −13.3 2.16 154.2 −74.8

91.5 4.26 90.6 −0.8 2.86 180.6 −2.9 2.68 344.9 −87.0
56 3.68 98.9 −7.2 2.33 189.7 −6.2 2.03 319.8 80.5

961
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This paper is supported by the Key Projects in
the National Science & Technology Pillar Program
during the Eleventh Five-year Plan period (No.
2008AA062104), the Major State Basic Research
Development Program of China (973 Program) (No.
2010CB731500).
REFERENCES
Cai, M.F. 2005. Rock Mechanics and Engineering. Beijing:
Science press.
962
Cai, M.F., Chen, C.Z. & Peng, H. et al. 2006. In-Situ Stress
Measurement by Hydraulic Fracturing Technique in Deep
Position of Wanfu Coal Mine. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 5(1): 1069–1074.
Hudson, J.A. & Harrison, J.P. 2000. Engineering Rock
Mechanics. Oxford: Elsevier Science Ltd.
Li, Y., Qiao, L. & Sun, X.S. 2005. Analysis of Some Fac-
tors Affecting Precision in In-situ Stress Measurement
with Method of CSIRO Cells. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering 10(1): 2140–2144.
Li, Y. 2008. In-situ Stress Measurement and Stability Anal-
ysis Based on the Unified Strength Theory in Large
Scale Underground Caverns Zone. Beijing: University of
Science and Technology Beijing.

Figure 1. Engineering plan.
Figure 2. The field construction situation.
railway. The foundation pit is 29.80-33.80 m in depth
and 544 m in circumference.
The engineering foundation is manual hole digging
pile, most expending bottom piles are diameter from
1.4 m to 2.0 m, however, there are eight super large
mega-piles diameter 8.4 meters (enlarge to 9.5 meters
at the pile end) and sixteen large piles diameter 5.7
meters (enlarge to 7.0 meters at the end). The project
plan is shown as Figure 1. The field construction
situation is shown as Figure 2.
2.2 Geological condition and underground water
condition
The geological properties are determined by site explo-
ration and physical laboratory experiments. Typical
rock core sample in the field is shown as Figure 3.
The thickness and mechanics properties of soil layers
964
Figure 3. The soil and rock core samples.
are summarized in Table 1. If taking the moderately
weathered rock as the main aquifer of bedrock fis-
sure water, which based on pumping test that through
each weathered zone of granite and the diameter of
the well is 0.8 m, the field tests shows that confined
water head reaches the height of 22 m, the field tested
permeability coefficient is 10.18 m/d. This abundant
water situation is rare in Shenzhen city. Undoubtedly,
in the abundant water, it is very difficulty to control
the dewatering and excavation induced settlements for
the adjacent underground metro structure.
2.3 The relationship between super large diameter
piles and metro strucure
The distance between super large diameter mega-piles
(enlarge to 9.5 m at the end) and the boundary of foun-
dation pit is 10.76 m, 21.95 m from the pile to the
entrance, 29.35 m to the left centerline. The profile of
deep foundation pit, super large diameter mega-piles
and metro structure is shown as Figure 4.
3 NUMERICAL MODELING
3.1 Modeling consideration
1. Three-dimensional modeling is chosen so that the
time and the spatial effects of different construction
procedures can be evaluated.
2. Numerical simulation results back analysis is con-
ducted with the field monitoring data.
3. The thickness and mechanical properties of soil lay-
ers are averaged over the data obtained from the
field measurement and lab tests, the spatial varia-
tion differed from field survey is not considered.
3.2 Model setup
The boundaries are all displacement boundary con-
dition. The bottom boundary is fixed in all directions,
while the lateral boundaries have roller condition. Soils
are assumed to be Mohr-coulomb Model. The enclo-
sure wall and lining structure of metro is assumed to
Table 1. Soil and rock properties.

Internal Permeability
Thickness friction Cohesion Compression Deformation coefficient
Soil and Rock (m) angle (◦ ) (kPa) modulus (MPa) modulus (MPa) (m/d)

1 Artificial fill 3.76 21.7 30 4.5 8.5 0.05

2 Quaternary alluvial silty clay 1.32 8.3 12 4.0 7.0 0.0006
3 Clay 2.28 11.1 38 5.5 10.0 0.009
4 Coarse sand 1.91 30.1 43 / 25.0 15.0
5 Fine sand 1.04 28.0 0 / 23.0 8.0
6 Silty clay 2.19 20.0 16 6.0 12.0 0.01
7 Contain organic silty clay 1.16 20.2 22 4.5 9.0 0.0005
8 Coarse gravel sand 1.90 30.0 0 / 30.0 17.0
9 Gravelly clay 6.52 24.3 30 7.0 21.0 0.06
10 Completely weathered rock 4.43 29.6 27 15.0 50.0 0.15
11 Completely weathered rock 4.58 29.6 24 25.0 60.0 0.16
12 Weathered rock 13.66 28.5 40 62.5 150 1.0
13 Weathered rock 5.59 31.0 45 75.0 200 1.5
14 Moderately weathered rock 9.25 33.5 180 / 500 /
15 Moderately weathered rock 9.95 34.5 450 / 700 /

Figure 5. FLAC3D numerical model.

Figure 4. Profile of deep foundation pit, super large diam-

eter mega-piles and metro structure.

be ideally elasto-plastic. Pile elements are employed

to model retaining piles and column piles, beam ele-
ments to model steel support, and cable elements to
model reinforcing pre-stressed rock cables. The super
large diameter mega-piles use structural elements in
order to consider time and space effect during exca-
vation. The computational mesh is shown as Figure 5. Figure 6. The overall support system with large diameter.
The parameters of erect column piles, each support
of structure and cables are determined according to deepen the waterproof to decrease the affection to the
design scheme and engineering experience. The over- metro structures, then choose four different schemes
all support system with large diameter mega-piles and after the numerical simulation of excavation of deep
the partial enlarged view of large diameter mega-piles foundation pit is over. The schemes are listed as below:
is shown as Figure 6.
Scheme 1: add waterproof curtain to 36 m to simu-
late the procedure of dewatering and excavation of
3.3 Simulation procedure
super large diameter mega-piles.
When the excavation of deep foundation pit is com- Scheme 2: use the original scheme to simulate the pro-
pleted, considering from aspects of backfill the deep cedure of dewatering and excavation of super large
foundation, adding support to the deep foundation and diameter piles.

965
Scheme 3: add waterproof curtain to the depth of
preventing the groundwater of strongly weathered
rock to simulate the procedure of dewatering and
excavation of super large diameter piles.
Scheme 4: backfill the deep foundation to the depth
of 26 meters in the north (the one side that near
the metro station) and 28 meters in other place, set-
ting the fifth support and deepening the waterproof
curtain to slightly weathered rock to 0.5 m to simu-
late the procedure of dewatering and excavation of
super large diameter piles.
Each scheme uses 3 types of dewatering conditions:
Dewatering condition one: simplifying all the super
large diameter pile’s dewatering as a one big well.
Dewatering condition two: dewatering the super large
diameter pile from the one which is closest to the Figure 7. Comparison on analytical and field monitoring
metro station. results.
Dewatering condition three: dewatering interval one
pile at a time during the construction.

4 TEST AND SIMULATION RESULTS

4.1 Comparison on the analytical and

tested results
During the procedure of the excavation of deep foun-
dation pit, the support technique of foundation pit
SJG05-2010 (permission for manuscript) is used to
Figure 8. Contour of Z-displacement of metro structure at
estimate the settlement of ground subsidence around the end of excavation of deep foundation.
the deep foundation pit. The subsidence is caused by
declining of underground water in the range of pre-
cipitation funnel. The analytical formula is shown as
Equation (1).

where Sw is the land subsidence caused by ground

subsidence; ψs (taking value 0-1) is coefficient of cal-
culation correction; z is unit depth of water level; n is
multiple, taking value 1, 2, 3, . . . , z−1; m is the serial
number of soil layer after dewatering; pz is additional
average stress caused by declining of underground
water; z is the underground water declining value of Figure 9. Contour of Z-displacement of the soil at the
calculating point; γw is density of underground water; northern side of deep foundation pit.
hj is the thickness of soil layer. ψs is obtained by back
analysis results of calculation with field monitoring
4.2 The results at the end of excavation of deep
results.
foundation pit
20 monitoring points of land subsidence and 30
monitoring points of underground water are layout. The numerical simulation of excavation of deep foun-
According to the values of monitoring points of under- dation pit is simulated according to the field procedure.
ground water, the land subsidence can be calculated by Contour of Z-displacement of metro structure at the
Equation (1). The comprehensive analysis the whole end of excavation of deep foundation is shown as Fig-
process of excavation of this deep foundation pit shows ure 8. Figure 9 shows that Contour of Z-displacement
that the value rang of ψs is 0.25–0.4. The compari- of the soil at the northern side of deep foundation pit.
son between calculation results and field monitoring Based on the results of numerical simulation, when
values is shown as Figure 7. the excavation of deep foundation pit is completed,

966
Figure 10. Metro structure’s settlement along the deep Figure 12. Metro structure’s settlement along the deep
foundation pit by using scheme 1. foundation pit by using scheme 3.

Figure 13. Contour of Z-displacement of metro structure by

using scheme 4, dewatering condition 1.

Figure 11. Metro structure’s settlement along the deep

foundation pit by using scheme 2.

the maximum settlement of the left rail structure is

9.6 mm and 8.7 mm at the metro right rail structure.
Field monitoring indicates that the maximum settle-
ment of metro station is 18.0 mm (numerical result is
17.24 mm, see Figure 8). The maximum settlement of
the soil at the northern side of deep foundation pit is
23.5 mm (numerical result is 23.08 mm, see Figure 9).
The results of numerical simulation and the field mon-
itoring are basically identical indicates that the results Figure 14. Contour of Z-displacement of metro structure by
of numerical simulation is reliable. using scheme 4, dewatering condition 2.

4.3 The results of dewatering and excavation of

super large diameter mega-piles
Based on the numerical simulation of excavation of
deep foundation pit, this paper investigates 12 types
of working conditions as discussed above to simulate
the whole process of the engineering construction. The
metro structure’s settlements along the deep founda-
tion pit by using scheme 1 to 3 are illustrated as Figure
10, 11 and 12.
Using scheme 4 to simulate the whole procedure,
the contour of Z-displacement of metro structure is
illustrated as Figure 13, 14 and 15 with three types of Figure 15. Contour of Z-displacement of metro structure by
dewatering conditions. using scheme 4, dewatering condition 3.

967
 Using scheme 4, the maximum settlement of the
metro structure is 24.3 mm by using dewatering
condition one, 23.5 mm by using dewatering condition
two and 22.5 mm by using dewatering condition three.
Undoubtedly, the scheme with the minimum value for
the maximum settlement of the metro structure is the
optimized scheme for the large diameters mega-piles
dewatering and excavation construction.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the three dimensional finite difference
code FLAC 3D is used to simulate the staged excava-
tion procedure of dewatering and excavation of the
super large diameter piles in weathered rock, predict
the deformation of the nearby subway station, and
compare the effect of 3 different schemes and three
types of dewatering conditions for each schemes. The
following conclusions can be drawn:
1. The waterproof curtain plays an important role in
controlling the deformation of metro structure due
to the large amounts of bedrock fissure water in the
weathered rock.
2. Using dewatering condition two that dewatering the
super large diameter pile from the one which is
closest to the metro station could control the defor-
mation of the metro structure more effectively than
the other two dewatering conditions.
3. Backfill the deep foundation to the depth of 26
meters in the north (the one side that near the metro
station) and 28 meters in other place, setting the
fifth support and deepening the waterproof curtain
to slightly weathered rock to 0.5 m will control the
deformation of the metro structure to the minimum
(the settlement of the metro structure is 23.5 mm
by dewatering the super large diameter mega-pile
from the one which is closest to the metro station).
Compared with the results obtained from the differ-
ent modeling schemes, it is the optimized scheme
for dewatering and excavation construction.
968
The proposed optimized scheme for this deep pit
and mega-piles dewatering and excavation is adopted
by the practical construction. Since the limitation of
paper length, the further research and tested results
will be discussed in another paper.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors sincerely thank the following agents
for their financial supports: National Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China (Grant No. 50974126,
50674095), Program for New Century Excel-
lent Talents in University (NCET-08-0835), Key
Research Project of Chinese Ministry of Education
(No. 109034), Beijing Excellent Talents Program
(20071D1600700414).
REFERENCES
Detournay, C. & Han, Y. 2008. Installation of triple anchored
excavation walls in sand using the Cysoil model. In Hart
et al. (Eds) Continuum and Distinct Element Numer-
ical Modeling in Geo-Engineering – 2008, Proceed-
ings of the 1st International FLAC/DEM Symposium,
25–27 August 2008. ISBN 978-0-9767577-1-9, Min-
neapolis USA, Paper 11–02. Minneapolis: Itasca.
Liu, B. & Han, Y. 2005. FLAC Theory, Case Verification and
Application. Beijing: China Communications Press.
Luo, Z.N. 2009.The probability-based analysis ofTMD wind-
induced vibration control on high-raise building. Beijing
Jiaotong University.
Sagaseta, C. 1987. Analysis of undrained soil deformation
due to ground loss. Geotechnique 37(3): 301–320.
Sun, J. 2005. Environmental urban geotechnics. Shanghai:
Shanghai Science and Technology Press.
Terzaghi, K., Peck, R.B. & Mesri, G. 1996. Soil Mechanics in
Engineering Practice, 3rd Ed. ISBN 0-471-08658-4. John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Zhang, X.W., G.Y.J., Zhou, J.H. 2005. Application of PHP
slurry to drilling over length and extra-large-diameter
bored piles. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 24(14): 2571–2575.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on railway support techniques in deep soft rock and engineering

example

Q.B. Meng & W.G. Qiao

College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, SDUST, Qingdao, Shandong, China

D.G. Lin & L.C. Wei

Shandong Civil Engineering Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Key Laboratory, SDUST, Qingdao, Shandong, China

ABSTRACT: Along with the increasing of mining depth and range, the nonlinear mechanical characteristics
of deep soft rock displays remarkably, such as large deformation, large underground pressure and difficult to
support. The problem of roadway support in deep soft rock has become increasingly prominent. Based on the
president situation of roadway support in deep soft rock at home and abroad, the advantage and disadvantage and
applicability of different support form are compared and analyzed. The bolt-grouting reinforcement mechanism
is studied, and the combined support system which takes internal grouting bolt as core to solve the support
difficulty of roadway in deep soft rock. The engineering examples show that the combined support technology
was not only kept long-term stability of roadway in deep soft rock, but also saved the support cost and obtained
a good support effect.

1 PREFACE face water-inrush, mine pressure appeared aggravate,

Coal as the main fossil energy resources naturally
endowed human, long supports the progress and devel-
opment of human society. Along with the increase
of demand for energy and mining strength, shallow
resources dwindling, coal mining depth increasing
unceasingly, coal mines at home and abroad are suc-
cessively enter into deep resource exploitation condi-
tion. Along with the increase of mining depth, most
of our coal mine has appeared soft rock disasters in
different degrees, which often leads to production and
construction accident of mine. Coal as our country’s
primary energy, the problem of coal mine in deep soft
rock has been a major problem of mine production
and construction (He 1996). Relevant statistics show
that roadway excavation is around 6000 km/a, in which
deep soft rock tunnel accounts for in 28∼30% of the
total amount of roadway (He 1996), and repair of soft
rock tunnel of is up to 70% above (He 1999, He et al.
2006), especially tunnel destruction in deep soft rock
is more serious.
Along with the increase of mining depth, deep rocks
in the “three-high a disturbance” complex mechani-
cal environment (He et al. 2006), which makes deep
rock mass structure and mechanical behavior more
complex, rock of shallow exploitation in performance
for hard-rock characteristics successively shows large
deformation, high earth pressure and difficult sup-
port such as nonlinear soft rock mechanics properties
after into the deep mining. And it has produced a
series of engineering response, such as: mine percus-
sive ground pressure, coal and gas outburst, working
large deformation of surrounding and rheological etc.
Along with the increase of mining depth, the in-situ
stress level of mine engineering and stope is also more
and more high, especially in tectonic activities strongly
areas, in which residual tectonic stress is bigger and
level ground pressure is often bigger than vertical
pressure to form a high level ground stress (Zhou
et al. 2005), these raise soft rock roadways pressure
appeared and the acuteness degree of surrounding rock
damage, which makes support of soft rock roadway
more difficult.
2 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN SUPPORTING
TECHNOLOGY OF DEEP SOFT ROCK
TUNNEL
At present, most Western Europe countries’all kinds of
different types of anchor, combination anchor, anchor
truss and anchor rope supporting account for about
90% of supporting (Shi et al. 2009), particularly in
Russian Bath area’s deep roadway, using great sup-
port capacity ACr1, ACr2 and new-type A K anchor,
whose supporting ability for 190∼330 kN, at the same
time available high strength torsten plate and steel
belt to form the anchor net belt combined support
(M
pplev 2004, qephi 2005) and achieve good
supporting effect and economic benefits. In recent
decades, The United States and Australia are always
with anchor stents to subjects for combined support
in the deep coal mining. In deep instability surround-
ing rock, anchor nets, combination anchor (network),

969
high-strength bolt (network) such as retaining struc-
ture are generally used, for extremely unstable rock
mainly adopts combination anchor rod anchor support-
ing frame, chromatography, anchored nets and anchor
rope combined support and other forms (Shi et al.
2009).
Our country made extensive and fruitful work in soft
rock supporting field, deep soft rock tunnel support
technology divided into three phases by supporting and
surrounding rock interaction relationship and essence
of perspective (Zhang 2004):
1) Metal stents, Arching supporting and other sup-
porting form act on the roadway surface directly
through the provision of external forces. Rigid
frame generates a passive radial binding to bal-
ance the deformation pressure of the surrounding
rock to reduce the surrounding rock deformation.
Retractable support bracket is conducive to balance
release pressure and supporting and the adaptability
of soft rock is greatly improved. A lot of practices
have proved that simply increasing the frame stiff-
ness is already not suited to deep soft rock tunnel
deformation requirement.
Arching supporting uses cement mortar to bond
stone to compose arched shape or closed bearing
body, which passively abides the pressure gener-
ated by wallrock deformation. A lot of engineering
practice shows that: only under a certain form
of the surrounding rock load, the arching stone
supporting can show higher strength and carry-
ing capacity, which exposes problem increasingly
with the increase of mining depth, so arching stone
supporting does not adapt the soft rock roadway
supporting requirements in high stress and complex
geological condition.
2) Bolt and Anchor and other joint support, not only
provide the force applied to the roadway surface,
and can establish some interaction relationship with
internal roadway. Commonly used is bolt-shotcrete
support, which is used extensively because of its
timeliness, tightness, closeness and economic fea-
ture. But the engineering characteristics, anchorage
materials, construction and other effects in the
application of soft rock, its reliability, security and
the result of support is not very ideal, less practi-
cal. The recently developed rebar bolts, anchored
by high-strength resin, overcome the above short-
comings, which achieves good effect in deep soft
rock application and has development potential.
3) Bolt-grouting technology directly acts on the sur-
rounding rock structure, fundamentally improves
the nature of the surrounding rock, increases the
rock mechanical properties and improves the sur-
rounding rock state of stress distribution. Improve
the mechanical properties of the weak side, is to
enhance the cohesion and internal friction angle
of fractures and increase the resistance of relative
displacement between the internal block, thereby
it improves the overall stability of surrounding
rock. Broken loose rock in the tunnel after grout-
ing can be re-cemented into the whole and form
970
load structures, which gives full play to the stabil-
ity of surrounding rock and works together with
the roadway stents to reduce the load of frame.
After soft rock tunnel grouting, the grout concretion
body closes the fracture to prevent the hydrosphere
into the internal rock and prevent water damage
and weathering, which is of great significance for
keeping the surrounding rock mechanics properties
and achieving long-term stability.Anchor-Grouting
reinforcement techniques is commonly used in soft
rock which more difficult to maintain, to close
weak face and fractured surface to prevent intru-
sion and weathering effects of water to ensure that
the bearing capacity of soft rock (Chen 2005).
3 ENGINEERING EXAMPLES
Tangkou coal mining group is a modern mine of Zibo
Vinacomin which locates in Jibei mining areas of
Panjiamiao, its recoverable reserves is 372793.8 Kt,
designed annual production capacity is 3.0 Mt, and
service life is 88.82 a. It uses vertical shaft pioneering
way, layouts lord, vice, wind three kilometers wellbore
in Industrial Square. Stratum which is passed through
by wellbore is mainly comprised of thick, medium and
fine sandstone, silty sandstone, mud sandstone and
mudstone with high Angle fracture developing. The
complex mine structure and abundant groundwater has
very big effect to the surrounding rock of the tunnel
and supporting. Due to the burial depth of underground
chamber and tunnel of the Tangkou coal mine is more
than 1 kilometers, the earth pressure is big and rock
strata is soft, so the surrounding rock of underground
chamber and tunnel has poor stability. Underground
chamber and tunnel which has constructed all pro-
duce large deformation damage, although had some
repair and management, deformation failure is still
difficult to control, and has seriously influenced the
mine’s normal construction.
3.1 Routing-bolting supporting
Auxiliary transportation cross cut is important trans-
portation line of mine, the ones which are already
opened up cause substantial deformation and destruc-
tion, the surrounding rock of roadway has an extremely
unstable situation, and it is necessary to repair and
reinforce with super rigid supporting. Arch wall uses
high-strength ultra-long combination anchor rod and
grouting-bolting combined supporting, adopts high-
strength bolt and anchor note, reinforced concrete anti
arch to control floor heave, repair and supporting of the
auxiliary transportation roadway as shown in figure 1.
Auxiliary transportation roadway is repaired with
grouting-bolting combined supporting technical pro-
posal that comprise high-strength steel bolt-type rock
bolt and grunting bolt with inner grunt, its supporting
parameters is shown as follows:
1) High-strength steel bolt-type rock bolt: The speci-
fication is ϕ 22 × 2500 mm, the interval is 800 mm,

Figure 1. Repair and supporting of the auxiliary transporta-
tion roadway is repaired.
the array pitch is 2000 mm, it is anchored with
resin, and the anchor length is 500 mm, and they
are arranged every row with grunting bolt with
inner grunt. The tray is made by steel plate, and
the specification is 100 × 100 × 10 mm.
2) Grunting bolt with inner grunt: it is made by
seamless steel tube whose diameter is 22mm, the
specification is ϕ 22 × 2000 mm, the interval is
1600 mm, the array pitch is 2000 mm. It is anchored
with resin, and the anchor length is 200 mm, and
they are arranged every row with high-strength steel
bolt-type rock bolt.
3) Gunite concrete: The strength grade is C20, and the
thickness is 100 mm.
4) Metal net: it adopted of welded rebar whose diame-
ter is 6.5 mm, the specification is 1650 × 1200 mm
the grid is 150 × 150 mm.
5) Inverted arch structure and its parameter: It is com-
prised of base plate curved beam, concrete layer,
whorl-steel bolt and grunting bolt with inner grunt,
etc. Concrete inverted arch is irrigated with C40
concrete, its thickness is 300 mm. Base plate curved
beam is made by 16# steel channel beam, and its
length is 6500 mm the array pitch is 2000 mm and is
anchored with 5 high-strength steel bolt-type rock
bolt whose specification is ϕ22 × 1600 mm. There
are 4 grunting bolt with inner grunt in the base plate,
the specification of grunting bolt with inner grunt
ϕ 22 × 1400 mm, the array pitch is 2000 mm, and
is filled-in decorate between the base plate curved
beam.
6) Injecting paste material: single cement slurry is
used, cement is 42.5 ordinary Portland cement,
water cement ratio is 0.4∼0.5. it need add water-
reducing agent and its dosage is 1% of dosage of
cement.
971
Figure 2. The convergence of surrounding rock of the detour
of auxiliary shaft.
3.2 Supporting effect
In order to judge the stability of surrounding rock
of auxiliary transportation roadway, the feasibility
and the rationality of grouting-bolting combined sup-
porting technical proposal, and the situation of con-
vergence of dynamic measurement displacement of
tunnel surrounding rock, it must set convergence
deformation monitoring section in the detour of aux-
iliary shaft, and adopt the middle line cross stationing
method to observe roof and floor convergence and the
sidewall convergence, the monitoring results as shown
in figure 2.
The monitoring data from figure 2 can be seen, the
two sides of auxiliary shaft bypass convergence is near
to 22 mm, and the roof and floor’s is near to 15 mm,
which explains grouting-bolting combined support-
ing technical proposal that improves the integrity of
supporting structure and overall intensity and bearing
capacity of surrounding rock, controls the deformation
damage of high stress and dilatability deep soft rock
tunnel effectively, and ensure the long-term stability of
tunnel and normal production of mine. It reduces over-
all grouting cost and generates significant economic
benefits.
4 CONCLUSIONS
1. Combined support of foreign deep mining in
coal mine always use anchor stents for subjects,
and support patterns which are used for deep
instability surrounding rock are generally anchor
nets, combination anchor (network), high-strength
and super-long bolt (network), and so on. For
extremely unstable ones, it mainly adopts combi-
nation anchor tomographic frame anchor, anchors-
gunite-web, cable bolting, combining anchor cable
series, etc.
2. Our deep soft rock tunnel support technology is
divided into three stages by interaction relationship
and essence of supporting and surrounding rock:
① Metal stent, a hell of arch and other forms of
support act on surrounding rock surface by the way
of providing external forces, its main characteris-
tic is belong to passive support. ② Combination
 supporting such as anchor rod, anchor, etc, can
not only provide the force which act on the sur-
face of roadway, but also establish some interaction
relationship with interior of surrounding rocks of
roadways.
3. Using the anchor note combination supporting
technology, which use the slurry sealing of sur-
rounding rock fracture, can isolate air and water,
prevent surrounding rock weathering or by water
soak and lower their intensity, what’s more, it can
improve the stability of surrounding rocks. Using
grout filling surrounding rock fracture, can make
loose broken rock cemented into one whole, and
improve the rock mass strength. Spray the anchor
net supporting simultaneously coordinates, forms
a multilayer effective combination arch, which can
improve the overall strength and carrying capacity
of the surrounding rock, make the surrounding rock
stress more uniform, improve supporting structure
integrity and expand the scope and load bearing
capacity of supporting structure, and control the
surrounding rock deformation and damage of plas-
tic zone expanded effectively. It is feasible on
technology, credible on safety, and reasonable on
economic by using the bolt-cable coupling support
technology, which already has achieved good sup-
porting effect in practice of soft rock roadway under
high ground stress and has large application value
for generalization.
REFERENCES
Chen, Q.Y. 2005. Practices on Bolt and Grouting Support
Technology for Mine High Stress and High Deformed
Roadway. Coal Science and Technology 33(10): 45–47.
972
He, M.C. 1996. Support Theory and Practice of Soft-rock
Tunnel of China’s Coal Mines. Xuzhou: China Mineral
University Press: 1–5.
He, M.C. 1999. State of the Art and Prospect of Coal Mine
in Soft-rock Engineering. China Coal 25(8): 12–21.
He, M.C., Xie, H.P., Peng, S.P., et al. 2005. Study on Rock
Mechanics in Deep Mining Engineering. Chinese Journal
of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 24(16): 2803–2813.
He, Y.N., Han, L.J., Shao, P., et al. 2006. Some Problems of
Rock Mechanics for Roadways Stability in Depth. Jour-
nal of China University of Mining & Technology 35(3):
288–295.
Shi, Y.W., Zhang, S.T., Yin, S.K., et al. 2009. Control Tech-
nique of Coal Mines in Deep Mining Engineering at Home
and Abroad. Beijing: Coal Industry Press: 114–213.
Zhang, N. 2004. Control Theory and Practice of Tunnel Lag-
ging Grouting Surrounding Rock. Xuzhou: China Mineral
University Press: 6–9.
Zhou, H.W., Xie, H.P., Zuo, J.P. 2005. Developments in
Researches on Mechanical Behaviors of Rocks Under
the Condition of High Ground Pressure in the Depths.
Advances In Mechanics 35(1): 91–99.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Numerical research on top coal movement, failure mechanism and supports’

stresses characters of fully mechanized top-coal caving in steep thick seam

S.J. Miao, C. Long & Y. Li

State Key laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines, University of Science and Technology
Beijing, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

S.R. Wang
Department of Civil Engineering, North China Institute of Science and Technology, Sanhe, Hebei, China

ABSTRACT: The fully mechanized top-coal caving in steep thick seam is a nonlinear mechanics process with
many influence factors and complicated deformation and failure features of coal and rock mass. It takes a broken
linetype caving face of Jingyuan coal mine as engineering background, which has both features of level mining
and inclined mining. Based on UDEC2D distinct element computation program, the movement regularities and
the characters of stress field and plastic zones of top coal and overburden rock were studied. And based on
FLAC3D finite difference computation program, the stress characters and the movement tendency of supports
arranged along broken linetype caving face were analyzed. Variation of the maximum principal stress of top coal,
subsidence characters of overburden rock of mining area, failure condition of coal under supporting pressure
and the stresses of supports were studied and analyzed, which is of important theoretical meaning to the practice
in similar engineering.

1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS 2 GEOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT AND

In recent years, with the progress of fully mechanized
top-coal caving technique, which is becoming more
and more popular and has become one of main min-
ing ways of high productivity and efficiency technique
in coal mine in China. Though scholars have done a
lot of theoretical analysis and experimental researches
on top coal movement and failure mechanism, and
have gotten some achievements. But these researches
are mainly about gently inclined or nearly flat coal
seam (Yin 2001), the study on top-coal caving in steep
seam is relatively less. Now many researches in this
area are still in the exploration stage and analogies
of experience are the main methods used in mining,
which lacks guidance of scientific theory (Chen 2002,
Lai 2009).
Because of sedimentary texture characters of rock
and coal seam, the steep coal seam shows signifi-
cant anisotropy. And the dip angle is larger that the
anisotropic characteristics are more remarkable. Com-
pared with gently inclined coal seam mining, top-coal
caving in steep seam has special characteristics on
strata behaviors, ground subsidence and caving tech-
nology. So research on features of coal and rock stress,
deformation and failure of top-coal caving in steep
seam with multi-factors influence and complex physi-
cal process are of great importance both in theory and
practice (Miao 2009, Potyondy 2007).
MINING CONDITIONS
The 4th coal seam is the main seam of Jingyuan coal
mine, whose sedimentary bed is stable. The dip angles
of the seam are form 29◦ to 35◦ , the thickness is from
8.6 m to 24.4 m, and the average thickness is 16.43 m.
The coal is single banding and layered structure. The
false roof of the 4th seam is black, dark gray mudstone
and carbon mudstone, which is soft and easy to fall,
and the thickness is from 0.3 m to 1.2 m. The immedi-
ate roof is dark gray siltstone and fine sandstone, its
thickness is from 7.87 m to 47.5 m. The main roof is
dark gray, gray fine sandstone and grit stone, its thick-
ness is from 6.37 m to 52.63 m. The floor of the 4th
seam is gray, gray-black fine sandstone, which is hard
and stable, and the thickness is from 2.70 to 13.37 m.
The coal in the 4th seam is high quality thermal coal
with the characters of low sulphur, low phosphorus,
low ash and high calorific value. And the coal is better
with the increase of depth.
The strike direction length of the 4th seam is 600 m,
the inclination length is 112 m, and the mining height
is from 2.4 m to 2.8 m. The four-legs and low supports
were chosen originally, which is 1.5 m wide, 1.7–3.0 m
high. The buried depth of the whole seam is from 260
to 320 m, and the average caving height is 13.63 m.
The dip angle of test seam is 30◦ , and the seam with
dip angle 42◦ will be mined after the test.

973
3 SIMULATION AND COMPUTATION
MODELS
In order to study the coal (or rock) deformation, fail-
ure characters and mechanism of fully mechanized
top-coal caving face in steep thick seam, UDEC2D
computation program was used. It takes the 4th coal
seam caving face of Jingyuan coal mine as engineer-
ing background, as shown in Figure 1, the computation
model 1 was built along strike and dip of the seam
(Itasca Consulting Group 1996). As shown in Fig-
ure 1 (b), the lower part of caving face is arranged
horizontally, and the upper part is arranged along the
dip of seam, which form a broken linetype caving face.
So, this top-coal caving has both features of level min-
ing and inclined mining, and will have new characters
on the coal and rock stress, deformation and failure.
As shown in Figure 2, the computation model 2 is
built along strike direction of seam to simulate the col-
lapsing process of roof abscission layer of the 4th seam
with the advancing of working face.The horizontal and
vertical migration is respectively limited on two sides
and bottom of the model. Overburden rock weight
is set on the top of the model, and Mohr-Coulomb
Criterion is used in calculation.
Based on investigation, reconnaissance, sampling
and rock mechanics test, as shown in Table 1, mechan-
ical parameters of rock mass used in simulation and
computation were got in consideration of rock size
effect.
4 ANALYSIS ON SIMULATION AND
COMPUTATION RESULTS
4.1 Top coal and roof stress field of
top-coal caving face
As shown in Figure 3 (a), expect deadweight field,
top coal and roof are also affected by additional stress
field formed by caving and roof subsidence and flexure
during the process of top-coal caving.
With the advancing of working face, in a certain
distance front of coal wall, the maximum principal
stress of top coal and roof reaches a peak value and
then decreases slowly. Where roof is in touch with
gangue at front and rear of working face coal wall, the

Figure 1. Computation model 1.

Figure 2. Computation model 2. Figure 3. The maximum principal stress of caving face.

Table 1. Mechanical parameters of rock mass.

Density Bulk modulus Shear modulus Tensile strength Adhesion stress Internal friction angle
Rock name kg/m3 GPa GPa MPa MPa deg

Main roof 2485 8.0 4.0 3.0 8.0 50

Immediate roof 2400 5.8 2.7 1.0 1.5 43
The 4th coal seam 1400 5.0 1.0 0.1 1.0 35
Immediate floor 2450 6.3 3.6 3.5 7.0 52
Main floor 2500 8.6 5.7 6.0 10 56

974
maximum principal stress in coal seam roof forms two
obvious peak dynamic stresses, a great and a small, is
advancing with working face. In addition, the principal
stress of top coal in roof-control area above caving
face supports is obviously decreased with strain energy
dissipation.
As shown in Figure 3 (b), there is an obvious pres-
sure releasing zone inside fully-mechanized caving
face roof along dip of coal seam. There are two obvi-
ous peak stresses formed at the two ends of caving face
with the maximum principal stress moving into entity
coal.
4.2 Displacement field of top coal and roof of
caving face
According to the displacement vectors field in Fig-
ure 4, the top coal above supports moves in both
vertical and horizontal direction, the roof strata’s
deformation presents significant characters of can-
tilever beam bending and subsidence.
As shown in Figure 5, due to the influence of caving
and roof ’s bending and subsidence, the deformation
Figure 4. Displacement vectors of top-coal caving along
strike of coal seam.
Figure 5. Displacements of top coal and roof along strike
of coal seam.
975
of top coal and roof begins far from the coal wall.
The top coal and roof bend and subside significantly
during top-coal caving. The horizontal displacement of
top coal shows a large value above the supports, and
until to the position of back of supports, the horizontal
and vertical displacements of top coal are leap to the
maximum value, which is accordance with the real
final situations of top-coal caving.
As shown in Figure 6, in the process of caving
advanced, the subsidence of overburden strata above
caving face is asymmetrical and the larger value
appears in downhill mining area.
4.3 Plastic zones characters of top coal and roof in
caving face
As shown in Figure 7, the top coal close to mined-
out area above supports firstly occur tension fail-
ure in the effect of supporting pressure, and the
compression-shear failure zone expands into the coal
with the subsidence of roof. There is an obvious wedge
compression-shear slip band in coal before coal wall
and above supports and the coal nearby the surface of
coal wall and the back of supports also presents tension
failure.
4.4 Force and deformation characters of top-coal
caving supports
The displacement vectors of fully mechanized top-coal
caving supports along dip of coal seam in steep seam
were calculated by FLAC3D (Itasca Consulting Group
Figure 6. Vertical displacements of top coal and roof along
strike of coal seam.
Figure 7. Plastic zones of coal and top coal in mining area.

Figure 8. Displacement vectors of supports along dip of
seam.
Figure 9. Forces of supports along dip of seam.
1996). As shown in Figure 8, the supports have the
tendency to incline and slip to the mined-out area.
As shown in Figure 9, the stresses on the supports
are with non-uniform distribution along dip of coal
seam. The stresses on the lower one third of sup-
ports are uniform and with small fluctuation, and the
stresses on the upper two thirds of supports are non-
uniform and with big fluctuation. The supports with
high stresses are located in upper-middle of inclined
section.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The top-coal caving in steep thick seam is a nonlin-
ear mechanics process with many influence factors
and complicated deformation and failure process of
coal (He 2002). Based on computation program of
UDEC2D and FLAC3D, the characters of geometric
nonlinearities, material nonlinearities and time-space
effect are considered, and the stresses, the deformation
and failure features of top-coal caving in steep thick
seam are studied and analyzed. The major results are
as follows:
1) Where roof is in touch with gangue at front and rear
of working face coal wall, the maximum principal
stress in coal seam roof forms two obvious peak
dynamic stresses with the advancing of working
976
face, and the principal stress of top coal in roof-
control area above caving face supports is obviously
decreased with strain energy dissipation.
2) Along strike of coal seam, due to the influence
of caving and roof’s bending and subsidence, the
deformation of top coal and roof begins far from
the coal wall. The horizontal displacement of top
coal shows a large value above the supports, and
until to the position of back of supports, the hor-
izontal and vertical displacements of top coal are
leap to the maximum value. Along dip of coal seam,
the subsidence of overburden strata above caving
face is asymmetrical and the larger value appears
in downhill mining area.
3) The top coal close to mined-out area above supports
firstly occur tension failure in the effect of sup-
porting pressure, and the compression-shear failure
zone expands into the coal with the subsidence
of roof. There is an obvious wedge compression-
shear slip band in coal before coal wall and above
supports and the coal nearby the surface of coal
wall and the back of supports also presents tension
failure.
4) Along dip of coal seam, the supports have the ten-
dency to incline and slip to the mined-out area, and
the stresses on the supports are with non-uniform
distribution. The supports with high stresses are
located in upper-middle of inclined section.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by National Nat-
ural Science Foundation of China (No. 11002021),
the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central
Universities.
REFERENCES
Chen Z.H, Xie H.P, Wang J.C. 2002. Numerical Analy-
sis on Three-dimensional Deformation and Failure due
to Mechanized Top-coal Caving. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering (in Chinese), 21(3):
309–313.
He M.C. 2002. Soft Rock Engineering Mechanics (in chi-
nese). Beijing: Science Press: 167–182.
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. Minnesota, USA, 1996.
FLAC3D (2.0) User’s Manual.
Itasca Consulting Group, Inc. Minnesota, USA, 1996.
UDEC2D (3.0) User’s Manual.
Lai X.P, Wang N.B, & Xu H.D. 2009. Safety top-coal-
caving of heavy and steep coal seams under complex
environment. J Univ Sci Tech Beijing, 31(3): 277–280.
Miao S.J, Lai X.P, Zhao X.G & Ren F.H. 2009. Simulation
experiment of AE-based localization damage and defor-
mation characteristic on covering rock in mined-out area.
Int J Min Met Mat, 16(3): 255–260.
Potyondy D.O & Cundall P.A. 2007. Simulating stress cor-
rosion with a bonded-particle model for rock. Int J Rock
Mech Min Sci, 44(5): 677–691.
Yin G.Z, Xian X.F, Dai G.F & Zhang D.M. 2001. The
Research on Basic Rules of Steep Top Coal Caving Rock
Movement. Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
(in Chinese), 21(4): 450–453.
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Technology innovation and practice for construction of CFRD

L. Qiao, L.X. Pang & Y. Li

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

J.S. Song
Kunming Hydraulic Investigation, Design and Research Institute, CHECC

ABSTRACT: The Concrete Faced Rock-fill Dam (CFRD) of Nalan hydraulic station in Yunan province is
the first one with rock-fill height of 100 meters built on deep soil cover in China. Through a large number of
laboratory test and numerical analysis, the technical innovations have been realized in the foundation seepage
control system, filling materials division and juncture design.

1 INTRODUCTION of the cutoff wall and so on (Feng 2006). To solve

Nalan hydraulic station was in the lower reaches of
Tengtiao river in Jinping county of Yunnan province.
Its maximum height is 109 m with reservoir capacity
of 286 million m3 and electrical capacity of 150MW.
The system includes CFRD, left bank open spillway,
right bank power generation system. The foundation
seepage control system of the dam is built in deep cover
and grit material is selected as mail filling materials.
The standard profile is shown in figure 1.
Around the problems of foundation seepage con-
trol system built in deep cover and high sand content
of filling material, it is successful to control the defor-
mation of dam foundation, wall stress-strain and joint
displacement, ensuring the support for dam and the
seepage stability, so the movement of fines under seep-
age action does not affect the carrying capacity and the
seepage value is limited.
2 RESEARCH OF FOUNDATION SEEPAGE
CONTROL SYSTEM
There are problems, such as the non-uniform defor-
mation leads to cracks and penetration deformation
those problems it is needed to study cover deformation
characteristics and take effective measures. Nalan’s
foundation seepage control system is constituted by
cutoff wall, toe board, connecting board and panel.
Connecting board connect cutoff wall is in upstream
direction, while connect panel in downstream.
2.1 Analysis of deep cover characteristics
The site exploration revealed that the thickness of cover
is from 5.1 m to 24.3 m and the maximum thickness
under the toe panel is 18 m. The cover settlement is
34∼45 mm and its deformation modulus is 33–45 MPa
under the vertical pressure 2.7 MPa. The content of
sand is about 35%, grit material is about 65%, and
particle with size less than 5mm is 35%–58%. The
percentage content of different size is shown in fig-
ure 2. The underlying rock is lightly weathered-fresh
granite.
Through pumping test, dynamic cone penetration
test, laboratory triaxial test and other experiments,
it is determined that the maximum dry density of
cover is 2.15 g/cm3 , the permeability coefficient is
4.0∼4.7 × 10−1 cm/s in natural state, damage gradi-
ent is about 2.5, Internal frictional angle is 39◦ , and its
form is flow soil. So here have the conditions to build
high dam above 100 m level.

Figure 1. Typical section of CFRD of the Nalan hydraulic

power station. Figure 2. The percentage content of different size.

977
Figure 3. The changes of horizontal displacement, principal
stress and vertical stress.

2.2 Study on the characteristics of cutoff well.

Figure 4. Joints between toe board and dam foundation.
The anti-seepage wall (EL.308 m-EL.324 m) is about
70 m long, 0.8 m thick and 0.5 m deep into bedrock.
According to FEM analysis results, the maximum hor-
izontal displacement of cutoff wall is 3.85 cm appear-
ing in its top after water storing, the maximum and
minimum principal stresses appear at the ELl.312 m,
the maximum compressive stress is 6.5 Mpa, the max-
imum tensile stress is 1.25–1.5 MPa. So C25 con-
crete reinforcement with double-layer configuration
is selected. The changes of displacement and stress of
cutoff wall before and after water storing are shown in
figure 3.

2.3 Study on the form of toe board

1) The connection between foundation and toe board. Figure 5. The connection between toe board with cutoff
In order to optimize the connecting form between well.
the foundation and toe board, two connection ways
which is flexible or rigid are studied. Flexible form Table 1. The different combinations with the width of toe
uses the connecting panel to connect upstream cut- panel and connecting panel
off wall and downstream panel is connected by the
peripheral joints, as shown in Figure 4 (a). Rigid Group 1 2 3 4
program is that cutoff wall support toe board in
upstream and in the downstream, the toe board is Width of toe panel 8.0 8.0 5.0 6.0
supported by grouting piles, and the panel was con- Width of connecting panel 0.0 3.0 3.0 4.0
nected with peripheral joints (Shen 2005), as shown
in Figure 4 (b).
The FEM analysis shows that the three dimen- FEM analysis results show the connections have
sional maximum displacement of rigid program a certain impact on the deformation and stress of
is 1.8 mm, dislocation is 10.2 mm and subsidence the wall. The cutoff wall which selected the top
around the joints is 60.0 mm, which is beyond the of wall connection during the water storing period,
limits of deformation of sealing component. Flex- and the stress state in panel is poor. Therefore, the
ible program, though cutoff wall’s tensile stress is connecting way of behind of wall is selected.
large, it still works to the extent permitted. So the 3) The width of the toe board and the connecting panel.
flexible connection is selected. There are four combinations shown in table1 in
2) The connection between toe board with cutoff wall. order to investigate the changes of deformation and
The connecting way between toe board and cutoff stress-strain status in foundation seepage control
wall has two types, that is behind of wall and top of system under different combination of the toe board
wall, as shown in Figure 5. and connection panel.

978

Figure 6. The connection form of connection panel with toe
board.
Figure 7. The comparison of the amount of grit material for
domestic and foreign CFRD.
The FEM analysis results show that the deformation
of the cutoff wall is large, the wall’ and toe board’s
stress state is poor in condition without connecting
panel. There is no very much difference in deformation
and stress in other different combination. Finally, the
combination of 3m panel and 8m board is adopted.
The final form of the toe board is shown in figure 6.
3 RESEARCH OF DAM FFILLING MATERIAL
Filling materials is mainly grit material, the filling vol-
ume is 2.312 million m3 including 1.4 million m3 grit
material. The content of sand is amounted to 40% and
sand is high side of medium, fine sand. The sand con-
tent of the dam is the highest rates at home and abroad
in CFRD. Grit material placed in upstream provides
a solid support for dam by using its characteristics of
easy compaction, high density and small deformation
(Li 2004), as shown in Figure 7.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Applying the above optimization method, the con-
struction period is reduced one year, the excavation
and filling volume is reduced 0.5 million m3 , the
construction cost is save about 15 million yuan.
979
The field observation after completion of conclu-
sions of the dam shows the following results:
1. Under pressure of water, the panel produced a cer-
tain deflection, its stress was small, all of them were
less than FEM analysis results. Panel closely con-
nected with the dam as a whole, foundation seepage
control system is working normally.
2. A displacement of 2.39 mm appeared in the
upstream cutoff wall, the total leakage is 70 L/s,
which showed that osmotic pressure was increased
and there was some leakage in dam and foundation,
but it did not affect the anti-seepage.
3. The maximum range of opening and closing around
peripheral joints was 0.36 mm, the maximum shear
displacement was 3 mm and the largest settlement
was 4.07 mm in joint, the maximum range of open-
ing and closing of vertical suture tension was
3.28 mm, all of which were at the range of sealing
film.
4. The osmotic pressure of peripheral joints was low,
that was 0.064 MPa and 0.038 MPa in the lowest
elevation site. The osmotic pressure in the dam
axis was 0.037 MPa after water storing, increasing
0.01 MPa than before water storing. Observational
results show the function of each part of CFRD is
normal.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was financially supported by the Funda-
mental Research Funds for the Central Universities.
REFERENCES
Feng, Y.L. 2006. Concrete face grit material-fill and rock-
fill dam of Nalan Hydropower Station on deep alluvium.
Water Power 32(11): 45–56.
Li, G.Y, Wang, L.S, Mi, Z.K. 2004. Research on stress-strain
behavior of soil core rockfill dam. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 23(8): 1363–1369.
Lu, Q.F, Yin, Z.Z. 2004. Effect of strength nonlinearity on
slope stability of high rockfill dam. Chinese Journal of
Rock Mechanics and Engineering 23(16): 2708–2711.
Shen, T, Li, G.Y., Li, Y. 2005. Numerical analysis of joint
types between toe slab and foundation of CFRD in alluvial
deposit layer. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 24(14): 2588–2592.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Influence of blasting vibration on stability of the high slope

of Shuichang iron mine

L. Qiao, H. Zhao, C.L. Qu, L.K. Liu & X. Wang

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The stability research of high and steep slope is one of the frontier national researches at present.
The paper is taken from the requirements for expanding slope exploiting of Shuichang Iron mine and its actual
conditions, which is carried out with survey analysis and dynamic monitoring on the characteristics of engineering
geology and hydrogeology, and the typical geological sections, along with the test of physical and mechanical
properties of rock mass. The slope stability under blasting vibration was analyzed through the theoretical and
numerical simulation, as slope displacement, acceleration and stability coefficient under the influence of blasting
vibration were calculated and analyzed. Result of the research indicates that the designed slope angle can ensure
the global stability of the slope as a whole, as some measures need be taken to support Quaternary and man
made deposits.

1 INTRODUCTION

Shuichang iron mine is the biggest open pit metal

mine, which is one of the important iron ore production
base of Shougang steel company. With the competition
of market price and the limits of mining power, ratio-
nal use of existing mineral resources play a pivotal role
to ensure the supply of raw materials and global eco-
nomic benefits of it. According to the view of mining
actual condition, revised design in north stope was pro-
posed for increasing the open-air mining amount. In
the paper, under the requirements of slope exploiting of
Shuichang iron mine and its actual conditions, the west
slope was taken as the survey object on the basis of
survey analysis and dynamic monitoring on the charac-
teristics of engineering geology and hydrogeology, and
the typical geological sections, along with the test of
physical and mechanical properties of rock mass. The
analysis of stability of the west slope under blasting
vibration was executed. The study of blasting vibra-
tion damage is mainly the field test, then to identify
the strongest earthquakes speed and safety distance
under the measured data and combined with blasting
safety rules. This method can intuitively reflect the
blasting vibration damage, but dynamic stress and dis-
placement of the surrounding rock, even the changes
of plastic zone and dynamic instability mechanism can
not be considered which have been caused by blasting
vibration. The numerical simulation method can sys-
tematically research the distribution law of dynamic
stress field and the superposition of static and dynamic
mechanic of stress of surrounding rock under the
action of blasting, therefore it become the effective
method of blasting vibration effect in recent years.
(Kuhlemeyer 1973, Li 1996, Liu 2004, Yan 2005)
geo-studio is used to study and calculate in the paper.
Figure 1. Engineering-geological districts of Shuichang
Iron Mine.
2 PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS
The slope of Shuichang iron mine is situated in low-
middle mountain area which is structured tectonic
erosion types, and its topographical features is south-
west high and low in the northeast. The western peak
is Jiang Junmu ridge which elevation is 332.90 m, and
the slope bottom elevation is −136.38 m. According
to the requirements of expanding slope exploit, in the
revised design, slope bottom elevation is −440 m, and
the slope angle is 45. The emergence stratum is mainly
J2h, mudstone, Volcanic lava, Pt2h, Ars, Quaternary
and man made deposits and so on. Engineering geo-
logical division of the mine area is shown in Figure 1
(Ustb 2010).
3 THE PRINCIPLE OF FINITE ELEMENT
DYNAMIC ANALYSIS
Different engineering as well as landform and geology
conditions can be modeled by dynamic finite element

981

Figure 2. The schematic diagram of two dimensional
sliding.
method. It is not only can make linear analysis but
also can undertake nonlinear analysis, by it, dynamic
response parameters of any investigated spot which
include Particle vibration velocity, acceleration and
displacement etc, can be calculated, and the stress,
strain and deformation time-history distribution of
slope can be given. What is more, it can provide safety
factor of slope. So whether the slope is stable or not, it
can be intuitively analyzed. The method ensures safety
factor of slope through analyses total resistance slip-
pery force and total sliding force by supposed sliding
surface. With two-dimensional sliding condition as a
example (Figure 2), first, using the finite element anal-
ysis, to calculated the normal stress and shear stress
of some unit Gaussian points of sliding surface, then
along the interface a unit (micro section) ac integral is
done, by which, resistance slippery force and sliding
force of the unit (micro section) is obtained.
Sliding force can be written:
Resistance slippery force:
There, f = tan ϕ is frictional coefficient on the slid-
ing surface; c is cohesion on the sliding surface. The
resistance slippery force and sliding force of the slid-
ing surface can be calculated by all units integral. The
whole safety factor of slide mass is defined as resis-
tance slippery force to sliding force, so safety factor
can be written: where n is the total number of interface
on the sliding surface.
During the quake, stress state of some feature points
on the assigned slide faces at each moment, can be
982
got by finite element dynamic computation. Then the
dynamic stability safety factor on the slide face of
the corresponding time can be calculated. Blasting
dynamic loading is a continuous process, which is a
dynamic process to the slope, so that the correspond-
ing slope stability coefficient values is a dynamic
change and one-to-one time. The stability situation of
slope can be analyzed by safety factor which is got by
calculated (Zhang 2005, Xu 2006).
The SLOPE/w and QUACK/w which are used
for the stability analysis of slopes on the blasting
vibration condition, can simulate more general geom-
etry and the change of soil characteristic, and add
graphic function program. They are suitable for 2D
plain-strain analysis for the elastic perfectly-plastic
medium to Mohr-coulomb strength failure criterion.
For SLOPE/W software, stress is calculated in the
finite element method, which cans analyses earth-
quake dynamics and the stability of slope. SLOPE/W
is a software product that uses limit equilibrium the-
ory to compute the factor of safety of rock slopes.
The comprehensive formulation of SLOPE/W makes
it possible to easily analyze both simple and complex
slope stability problems, using a variety of methods
to calculate the factor of safety. SLOPE/W has been
applied in the analysis and design for geotechnical,
civil, and mining engineering projects. QUAKE/W is
a geotechnical finite element software product for the
dynamic analysis of earth structures subjected to earth-
quake shaking, or point dynamic forces from a blast or
a sudden impact load. By inputting analog or measured
seismic wave, QUAKE/W can analog computation dis-
placement, velocity and acceleration of each node,
then draw the contour maps during the quake, and
analyses integral deformation tendency of the slope
(Li 2006).
4 ANALOG COMPUTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Selecting parameters
According to specifications for rock tests in water
conservancy and hydroelectric power engineering
(SL264-2001), rock mechanical test was done, which
mainly include density test, water content text, the text
of index value of shearing strength, split test, uni-axial
compression test, tri-axial compression text and so on.
Rock mechanics parameter was appropriately reduced,
on the basis of the test result and field investigation of
engineering geology, while scale effect of rock was
considered. Rock mechanics parameters, which was
used in the calculation has been shown in table 1
(University of Science and Technology Beijing 2010).
4.2 The model and dynamic loading
A section that discloses the typical formation as far as
possible was analyzed and studied (Figure 3). For the
on-site blast vibration monitoring data, UBOX5016
data collection equipment and ancillary software were
used to monitor site blasting. The static and dynamic
Table 1. Calculation parameters of rock mass mechanics.

Modulus of Poisson’s Modulus of Angle of

Density Elasticity ratio Bulk modulus shearing internal Cohesion
Lithology (kg/m3 ) (MPa) (ν) (Mpa) (Mpa) friction (◦ ) (Mpa)

Q 2000 20 0.300 16.7 7.69 18 0.13

mudstone 2510 2500 0.23 1660 1090 21.5 0.458
J2H 2380 2650 0.238 1720 1130 30 0.31
ArS2-3 2630 3930 0.21 2260 1620 41 0.458
Fe 2850 12500 0.23 7720 5080 40 0.917
Mr 2604 7130 0.24 4570 2880 49 0.646
Mp 2629 6820 0.25 4580 2720 44.0 0.467

4.3 Analysis of numerical simulation results

4.3.1 Analysis of displacement and velocity
The finite element numerical calculation analysis
result shows that horizontal and vertical displacement
of slope toe and middle slope are relative stable, but the
displacement of Quaternary and man made deposits on
the crest are very large. The horizontal displacement
of the crest is 0.04 m, and the slope cause accumula-
tive displacement, but no any fluctuation displacement
(Figure 5). From contour of displacement (Figure 6)
and speed time-history curves (Figure 8), the level
speed of slope toe and middle slope are 0.05 m/s and
0.04 m/s, which tend to 0 along with vibration end.
And the level speed in the crest is 0.015 m/s with a
residual speed on the end. As shown in Figure 7, the
acceleration on slope toe is the largest, its value is 0.06,
which is larger than the value on the crest and middle
slope but the eventual result is tend to zero. It can be
Figure 3. Calculation model graph.
concluded that under the routine production of blasting
vibration condition, the slope is stable as a whole but
the physical mechanics parameters of Quaternary and
man made deposits, volcanic lava, breccias on the crest
are less than others, which probably fall off under the
influence of excavation. But there is not a bad effect
to overall stability of slope.

4.3.2 Stress analysis

Figure 4. Time-history of loading acceleration.
simulation signal, which were generated through the
sensor (include speed, acceleration, pressure, strain
and temperatures), can be conversed and stored dig-
itally by virtue of the equipment, and the equipment
has corresponding software to make further data anal-
ysis. The time-history curves of the blasting vibra-
tion acceleration by field monitoring were shown in
Figure 4.
As it has been shown in Figure 9 and Figure 10, under
the blasting vibration condition, the high value zone of
the maximum principal stress in the bottom is reducing
from bottom to the crest. In there, vertical stress of
slope top and surface are less than other port, it belong
to unloading area, but there is a stress concentration
phenomena on slope toe.
From the slope Mohr’s stress circle, as it has been
shown in Figure 11, the vertical and horizontal stress,
the shear stress, the maximum and minimum principal
stress on the slope toe are the largest, and it is reducing
from bottom to the crest, between them, it becomes the
lest in the crest, the tensile stress is shown in the local
and the slope surface.
4.3.3 Analysis of safety factor
The result has been turned out as Figure 12 through the
analysis and calculation with slope/w and quake/w, it

983
Figure 5. The time-history of displacement in toe, middle, and crest of the slope.

Figure 6. The time-history of velocity in toe, middle, and crest of the slope.

Figure 7. The time-history of acceleration in toe, middle, and crest of the slope.

Figure 8. The contour of vertical and level velocity of the Figure 9. The contour of vertical principal stress of the
slope. slope.

984

Figure 10. The contour of vertical minimum principal stress
of the slope.
Figure 11. The sliding surface and safety factor of the slope.
seem that in the routine production of blasting vibra-
tion condition, the slope safety factor with the designed
slope angle is 1.442, from which it can be predicated
that the slope is stable under this condition.
5 CONCLUSION
In this paper, the stability analysis of revised design
slope is done under the existing controlled blasting
condition, and obtains some conclusion as follows.
1) In the routine production of blasting vibration con-
dition, the slope safety factor of the designed slope
angle is 1.442, therefore, it can be predicated that
the slope is stable in this condition.
2) Under the blasting vibration condition, the slope
result accumulative displacement, but no appears
any fluctuation displacement, no has worse effect
on the slope. The velocity and acceleration on slope
985
toe are bigger than that on slope crest, but the local
of slope crest have a large deformation, because
the rock is comparative loose broken and physical
mechanics parameters of them are very poor, then
the local deposit have a sliding. It has not much
impact on the whole slope stability, but to ensure
the safety in production, measures must be taken to
support it.
3) Dynamic response of slope can be reflected the
displacement and velocity which under the blast-
ing vibration condition has calculated by dynamic
finite element method. The result indicates that
the dynamic characteristics, displacement, veloc-
ity, acceleration and its distribution conform to the
intrinsic characteristics of the slope. And the esti-
mation of the slope, which has been made by this
method, is reasonable.
4) Under the existing controlled blasting conditions,
the blasting vibration has a certain influence on
displacement, stress and plastic zone of the slope,
and causes the local damage, but it has not much
impact on the whole slope stability. For insuring the
smooth operation of the mine production, the dyna-
mite charge size should be appropriate, Quaternary
man made deposits and the part in which damage is
easy occurred should be reinforced and monitored.
REFERENCES
Kuhlemeyer, R. L., Lysmer, J. 1973. Finite element method
accuracy for wave propagation problems. J. Soil Mech.
And Foundations Div. ASCE, 99(SM5): 421–427.
Li, H.N, Wang, B.Q., Lin, H. 1996. The research about Some
issues of blasting seismic effects. Explosion and Shock
Waves, 16(1): 66–72 (in Chinese).
Li, X.L., Miao,Y.G.,Yang,Y., Zhang, Z.Y., Wang, G.H, 2006.
Slope Stability Analysis Under Influence of Blasting
Vibra.
Liu,Y.Q, Zhao, J. 2004. A new method to determine the safety
threshold velocity of slope. Explosion and shock waves,
24(5): 448–452 (in Chinese).
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Shougang
mining company, 2010. Stability analysis of revised
design slope of Shuichang iron mine (in Chinese).
Xu, H.T, 2006. Study on the Dynamic Stability of High Rock
Slope Induced by Blasting Vibration. Wuhan University,
(in Chinese).
Yan C.B, Xu G.Y, Li X.B, 2005. Stability analysis of
mined-out areas influenced by blasting vibration with
FLAC3D.Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engi-
neering, 24(16): 2894–2899 (in Chinese).
Zhang, Z. G., He, J.D., Wang, K.Y., Xiao, M. L.2005. Earth-
quake effect & dynamic stability of spillway slope at
Jinanqiao power station. Sichuan water conservancy, 4,
37–40 (in Chinese).
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Feasibility analysis on 1300 fully-mechanized coal mining face of Jining

No.2 Mine during exploitation approaching to faults and its optimization
design

H. Wang
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
School of Civil Engineering, Anhui Institute of Architecture and Industry, Hefei, China

H.G. Ji
Civil & Environment Engineering School, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The primary influence factors of layout of 1300 fully-mechanized coal mining face are Balipu
Fault, F24 Fault and the accumulated water in mined-out areas of No.1 Mine Area in Jining No.2 Mine. According
to the analysis of geology and hydrographical geology of the mining area, and combined with “Water Prevention
Regulation of Coal Mines” and related achievements in scientific research, the mining feasibility of 1300 fully-
mechanized coal mining face was studied. Through economy comparison, the design of mining stope and water
prevention was optimized, 0.8 million tons coal resource can be recovered.

1 INTRODUCTION

Jining No.2 Coal Mine is located in Rencheng District,

Jining City, Shandong Province, Eastern China. It lies
in the central part of Jining Mine Field, bordered by
Sunshidian Fault on its east side, Beijing-Hangzhou
Grand Canal on its west side, Yanzhou-Xinxiang Rail-
way on its north side, Jining No.3 Coal Mine on its
south side. It extends 6∼11 kilometers from the north
to the south, 10 kilometers from the east to the west,
with an area of 87.12 km2 . The mineable coal seams
in Jining Minefield are coal seams 3U (U-Upper) and
3L (L-Lower) of Shanxi Formation (Lower Permian),
and coal seams 6, 10L , 15L , 16U and 17 of Taiyuan
Formation (Upper Carboniferous).
The mine area has a fair developed transport sys- Figure 1. The location map of Jining No.2 mine.
tem, comprising of railways, highways and water ways.
Within this area, the Yanzhou-Xinxiang Railway links
to the Beijing-Shanghai Railway and Yanzhou-Shijiu 1997 In 2003, it had an approved production capac-
(in Rizhao City) at Yanzhou Railway Station at its ity of 6 million tons/year. The geological structure of
eastern end, and the Beijing-Jiulong (in Hongkong) the mine field is very complex, with numerous faults
Railway and Beijing-Guangzhou at Heze Railway Sta- After ten years of mining, a large number of coal pil-
tion at its western end. Highways can provide easy lars close to faults were left behind. In order to recover
access from all directions, with Shiqiao-Jining High- as much coal resources as possible and alleviate the
way and Zoucheng-Jining Highway extending from tension situation of mine production, it is necessary to
north to south withhin the mine field To the north investigate the feasibility of mining some coal pillars
of the mine field, the Yanzhou-Jining Highway and close to faults.
Jining-Heze Highway pass by. The Beijing-Hangzhou
Grand Canal, an important water way, is located in the 2 GEOLOGY OF 1300 FULLY-MECHANIZED
western boundary of the mine area (Figure 1). MINING FACE OF JINING NO.2 COAL MINE
The mine has a designed production capacity 4 mil-
lion tons/year, and a design service life of 67.5 years. The area is bordered by the mined-out areas of 1301,
It was put into operation officially on November 8, 1302, 1303, 1304 coal mining faces in No.1 Mine Area

987
Figure 2. The location and design map of 1300 fully-mechanized coal mining face of Jining No.2 Mine.

Figure 3. The dipping profile of 1300 fully-mechanized coal face location.

and F12
56 Fault on the east and south, Balipu Fault on
fully-mechanized coal mining face (Figure 2), the
the west, No.2 Mine Area on the north (Figure 2). The fault did not break through of water. Therefore, it is
main faults in the area are Balipu Fault H = 70∼270 m believed that there is no significant hydraulic con-
∠70◦ , F24 H × 0∼15.0 m ∠70◦ , F12 56 H × 8.0 m ∠70 ,
◦ nection between the fault and the main upper water-
◦
F65 H × 8.0 m ∠70 . The area is located in the foot- bearing formations. Balipu Fault is to the west of the
walls of Balipu Fault and F1256 Fault (Figure 3), and the
area, and abundant with water locally in this area.
thickness of 3L Coal Seam is 3.40 to 5.51 m, with an
average thickness of 4.45 m.
There is vast amount of water in the western section 3 DESIGN OF REASONABLE WATERPROOF
of the mined-out areas of 1302, 1303, 1304 (Figure 2). COAL(ROCK) PILLAR FOR 1300 COAL
F5612 Fault was disclosed during the course of exca- MINING FACE
vating the conveyor transportation gateway of 1302
fully-mechanized coal mining face and the prospect- Balipu Fault (H = 70∼270 m ∠70◦ ), F12 56 Fault
ing gateway of track transportation gateway of 1304 (H = 8.0 m ∠70◦ ), F24 Fault (H = 0∼15.0 m ∠70◦ ) and

988
 Table 1. Critical water inrush coefficients of some mine
districts.

Name of mine
district Fengfeng Jiaozuo Zibo Jingxing

Critical water 0.066∼ 0.06∼ 0.06∼ 0.06∼

inrush coefficient 0.076 0.10 0.14 0.15
Ts (MPa/m)

3.1.1 Calculation of Ha
Figure 4. The sketch of setting waterproof coal (rock) pillar According to “Water prevention regulation of coal
while coalseam contacting with strong water abundance or mines”, Ha is calculated as follows:
hydraulic conductivity fault.

water in mined-out areas of No.1 Mine Area are the

main factors impacting the design of 1300 coal min-
ing face. The workface is located at the footwall of where, Ts is water inrush coefficient (MPa/m), it is
Balipu Fault and F1256 Fault, and the hangingwall of selected according to Table 1.
F24 Fault. According to “Water prevention regulation
3.1.2 Calculation of HL
of coal mines”, when the top surface of the aquifer is
The 3L coal in this area is slightly dipping coal seam,
higher than the upper limit of water conducting frac-
and the roof rock of which is medium-hard stratum.
tured zone, the width of waterproof coal (rock) pillar
According to “Regulations of pillar leaving and coal
should be (Figure 4):
mining under building, water, railway and mail shaft
and tunnel”, the height of water flowing fractured zone
is calculated as follows:
where, L – width of bedding waterproof coal (rock)
pillar, m; L1 , L2 , L3 – sectional width of bedding
waterproof coal (rock) pillar, m; Ha – safety width of
waterproof coal (rock) pillar, m; HL – height of water
flowing fractured zone, m; θ – fault dip,(◦ ); δ – rock where, HL is the height of water flowing fractured
collapse angle, (◦ ). zone, m; Mis total mining thickness, m.
In the coal mine, fully-mechanized mining method
was employed, and the roof was controlled with fully
3.1 Design of reasonable waterproof coal (rock) caving method. The block section is in the footwall
pillar between 1300 coal mining face and of Balipu Fault, the coal seam of which is unstable.
Balipu Fault Considering the condition of other coal mining faces in
Balipu Fault (H = 70∼270 m ∠70◦ ) is abundant with No.1 Mine Area, the height of water flowing fractured
water locally. Its main potential sources of water may zone is calculated in two ways (for the reason of safety,
include: the sandy gravel aquifer of Lower Quater- the bigger value was selected in formula (3):
nary (since January 1, 2008, the highest water level 1) For mining height M = 3.00 m, the height of flow-
is +18.49 m); the sandstone aquifer of Upper Jurassic ing fractured zone is:
(the water level was −83.96 m on October 30, 2005.
But it can not be observable since the hole was dam-
aged later); third layer aquifer of Taiyuan Group (the
water level was −337.22 m on May 30, 2005. Later
on the drill hole unseal, and it can not be observable).
Therefore, the water levels of main water-bearing for-
2) For mining height M = 4.00 m, the height of flow-
mations in the mine area are all below +20.00 m.
ing fractured zone is:
The lowest floor elevation of 3L coal in this block is
−586.90 m, and the greatest pressure it is suffered is:

3.1.3 Design of coal(rock) pillar near fault

where, P – water pressure; ρ – density of water; g – 1) For mining height M = 3.00 m, Ts = 0.10 (this
acceleration of gravity; h – water head drop. value is selected according to Water prevention

989
 regulation of coal mines and Regulations of pil- set as 11.30 m in designing the waterproof coal (rock)
lar leaving and coal mining under building, water, pillar.
railway and mail shaft and tunnel):

According to “Water prevention regulation of coal

2) For mining height M = 4.00 m, Ts = 0.10: mines”, waterproof coal (rock) pillar close to a rich
water fault should not be less than 20 m.

3.2.2 Calculating the amount of water in the

Therefore, it is proposed a 105 m or more water-
proof coal (rock) pillar be retained between 1300 coal
mining face and the Balipu Fault. In actual mining,
the cutting height should be controlled to be no more
than 3.00 m when the coal mining face is near the
Balipu Fault. It can be gradually increased inward,
and can be up to 4.00 m or more when it is 10 m or
more to the west transportation gateway of the coal
mining face.
mined-out area in No.1 Mine Area
The outer edge elevation of water in the mined-out
area in No.1 Mine area is −575.60 m, and the lowest
3L floor elevation in the area is −591.50 m. The hori-
zontal cross section of the water in the mined-out area
is deemed to be triangle, with an area as follows:
where, S is the area of a triangle; l is the length of
the base of a triangle; h is the height of a triangle.
The water body in the mined-out area is deemed to
be a cone, and its volume can be calculated according
to the volume formula of cone:

3.2 Design of waterproof coal(rock) pillar

between 1300 coal mining face, F12
56 Fault
and water abundant mined-out areas of
No.1 Mine Area
F12
56 Fault is not a water-rich fault, and has not signif- where, VC is volume of a cone.
icant hydraulic connection with main water-bearing
The 3L coal in this block is gently dipping, the roof
formations over it. Therefore, the water in mined-out
rock of which is middle-hard formation. According to
area of No.1 Mine Area is the main factor influencing
“regulations of pillar leaving and coal mining under
the layout of the east transportation gateway of 1300
building”, water, railway and mail shaft and tunnel,
coal mining face.
the height of caving zone is calculated as the follows:
3.2.1 Design of waterproof coal (rock) pillar under
the circumstance of no prospecting and
draining the water in mined-out area of
No.1 Mine Area
The outer edge elevation of water in mined-out area where, Hm is the caving zone height, m; M is the
of No.1 Mine Area is −575.60 m, and the lowest floor mining thickness, m.
elevation of 3L coal in this block is −586.90 m. There- In the coal mine, fully-mechanized mining method
fore, the maximal height of the water column applying will be employed, and the roof will be controlled with
on 3L coal is 11.30 m, and the maximal pressure is: fully caving method. If the average height of mining at
3L coal is 3.5 m, the height of caving zone is calculated
as(for the reason of safety, we select the bigger value
in formula (4)):

Because the elevation (−575.60 m) of the water in

the mined-out area is lower than the elevation of water
flowing fractured zone, the HL in equation (1) can be

990
 It is clear that greater part of the water is in the
caving zone.
The roof of 3L coal seam in No.1 Mine Area con-
sists of medium and fine sandstone. According to
research of Zhenjun Li (2006), aquifer coefficient is
set as k = 0.4 and the volume of water in the mined-out
area is:
where, Vw is the water volume in the mined-out area
of No.1 Mine Area at present, m3 .
The lowest 3L floor elevation of 1300 coal mining
face is −586.90 m, therefore, if we drain water from
the face, elevation of the water in the mined-out area
in No.1 Mine area can only drop to −586.90 m (i.e.
decline 11.30 m). According to the geometry simili-
tude ratio, the water volume that can be drained off is:
where, Vwd – the water volume being drained from
1300 coal mining face, m3 ; hj – the maximum depth
of water in the mined-out area of No.1 Mine Area at
present, m; hs – the maximum depth of water in the
mined-out area of No.1 Mine Area after being drained
from 1300 coal mining face, m.
3.2.3 Economy comparison for cases of mining
with draining and undraining the water in
mined-out area of No.1 Mine Area
In the case of draining off the water in mined-out areas
of No.1 Mine Area, the 1300 coal mining face can be
arranged in the same direction as F12
56 Fault. The width
of coal mining face is 180 m (because it is limited
by 1301 coal mining face), and the mining length is
600 m or 730 m (If the transport gateways of 1300 coal
mining face expose F24 Fault, and with the fault-throw
less than 4.0 m, the mining length of 1300 working
face is 600 m. But this is highly unlikely because of
the F24 Fault tailing out at this area; otherwise, if a
50 m waterproof coal (rock) pillar is set between the
stop line of 1300 coal mining face and the No.2 Mine
Area, the mining length can reach 730 m).
In the case of undraining off the water in mined-out
areas of No.1 Mine Area, the waterproof coal(rock)
pillar between the 1300 coal mining face and the F5612
Fault should not be less than 20 m. Under such condi-
tions, the width of coal mining face is 168 m, and the
mining length is 600 m.
Therefore, for an average mining height of 4.0 m,
coal density of 1.4 t/m3, the coal resources that can be
recovered under circumstance of draining the water in
the mined-out area can be calculated as follow:
991
where, mc is mass of the coal; ρc is density of the coal;
V is the coal volume being recovered.
According to electricity price in Shandong province
(2008), for conditions that the efficiency of the motor
is ηd = 90%, the efficiency of pumps is ηc = 80%, and
the workface depth is 620 m (the ground elevation is
+34.5 m, and the lowest floor elevation is −583.4 m),
the power required to pump a cubic meter of water to
the ground surface is:
where, ET is the power in theory, ER is the power in
reality.
The power (e) required to pump 1 cubic meter of
water to the ground is:
The power required to drain off the water from the
mined-out areas of No.1 Mine Area is EGT
where, EGT is the grand total power.
According to electricity price in Shandong province
(2008), the industrial electricity price is 0.6 yuan/kwh
or less in Jining City. If 0.6 yuan/kwh is assumed, the
grand total cost of pumping water from the mined-out
areas of No.1 Mine Area to the ground is F:
If the water in the mined-out areas is prospected and
pumped to the ground surface, the width of 1300 coal
mining face will be increased from 165 m to 180 m,
and 50,400 tons of coal will be recovered. The extra
cost for the recovered coal will be only 5.07 yuan per
ton.(If the transport gateways of 1300 coal mining face
expose F24 Fault, and with the fault-throw less than
4.0 m, more coal will be recovered with even less extra
cost). At the same time, the economic and social ben-
efits will be greatly improved by improving the ratio
of mining to excavating.
Therefore, it is suggested that the water in mined-
out areas of No.1 Mine Area be drained off during
the course of tunnel excavation for 1300 mining face
according to the relevant regulations, This will ensure
safety in production, and improve economic benefits.
4 CALCULATION OF RECOVERABLE
RESERVES IN 1300 COAL MINING FACE
The width of 1300 coal mining face is designed to be
180 m. If the average mining height is set as 4.00 m,
the coal that can be recovered can be calculated as
follows:
1) For designed mining length of 600 m
2) For the designed mining length of 730 m
Well established ventilation and transportation sys-
tem is the prerequisite for mining. Therefore, two coal
gateways with the length of 1300 m should be con-
structed, with an average height of 3.5 m and width of
5.0 m. The recovered coal will be:
5 CONCLUSION
1) Under the circumstance of setting 105 m water-
proof coal (rock) pillar between 1300 fully-
mechanized coal mining face and the Balipu Fault,
safe mining can be realized;
2) In the process of excavating the gateway, the water
in mined-out area of No.1 Mine Area should be
prospected and drained according to the relevant
regulations;
3) On the side of the coal mining face near the Balipu
Fault, the mining height should be controlled to be
no more than 3.00 m. It can be gradually increased
inward, and the mining height can be up to 4.00 m
or more when the mining face is at least 10 m to
the west transportation gateway of the coal mining
face.
992
4) Through optimizing the mining-excavating system
of 1300 fully-mechanized coal mining face, 0.8
million tons coal resource can be recovered.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the collaborative
funding support from the National Hi Tech Research
and Development Program of P. R. China(863
Program) under Grant (No.2008AA062104), the
National Natural Science Foundation of P. R. China
(No.50874002), and Doctor fund of Anhui Institute
of Architecture and Industry(2010-1-001), the authors
are grateful for these supports.
REFERENCES
Jining No.2 Mine, Shandong University of Science and
Technology. 2006. Research on Water content, water con-
ductivity and rationally reserving waterproof coal (rock)
Pillars of Bailipu Fault. Qingdao: Shandong University
of Science and Technology. (in Chinese)
Li, Z.J., Hou, K. 2006. Research on Water Accumulating
Parameter in No.23 Seam Mine Gob of Xinghua Coal
Mine. Coal Technology, 25(3):43–44. (in Chinese)
Shandong Price Bureau. 2008. Notice on adjusting the
electricity price in our province.(in Chinese)
State Administration of Work Safety of P. R. China, State
Administration of Coal Mine Safety of P. R. China. 2009.
Water prevention regulation of coal mines. Beijing: China
Coal Industry Publishing House. (in Chinese)
State Coal Industry Bureau. 2000. Regulations of pillar
leaving and coal mining under building, water, railway
and mail shaft and tunnel. Beijing: China Coal Industry
Publishing House. (in Chinese)
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on cross-section shape and excavation scheme of transportation

roadway in Haishiwan coal mine

J.A. Wang, S.J. Zhang, F. Li, J.X. Chen & L.L. Zhu
The Key Laboratory of High-Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines of China Ministry of Education, University
of Science and Technology Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: The affect of cross-section shape and excavation scheme of transportation roadway on the stability
of surrounding rocks are analyzed by means of numerical simulation. The results show that: (1) The three centered
arch section is better matched to the principal stress vector field and the surrounding rocks of three centered arch
section roadway is much more stable than that of semicircle arch section roadway. (2) The double step excavation
scheme of roadway is better than the full face excavation scheme.

1 INTRODUCTION

In support engineering of coal mine roadway, the selec-

tion of supports and optimize operation parameters are
often the key issues to be considered, while the road-
way cross-section shape and the choice of excavation
scheme are often considered deficiently. In fact, the
roadway cross-section shape and the choice of exca-
vation scheme have a great impact on the stability of
surrounding rocks (Gao 2007). In this paper, the stabil-
ity of surrounding rocks with different cross-sections
and different excavation schemes are studied and some
useful conclusions are obtained by using of numeric
analysis technology.

Figure 1. Analytic calculation diagram.

2 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
Yaojie coal and electricity company is located in
Haishiwan town, Gansu province. 1100 transportation
roadway is an important unit project in technological
upgrading projects. It is used to 2#coal transporta-
tion, ventilation and pedestrian after mine construction
and it has a long-term service. The surrounding rocks
are dark gray siltstone, shale and siltstone, shale
oil, interbedded oil shale, loose and broken. Due to
deeply buried tunnel, pressure, poor strata, the stress
behaviors are very obvious. Therefore, choosing a rea-
sonable cross-section shape and excavation scheme
has important significance to the stability of roadway.
3 FLAC NUMERICAL SIMULATION
3.1 Calculation model and mechanical parameters
According to the geological conditions of 1100 trans-
portation roadway, the calculation model is estab-
lished, as shown in Figure 1. The model is 66.4 m
Table 1. Principal rock mechanics parameter.
Elastic Friction
Density modulus Poisson’s Cohesion angle
Lithology (kN/m3 ) (MPa) ratio (MPa) (◦ )
Siltstone 23.50 5300 0.3 1.63 38
wide, 54.8 m high. The model is restricted horizontal
displacement on both sides. The horizontal and ver-
tical displacement is restricted on the bottom of the
model. The vertical load is applied on the top accord-
ing to burying depth. The mechanical parameters of
rock mass used in the calculation are listed in Table 1.
The calculation process is divided into the follow-
ing steps: ① cross-section shape: (a) semicircle arch
section; (b) three centered arch section. ② excavation
scheme: (a)double steps excavation of three centered
arch ection (Figure 2). (b) full face excavation of three
centered arch section.

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Figure 2. Excavation scheme sketch of three centered arch
section.

3.2 Results and analysis of the numerical

simulation
3.2.1 Comparative analysis of roadway with
different section shape
The principal stress vector field of roadway with dif-
ferent section shape is shown in Figure 3. There is
a composite arch in surrounding rock. The stress in
roadway floor released due to severe deformation.
The maximum principal stress of semicircle arch sec-
tion roadway is 75.96 MPa and the minimum principal
stress is 3.63e-2 MPa. The maximum principal stress
of three centered arch section roadway is 74.65 MPa
and the minimum principal stress is 3.72e-2 MPa.
From the Figure 3, it also shows that three centered
arch section is better matched to the principal stress
vector field, and it is conducive to the overall stability
of the roadway, resulting in better supporting effect.
The monitoring points are set up to monitor the
deformation of surrounding rocks, which is shown
in Figure 4. Because of the symmetrical relationship,
only the left monitoring points are analysised. From
the Figure 5 to the Figure 8, it can be seen that the
deformation of 2# and 3# monitoring point at three
centered arch roadway is smaller than that of semi- Figure 3. Principal stress vector field of roadway.
circle arch section roadway. The deformation of 1#
and 4# monitoring point is basically similar. There-
fore, the three centered arch section shape is superior
to the semicircle arch section shape.
Comparison of failure zone in surrounding rocks of
roadway with different section shape is shown in Fig-
ure 9. The failure zone is about the same in surrounding
rocks of three centered arch section roadway as it is in
surrounding rocks of semicircle arch section roadway.
There is a big range plastic zone in surrounding rocks
of roadway. The height of plastic zone in the roadway
roof is about 3 m. The width of plastic zone in the two Figure 4. Deformation monitoring points of roadway.
roadway side walls is about 4.2 m. The depth of plastic
zone in the roadway floor is about 4.8 m. the second excavation step, the minimum principal
stress is 7.8e−3 MPa and the maximum principal stress
3.2.2 Comparative analysis of roadway using is 75.26 MPa (Figure 10). The minimum principal
different excavation scheme stress is 3.7e−2 MPa, and the maximum principal stress
The principal stress vector field of roadway using dif- is 74.65 MPa after the full face excavation. Compared
ferent excavation scheme is shown in Figure 3. After with the full face excavation, the minimum principle

994
Figure 5. Vertical displacement of monitoring point 1.
Figure 6. Horizontal displacement of monitoring point 2.
Figure 7. Horizontal displacement of monitoring point 3.
Figure 8. Vertical displacement of monitoring point 4.
995
Figure 9. Failure zone in surrounding rocks.
stress is reduced and the maximum principle stress is
increased when the roadway is excavated by double
step.
The deformations of monitoring points are shown
from the Figure 11 to Figure 14. As shown, the first,
third and fourth monitoring point’s deformation of
roadway using double step excavation scheme is less
than the monitoring point’s deformation of roadway
using full face excavation scheme. Therefore, the dou-
ble step excavation scheme is superior to the full face
excavation scheme.
The distribution of plastic zone in roadway exca-
vated by double step is shown in Figure 15. Compared
with the full face excavation, the plastic zone area is
obviously reduced when the roadway is excavated by

Figure 10. Principal stress vector field of roadway using
full face excavation.
Figure 11. Vertical displacement of monitoring point 1.
Figure 12. Horizontal displacement of monitoring point 2.
Figure 13. Horizontal displacement of monitoring point 3.
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Figure 14. Vertical displacement of monitoring point 4.
Figure 15. Failure zone around the roadway excavated by
double step.
double steps. Therefore, the double step excavation
scheme is superior to the full face excavation scheme.
4 CONCLUSIONS
According to the geological conditions of 1100 trans-
portation roadway, the numerical model of roadway
is established by using finite difference program
FLAC2D. The mechanical status and stability of large
cross-section roadway are analysised with respect to
different cross-section shapes and different excava-
tion schemes. Based on the results, the conclusions
are made as follows:
1. Compared with semicircle arch section roadway,
the three centered arch section roadway’s maxi-
mum principle stress is increased and the minimum
principle stress is reduced. The three centered arch
section is better matched to the principal stress vec-
tor field, and it is conducive to the overall stability
of the roadway.
2. The shoulder and side wall’s deformation of three
centered arch section roadway is smaller than that of
semicircle arch section roadway. The three centered
 arch section shape is superior to the semicircle arch
section shape.
3. Compared with the full face excavation, the mini-
mum principle stress is reduced and the maximum
principle stress is increased when the roadway is
excavated by double step.
4. Compared with the full face excavation, the side
wall and the floor’s deformation is reduced when
the roadway is excavated by double step.
5. Compared with the full face excavation, the plastic
zone area is reduced when the roadway is excavated
by double step. The double step excavation scheme
is superior to the full face excavation scheme.
In conclusion, the three centered arch section and
double step excavation scheme are conducive to the
formation of an effective bearing arch structure, to
reduce the side wall and the floor’s deformation,
to reduce the plastic area of surrounding rocks, to
guarantee the stability of roadway.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by major project of national
programs for fundamental research and develop-
ment (973 Program) (Grant No. 2010CB731501)
and national programs for high technology research
and development (863 Program) (Grant No. 2008
AA062104).
997
REFERENCES
Gao, F.Q. 2007. The effect of numerical simulation analysis
of cross-section shapes of roadways on surrounding rock
stability. Journal of Shandong University of Science and
Technology 26(2): 43–46.
Jiang, Z.G. & Xu, C.Y. 1991. The fuzzy decision of opti-
mum selection in drift section shapes. Journal of Wuhan
University of Technology (1): 83–87.
Li, G.C., et al. 2010. Optimizing the section shape of roadway
in high stress ground by numerical simulation. Journal of
China University of Mining &Technology 39(5): 625–658.
Ling, B.C. & Huang, X.H. 2002. Tree-dimension numerical
simulation analysis on the mechanical effects of roadway
across shape. Journal of Huainan Institute of Technology
22(1): 6–9.
Su, H.Y., et al. 1993. Fuzzy math is applied in selecting of the
optimal section form of road. Journal of Sichuan Institute
Building Materials 8(3): 58–62.
Wu, Z., et al. 2004. Study on the impact of section shape
on the stability of roadway. Ground Pressure and Strata
Control 4: 41–43.
Xie, H.P. & Wang, J.A. 1999. Application of FLAC to pre-
dict ground surface displacements due to coal extraction
and its comparative analysis. Chinese Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Engineering (2): 397–401.
Zhao, X.D., et al. 2004. Study on failure mode of tunnels with
different sections. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering 23(2): 4921–4925.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Stability analysis of completely-strongly weathered high-steep rock slope

L. Wang, Z.Y. Tan & Y. Li

State Key Laboratory of High-efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mine (University of Science and Technology
Beijing), Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing China

X.J. Li
Beijing General Research Institute of Mining & Metallurgy, Beijing China

ABSTRACT: Based on a case of completely-strongly weathered high-steep rock slope in Chengmenshan

Copper Mine, the mechanical parameters of the decomposed rock mass are determined by strength reduction
calculation with Hoek-Brown nonlinear failure criterion as well as data processing method, in line with field
investigation of engineering and hydrological geological condition. The excavation of slope is simulated step
by step with FLAC3D and the corresponding failure mechanism is analyzed and the potential landside mode
is decided. The results show that the whole slope is stable but several benches of slope will lose their stability.
Besides, a reinforcing resolution is proposed here.

1 INTRODUCTION from the constitutive relation of numerical analysis to

The stability analysis of high-steep rock slope is one
of the most important fields in geotechnical engi-
neering. At present, the majority of mine in our
country has entered into a stage of deep concave min-
ing and the corresponding mining conditions worsen
with increase of mining scale. During the course of
exploitation, destabilization of stope slopes can be
induced by various reasons, which could lead to mine
geological disasters and major engineering accidents.
The disasters will not only affect the normal produc-
tion of mine, but also a large amount of money will
be lost. Therefore, how to mine safely and efficiently
is one of the key factors which can influence the
mine production. Moreover, researches on stability of
mine stope slope possess great significance for mining
safety (Peng et al. 2007).
There are many methods for slope stability analy-
sis, such as limit equilibrium method and numerical
analysis method (Bishop 1955 & Feng et al. 2005).
Although the limit equilibrium method can quickly
analyze the slope stability and directly calculate safety
factor of the stability of slope, however, it is impossible
to analyze mechanical evolution mechanism and fail-
ure mechanism of the slope stability, since under the
simplified assumptions it doesn’t consider the influ-
ence of internal stress in rock-soil mass during the
analysis. With the rapid development of information
technology, speed of computing operation has been
significantly improved and numerical analysis method
based on finite element and finite difference theory has
been widely used in study of slope stability. Starting
considering of the material nonuniformity and discon-
tinuity, it is able to get the internal stress and strain by
calculating, which avoids considering a slip body as
a simply rigid one in the limit equilibrium method,
thus the internal stress and displacement distribution
within the slope can be solved as the process of plas-
tic zone is reproduced, simultaneously safety factor
is given combining with strength reduction theory.
Therefore, the numerical analysis method can be used
for the slope stability analysis under the conditions of
heterogeneous rock and soil mass with complicated
hydrogeology.
After years exploitation in Chengmenshan Copper
Mine, the current production capacity has increased
from 1200 t/d to 7000 t/d, with the formation of a series
of high-steep slope since the expansion of mining.
Based on a case of completely and strongly weath-
ered high-steep rock slope in the mine, the potential
landside mode is decided by field investigation of engi-
neering and hydrological geological condition on the
2th open-pit mining boundary, and the existing land-
slide model in open pit mine are mainly planar failure,
circular failure, sloughing control, local gully dam-
age, lake mud extruded collapse and etc. As the No.III
slope is selected typically, the mechanical parame-
ters of the decomposed rock mass are determined by
strength reduction calculation with Hoek-Brown rock
nonlinear failure criterion as well as data processing
method. The excavation of slope is simulated step by
step with FLAC3D in view of finite difference theory.
The corresponding failure mechanism and mechanical
evolution law of excavation are also analyzed. Besides,

999
a reinforcing resolution is proposed here for the slope
stability situation. Therefore, the results may provide
some reference for safe exploitation in Chengmenshan
Copper Mine later.

2 GEOLOGICAL CONDITION AND MODEL

Chengmenshan mining area locates in the NE part

which is near to the overturn of Changmen-Chengmen
lake anticline, composed of two secondary cross Figure 1. The typical weathering zone of No.III slope.
folds, that is back syncline structures of short axis
in the NE and NW direction. The main outcropped
stratigraphy in surface mining area are Shangtong-
shamao group of Silurian(S3S ), Shangtong-wutong
Group of Devonian(D3w ), Xiatong-xixia group (P1q )
and Maokou group(P1m ) of Permian, and silicated
limestone skarn produced by hydrothermal alteration
due to the intrusion of granitic diorite porphyry and
quartz porphyry during Yanshan period. The most
developed faults in the mining area are in NEE direc-
tion, while those in NW—NWW and NNE—NE direc-
tion take the second place.A wide range of rock exist in
mining area, such as soft-hard interphased sandstone,
shale, resoluble limestone, intruded intermediate-acid Figure 2. The geological model of No.III slope.
magmatic rock and various kinds of alteration rock.
All kinds of rocks at different locations are subject to the upper-part kaolinite and ledikite after severely-
different degrees of damage under the influence of a weathered chiefly register as granular structure with
variety of internal and external forces such as geolog- a low mechanical strength and a poor slope stability,
ical structure, faults, weathering, erosion, corrosion, which would easily cause a circular failure. Based on
magmatic intrusion, surface water, groundwater, etc. drilling hole explore data of 3rd line and the exca-
Chengmenshan Copper Mine (see figure 1) is a vation design proposal, a geological model of No.III
polymetallic open pit mine based mainly on copper slope has been established(see figure 2).
and sulfur.After years of mining, the open cast working
area has taken shape of down to bench of about −58 m
level with slope angle of 70◦ –75◦ , forming a steep 3 DETERMINATION OF MECHANICAL
slope up to 110 m high. Ore mine locates in complex PARAMETERS OF ROCK MASS
geological areas with seam roof and instable floor. In
mining area, the developed geological structural, var- 3.1 Hoek-Brown strength criterion
ious kinds of rock and deep weathering fracture zone,
developed karst, abundant surface and groundwater, After referencing Griffith Classical strength criterion,
thick lake mud adversely affect the mining. There are Hoek conduct a large number of experiments on rock
ubiquity of rather thick strongly weathered shell, as mass of a strip mine in Papua New Guinea. In 1980
thick as 30—40 m, such as the fully or strongly weath- Hoek and his partners raise Hoek-Brown strength cri-
ered granitic diorite porphyry and quartz porphyry. terion which is a nonlinear failure criterion for rock
Strongly weathered kaolinite zone or district are found mass(Hoek et al. 1980). The mathematical expression
in the exposed slope rock mass, which are quite incom- of the criterion is:
pact and fractured, and very easily induce geological
hazards such as collapse, landslide and debris flow
when encountering rainwater.
No.III slope is located in the west of mining where σ1 and σ3 are the major and minor primary stress
area and northwest of the southern pit, which has when the rock mass is in failure; σc is the uniaxial
filled of soil on upper layer made up of quaternary compressive strength of intact rock; m and s are two
(gravel layer, gravel clay layer and lake facies stilt material constants concerned with rock characteris-
layer), quartz porphyry, granodiorite-porphyry, skarn, tics, and m reflects the soft-hard degree of rock while
hematite-limonite, completely or severely sedentary s reflects the degree of crushing; The criterion make
product, etc, and lower layer with long side slope the complex factors that affect strength characteris-
bounds and complex lithology made up of cupriferous tics embodied in referenced experience parameters m
pyrite, dacite, and also quartz porphyry, granodiorite- and s.
porphyry, skarn, hematite-limonite. From a pecu- Then, Brown change the formula (1) into shear
niary point view of structure character of rock mass, strength form, making the Hoek-Brown criterion not

1000
only satisfy the nonlinear relationship between shear-
ing strength and normal stress, but also avoid the
difficulty in obtaining intensity parameter of rock
mass. The formula is as follows:
where, τ is the shearing strength, ϕi is effective angle
of internal friction.
ϕi can be expressed as:
3.2 Calculation of rock strength reduction
We can get Mohr-Coulomb strength curve by means
of formula (2), (3), (4) and calculation functions of
Excel, then make a linear fit. The inclination of line
equals the internal friction angle while intercept equals
cohesion:
Through some calculation, we can obtain strength
fitting formulae of various decayed rock as follows.
The strength reduction calculation formula of
highly-weathered limestone:
The strength reduction calculation formula of
highly-weathered quartz porphyry:
The strength reduction calculation formula of
highly-weathered granodiorite-porphyry:
The strength reduction calculation formula of
highly-weathered limonite:
The strength reduction calculation formula of
highly-weathered quartz and esite:
The strength reduction calculation formula of
weathered limestone:
The strength reduction calculation formula of
weathered quartz porphyry:
1001
The strength reduction calculation formula of
weathered granodiorite-porphyry:
The strength reduction calculation formula of
weathered limonite:
The strength reduction calculation formula of
weathered skarn:
The strength reduction calculation formula of
weathered pyrite:
where τ reflects shear strength of rock mass and σ
reflects compression strength.
4 ANALYSIS OF STABILITY OF NO.III SLOPE
4.1 Synopsis of FLAC3D
FLAC3D is a numerical analysis program based on
three-dimensional explicit finite difference method.
It can simulate three-dimensional rock mass or other
mechanical properties especially for the simulation of
the plastic flow characteristics when reaching the yield
limit. Therefore, it is widely used in engineering fields,
such as slope, tunnel and mine.
The materials that the model covers in this paper
are the weathered rock, soft surface and etc. Generally
they all belong to elastic-plastic materials. They are
all suitable for Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion(Cai et
al. 2002). Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion is recognized
as the best description of geotechnical engineering
materials. The yield criterion equation is:
where c is the material cohesion; φ is the internal
friction angle; σ1 , σ3 is the maximum and minimum
principal stress, respectively; fs is the coefficient to
determine the damage. When fs ≥ 0, the material is in
the stage of plastic flow; When fs < 0, the material is
in the stage of elastic deformation.
4.2 Calculation model and parameters
According to NO.III engineering geological condi-
tions, finite difference software (FLAC3D) can be
used to analyze the slope stability. Firstly, we put the
CAD map of slope geological model into ANSYS
and then build slope grid model. Then, with the self-
compiling interface program (ANSYS-FLAC3D), we
get the grid cell slope which meets the requirement of
FLAC3D. It is shown in figure 3 and the dimensions
of model are 322 m(X) × 40 m(Y) × 203 m(Z). After
that, 10,676 grid cells are divided. By the way, we
should consider the effect of slope stability when exca-
vating step by step. So in the progress of model, what
we can do is grouping and establishing the various
steps.
Combining various mechanical tests of slope with
rock strength reduction formula in Section 3.2, the cal-
culating parameters of rock mass for each group in
FLAC3D model are shown in table 1.
4.3 Calculation results and analysis
The figure 4 is the regional distribution of gravity
stress contour after the excavation of No.III slope
with nine steps. Gravity stress contour isoline and
the surface of slope approximate parallel, and local
stress concentration phenomenon is generated in the
bottom steps of slope toe. It can be found that the
scheme of open-pin mine development and overall
slope angle design will drastically influence the gravity
stress distribution of slope body.
The figure 5 is slope failure mode after the exca-
vation of No.III slope with nine steps. Due to the low
tensile strength distribution of clay in the top surface,
stretching—shear failure is generated in the part of
the slope generate. The central local steps of the slope
produce shear failure. Due to the existence of large
strongly weathered zone, rock mass strength proper-
ties is very low in two steps of slope bottom, With the
excavation of the two steps, the plastic zone gradually
spread and intensify fission crack, leading to shear
failure occuring in slope. Overall area of plastic zone
in the bottom slope is greater than upper and mid-
dle steps. Therefore, the plastic zones in the bottom
slope are easy to make the bottom step produce shear
opening and occur overall shear failure.

Figure 3. Calculation model of numerical simulation. Figure 4. The gravity stress field.

Table 1. The mechanical parameters of rock mass in FLAC3D model.

Uniaxial
Bulk Elastic Bulk Shear tensile
density/ modulus/ Poisson modulus/ modulus/ Cohesion/ Friction strength/
Lithology KN·m−3 GPa ratio GPa GPa MPa angle ◦ MPa

The first step (top soil) 27.4 0.0002 0.33 0.0002 0.0001 0.080 25 0
The second step (top soil) 27.4 0.0002 0.33 0.0002 0.0001 0.080 25 0
The third step (limonite) 37.3 26.8 0.24 17.2 10.8 0.241 13.6 1
The fourth step (limonite) 37.3 26.8 0.24 17.2 10.8 0.241 13.6 1
The fifth step (granite porphyry) 24.6 28.7 0.27 20.8 11.3 0.316 13.07 1.36
The sixth step (skarn) 33.1 32.9 0.25 21.9 13.2 0.836 14.75 3.18
The seventh step (skarn) 33.1 32.9 0.25 21.9 13.2 0.836 14.75 3.18
The eighth step (granite porphyry) 24.6 28.7 0.27 20.8 11.3 0.316 13.07 1.36
The ninth step(skarn) 33.1 32.9 0.25 21.9 13.2 0.836 14.75 3.18
Magnetite ore 30.6 29.4 0.26 20.4 11.7 0.749 18.9 25.2
Copper-carried pyrite 33.7 31.5 0.23 19.4 12.8 1.00 19.1 2.89
Top soil 27.4 0.0002 0.33 0.0002 0.0001 0.080 25 0
Dacite 24.5 18.7 0.29 14.8 7.25 0.239 15.7 8.50
Granite porphyry 24.6 28.7 0.27 20.8 11.3 0.316 13.07 1.36
Limonite 37.3 26.8 0.24 17.2 10.8 0.241 13.6 1.00
Limestone 26.1 14.9 0.28 11.3 5.82 0.212 7.71 1.56
Skarn 33.1 32.9 0.25 21.9 13.2 0.836 14.75 3.18
Quartz porphyry 24.5 23.7 0.25 15.8 9.48 0.325 13.16 1.39

1002
 The figure 6 is displacement contour after the exca-
vation of No.III slope with nine steps. Under the
effect of excavation step by step, the displacement of
slope gradually increases with the excavation of var-
ious steps. Deformation mainly develops towards to
slope free face. After completion of nine steps excava-
tion, the displacement of the upper and middle steps is
lower than 1cm; the displacement of the bottom steps is
larger because of the great plastic damage generated
in the bottom steps. Slope maximum displacement,
which occurs in the toe of slope, is 1.8 cm:
In order to reflect the degree of slope stability more
directly, the safety factor of slope is calculated by
strength reduction method (Dawson et al. 1999 &
Zheng et al. 2003):
Strength reduction method is to reduce the param-
eters c of shear strength of rock and soil according
to proportion. Reduced strength parameters can be
expressed as:
 
where cm and φm is shear strength of rock and soil that
actually played fully; F is the shear strength reduction
factor. Although it is different to use strength reduc-
tion in details, presumption of the shape and location
of slip surface are not required and also the progres-
sive soil failure process can be considered. Numerical
Figure 5. The slope failure mode.
Figure 6. The contour of displacement.
1003
results show that with the strength reduction method
we can obtain the results close to the safety factor and
the critical slip surface analyzed by limit equilibrium
methods (Yue et al. 1995).
The safety factor of strength reduction can be cal-
culated with associated flow rule. After excavation of
nine steps in No.III slope, the final slope safety fac-
tor is 1.12, indicating that the whole slope is stable.
Figure 7 shows that contour of plastic strain increment
after excavation of nine steps in No.III slope. Plastic
strain increment at the foot of slope is larger and the
distribution indicating that there may be failure trends
of the whole slope slid as circular-arc and produce
shear opening at the foot of the slope which accord
with analysis results of slope displacement and failure
mode aforementioned.
At the same time, limit equilibrium theory and Slide
5 are used to calculate the slope safety factor after the
nine steps of No.III slope (see figure 8).
The results show that the slope safety factor of
the upper level is larger while lower level is small;
The minimum safety factor of slope is 1.159 and
the corresponding shape of circular slip surface is
more consistent with results of strength reduction.
Therefore, the accuracy of analysis results of slope
stability with the finite difference theory and software
FLAC3D can be verified:
Figure 7. The plastic strain increment.
Figure 8. The safety factor calculated by Slide 5.
4.4 Treatment measure of slope of non-linear Hoek-Brown rock mass failure strength
criterion and data processing methods. Based on the
Based on stability analysis results of No.III slope
finite difference theory, the security and stability of the
above, some slope reinforcement measures are
NO.III slope is analyzed by use of numerical analysis
adopted as follows:
software FLAC3D, and then the following conclusions
1. The distribution of rock slope in No.III slope are are obtained as follows:
mainly Granodiorite porphyry, quartz porphyry,
1. Because of the existing of a series of strongly
tectonic breccia, skarn, silicified limestone and etc.
weathering zones within the slope, the crushing
Lithology are relatively complicated. Slope is com-
rock and the low mechanics parameters of the rock,
posed of weathered, loose, joints developed soft
the excavation has an adverse effect on slope sta-
rock and soil. The potential damage of the slope
bility. A wide range of plastic zone appeared at the
are in the form of circular-arc landslide.
toe of slope in the strong weathering zones after
Owing to the overall stability of the slope, there is
the excavation. Associated with the expansion and
damage to the local level instability. Therefore, the
transfixion of the plastic zones, it is easy to form
Combined Support Program, including shotcrete
shear opening and overall shear failure occurs at
and long prestressed cable, is used to achieve the
the bottom step of slope.
effect of reinforcing slope. Anchor spray can effec-
2. With the effect of unloading excavation by steps,
tively improve the strength and stiffness of the high
the slope displacement increased gradually as the
and steep slope of rock, and enhance the overall
steps at different levels being excavated. The defor-
stability of the slope.
mation is towards the free surface of the slope.
For the weathered rock, there is a need of spray-
After the excavation of nine steps, the displace-
ing a thin layer of concrete on the slope immediately
ments of upper and middle slopes are smaller,
after the excavation, and its role is isolating the rock
meanwhile, the bottom ones are greater than oth-
mass from the atmosphere and rain, and preventing
ers for the reason that plastic failure has occurred
oxidation and hydrolysis.
here. The maximum displacement develops at the
According to geotechnical rock bolt technical
toe of slope where landslides are mostly likely to
regulations, the long prestressed cable supporting
occur.
design is as follows: The spacing between upper
3. With analyzing the safety factors of the slope
and lower is 3.0 m; Horizontal spacing is 2.5 m;
obtained by the strength reduction method and ver-
Inclined angle is set at 30◦ ; And the length of
ifying it with the safety factor calculated by Slide
anchorage section and free section are 12 m and
5, it can be concluded that the whole slope will be
60 m, respectively.
stable and local steps will be instable and fail after
2. Large shear strain at toe of slope is easy to produce
excavation.
shear opening, and form shear failure; accordingly,
4. For the failure modes of "overall stability and local
the proposal is that, when mining from east to west,
instability" for the slope may occur, the purpose of
and from south to north on the reclamation, over-
reinforcing the slope can be achieved by the use of
burden strata is stripped step by step to reduce the
Combined Support Program. For the shear failure
soil weight pressure. The step height, excavation
may occur at the toe of slope, it is recommended to
and expand the width of the stair must be strictly
control mining step height strictly and decrease the
control. For the deposition layer, slope angle steps
slope angle.
decreases to 25◦ –30◦ .
Decreasing slope angle is one of the measures
used in slope treatment. Its advantages are simple,
economic, safe and reliable in construction. Slope ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
instability occurs often because the slope is too
high, and the slope gradient is too steep. By cut- This paper is financially supported by National
ting off slope, the slope gradient decrease and slop Key Basic R & D Program of China (973)
stability improved. (No.2010CB731501) and Key Program of National
3. This paper does not consider the influence of seep- Natural Science foundation of China (No. 51034001).
age on slope stability, and it will be investigated in *Corresponding author: Z. Y. Tan, Professor in
the subsequent analysis. geotechnical engineering.

5 CONCLUSION REFERENCES

This paper is under the engineering background of
completely-strongly weathered high-steep rock slope
in Chengmenshan Copper Mine and the No. III slope
is selected as the typical slope. The mechanical param-
eters of strongly weathering rock mass are calculated
by reduction on rock mass strength through the use
Bishop, A. W. 1955. The use of the slip circle in the stabilit y
analysis of slopes. Geotechnique (5): 7–17.
Cai, M.F., He, M.C. & Liu, D.Y. 2002. Rock mechanics and
engineering. Beijing: Science Press.
Dawson, E.M., Roth, W.H. & Drescher, A. 1999. A. Slope sta-
bility analysis by strength reduction. Geotechnique 49(6):
835–840.

1004
Feng, J., Zhou, D.P. & Li, A.H. 2005. Research on stability of
rock bedded slopes. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Engineering, 24(9): 1474–1478.
Hoek, E., Brown, E.T. 1980. Underground Excavations in
Rock. London: Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.
Peng, H.G., Cai, Q.X., Shu, J.S. & Zhang, L. 2007. Appli-
cation Research of Numerical simulation in the Slope
Stability of Buzhaba Open Pit. China Mining Magazine
16(6): 60–62.
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Yue, Z.Q., Selvadurai, A.P.S. 1995. On the mechanics of
an rigid disc inclusion embedded in a fluid saturated
poroelastic medium. International Journal of Engineering
Science 33(11): 1633–1662.
Zheng, Y.R., Zhao, S.Y. & Deng, W.D. 2003. Numerical sim-
ulation on failure mechanism of rock slope by strength
reduction FEM. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and
Engineering (12): 1943–1952.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Mechanical stability of intensifying mining for residual ore under

complicated goaf groups

Y.M. Wang, G.H. Yao, H.B. Yi, A.X. Wu & M.Q. Huang
Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education of China for High Efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mines,
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Three commonly used rock mass classification systems, i.e. RMR, BQ and Q systems, are
used for evaluation of rock mass quality in Xianglushan tungsten mine. Generalized Hoek-Brown criterion
is partially modified by introduction of disturbance factor D to treat mechanical parameters for various rock
mass. Then, parameters for calculation of pillar strength are determined according to the derived formula of
the pillar load. On this basis, the sensitivity of influential factors for pillar stability is assessed using the
method of orthogonal range analysis. At last, orthogonal design is introduced into the optimization of stope
span and pillar dimensions by 3D-σ FEM simulation. Meanwhile, stope exposure area at rock failure can be
estimated based on Mathews stability graph. Research achievements have been widely adopted by Xianglushan
tungsten mine in China. Additionally, various methods of ground pressure monitoring are applied to ensure
the stability of the retention pillar, and the safety of goaf around the stope. Field application shows that
pressure monitoring results are reliable, stope structural parameters meet the mine production of objective
reality.

1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS 2 ROCK MASS QUALITY EVALUATION AND

MECHANICAL PARAMETERS
Xianglushan tungsten mine is a large scale scheeite
deposit with the second largest reserve in China, and 2.1 Rock mass quality evaluation
the first high grade in Asia. After early private min-
In order to analyze the stability of pillar and stope
ing, the deposit integrity has been destroyed, resulting
at different structural parameters, RMR method,
in goaf volume of 1.7 × 106 m3 in the east of line 16,
Q system, and BQ classification are adopted to eval-
increasing at a rate of about 2 × 105 m3 per year. Large
uate the rock mass quality of Xianglushan tungsten
amount of mining cavities with wide distribution, big
mine, as shown in Table 1.
volume and complex shapes have greatly threaten the
safety of the production safety and personnel safety.
Owing to the application of shallow hole blasting in 2.2 Mechanical parameters of rock mass
underground, personnel and equipment have to work in
The mechanical parameters of rock mass have a
the stope, which result in a long-term exposure to goaf.
great difference with that of rock due to the exis-
The main potential danger of mining under complex
tence of structural plane. Generally, rock mechanics
goaf lies in the destruction of pillars, large-scale roof
falling and air shock wave induced by it (Zhao 2003).
These disasters are closely related to the stress charac- Table 1. Rock mass classification of Xianglushan tungsten
teristics of the rock mass. Therefore, it is necessary to mine.
research into the influence law of size factors (pillar
width, room width, stope height, the exposed area of Rock
stope, etc.) on the stability of goaf and stope Thus, it mass type RMR Q BQ Stability
is required to carry out field engineering geological
Limestone 65 19.6 462.4 Medium∼Stable
investigation and theoretical analysis, and then make
Marble 63 24.0 521.0 Medium∼Stable
a reasonable scheme of residual ore excavation, adopt Hornfels 81 101.1 576.4 Stable∼Very Stable
reliable monitoring technology of ground pressure, Granite 84 135.7 597.2 Stable∼Very Stable
and guarantee the mining security.

1007
Table 2. Mechanical parameters of rock mass at Xianglushan tungsten mine.

Uniaxial Uniaxial
compressive tensile Internal Elastic
Rock mass strength strength Cohesion friction modulus Density Poisson
type (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) angle (◦ ) (GPa) (g·cm−3 ) ratio

Limestone 37.82 0.88 1.86 41.42 23.71 2.75 0.29

Marble 28.71 0.64 2.65 38.36 20.55 2.80 0.25
Hornfels 125.50 2.66 5.59 42.50 33.50 3.25 0.16
Granite 125.09 1.63 5.42 44.87 27.55 2.62 0.17

parameters are converted by Hoek-Brown failure cri- area of the ore pillar. Therefore, the average stress of
terion, which is well applicable to jointed rock mass, square pillar can be defined as
to meet engineering needs. Generalized Hoek-Brown
criterion can be expressed as (Marinos 2001).

where Wo = stope width, m; WP = pillar width, m;

where σ1 and σ3 = maximum and minimum effective
principal stresses at failure respectively; σci = the uni-
axial compressive strength of the intact rock material;
mb = the value of the Hoek-Brown constant for the
rock mass; s and a are constants which depend upon
the characteristics of the rock mass.
Disturbance factor D (Hoek 2002) was introduced
to modify relative formulas for more accurate value of
mb , s and a, which are respectively given by
where D = a factor at the range of 0∼1 which depend
upon the degree of disturbance to which the rock
mass has been subjected by blast damage and stress
relaxation (Hoek 2006). mi = the value of the Hoek-
Brown constant for the intact rock (Hoek 1994); GSI=
the Geological Strength Index at the range of 0∼100
introduced by Hoek et al (Hoek 1997).
Estimation results of mechanical parameters of rock
mass are shown in Table 2.
3 PILLAR STABILITY AND ITS SENSITIVITY
ANALYSIS OF INFLUENCE FACTORS
γ = rock unit weight, N · m−3 ; and H = mining
depth, m.
Pillar strength was calculated (Li 2010) through
Eqn.(5) proposed by Bieniawski.
where Sp = pillar strength, MPa; σc = the strength
parameter of ore and rock, MPa; h = stope height,
m; and β = a constant which depends upon the aspect
ratio of pillar.
Bieniawski and his coworkers concluded from their
research that, when the aspect ratio of pillar is greater
than 5, β = 1.4; otherwize, β = 1. Generally, the pillar
aspect ratio in the east of Xianglushan tungsten mine
is less than 1,which is indicative of β = 1.
And then, the sensitivity of various influence fac-
tors to pillar security coefficient was assessed by the
method of orthogonal range analysis (Li 1995), with-
out considering the interaction among various factors.
It is assumed that parameter values of various factors
can change in a certain range and step length, the secu-
rity coefficient of pillar can be calculated when each
factor is assigned value at different levels.
Stability analysis of rectangular pillar element can
be put into effect by calculating safety factor with area
bearing theory. According to Eqns. (5) and (6), the
safety factor of underground rectangular pillars can
be expressed as

For pillar design with room and pillar stoping, the pil-
lar stability (namely safety factor) and the influence
degree of various factors (namely sensitivity analysis)
should be assessed.
According to area bearing theory of pillar (Liu
2000), the maximum loaded weight by the pillar is
equal to that of overlying rock pillar extends to the
surface in the support space. The support area of rock
pillar includes shared mining area and cross sectional
On the basis of the in situ engineering geological
and mining technical conditions in the east area, all
influence factors of pillar stability are assigned values
seen in table 3. In order to overcome the trials devi-
ation, partial factors are assigned values within the
range using random sequence.
The linear interpolation within Fig. 1 indicates
that when the safety factor is 1.5, the room width

1008
Table 3. Experimental design of sensitivity analysis of influence factors.

Factor Mining depth Pillar height Room width Pillar width Rock mass strength Rock unit weight
(m) (m) (m) (m) (MPa) (kN · m−3 )

Level
1 40 35 8 3 90 2.85
2 105 27 12 5 70 2.65
3 170 19 16 7 130 2.80
4 235 11 20 9 110 2.70
5 300 3 24 11 50 2.75

Figure 2. Stope model after excavation.

4.1 Optimization of stope span

Figure 1. The relation of main factors to pillar safety factor.
is 21.03 m, and pillar width is 3.718 m. The results
show that the allowable safety factor which keeps pillar
stable has to be greater than 1.5 (Li 2010), the room
width should be controlled less than 21.03 m with the
pillar width more than 3.718 m.
4 SIZE EFFECT OF STOPE STRESS RESPONCE
According to the room and pillar stoping applied in
Xianglushan tungsten mine, stope stability is numer-
ically simulated (Figure 2) by elastic-plastic finite
element method of 3D-σ, so as to acquire a reason-
able stope span and pillar dimensions at different
sizes. Drucker-Prager yield criterion is used in calcu-
lation (Li 2006). Qnly gravity stress field is considered
because most of orebody is buried in the depth of
40∼200 m. The element number in finite element
model varies with the stope size.
As the stress state of stope is related with stope span
and height, it is required to analyze stress state at differ-
ent combination of stope span and height. In general,
the stope height of Xianglushan tungsten mine is about
10 m, ranging from 5 m to 11 m. Therefore, the stope
span is optimized when the stope height is of 5 m, 10 m
and 15 m.
The maximum tensile stress is chosen as major basis
of scheme comparison due to the weak resistance of
rock material to tension effect (see Figure 3 below).
When the stope height is 5 m, roof rock of under-
ground stope is limestone, with the ultimate tensile
strength of about 0.88 MPa. By linear interpolation,
when maximum tensile stress of σ 1 is 0.88 MPa, stope
span of 12.26 m can be obtained; when maximum
tensile stress of σ y is 0.88 MPa, stope span is 12.52 m.
Similarly, it is calculated that optimal stope span
is 13.23 m and 13.65 m as the corresponding stope
heights of 10 m and 15 m, respectively. Considering
the differences of rock mass structure, the stope span
of 12 m, 13 m and 13.5 m can be separately proposed
with the current mining depth of about 150 m.
4.2 Optimization of pillar size
Based on the matching relation of the stope span to
the height above, pillar size is optimized respectively
at 5 m, 10 m and 15 m of the stope heights.
Take stope height = 5 m and stope span = 12 m for
example (Figure 4). When the pillar span reaches 5 m,
maximum tensile stress around the stope is 0.962 MPa,
exceeding the ultimate tensile strength of limestone.
But the maximum tensile stress around the stope is

1009
0.725 MPa with the pillar span of 6 m, less than the
ultimate tensile strength. By linear interpolation, we
can get the pillar width of 5.33 m for maximum tensile
stress = 0.88 MPa.
From rock mass yield state (Table 4), when the pillar
width = 5 m, part of pillars show the yield; when pil-
lar width = 6 m, no pillars yield. Therefore, the pillar
width for yield limit height is 5.35 m. With com-
prehensive consideration of maximum tensile stress
around the stope and pillar yielding state, it is sug-
gested that the best pillar width should be 5.5 m with
the stope height = 5 m. Similarly, in the case of stope
height = 10m, 15 m, the best pillar width should be
6.92 m and 7.85 m, respectively. Therefore, when the
mining depth is about 150 m, the proposed pillar width
is seperately 5.5 m, 7.0 m and 8.0 m.

5 EVALUATION OF STOPE EXPOSURE AREA

Mathews stability graph method.is firstly proposed by

Figure 3. Variation of major tensile stress of σ1 and σy with
stope span at different stope height.
Mathews et al for the design of stoping mining method
in 1981 (Mathews 1981). Their research suggests an
empirical relationship among rock mass quality, min-
ing depth, stope size and stope stability. Subsequently,
Mathews stability graph is extrapolated by Mawdesley
et al (2001) and Mathews (2002).
On the basis of Mathews stability graph, the Q value
should firstly be revised to get Q value (Table 6).
Since the mining activity is mainly located in the shal-
low, the compressive stress induced by the overlying
rock of stope roof is generally quite small, because the
ratio of uniaxial compressive strength to induced com-
pressive stress is relatively great (σc /σi > 10), rock
strength factor (A) can be defined as 1 (Yao 2009).
Generally speaking, the dip of main joints in ore
body 70◦ or about 20◦ , but the attitude of main joint
set in the limestone and marble is gentle, almost close
to be horizontal. The adjustment parameter (B) of the
joints direction is determined referring the literature
(Li 2007): for limestone and marbles, B = 0.5; for
hornfels, B = 0.3.
The stope roof is layered structure whose average
dip is about 15◦ . Thus the gravity adjustment factor C
can be calculated to be 1.24.
Assuming the stope to be circular or square (Feng
2008), the corresponding exposed area of them can be
calculated according to Table 5.

Table 5. Stope exposed area estimated by the Mathews

stability graph.

Stope exposed
Rock Hydraulic area(m2 )
mass Stability radius
type Q number (m) Circular Square

Limestone 19.58 12.14 7.8 765 973

Marble 20.02 12.41 7.9 784 999
Figure 4. Variation of maximum tensile stress with pillar Hornfels 84.24 31.34 10.8 1466 1866
width at different stope height.

Table 4. Pillar yield state of different pillar width.

Stope height = 5m 3m 4m 5m 6m 7m
Stope span = 12 m Yield Yield Partial yield No yield No yield
Stope height = 10 m 4m 5m 6m 7m 8m
Stope span = 13m Yield Yield Partial yield No yield No yield
Stope height = 15 m 6m 7m 8m 9m 10 m
Stope span = 13.5 m Yield Partial Yield No yield No yield No yield

1010
Table 6. The scheme of ground pressure monitoring at Xianglushan tungsten ore.

Location Monitoring project Instruments Early warning indicators Monitoring results

Surface Strata movement Total Station For hard rock, soft rock and Two observation lines
observation weathered rock slope, when (120 observation points) on
the level (or vertical) the surface, one year
displacement of monitoring observation shows the trend
points are larger than of surface movement is
14 mm, 20 mm and 30 mm, very small.
respectively, the slope starts
to move.
AE monitoring of YSS AE monitor AE events number ≥ 18 times Among 30 observation points,
rock mass per min maximum events number of
two points are more than the
early warning value: point S5
and S23.
Underground Borehole stress ZLGH-20 Waring value = 8.25 MPa Stress value of total
monitoring borehole 30 points is observed within
stressmeter 0.1∼2.15 MPa.
Roof separation YHW150 alarm Alarm value of Separation value of two
monitoring logger of roof separation: 10 mm monitoring points for
separation 4 months: point D1 = 0.2 mm;
point D2 = 0.1 mm.

The stope exposure area above is estimated based on
circular and square, whereas the shape of underground
stope is square. Research indicates that the stability of
rectangle is poorer than that of square stope. In view of
the onsite underground mining condition, it is recom-
mended that the maximum exposure area of the stope:
for hornfels, 750∼900 m2 ; for marble, 750∼900 m2 ;
and for limestone, 1400∼1800 m2 .
which is illustrated that the pillars and goaf roof
currently are secure. During monitoring, especially
acoustic emission monitoring, the AE events of local
observation point occurs to exception mainly caused
by stress transfer due to mining activities, but the
values varies within the warning range.
7 CONCLUSIONS

6 SAFETY IMPROVEMENT MEASURES AND
GROUND PRESSURE MONITORING
After revealing the response law of the stress dis-
tributed in pillars and wall rock to the variation of stope
size, we can find out the best structural parameters for
mining design. Meanwhile, the safety improvement
measures to pillars and goaf in Xianglushan under-
ground mine can also be carried out. For the stope
with a large span, we can build artificial pillar with
the reinforced concrete at key locations, which sup-
port roof and reduce the stope span; for the pillars
whose size does not meet the requirement, they were
strengthened by outsourcing reinforced concrete. For
the ultrahigh goaf, they were filled by dry excavation
waste to reduce the goaf height. In addition, the dose
of the same section should be controlled in the blast-
ing process; when mining near the pillars, controlled
blasting was used to reduce the blasting damage on
them.
Ground pressure monitoring can be implemented
for retained pillars and goaf groups around the stope.
In consideration of the site condition, we can adopt
the scheme of combination of surface monitor and
underground monitor, shown in Table 6. Through
real-time observation, it is known that all the moni-
toring data varies in different degree during mining.
However, variation lies in the warning value range,
Based on the classification of rock mass with vari-
ous quality evaluation system at Xianglushan tungsten
mine, it is shown that the rock mass quality are of class
I∼II, which belong to stable or very stable rock mass.
The mechanical parameters of rock mass are derived
by generalized Hoek-Brown criterion, which are close
to the field test result.
Then, the sensitivity of influence factors of pillar
stability was assessed by the method of orthogonal
range analysis. We can see that the width of pillars
and stopes are the most affected factors on the pillar
stability. On this basis, it is proposed that the stope
width should be less than 21.03 m, with the pillar
width greater than 3.718 m.
The structural parameters of stope and pillars
are optimized by multi-program numerical simula-
tion with the 3D-σ FEM. Meanwhile, the reasonable
maximum exposed area of the stope roof are calculated
according to the Mathews stability graph.
After the distribution, transfer and appearance of
the stope pressure revealed, the pillars and goaf
are reinforced. Simultaneously, a monitoring system
of ground pressure is established, mainly based on
acoustic emission monitoring and stress monitoring,
and deformation (displacement) monitoring supple-
mented. Monitoring results show that the safety of
pillars and goaf roof can be guaranteed under the
current mining conditions.

1011
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge the National Natural Science
Foundation of China Key Program (No. 50934002),
Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative
Research Team in University (No. IRT0950), and
the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 50774011) for their financial support.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Study on anti-seepage scheme in subsidence area based on investigation of

the underlying goaf below Mahe River

S.C. Wu, D.G. Pan & Y.T. Gao

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: In order to maintain the stability of Mahe riverbed, a ore pillar of more than 200 m in width was
reserved under the riverbed. But the ore pillar has been exploited illegally and caused the ground subsidence.
It was threatening the stability of the river bed and the plant safety. Therefore it is necessary to treat the goaf
under riverbed as soon as possible. Firstly the engineering geology mapping, physical geological survey and
drilling technology have been utilized simultaneously to find out the present situation of goaf; Secondly, the
process of ground subsidence formation has been analyzed by using of finite element method, and the influence
of following mining was forecasted. Finally, different reinforcement schemes have been proposed for different
parts of the collapsed area, which include backfill in the goaf, grouting reinforcement in the superficial crevasse
belt and waterproof layer construction on the surface of the riverbed.

1 INTRODUCTION

During mining natural resources, the natural environ-

ment will inevitably be changed (Klukanová et al.
1999). Improper exploitation will cause geological
hazards such as surface subsidence, landslide, roof
falls (Ambrožič et al. 2003, He et al. 2009, Düzgün
2005). Once a geological accident occurs, it would
seriously affect the mine’s production. The research on
the occurrence mechanism of geological accident pro-
vides a reasonable basis of reinforcement measures,
which can effectively prevent similar accidents and
protect the mine’s safety (Ouyang et al. 2005, Yuan
et al. 2009). In the process of the research of the
geological mechanism of the accident, the study of
the status of goaf, geological structure, mechanical Figure 1. Mahe River photo on August 25th, 2005.
properties of rock are the bases, numerical calcula-
tion is a common means to simulate the development 2 ENGINEERING-GEOLOGICAL
of goaf, and on-site monitoring can effective observe CONDITIONS
changes in the development of geological disasters and
strengthening effect (Yang 2009, Mei et al. 2004, Xu To find out the present situation of goaf and develop a
et al. 2009, Hu et al. 1994, Carnec et al. 2000). reliable reinforcement scheme, three types of geology
Because the civilian illegally exploited the ore pillar surveys were carried out. These included engineering
which was reserved to make Mahe riverbed stability, geology survey, geophysical prospecting and drilling
local land subsidence occurred in the mining area of technology. Engineering geology survey investigated
Xishimen iron ore plant which is located in Wuan the minerals distribution, terrain topography, goaf and
County of Hebei Province. Figure 1 shows the pre- monitored ground surface settlement. The investi-
and post- subsidence riverbed location of Mahe River. gation results showed that there would be four big
The subsidence of the Mahe river trench has destroyed goafs (see in figure 2). Then we used the geophysi-
the anti-seepage structure of the riverbed, and would cal prospecting and drilling technology to check these
jeopardize the normal mine activities. In this paper, we goafs. Geophysical prospecting, which adopted the
investigate the mechanism of ground subsidence and new-generation EH-4 electromagnetic system pro-
forecast the development of settlement. Then, a rein- duced by the American EMI Corporation and the
forcement scheme was proposed to make the riverbed Geometrics Corporation, arranged two survey lines:
stability. L30 and L35. Moreover, 6 drill holes were carried out.

1013
Figure 2. Overall map of the position of the goafs and the survey point arrays.
On July 24th, 2004, 20 survey points were settled from
east to west which named E1, E2, . . . , E9, 0#, W10,
W9, . . . , W1. 10 survey points were selected from
south to north which named S1, S2, . . . , S6, 0#, N1,
N2, N3. The settlement of E9 and N2 were 0.340 m
and 0.549 m respectively on May 25th, 2005. The
subsidence area of riverbed zone reached 12568 m2 ,
and the total settlement areas reached 33175 m2 . The
monitoring data showed that the settlement were still
ongoing.
(2) The mined-out section investigation: It mainly
2.1 Engineering-geological survey
In order to check out the distributions of the mined-out
section, and determine the scope of the geophysi-
cal prospecting and drilling so that we can provide
the basis for the selection of the prospecting scheme,
the determination of the prospecting workload and the
geological explanation for the prospecting data. The
primary activities of this engineering geology survey
(3) The mined-out section surface distortion monitor:
are as follows:
(1) The engineering geological condition investiga-
tion into the surveying area: We carried out
the investigation concerning the topography and
geomorphology, the geological structure, the
1014
formation lithology, the earthquake, and the
hydrogeological conditions of the region, the
meteorology etc., which are all the characteris-
tics of the area in the vicinity of Mahe river
artificial channel. We have also collected the geo-
logical map, the terrain topography figure, the
geomorphological map, the earthquake structural
geological map, the minerals distribution map and
the geological horizontal map of the surveying
area; the on-the-spot survey was also carried out.
includes the mining situation investigation, the
mined-out section inspecting survey, the mine
pit survey, the surface distortion observation, the
investigation of the ground buildings’ destructive
situation etc.. According to the investigation, this
region is divided into four mined-out sections: 1#,
2#, 3#, and 4#, the concrete positions of which
are shown in Fig. 1. The volume of the mined-out
section is about 467000 m3 .
for investigating the influence that the mined-
out section has on the subsidence of the Mahe
riverbed, measuring the current surface distortion
speed and the actual situation of distortion, fore-
casting the amount of the future distortion of the

Figure 3. EH-4 resistance profile map in L30 line.
mined-out section, and finally evaluating the sta-
bility of the mined-out section. There is the surface
settlement happening only above and around the
1# mined-out section at present, and the 2#, 3#, 4#
mined-out sections have no subsidence, therefore
the surface displacement monitoring is mainly
arranged around the upper part of 1# mined-out
section, among which about 20 measure points
are arranged in the east and west direction, 9 mea-
sure points in the north and south direction (see in
figure 2), which are all basically parallel and ver-
tical to the distributing directions of the minerals.
(4) Settlement of east-west survey points are moni-
tored from July 24th, 2004 to August 25th, 2005
(see in figure 3). The number arrangement is from
east to west. The No. 1 is E1 point, No. 10 is
0# point, and No. 20 is W1 point. Through the
subsidence monitor, in east-west direction, the set-
tlement of E9, 0# and W10 points were relatively
large, and the settlements were 0.565 m, 0.435 m
and 0.363 m respectively; in the north-south direc-
tion, the settlement of N1, N2 and N3 were
relatively large, and the settlements were 0.795 m,
0.663 m and 0.517 m respectively. The monitoring
result indicates that these six observation points
are all located above the 1# mined-out section,
as the mined-out section is near the surface and
the exposed area is rather large, therefore the
corresponding quantity of the surface subsidence
is larger.
2.2 physical characteristics of Rock mass
In order to understand the electrical characteristic of
the ore, 20 samples are collected and cut into rectangu-
lar, the cross-sectional area is 3 cm * 3 cm, the length
is 6 cm, and the four-pole law is adopted to determine
the electronic ρ of the specimen.
The statistics of the specimen measurement result
are shown in Figure 4. We can see that: There are obvi-
ous differences about electronic resistivity between the
Ore and the surrounding rock, which indicate that it
is a good choice to use the resistivity method in this
area. As the general geophysical prospecting method
1015
Figure 4. The average resistivity of the rock samples.
Table 1. The EH-4 sounding detecting arrangement.
Survey Point Section Starting point
line number length (m) Phase-Coordinate
L30 21 400 780
L35 11 200 100
Total 32 600 –
is very difficult to fulfill the task considering that the
ore and the mined-out sections are deeply buried, we
choose the new-generation EH-4 electromagnetic sys-
tem developed by the American EMI Corporation and
the Geometrics Corporation.
2.3 Geological survey with EH-4
According to the position of the subsidence area and
the situation of the cracks, we arranged two survey
lines: L30 and L35 in and around the collapsing area.
The survey line direction of L30 is NW82◦ , the length
is 400 m, and the measuring points are 20 m from each
other. The survey line direction of L35 is NW79◦ , the
length is 200 m, and the measuring points are 20 m
from each other. The concrete work load and the survey
line arrangements are shown in figure 1 and table 1.
The underground mined-out sections and the loose
rock formed after the mined-out section collapse
belong to the discontinued geological interface. The
tectonic deformation, fragmentation, and the dynamic
metamorphism can lead to the obvious change of the
physical state, and the chemical property in the vir-
gin rock. Therefore, there are great differences in the
physical and chemical properties between the struc-
ture fracture zone and the surrounding rock (the weak
distortion geological body). Figure 5 is the mea-
surement result of L30 by EH-4, from which we
can see: 1) the high and low resistance of this pro-
file is clear, the structural extension is significant,
the tendency is clear, the loose body and mined-out
section that not filled with water possessed high resis-
tance. 2) The No. 1 high-resistance abnormity is
located in the 1# mined-out section, approximately
100∼200 m beneath the ground; the height of the
abnormal body is about 20 meters. Since this region
has already collapsed, it is not difficult to know that this

Figure 5. L30 line EH-4 resistance profile map.
part of the mined-out section does not collapse com-
pletely and there are still some small regions standing.
3) The No. 2 high-resistance is located at 50∼100 m
underground, as can be seen from figure 1. We find
that this region is the 3# mined-out section, so we can
draw the conclusion that the 3# mined-out section is
about to reach the surface, and should be paid special
attention to.
2.4 Engineering geological drilling
The conclusion deduced from the geology map-
ping and geophysical prospecting should be validated
through the in-situ drilling.
The location of the hole should be determined
through the engineering geology mapping data, the
abnormal detection data by EH-4 and the deformation
data. As the Mahe river artificial channel is a water
diversion project, it is important to prevent the seepage
of the river bed. Therefore, we cannot set the survey
holes inside the riverbed but only on the riverbank. We
place 6 survey holes in all and the distribution of them
is shown in figure 2.
By comparing the 6 survey drilling data and the
mapping data, we can draw the conclusion as follows:
1. The settlement of 1# mined-out section has reached
the surface, the extraction rate of the rock is quite
low, the RQD value is very low, and the drill drop-
ping phenomenon is observed in some parts, which
means that the mined-out section has suffered the
cover rock caving. By comparing the EH-4 survey
results, there is still much room in the 1# mined-out
section, and the mining in the 1# mined-out section
is still going on, the volume of the room is still
increasing, and there is still the possibility that the
large-scale settlement might happen.
2. The rock core of the 1# mined-out section is fairly
good and the RQD value is quite high, there is drill
dropping at about 170 m height of the hole, meaning
that there is no large-scale settlement happening
in this area but the hidden safety dangers can’t be
ignored.
1016
3. The rock core extraction rate in 3# mined-out sec-
tion is not high, the bed rock is cracked, and the drill
dropping is seen at the height of about 60 m, indi-
cating that the settlement in 3# mined-out section
might have already happened, the rock falling strip
is near the surface and the abnormal high-resistance
of No. 2 from EH-4 can also prove it. Therefore,
there is the possibility that the large-scale settle-
ment happened in the 3# mined-out section, and
with the mining activity still going on, we should
take measures promptly.
4. The rock core extraction rate in 3# mined-out sec-
tion is quite high, and there is drill dropping at the
height of about 120 m, meaning there is no large-
scale settlement happening in this area. However,
as the exposure area is expanding, there is still a
possibility of collapsing, and the risk level is still
multiplying.
3 NUMERICAL CALCULATIONS
After geology surveys, we investigated the evolution
of ground surface subsidence, which included three
parts: 1) the rock physical mechanics experiment; 2)
the collapse reason on the goafs; 3) the ground surface
settlement induced by the future mining activity. The
numerical simulation analysis was completed by the
South Korean MIDAS/GTS software.
3.1 Calculation parameters selection
Table 2 is mechanics parameters of two typical ores.
The tests include: density test, the uniaxial compres-
sive strength test, the triaxial compression test, and
split test. As well known, the in-situ strength of rock is
less than those measured in lab. Therefore, adjusted by
the effects of size and joints and so on, rock mechanics
parameters applied to numerical calculation are shown
in table 3.
3.2 Numerical calculation model
According to size and extent of goafs, a 1000 m ×
1000 m × 450 m FEM model is established. The model
is shown in figure 6 which contains 73066 nodes and
415244 elements. The average depths of 1#, 2#, 3#,
4# goafs are 170 m, 230 m, 200 m, 200 m. And those
thicknesses are 20 m, 5 m, 10 m, 5 m respectively.
As the goafs adopt the all-ground mining method,
which means they pick the rich and discard the poor,
remain the ore pillar by the lean ore. The height of
the room is 2∼20 m, the width is 6∼30 m and the
point pillar is of 4 × 4 m or 5 × 5 m. The design for
the excavation procedures adopt the width of 30 m,
with the reservation of ore pillars ribbon, the width of
which is 5 m. The mining directions of the 1#, 2#, 3#,
4# goafs are just all from both sides of the riverbed
to the center. According to the present situation of the
goafs, the 1#, 3#, 4# goafs are still running, the 2# has
already stopped. On simulating the excavation design,
Table 2. Rock mechanics parameters of experimental results.

Density Elastic Poisson’s Tensile Cohesion Internal friction

Rock (kg/m3 ) modulus (GPa) ratio strength (MPa) (MPa) angle (◦ )

limestone 2600 68.8 0.32 3.651 12.12 59.36

magnetite 3400 90.4 0.25 7.687 10.94 60.70

Table 3. Rock mechanics parameters used in numerical calculation.

Density Elasticity Poisson’s Resistance to Internal friction

Rock quality (kg/m3 ) model (GPa) ratio tension (MPa) Cohesion (MPa) angle (◦ )

limestone 2600 15 0.3 0.33 3.2 30

magnetite 3400 24 0.25 0.4 4 38
filling 2300 10 0.35 0.25 2.7 26

Figure 6. Finite element model.

the procedure is divided into 7 steps. The first 6 steps
are the present situation of the mining, while the 7th
step is the mining forecast simulation.
3.3 Numerical results of present mining status
Figure 7 is the comparison between the calculated dis-
placement and monitor displacement of the east-west
direction survey line. The calculation results were the
6th step analysis which simulated the present min-
ing status, and the monitor results were the settlement
results on August 25th, 2005.
We can see that: 1) The ground surface settlement
which were obtained by FEM are consistent with the
monitored ones. 2) The maximum computation dis-
placement of the N1 measuring point has already
exceeded −1.0 m. According to the actual situation
of the Mahe riverbed collapse, the largest measured
subsidence is −0.795 m on August 25th, 2005. A new
sedimentation took place on the basis of the original
subsiding region, the total amount of which exceeded
−1.0 m, indicating that the accordance between the
numerical simulation result and the present situation
of the Mahe riverbed collapse.
Figure 7. The sedimentation contrast between the monitor
and calculation result.
3.4 The forecast of the settlement
After the 6th step in mining, the ore body in 2# mined-
out section has almost been picked out, if we continue
to mine in the 1#, 3#, 4# goafs, the roof-fall belt will
enlarge, and finally get to the surface. If we didn’t treat
the goaf and let the 1#, 3#, 4# goafs continue, the Mahe
riverbed settlement scope and subsidence quantity will
increase obviously. If the treatment scheme is not car-
ried out in time, it will lead to the destruction of the
Mahe’s surface reinforce layer.
4 TREATMENT SCHEME
As is shown in the numerical simulation result of
the goaf exploration and the law of the rock move-
ment, we proposed the reinforcement scheme as
follows: (1) Adopt the classificatory sand cement
filling technology in the goafs and roof-fall belts;
(2) Adopt the grouting anti-seepage reinforcement
technical program in the crevasse belts of superficial
parts; (3) Adopt the seal reinforcement anti-seepage

1017

Figure 8. Settlements of E7, E9 and W10 points.
technical program in the subsiding areas on the surface
of the riverbed.
Considering the defects of above-mentioned treat-
ment scheme, such as complexity and relatively long
construction period, two measures are adopted to
ensure the underground mining space keeping from
river water, for the purpose of implementing engineer-
ing program rapidly. First, illegal mining operations
are banned to prevent the enlargement of goaf. Sec-
ondly, anti-seepage treatment is conducted in the
ground settlement area of Ma He riverbed.
The reinforcement schemes were completed on
February 29th 2008. Figure 8 showed the settlement
of E7, E9 and W10 points which obtained by in-situ
monitoring. We can find that the settlement increased
very little after March 23th 2008, and it means that
settlement of Mahe region is almost finished.
The survey results showed that reinforcement
scheme, including goaf backfill, crevasse grouting in
superficial part and surface sealing, is an effective
method to treat the subsidence induced by goaf, and
the subsidence value tends to be stable (see in figure 8).
Therefore, grouting reinforcement for the river-bed
subsequently will be cancelled, for the purpose of cost
saving.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The subsidence of the earth’s surface caused by under-
ground goafs and its cure is an issue possessing great
theoretical meaning and use-value. By analyzing the
subsidence of the Mahe riverbed which is caused by
the underground mining activity under the Xishimen
iron ore mine, it is easy to draw the conclusion that
if the illegally mining is not prohibited, there will
be the possibility of even worse collapse on a larger
scale. The survey results showed that reinforcement
scheme, including goaf backfill, crevasse grouting in
1018
superficial part and surface sealing, is an effective
method to treat the subsidence induced by goaf, and
the subsidence value tends to be stable (see in figure 8).
Therefore, grouting reinforcement for the riverbed
subsequently will be cancelled, for the purpose of
cost saving.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research presented has been possible thanks to
the kind support provided by the Program for New
Century Excellent Talents in University (NTSC-06-
0084) and the sponsors of Han Xing Iron Ore Mine
Administration Bureau for providing the research fund,
in-situ test assistance and monitor work.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Optimization of mining parameters for coal mining under unconformable

overlying stratums

Y. Zhang, H.G. Ji & J.A. Wang

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China

J.H. Ye
Key Lab. of Engineering Geological Mechanics, Institute of Geology and Geophysics,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Division of Civil Engineering, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK

ABSTRACT: Safe coal mining is closely related to appropriate mining parameters due to that the key mining
parameters directly decide the failure extent in overlying stratums. In this study, taking the geological conditions
of 3# coal seam in Shizuishan mine in Ningxia, China as the engineering background (a huge discontinuity plane
exists between the quaternary loose soil and the coal stratums), the stress, displacement fields and the fractures
development during the process of mining are analyzed by the DEM numerical method. Six mining schemes
are designed to optimize the mining parameters, including the width of waterproof pillar, width of working face
and the mining sequence.

1 INTRODUCTION effect of ancient rivers. Alluvium with huge thickness

It is well know that water inflow/inrush at mining
working face is related to the fractures development
in overburden rock mass in the process of the coal
mining. The previous investigations (Zhang & Shen
2004, Wang & Park 2003, Hu & Wang 2005) and
experimental tests (Xia et al. 2008) indicate that
the fracture development in overburden rock mass is
dependent on the coal mining ranges, and also greatly
dependent on the width of working face, the size
of waterproof pillar and the reinforcement methods.
Therefore, the determination of the reasonable mining
parameters based the geological conditions of working
sites is the precondition for safety mining in practical
engineering.
In this study, taking the 3# coal seam in Shizuishan
mine as the engineering background (a huge discon-
tinuity plane exist between the quaternary loose soil
and the coal stratums), the Discrete Element Method
is adopted to investigate coal mining induced stress
field, displacement field and the characteristics of frac-
ture development. Six mining schemes are designed to
optimize the parameters of width of waterproof pillar,
mining sequence and width of mining working face
for the 3# coal seam in Shizuishan mine.
accumulates on the slopes of bedrock erosion surface.
The thickness of sediment gradually increases from
east-south to west-north. The thick quaternary sedi-
ments lie on the coal stratums, and contact the coal stra-
tums in the form of angular unconformity (Figure 1).
The lithologies of the quaternary stratum are mainly
sand, gravel, and the clay soil layer. The unconformity
plane is an erosion slope surface inclined to west. The
gradient of the slope is generally 45 degree. The trend
and tendency of coal stratums are approximately north-
east and south west respectively. Average thickness of
3# coal seam is 7.66 m. Underground water in qua-
ternary stratums in this area is supplied adequately by
the water in the alluvium of Yinchuan plain, and the
fracture water in rock mass of Helan Mountain. Under
the condition that the thick quaternary alluviums con-
taining huge amount of groundwater directly lie on the
coal stratums in form of unconformity, it is necessary
and meaningful for the safety mining to investigate the
mining-induced fracture development in overburden
layers, and propose some effective mining measures
to control the fractures development.
3 COMPUTATIONAL MODEL AND
PARAMETERS

2 ENGINEERING BACKGROUND In this study, the Discrete Element Method software

UDEC2D is adopted. In engineering, the DEM tool is
West mining area of Ningxia Shizuishan mine is an effective analysis tool to investigate the mechani-
located at the west-north wing of Shizuishan syncline. cal behaviours of discontinuous engineering mediums,
The tertiary stratum doesn’t exist due to the scouring such as rock masses. It has been widely applied to

1019
 Table 1. Mechanical properties of overburden rocks and
soil.

Rock E σt P  C
types (Mpa) (Mpa) ν (kg/m3 ) (◦ ) (Mpa)

1 Surface 30 0.04 0.3 1800 18 0.4

soil
2 Coarse 10000 0.86 0.21 2550 45 4.5
sandstone
3 Medium 12500 0.97 0.14 2610 41 2
sandstome
4 Fine 19600 0.43 0.13 2650 32 3.5
sandstone
5 Mud 2970 0.86 0.38 2640 32 1.4
stone
Figure 1. Sectional profile of unconformity strata. 6 Coal 1000 0.8 0.3 1330 35 1.25
7 Sandy 5680 1 0.23 2590 40 1.2
mudstone

Table 2. Mechanical parameters of the rock joints.

Rock JKn JKs  c a0 ares

types (MPa) (MPa) (◦ ) (MPa) k* (m) (m)
Figure 2. Two-dimension numerical computational model.
Surface 150 50 15 0.1 500 0.005 0.0005
model the development of fractures in rock mass
soil
around the underground carves, tunnels, and to evalu- Coarse 8160 3450 40 1.25 300 0.002 0.0002
ate the effect of joints and faults in coal mining (Chen sandstone
2002, Hao et al. 2007, Geng 2009). Medium 7350 3000 37 0.5 200 0.002 0.0002
A 2D plane strain computational model is estab- sandstome
lished along the tendency of coal layers according Fine 5400 2230 28 0.87 150 0.002 0.0002
to the geological conditions and mechanical proper- sandstone
ties of the 3# coal seam. The length and height of Mud 2400 1000 28 0.37 100 0.001 0.0001
the computational model is 2154 m and 540 m respec- stone
Coal 400 150 33 0.31 300 0.005 0.0005
tively (Figure 1). Due to that the zone near to the 3#
Sandy 3700 1650 37 0.3 150 0.002 0.0005
coal seam is the region mostly affected by the exca- mudstone
vation of coal mining, the size of mesh in this zone is
greatly smaller than that in other zones. The thickness *The unit of permeability of joints k is pa−1 s−1 .
of 3# coal seam is 7.6 m. The average distance from
the upper boundary to the 3# coal seam is about 325 m,
and it is 240 m from bottom boundary to 3# coal seam. parameters of rock mass in natural site generally are
Due to that there are some rocks stratums with signif- greater than that determined in laboratory. In this
icantly different mechanical properties in the site, the study, the parameters used in computational model
layered zones with different parameters are adopted in are obtained from the original data determined in
the computational domain. Figure 2 shows the compu- laboratory and some modification has been per-
tational model established in this study. In this DEM formed according to previous working experiences.
model, the effect of joints, discontinuities have been The parameters used for all rock layers in computa-
taken into consideration sufficiently. tional model are listed in Table 1 and Table 2.
In this study, the Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion is
used for the failure criterion.
4 OPTIMIZATION PROCEDURE

The purpose of this study contains three aspects:

where σ 1 , σ 3 are the maximum and minimum principle
stress, c and φ are the cohesion and friction angle.
It is well known that the parameters, such as
Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio determined in lab-
oratory can’t characterize the real mechanical prop-
erties in natural site due the size effects. The com-
pression/tension strength, Young’s modulus and other
(1) investigating the dynamic development regulation
of the stress field, displacement field and fractures in
rock mass induced by the coal mining under differ-
ent mining parameters through the DEM modelling;
(2) investigating the propagating and closure regula-
tion of coal mining induced fractures in rock mass;
(3) determining the optical width of waterproof pil-
lar, the width of mining working face and the mining

1020
Table 3. Summary of mining schemes.

Length Width of Width of

of work waterproof Mining coal
Schemes face (m) pillar (m) sequence layers(m)

1 150 0 Downward 15
2 150 80 Downward 15
3 150 150 Downward 15
4 150 80 Upward 15
5 90 80 Downward 15
6 90 80 Upward 15

Figure 4. The distribution of the vertical displacement after

the four working faces are excavated for scheme 1, 2 and 3.

On the contrary, if the reserved coal seam is too thin,

Figure 3. Optimization procedures of mining parameters.
sequence. In the coal mining design, the main min-
ing parameters taken into consideration mainly are
width of waterproof pillar, width of mining working
face and mining sequence. Through the free permu-
tations from the above three parameters, six mining
schemes is designed in the study for the optimization
study (Figure 3).
The optimization procedures adopted in this study
are (Figure 3):
1) The scheme 1, 2 and 3 are used to determine
the optical width of waterproof pillar near to the
unconformity.
2) The scheme 2, 4, 5 and 6 are used to determine the
optical mining sequences.
3) The scheme 3, 4, 5 and 6 are used to determine the
optical length of the mining working face.
Once the optical width of waterproof pillar, min-
ing sequences and length of the mining working face
are determined, the optical mining scheme is finally
determined.
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
5.1 Optimization of width of waterproof pillar
Generally, in order to prevent the surface water or
underground water rushing into the working site, some
coal with certain width are reserved as the waterproof
layer if the coal mining is performed under aquifers or
near to the hydraulic conductive faults. If the reserved
coal seam is too thick, the coal mining activity is safe;
however, a great number of the coal would be wasted.
the coal mining activity would be threaten by the water
inrushing. Therefore, it is meaningful to determine the
reasonable width of waterproof pillar. Figure 4 illus-
trates the distributions of the displacement field after
the four working faces are excavated for the scheme 1,
2 and 3.
Figure 4 obviously shows that the overburden soil
and rock are significantly affected by the coal min-
ing excavation. After excavating, the overburden soil
and rock settles downward driven by their own gravity.
The results indicate that the maximum displacement of
overburden rock mass would be 5 m to 7 m. This huge
displacement would be attributed to the falling of the
rocks from the top of roadway to its bottom (the height
of mining roadway is 7.6 m). The ability of the simula-
tion of the falling of rock is an important characteristic
of DEM method. It is also found that the existence of
the discontinuity plane in the computational domain
has no significant effect on the distribution of the
displacement field.
Figure 5 shows the distribution of the newly gen-
erated fractures induced by the coal mining after
the four working faces being excavated. An impor-
tant phenomenon observed from Figure 5 is that the
existence of discontinuity plane has significant effect
on the distribution of newly generated fractures in
overburden soil and rock. The discontinuity place
could effectively block the extension of coal mining
induced fracture from overburden rock to overburden
soil. Therefore, there is basically no fracture gener-
ated in the overburden soil (loose status, deposited in
Quaternary).
Another results would be obtained from Figure 5
is the maximum height of the fracture development
induced by the coal mining. It is shown that the max-
imum height of fracture development is 112.78 m,
109.00 m and 101.54 m respectively in Scheme 1, 2
and 3. From the point of safety, the Scheme 3 would
be the best plan in which the width of waterproof pil-
lar is 150 m. On one side, the waterproof pillar with

1021
 Table 4. The development height of the coal mining induced
fractures in different mining scheme.

Length Width of Development

of work waterproof Mining height
Schemes face (m) pillar (m) sequence (m)

1 150 0 Downward 112.78

2 150 80 Downward 109.00
3 150 150 Downward 101.54
4 150 80 Upward 106.0
5 90 80 Downward 52.0
6 90 80 Upward 40.6

Figure 6. Vertical displacement at different depths in

Scheme 2 (Downward) and 4 (Upward).

Figure 6 and 7 illustrate the vertical displacement

Figure 5. The distribution of the newly generated fractures
induced by the coal mining after the four working faces
excavating.
width 150 m would effectively decrease the maximum
height of coal mining induced fractures, which can
greatly decrease the probability of that the overburden
impermeable layer is run through by the newly gener-
ated fractures. On the other side, the thick waterproof
pillar would more effective to prevent the water inrush
into the working face in engineering. The maximum
height of fracture development in total six schemes are
all listed in Table 4.
5.2 Optimization of mining sequence
In engineering, the mining sequence is an important
factor to affect the fracture development and the dis-
placement field. Different mining sequence would
lead to different results. The mining sequence mainly
has downward and upward method. The scheme 2 and
4, scheme 3 and 5 are chosen to investigate the effect
of the mining sequence.
at different depths in Scheme 2 (Downward) and 4
(Upward), and in Scheme 3 and 5.
It is found from Figure 6 that there is no sig-
nificant difference for the vertical displacement at
depth y = −152 m, −216 m and −277 m between the
downward method (Scheme 2) and upward method
(Scheme 4). The same tendency is observed in Fig-
ure 7 at depth y = −216 m and −277 m between the
two mining method. However, there is a significant dif-
ference at depth y = −152 m between the two mining
method. If the downward mining method is adopted,
the maximum vertical displacement is nearly 2 times
of that if the upward mining method is used. From this
point, the upward mining method is suggested for the
3# coal mining in Shizuishan mine.
5.3 Optimization of width of working face
The width of working face in coal mining could
directly affect the distribution of stress field, dis-
placement field, and the development of fractures in
overburden rock mass. The large working face would

1022

Figure 7. Vertical displacement at different depths in
Scheme 3 (Downward) and 5 (Upward).
Figure 8. The vertical displacement at depth y = −152 m in
Scheme 3 and 5, Scheme 4 and 6.
lead to the collapse of rock, the water inrush due to that
the impermeable layer is run through by the newly gen-
erated fractures. Small working face will decrease the
mining efficiency and increase the mining cost. The
determination of a reasonable width of working face
is compulsory.
Scheme 3 and 5, and Scheme 4 and 6 are chosen
to investigate the effect of the width of working face,
and to determine a reasonable mining width for the
3# coal seam in Shizuishan mine. Figure 8 shows the
vertical displacement at depth y = −152 m in Scheme
3 and 5, Scheme 4 and 6. Obviously, if the width of
working face L is 150, the vertical displacement is
1023
significantly greater than that if the width of working
face L is 90 m. For the sake of safety, the small width
is suggested for 3# coal seam mining. However, the
size of mining machines, the economic benefits should
be also taken into consideration when determining a
reasonable width of working face based on the above
width determined from the aspect of mining safety.
6 CONCLUSION
In this study, taking the 3# coal seam in Shizuishan
mine as the engineering background (a huge discon-
tinuity plane exist between the quaternary loose soil
and the coal stratums), the Discrete Element Method
is adopted to investigate coal mining induced stress
field, displacement field and the characteristics of frac-
ture development. Six mining schemes are designed to
optimize the parameters of width of waterproof pillar,
mining sequence and width of mining working face
for the 3# coal seam in Shizuishan mine.
The simulation results indicate that the huge dis-
continuity plane basically has no effect on the dis-
placement field; however, it has significant effect on
the distribution of the stress field and the coal min-
ing induced fractures in overburden soil and rock
mass. The discontinuity plane can effectively block
the extension of the coal mining induced fracture
from the overburden rock mass to overburden loose
quaternary soil.
The optimization investigation shows that the opti-
cal width of waterproof pillar and mining working face
would be 150 m and 90 m.The mining sequence should
be upward.
REFERENCES
Chen, J.Q. 2002. Research on Development Height of Water
Flowing Fractured Zone. Coal Science & Technology
Magine, (3): 5–6.
Geng, Y.M. 2009. Study on Evolution Law of Stress Arch of
Overlying Strata in Mines. Journal of Shandong Univer-
sity of Science and Technology (Natural Science), 28(4):
43–47.
Hao, Z.Y., Lin, B.Q., Zhang, J.S. & Zhu, C.J. 2007. Numerical
simulation and analysis of the law of overlaying strata
movement in the mining of protective layers of coal seams
based on UDEC. China Mining Magazine, 16(7): 81–84
(in Chinese).
Hu, Y.Q., Wang, T.F., Zhao, J.Z., Tian, J.T. & Shi, X.Z. 2005.
New model of predicting the widths of hydraulic frac-
tures in high permeability loose formation. Natural Gas
Industry, 25(6): 65–66.
Wang, J.A. & Park, H.D. 2003. Coal mining above a con-
fined aquifer. International Journal of Rock Mechanics
and Mining Sciences, 40(4):537–551.
Xia, X.H., Sui, W.H. & Yang, W.F. 2008. Model test numer-
ical simulation of overburden facture process in multi-
coal seam mining. Journal of Engineering Geology,
16(4): 528–532.
Zhang, J.C. & Shen, B.H. 2004. Coal mining under aquifers
in China: a case study. International Journal of Rock
Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 41(4): 629–639.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Deformation analyses of excavated-underground metro station at different

depths in soil-rock combined strata

J.G. Zheng, T. Liu & X.H. Wang

Key Lab of Marine Environmental Science and Ecology, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China,
Qingdao, China
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China

ABSTRACT: Qingdao is located in a coastal area with thin soil strata; thus, the typical geological structures with
soil in the upper part and rock in the lower part are often encountered, that is, the so-called “soil-rock combined
strata”. In this paper, the excavated-underground Fushansuo Station of Qingdao Metro M3 Line was based to
carry out numerical calculations for different depths and construction methods to analyze the deformation of
surrounding rock and distribution of plastic zone, and as a result, the optimum burial depth was determined
and a kind of design method was proposed for determining the burial depth of excavated-underground metro
stations in these areas with soil-rock combined strata. The research results have been used in directing practical
design and calculations and hence contributed to the accumulation of theories and experience in construction of
excavated-underground metro stations in Qingdao area.

1 ENGINEERING BACKGROUND

1.1 Brief introduction to the engineering project

Fushansuo Station of Qingdao Metro M3 Line is
located in the south of the junction of Nanjing
Road and Jiangxi Road, and elongates along the
former from south to north. It is an underground
island platform with two stories and will be the
interchange for the planned Metro M5 Line. It cov-
ers K8 + 346∼K8 + 618.6 in mileage, 272.6 m in
total length and 21.4 m in width. The excavated-
underground construction method will be applied at
the depth around 15.3 m. There are high-rise buildings
on its southwest corner and west side, residential build-
ings with 6-7 stories on its east and the playground of
Nanjing Road Primary School on its northeast. Figure 1. Structure and geological profile of Fushansuo
Nanjing Road is 25–35 meters in width, with a Station.
dense traffic flow on the road surface and a condensed
combination of municipal pipelines at the station. underlain by the Yanshanian granite with a severely-
The slab culvert along Nanjing Road on the north of weathered zone of great thickness, a fluctuant rock
Jiangxi Road is buried at the depth of 2.5 m. Accord- surface of medium∼slightly-weathered bedrock, and
ing to current conditions of Nanjing Road, demanding a burial depth varying between 7.4 m and 26.00 m.
requirements should be adopted to control the ground Among the Quaternary soil strata, only Stratum ①1
settlement of the station. Figure 1 is the structure and Artificial fill and Stratum ⑤ Coarse∼gravelly sand
geological profile of Fushansuo Station. have a relatively good water-bearing capacity, while
the completely∼severely-weathered bedrock has a
poor water-bearing capacity, therefore, the ground
1.2 Engineering and hydrologic geological
water is not abundant. However, F10 Rupture breaks
conditions
through the center of the station at the position of
Fushansuo Station is excavated in the upper Qua- K8 + 420. With a great quantity of cataclastic rock
ternary strata – Stratum ①1 Artificial fill, Stratum and joints as well as fissures, the rupture is a natural
⑤ Coarse∼gravelly sand and Stratum ⑦1 Silty clay, passage of ground water.

1025

Figure 2. Partially magnified FEM mesh.
2 FEM MODEL
2.1 Geometric model of FEM
The cross section K8 + 438.43 of Fushansuo Station
was selected for the numerical analysis model, for
it’s the most unfavorable one in geological conditions.
Because the station is a narrow and long building, it can
be approximately treated as a planar strain problem by
taking one meter of the middle part as one calculation
unit. The combination of surrounding rock and struc-
ture and step-by-step construction process were taken
into consideration in the planar strain model calculated
with the finite-element method (FEM). The stimulated
calculation of tunnel covered 80 m vertically and 200
m horizontally (4 times span length on either side of
the tunnel), respectively. According to the scale of the
drawing, in the model, the tunnel was taken as 15.5 m
in height, 22 m in span length and 8.5 m in wall height.
The FEM model was based on Plaxis 8.5. Part of the
model is magnified and illustrated in Figure 2.
2.2 Simulation of supporting methods
The vault is in severely-weathered granite, overlain
by soft and permeable artificial fill, silty clay and
coarse∼gravelly sand. Several reinforcement methods
were adopted in preliminary planning against ground
settlement, landslip or water inrush during the course
of construction, e.g., leading ductile grouting, lead-
ing pipe-shed, pre-grouting, spraying concrete on the
working face and anchoring system. Design parame-
ters for preliminary support are listed in Table 1.
The model involved rock-soil mass of site ground,
initial lining and reinforced soil mass. The initial lin-
ing was spraying concrete 0.3 m in thickness, and
the secondary lining was moulded concrete of 0.8 m
in thickness. As far as the supporting effect is con-
cerned, pipe-shed and conduit grouting are the same,
summarized as follows:
1. Beam effect: Steel pipes or ductules are laid down
in advance. They can form a beam structure with the
supporting of working face and the support behind
1026
it, and can keep surrounding rock from collapsing
and slacking.
2. Reinforcement effect: It can increase the intensity
and rigidity of surrounding rock to some extent
because cement slurry or mortar is grouted in the
steel pipes or ductules.
In numerical simulation, a reinforced zone of a
certain thickness was supposed to develop in the tun-
nel chamber. Hence, the simulation of pre-supporting
effect with pipe-shed and ductule grouting was real-
ized through equivalent method–increasing surround-
ing rock parameters in the reinforced zone. Stratum 16
Severely-weathered granite and Stratum 17 Medium-
weathered granite were chosen as the reinforced zone.
According to “Overall Design Description of
Fushansuo Station” and the construction situations,
strata in the site ground were simplified appropriately
into six strata.
Pipe-shed and ductule grouting can be simu-
lated with the equivalent reinforcement principle. The
reduced elastic modulus of concrete can be calculated
with Equation (1).
where, E = reduced elastic modulus of concrete:
E0 = initial elastic modulus of concrete; Sg = section
area of steel arch; Es = is elastic modulus of steel;
Sc = section area of concrete.
2.3 Simulation of working conditions
The deformation values of the station at burial depths
of 10 m, 9 m, 8 m and 7 m were calculated respectively
to analyze deforming conditions and determine the
burial depth of the appropriate burial depth of the sta-
tion under soil-rock combined geological conditions.
3 CALCULATION RESULTS
Results of simulation calculations at decreasing depths
indicated that the calculation was non-convergent
when the burial depth was reduced to 6 m, suppos-
ing the original conditions remained unchanged. The
maximum ground settlements under depths of 10 m,
9 m, 8 m, and 7 m are listed in Table 2.
It can be concluded from Table 1, Figure 3 and Fig-
ure 4 that vault would enter the coarse∼gravelly sand
and no longer stay in the severely-weathered granite
when the burial depth was reduced to 7 m. Compared
with other burial depths, the maximum displacement
of ground surface increased abruptly after initial lin-
ing. The displacement of ground surface increased
linearly as the burial depth decreased from 10 m to
8 m, but the displacement values were still acceptable.
Plastic deformation zones around the station were
also simulated at burial depths of 10 m, 9 m, 8 m and
7 m respectively.
Table 1. Design parameters for preliminary support.

Item Material and specification Size of structure

Leading pipe-shed 108 × 6, l = 20∼30m Longitudinal interval: double-truss steel support,

ring interval: 0.4 m
Leading ductile grouting 32 × 3.25, l = 2.5∼3.5 m Longitudinal interval: double-truss steel support,
ring interval: 0.4 m
Reinforcement fabric 6, 150 × 150 mm Paved on arch wall
Side wall anchor Hollow anchor rod 25 Side wall interval: 1.2 m × 1.2 m
Spraying concrete Netting-spraying concrete C25 0.3 m
Grid steel support Steel bar 25 and 14 Longitudinal interval: 0.5 m
Temporary support I-shaped steel beam 22a and 16 Longitudinal interval: 0.5 m
Longitudinal connecting steel bar Steel bar 22 Ring interval: 0.5 m

Table 2. Maximum settlements of ground surface under

different burial depths.

Burial depth /m 10 9 8 7

Maximum −13.92 −27.58 −43.70 Non-

settlement of convergent
ground
surface /mm

Figure 4. Shows the final settlement of ground surface

under different burial depths.

As the burial depth continued to decrease, when

Figure 3. Shows the relationship between burial depth of
station and settlement of ground surface.
Under the burial depth of 10 m, only the shear stress
of soil at the supporting part of vault reached the failure
envelope, due to the intensive stress concentration. The
maximum shear stress in the area reached the Coulomb
envelope and with the increasing of the shear stress,
the soil or rock mass at the vault would fail.
Under the burial depth of 9 m, the plastic zone
extended and emerged in the ground surface above
vault, top of support and sand stratum respectively, due
to high shear stress. In the sand stratum, stress point
where shear stress reached failure envelope emerged
for the first time, because the shear strength of sand
was relatively low. In the top of support, areas where
the relative shear stress reached 1.0 slightly extended.
The shear stress of soil in the top of vault reaches the
maximum shear stress of Coulomb envelope.
the burial depth was reduced 8 m, shear stress or most
stress points in the soil strata reached the maximum
shear stress of Coulomb envelope, which indicated the
failure of soil strata. The plastic zone in the ground
surface above the vault expanded furthermore, which
indicated a relatively high shear stress in the soil of
ground surface due to its excessive displacement. Nev-
ertheless, the function of pressure vault still prevailed,
and no failure could be observed in the silty clay.
Under the burial depth of 7 m, during the excavation
of the central rock column, the simulation calculation
was non-convergent. Most soil or rock in the top of the
vault reached failure state. Under this circumstance,
the surrounding rock would fail and hence an absence
of vaulting conditions.
4 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the deformation characteristics of
excavated-underground station in “soil-rock” strata
were analyzed under different burial depths, and
conclusions were drawn mainly as follows.
1. The displacement of ground surface is one of the
main controlling indexes of shallow excavated-
underground tunnel under urban trunk roads. The
displacement varies linearly when the cover-span

1027
 ratio is higher than 0.364 (burial depth being 8 m),
with the maximum less than 41 mm. When the ratio
decreases to 0.318 (burial depth being 7 m), muta-
tion takes place in the displacement, the calculation
is non-convergent during the course of excavating
the central rock column, and the surrounding rock
fails.
2. For shallow excavated-underground metro stations
in the “slightly∼severely” weathered strata, the sur-
face displacement indicates linear changes on the
whole and the maximum displacement is 40 mm
when the cover-span ratio varies between 0.455 and
0.364. An abrupt and sharp increase of the surface
displacement will result from keeping on reducing
cover-span ratio to 0.318, which should be avoided
in engineering projects.
3. So far, Fushansuo Metro Station of Qingdao is
under smooth construction at the designed burial
depth of 10 m. The actually measured settlement
is consistent with the calculation results, which
further proves the feasibility and adaptability of
numerical simulation.

REFERENCES
Li, S.C., Zhu, W.S. & Chen, W.Z. 2002. Application of
elasto-plastic large displacement finite element method
to the study of deformation prediction of soft rock tunnel.
Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering
21(4): 466–470.
Wang, M.S. 2004. Introduction on New Austrian Tunneling
Method in underground projects. Hefei: Educational Press
of Anhui Province.
Wang, N.T. 2011. A simulation on construction technique
of multi-tunneling at shallow depth according to three-
dimensional FEM thory. Rock and soil mechanics 22(4):
504–508.
Wu, B., Li, J. & Gao, B. 2003. 3-D numerical simulation and
analysis of construction performance of tunnel for metro
transition line. Underground Space, 23(4): 347–351.

Figure 5. Plastic deformation zones under different burial

depths.

1028
 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions – Cai (ed.)
© 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62080-2

Stability analysis of soft foundation earth-rock dam in lake

B.H. Zhu & Z.Y. Tan

State Key Laboratory of High-efficient Mining and Safety of Metal Mine, University of Science and Technology
Beijing, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
School of Civil and Environment Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China

ABSTRACT: Based on the engineering and hydrological geological condition in Chengmen Lake, the prop-
erties of earth-rock compound and silt at the lake bottom are analyzed and geo-mechanical model of the soft
foundation earth-rock dam is established. The stability of the dam under the impact of fluctuating lake waters
and lakebed silt extrusion is simulated with FLAC3D . The stability and safety of the dam are assessed under the
criteria of displacement mutation as well as deformation. The results reveal the deformation and displacement
law of the dam under various actions of external conditions, which provide certain theoretical guide to treatment
and maintenance of the dam.

1 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

The No. 1# Trash Storage Dam in Chengmenshan

Copper Mine of Jiangxi is located in lakes region,
which is close to a mine waste dump and is built on a
soft foundation of deep and thick mucky soil. Because
it is connected with Yangtze River and influenced by
upstream waters and seasonal variation, the lake waters
fluctuate frequently. Besides, there is a huge amount of
lakebed mud up to 10 m in thickness, it will squeeze the
dam body when waste rock is dumped into the refuge
field. Therefore, the stability of the earth-rock dam is
impacted inevitably and needs to be studied under the
above conditions.
The stability of earth-rock dam doesn’t means non-
allowed deformation occurrence during its operation
(Wang et al. 2008). Previous studies on earth-rock dam
under various conditions mostly aimed at the stability
of dam slopes, less for the displacement and deforma-
tion of whole dam body. For the specific engineering
properties of the No. 1 dam, this paper will focus on
the latter case.
2 GENERAL SURVEY
The No.1 trash storage dam is located in the east of
Chengmen lake, which is mainly used to stop upstream
lake water and lakebed mud produced by mine waste
dump. According to original design and construction
data, the dam is a roller compacted earth-rock dam,
which is filled mainly with stripped soil and barren
rocks, 20.5 m in height, 1102 m in length. Its crest
width is 7 meters and the slope ratio of upstream to
downstream is 1:2.5. Taking account of the influence
of lake water penetration, a layer composite geomem-
brane and clay sloping wall are built and laid in both
Figure 1. Typical cross-section diagram of the dam.
the upstream and downstream slopes. Cleaning dam
foundation, laying impervious layer and building deep
mixing cement piles as well as an underground con-
tinuous cut-off wall have been constituted for seepage
prevention.
Engineering geological investigation data show that
foundation soil includes mainly two layers. The upper
is mucky soil, 18∼20 m thick, low bearing capac-
ity, belonging to soft ground, which was formed by
proluvial, alluviation, deposition and eluviation in
quaternary upper-middle Pleistocene. The lower is
weathered and strongly weathered siltstone with high
bearing capacity and low compressibility, which can
be used as a good foundation. A typical cross-section
diagram of the earth-rock dam is shown in Figure 1.
3 CALCULATION METHOD AND MODEL
3.1 Calculation method
In this paper, numerical simulation software FLAC3D
(Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua in 3 dimen-
sions) is used to analyze the stability of the dam.
It is an explicit finite difference numerical analy-
sis method in 3 dimensions developed by Cundall
and American ITASCA company, which can simulate
three-dimensional mechanical behavior of rock-soil
and other materials. The algorithm can well simulate

1029
 Table 1. Physical mechanical parameters of each layer
rock-soil mass.

Internal
Unit friction Elastic Poisson
weight γ Cohesion angle modulus ratio
Parameters (kN/m3 ) c (kPa)  (◦ ) E (Mpa) µ

Dam body 20.0 35.00 26 80 0.30

filling
Figure 2. Finite difference model and mesh generation. Mucky soil 18.5 20.00 18 16 0.40
Weathering 25.4 1000 32 7000 0.25
sandstone
materials’ yielding, plastic flow and large deforma-
tion, and it is more effective and intuitive in materials’
elastic-plastic analysis, large deformation analysis and
construction process analysis (Qiao et al. 2004).
Ten constitutive models composed by empty model,
elastic model and plastic model can be chosen and
used for representing a constitutive relationship of spe-
cific rock-soil mass. With high computing efficiency
and universal applicability in geotechnical engineer-
ing, Mohr-Coulomb plastic model is selected to use in
this paper.

3.2 Calculation model

Figure 3. Lake water.
Based on the engineering situation of the dam, a
FLAC3D calculation model has been established. In
order to reflect stress influence of the foundation on upstream hydrostatic pressure is applied on the
the dam body structure, a certain section of the dam corresponding position of dam slope vertically in the
body is taken into account in calculation. Referring to form of surface force. It is an approximate triangle dis-
the document (Yang et al. 1995), the thickness of dam tributing load. The pressure at a water depth of x meters
ground taken into account roughly equals to the width and corresponding hydrostatic pressure are calculated
of dam bottom. According to the size of dam struc- according to the formula (Wang et al. 2009) (1) and (2).
ture, the brick zone is selected and used to divide the
model. In order to obtain high calculation accuracy, a
basic principle adopted (dam body and upper founda-
tion) is dense meshes for key research area and thin
ones for other areas. The mesh generation figure and
finite difference model with 33600 zones and 39159
grids are shown in Figure 2.

3.3 Calculation parameters In formula:

According to exploration data, the dam body is mainly
filled with striped soil and waste rock, the dam founda-
tion has mainly two layers: the upper is mucky soil and
the lower is weathered sandstone. Physical mechanical
parameters of each layer rock-soil mass are shown in
Table 1.
σ – pressure at a water depth of x meters (kN/m2 );
S – hydrostatic pressure on dam slope (kN/m);
ρ0 – density of water (1.0 × 103 kg/m3 );
h – water depth (m);
β – water pressure dip angle of upstream and down-
stream slope (◦ ),
tan β = 1/m.

Engineering investigation data show that muddy

3.4 Boundary conditions
In the established computation model, owing to a
negligible external interference, the boundary can be
viewed as rigid that is no displacement and defor-
mation. For the boundary of dam crest, there is no
restriction.
According to date of design and construction and
local hydrogeology information, the normal water
level of upstream lake is 15 meters. In calculation,
stratum in Chengmen lake region is thick, with low
bearing capacity. Due to waste rock extruding by grav-
ity, lakebed mud’s thickness increased and produced a
pressure to the dam. The mud is in a liquid to liquid-
plastic state, it’s pressure obeys hydrostatic pressure
law approximately and still refers to formula (3) (4)
in calculation. Lake water pressure and the combined
pressure of lake water and lakebed mud is shown in
Figure 3 and 4.

1030

Figure 4. Combined pressure.
Figure 5. Horizontal displacement contours.
Figure 6. Vertical displacement contours.
4 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Completion period
After completion of the earth-rock dam, equivalent
shadowgraph of horizontal displacement and vertical
displacement of the dam is showed in Figure 5 and 6.
As shown in Figure 5, horizontal displacement
distributed symmetrically along the dam’s axis; the
maximal horizontal displacement of upstream and
downstream slopes reached 8.8 cm and 8.9 cm along
upstream and downstream direction respectively. And
both the maximum values were present to upper foun-
dation because it is thick mucky soil which has small
deformation modulus.
As shown in Figure 6, the maximal subsidence
displacement of the dam under the effect of grav-
ity reached 28 cm and occurred in about 1/2 of the
height, which is in line with the rule of layered fill-
ing. The subsidence displacement occurred mainly in
dam body and upper foundation because the lower
is sandstone with high bearing capacity and bearing
capacity. In numerical calculation of FLAC3D , the
subsidence displacement includes two aspects: fill-
ing body and foundation, for which calculations are
carried out simultaneously, and the final subsidence
displacement is the sum of the two aspects. So the
height of dam body and the thickness of dam foun-
dation should be considered together in the settlement
1031
Figure 7. Horizontal displacement contours at a water depth
of 15 m.
Figure 8. Displacements curves of dam’s key points.
rate calculating (Zou et al. 2009). Calculated accord-
ing to the principle, settlement rate value of the dam
in the paper was 0.37%, within a permissible range,
confirming that the models established are reliable.
4.2 Normal water level period
After normal running, caused by upstream water pres-
sure, the whole dam body would have shift along
downstream direction in comparison with completion
period.
As the normal water level is 15 meters in height,
hydrostatic pressure is considered and applied in the
process of calculating, and at the same time displace-
ments of dam’s key points (toe of upstream slope,
center point of dam bottom, toe of downstream slope)
were recorded. Results are shown in Figure 7 and 8.
It can be seen from Figure 7, caused by upstream
water pressure, the whole dam body took place a dis-
placement along downstream direction. The maximum
displacement appearing at the toe of upstream slope
was 5.45 cm, and the values tend to decline gradually
from upstream to downstream. Figure 8 shows that
displacement of key points increased with time of cal-
culation. It subsided for calculation convergence after
6000 steps, and the maximum values were respectively
5.45 cm, 3.24 cm and 1.36 cm at the time then. The
ratio of maximum displacement of dam body to dam
bottom width was 0.5%, in a allowable scope, arguing
that the dam body was stable on the normal water level
condition.
4.3 Water level fluctuation period
Referencing to “Manual of Rainstorm and Flood in
Jiangxi” and local experiences in dam construction,
the lake water level fell and rose furthest to 10 meters,
18 meters and 20 meters in dry season and flood
Figure 9. Horizontal displacement contours at a water depth
of 10 m.
Figure 10. Horizontal displacement contours at a water
depth of 18 m.
Figure 11. Horizontal displacement contours at a water
depth of 20 m.
period. Calculating respectively on the three water
level conditions, results were shown in Figure 9, 10
and 11.
It can be seen from figures above, the evolution
rule of horizontal displacement of dam body is similar
on the three conditions. Relative to completion period,
the whole dam body took place displacement along
downstream direction; the maximum displacement
appeared at the toe of upstream slope and declined
gradually along downstream direction. However, areas
of maximum displacement tend to enlarge as the water
level rose. In the process of calculating, displacements
of key points were recorded, and then displacement
curves at different depth are got, shown in Figure 12.
As shown in Figure 12, displacement of the dam
changes as water level fluctuation and the value
increases following a rising water level. At the high-
est flood water level, the maximum value reached
7.97 cm, the ratio of which to dam bottom width
was 0.72%, in the allowable range, accord with the
requirement of engineering.
4.4 Combined action period of water and silt
Under the normal water level circumstances, the thick-
ness of lakebed silt can reached 5 m, in its maximum.
This moment, lake water and lakebed silt combined
and produced a total pressure to the dam; calculating
in this case, results are shown in Figure 13.
1032
Figure 12. Regressive curves between water level and
displacement of key points.
Figure 13. Horizontal displacement contours in combined
action period of water and silt.
Seen from Figure 13, the value of maximum dis-
placement and the area bringing about displacement
both increase relative to in normal water level period,
indicating that lakebed mud has an effect on the dam
stability. So measures need to be taken in order to
reduce and control the thickness of lakebed mud.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This paper, associating with the practical engineering
of Chengmen Earth-rock Dam, simulated and ana-
lyzed the dam model using numerical method FLAC3D
respectively in the completion period, the water level
fluctuation period and the combined action period
of water and silt, and finally got the law of dam
body’s displacement and deformation under different
working conditions.
The results show that the displacement and defor-
mation in all the period are in the reasonable range and
correspond to ordinary rules; the whole dam body has
good stability to meet the requirements of security and
stability. However, lakebed mud has a certain effect on
the dam. In actual engineering, the measure of keep-
ing distance between waste dump and the dam is taken
to reduce and control the thickness of lakebed mud;
thus, the effect reduces and meets the requirement of
stability and safety.
In the paper, as a result of anti-seepage treatment at
the dam slope and foundation, the penetrability of lake
water is so little that influence factors of seepage flow
in calculation is ignored. Stability analysis of earth-
rock dam at different water level considering the effect
of seepage flow needs further study.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper is financially supported by National
Key Basic R & D Program of China (973)
(No. 2010CB731501) and Key Program of National
Natural Science foundation of China (No. 51034001).
REFERENCES
Qiao, G.W., Wang, Y.S. & Fang, D.H. 2004. A FLAC3D anal-
ysis of the slope stability at a hydropower station. Journal
of Engineering Geology 12(3): 280–284.
1033
Wang, F.L. & Chen, H.T. 2008. Deformation and Stabil-
ity Analysis of Earth-rock Dam. Beijing: Press of China
Water Conservancy & Hydroelectricity.
Wang, K.Y. 2009. Stability Analysis Method for Railway
Dyke. Journal of Railway Engineering Society.
Yang, Z.H. 1995. Calculation Methods Review of Earth-
rock Stability. Yellow River 17(7): 33–37.
Zou, B.Z. 2009. Analysis of Deformation in Embankment
Process and Research on the Stability of Dam-Slope
of Renzonghai Rock-fill Dam. Chengdu University of
Technology, Master Degree Thesis.
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 Rock Mechanics: Achievements and Ambitions contains the papers accepted for Rock Mechanics:

Meifeng Cai
the 2nd ISRM International Young Scholars’ Symposium on Rock Mechanics,

Achievements and Ambitions

which was sponsored by the ISRM and held on 14–16 October 2011 in Beijing,
China, immediately preceding the 12th ISRM Congress on Rock Mechanics.

Highlighting the work of young teachers, researchers and practitioners, the

present work provides an important stimulus for the next generation of rock
engineers, because in the future there will be more emphasis on the use of the
Earth’s resources and their sustainability, and more accountability of engineers’
decisions. In this context, it is entirely appropriate that the Symposium venue for
the young scholars was in China — because of the rock mechanics related work Editor:
that is anticipated in the future. For example, in the Chinese Academy of Sciences
report, “Energy Science and Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050”, it is
predicted that China’s total energy demand will reach 31, 45, 61 and 66 x 108 tce
Meifeng Cai
(tonnes of coal equivalent) in 2010, 2020, 2035, 2050. The associated per capita
energy consumption for the same years is estimated at 2.3, 3.1, 4.1 and 4.6 tce.
This increasing demand will be met, inter alia, by the continued operation and
development of new coal mines, hydroelectric plants and nuclear power stations
with one or more underground nuclear waste repositories, all of which will be
improved by more modern methods of rock engineering design developed by
young scholars. In particular, enhanced methods of site investigation, rock

Achievements and Ambitions

characterisation, rock failure understanding, computer modelling, and rock
excavation and support are needed. The topics in the book include contributions on:

- Field investigation and observation

- Rock constitutive relations and property testing
- Numerical and physical modeling for rock engineering
- Information technology, artificial intelligence and other advanced techniques

Rock Mechanics:
- Underground and surface excavation and reinforcement techniques
- Dynamic rock mechanics and blasting
- Predication and prevention of geo-environmental hazard
- Case studies of typical rock engineering

Many of the 200 papers address these topics and demonstrate the skills of
the young scholars, indicating that we can be confident in the continuing
development of rock mechanics and rock engineering, leading to more efficient,
safer and economical structures built on and in rock masses. Rock Mechanics:
Achievements and Ambitions will appeal to professionals, engineers and
academics in rock mechanics, rock engineering, tunnelling, mining, earthquake
engineering, rock dynamics and geotechnical engineering.

an informa business

ISRM young scholar FINAL 3b.indd 1 01-09-2011 16:07:15