ROCK MECHANICS

UMIE 3112
Dr.-Ing. Henok Fikre
ROCK MECHANICS
COURSE OUTLINE

Introduction
Physical and mechnical prorperties of rocks

Common laboratory tests

Stability analysis of rock slopes

Stress and strain relationships

Insitu stress determination

Rock failure theories

Rock mass classification

Design of openings in rock

Subsidence - prediction, measurement and

control
ROCK MECHANICS
INTRODUCTION

Objectives
To understand the
mechanical behaviour of
rock materials (rock masses
and faults)
To be able to analyze
stresses induced during
construction works in
(around) rocks
To be able to determine the
mechanical properties of
rocks for mining projects
ROCK MECHANICS
INTRODUCTION

Definitions
Rock / rock masses

Weathered

Joints

Joint infill

Intact
ROCK MECHANICS
INTRODUCTION

Definitions
Rock masses

Weathered

Joint infill
Joints

Intact
ROCK MECHANICS
INTRODUCTION
Definitions according to Alex Ignatieff 1970
Mining is defined as the art of working mines and a mine is
defined as an excavation out of which minerals are dug. The
latter definition is not complete. Implicit in the word mine is
the need to insure that the mine excavation (or excavation
cavity) is safe to work in.
The miner wants to plan development and mining so that the
adverse effects of rock failure will be minimized. This is the
place for rock mechanics, the science that studies the strength
and failure characteristics of rocks.
The early approach to rock mechanics was to treat rock as an
elastic body, not unlike the way civil engineers treat concrete.
The elementary concept is that a unit of rock underground is
stressed by the weight of rock above it and constrained by
other rock around it, thus inducing a horizontal stress, which
is a function of Poissons ratio.
The subsequent study of rock masses and the effects of
geology has produced more realistic concepts to which the
irregular geometry of an ore body gives challenge.
ROCK MECHANICS
INTRODUCTION

According to John D. Morton 1990

Routine rock mechanics may be used to design
temporary and permanent ground support designs in
elastic or quasi-elastic ground (i.e. hard rock).
Nevertheless, such systems fail as the condition of
the rock mass approaches the Yield State in which
condition plastic or viscous response components
become dominant and any design based on or
extrapolated from elastic behavior is void.
Underground mining continues to provide strong
motivation for the advancement of rock
mechanics. Mining activity is now conducted at
depths greater than 4000 m, 300m opennings at
shallow depth are common
ROCK MECHANICS
INTRODUCTION

Basic premises of RM in underground mining

It is postulated that a rock mass can be ascribed a set
of mechanical properties which can be measured in
standard tests or estimated using well-established
techniques.
It is asserted that the process of underground mining
generates a rock structure consisting of voids,
support elements and abutments, and that the
mechanical performance of the structure is amenable
to analysis using the principles of classical mechanics
The capacity to predict and control the mechanical
performance of the host rock mass in which mining
proceeds can assure or enhance the safe and
economic performance of the mine
ROCK MECHANICS
INTRODUCTION

Basic premises of RM in underground mining

ROCK MECHANICS
INTRODUCTION

Design procedures in underground mining

The strength and deformation properties of the ore
body and adjacent country rock must be determined
in some accurate and reproducible way.
The geological structure of the rock mass, i.e. the
location, persistence and mechanical properties of all
faults and other fractures of geologic age, which occur
in the zone of influence of mining activity, is to be
defined, by suitable exploration and test procedures.
The groundwater pressure distribution in the mine
domain must be established
Analytical techniques are required to evaluate each
of the possible modes of response of the rock mass, for
the given mine site conditions and proposed mining
geometry.
ROCK MECHANICS
INTRODUCTION

General applications of rock mechanics

Deep Excavation
Mines
Tunnels

Underground structures

Energy development
Petroleum
Geothetrmal

Nuclear plants (Power plants, waste disposal)

Energy storage caverns

ROCK MECHANICS
INTRODUCTION

Uses of rock for construction

Foundation for structures
Underground openings
Protecting slopes
For supporting railway tracks
ballasts
Base and subbase roads and
runways
Aggregate for concrete
Cladding for buildings