3D ANALYSIS OF POWER CAVERN IN ROCK MASS USING JOINT FACTOR

AND NONLINEAR HYPERBOLIC MODEL

V.B.MAJI1 and T.G.SITHARAM2

1
Research Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering, IISc Bangalore, India
(email: bhushan@civil.iisc.ernet.in)

2
Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, IISc Bangalore, India

This paper focuses on 3-dimensional analysis of a power house cavern and support techniques in a case study of Shiobara
hydroelectric power house cavern, Japan, using FLAC3D. The analysis uses the practical equivalent continuum model
which estimates the properties of jointed rock mass from the properties of intact rock and joint factor (Jf). Sequential
excavation was simulated in the analysis by representing the excavated rock mass using null model. Numerical model is
developed to estimate the excavation effects on the ground settlements and also the effect of reinforcement measures. The
deformations reported from the field case study are compared with the predicted deformations from the numerical
modeling. Further, the results obtained from the practical equivalent continuum model in 3D are compared with different
existing computational models for analysis of jointed rock mass namely MBC, EQR, NAPIS, multiple yield model, crack
tensor model and damage tensor model.

Keywords: Equivalent continuum; joint factor; hyperbolic model; FLAC3D.

1. Introduction

In this paper, 3-dimensional (3D) stress and deformation analysis of a power station cavern with
lining was done on a case study of Shiobara hydroelectric power station cavern, Japan, using Fast
Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC3D). Practical Equivalent Continuum model proposed by
Sitharam et. al. (2001) has been used for the simulation, in which properties are assigned to rock
mass in such a way as to represent the contributions of the intact rock and joints towards its overall
response. This model estimates the properties of jointed rock mass from the properties of intact
rock and a joint factor (Jf), which is the integration of the properties of joints to take care of the
effects of frequency, orientation and strength of joints. This equivalent jointed rock model is from
the earlier work of Sitharam et al. (2001) in which 2D finite element modeling was done to
implement the equivalent continuum model in their own code. In the present work, a special
subroutine (as FISH functions in FLAC) has been developed in FLAC3D to incorporate joint factor
model of Ramamurthy (1993) which takes care of various joint parameters together with Duncan-
Chang non-linear hyperbolic model (Duncan and Chang 1970). FLAC3D has good pre and post
processing units and allows 3-dimesional modeling of the stress field and excavations.

The output from the practical equivalent continuum model is also compared with
observed deformation values from the site along with six computational models as reported by
Horii et al. (1999). Among these models, NAPIS (strain-softening analysis considering joint
failure) considers the failure of one dominant joint set and the non-linear behavior of the jointed
rock followed by stress reduction after a peak stress. In micro-mechanics based continuum model
(MBC) of Yoshida and Horii (1998), the jointed rock mass is replaced with an equivalent
continuum body whose constitutive equation is obtained from the relationship of the average stress
and average strain over a representative volume. The equivalent rock analysis (EQR) is based on a
compliance model that assumes multiple sets of infinite flat planes with equal spacing. The
compliance of jointed rock is obtained as a sum of compliances for the base rock and each set of
joints. Multiple yield model is similar to EQR except that the base rock is modeled in an elasto-
perfectly plastic material with Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion. In the crack tensor model of Oda et
al.,(1993) the compliance tensor of the jointed rock mass is given as a sum of the elastic
compliance tensor of the base rock and that corresponding to the crack deformation. Damage
tensor model developed by Kawamoto et al., (1988) is based on the concept that the effective cross
section of the material is reduced due to the damage.
Shiobara power station cavern constructed by the Tokyo Electric Power Co., Ltd., located
at about 130 km north of Tokyo, Japan and has a large cavern for the pumped up storage power
station with a maximum output of 900MW (3 MW X 3 units). The cavern has a width of 28 m, a
height of 51 m, a length of 161 m and an excavation volume of more than 190,000 m3. A cross
section of the cavern is shown in Fig.1 with transformer house and service tunnel. Fig. 1 also
shows the location of displacement transducers. The rock mass surrounding the power house is
mainly rhyolite, which contains platy and columnar joints. The elastic modulus of rock mass is
2900–5100 MPa and strength parameters are c = 1.02 MPa and φ = 43o. Axial compressive
strength is 58.8–137.2 (ave. 83.3) MPa. The cavern is at a depth of 200 m and the three principal
stresses are 5.0, 3.9 and 2.8 MPa.

Fig. 1. Outline of the cavern and locations of MPBX for the cavern at Shiobara power station.

Earlier, Sitharam et al. (2001) performed finite element analysis of the Shiobara power
cavern using the practical equivalent continuum model to predict the displacements after complete
excavation. 2D analysis using FLAC of the same cavern have also been done by Sitharam and
Madhavi Latha (2002). In this study, the practical equivalent continuum model is implemented in
FLAC3D making the simulation of stage excavation possible in the longitudinal direction as well.

Table 1 Properties of joint sets for Shiobara power house cavern

Joint
Joint strength
Joint inclination Joint factor
Joint set Dip angle spacing parameter
frequency (Jn) parameter (Jf)=Jn/(n×r)
(r)
(n)
I 60R 30cm 17 0.46 0.9 41
II 60L 100cm 5 0.46 0.9 12
III 30L 100cm 5 0.05 0.9 111
 The dip angle and the average spacing of the three dominant joints present in the
surrounding rock of the Shiobara power cavern are given in Table 1. The joint factor was
estimated as per the procedure suggested by Ramamurthy (1993) and Sitharam et. al (2001). Joint
frequency value Jn is estimated as the number of joints per meter depth in the surrounding rock.
The value of joint inclination parameter (n) and the joint strength parameter (r) are determined
from the inclination of joint and the uniaxial compressive strength of the rock respectively as
described by Sitharam et al. (2001). The joint factor is calculated for different joint sets from
equation given by Ramamurthy (1993).

2. Numerical model

Three dimensional finite difference mesh using FLAC3D is shown in Fig. 2. Total number of
zones is 13060 and the total number of grid points (nodes) is 13944. Out of which grid points and
Zones corresponding to the tunnels (portion to be excavated) only are 3507 and 2880, respectively.
Total volume considered for the simulation is 240 X 200 X 161 m3. To develop the model, four
different types of 3D elements which are available in FLAC3D have been used (FLAC3D manual,
2001) as shown in Fig. 3.

a b
Fig 2. FLAC3D models of Shiobara power cavern a) underground openings
b) Caverns with complete boundary

The deformation resulting from an advancing tunnel is very much a three dimensional
problem. As the deformation depends upon both the excavation method and the type of support
system, a proper methodology should be adopted for the sequential excavation and for adding
supports. The excavation steps are simulated in the numerical analysis and the locations of the
installation of extensometers are identified for obtaining the displacements for comparison with
the measured displacements from instrumentation of the cavern in the field. The cavern is
excavated in 5 stages, in about 32 m length of excavation per stage. The outline of Shiobara power
cavern with dimensions and the locations of installation of multi point borehole extensometers
(MPBX) for displacement measurements are shown in Fig 1. As shown in the FLAC3D grid (Fig
2) only 86m overburden is modeled. 114m overburden is taken into consideration by applying
equivalent amount of pressure at the top which saves lots of computational time and effort. The
variation of displacements with different stages of excavation is obtained from numerical analysis
by solving for equilibrium after each excavation stage.
 a b

c d

Fig.3. Different types of 3D elements used for modeling a) Brick b) Cylinder c) Radially
graded mesh around cylindrical-shaped tunnel- radcylinder d) Cylinder shell mesh -cshell

As the surrounding rocks around the cavern are highly jointed, which reduces the
stiffness of the rock mass leading to large excessive settlements due to the excavations. To reduce
the large amount of settlements two types of support system namely shotcrete and concrete lining
are adopted. Fig 4. shows the concrete liner and shotcrete used for each stage of excavation. The
shotcrete are modeled with liner shell structural elements while the concrete lining is modeled with
zones that are assigned properties representing the lining material replacing the rock-mass
properties, after the corresponding stages of excavation. The inner diameter of the concrete lining
is equal to the width of the cavern whereas the outer diameter is 30m (see Fig.4). The FLAC3D
zones provide a reasonable approximation of thick liners, because each zone consists of two
overlays of five tetrahedral sub zones. The lining components are modeled as elastic materials
with elastic modulus (E) =31.4 GPa and Poisson’s Ratio (ν) =0.25. The concrete liner has been
created using cshell zones behind the advancing cavern. The liner zone interface stiffnesses kn and
ks is taken as 7.4X1010 N/m3 to ensure interface deformation is small relative to the zone
deformation.

a b

Fig. 4. The support system of the cavern a) Concrete liner b) Shotcrete

The cavern is also supported by shotcrete with a thickness of 0.2m. Shotcrete has been
installed by creating liner-SELs and they have been attached to the cavern surface with SEL-Liner
command. The shotcrete support has been extended into the cavern excavation stage 2, by issuing
another liner-SELs command and specifying an ID number that differs from the ID number of
SEL in cavern stage 1. This creates a ‘cold joint’ between two adjacent shotcrete segments
(FLAC3D manual, 2001). The deformation that occurs during stage 3 begins to load the new SEL
segment and produces additional load in the previous SEL segment. The shotcretes are modeled as
elastic material with elastic modulus 10.5 GPa and Poisson’s Ratio (ν) 0.25.

3. Analysis and Results

In this study, the practical equivalent continuum model is implemented in the commercial finite
difference code in 3D, FLAC3D making the simulation of stage excavation in the longitudinal
direction. Multi-point bore hole extensometer (MPBX) data were available at several locations
along different measurement lines BI10 to BI19 (Fig. 1) around the cavern. Initial stresses
representing the insitu stresses around the power station cavern are applied and the displacements
around the outer boundary are fixed. The cavern along with the surrounding rock has been
analyzed using the above approach at the completion of the each stage of excavation. The cavern
is excavated in 5 stages using the null model available in FLAC3D which are shown in Fig 5.

0 1 2

3 4 5

Fig 5. The various stages of excavations using null model available in FLAC3D

The displacement measurements along all the measurement lines are available with
different stages of excavation of the cavern (Horii et al.,1999). Horii et al. (1999) observed that the
critical joint set that influence the behavior of cavern is varying with the location under
consideration, resulting in anti-symmetry in deformations. They have mentioned that the joint set
I, which has smaller spacing, is critical for the right side of the cavern, where as for the left side
the joint set III with an inclination angle of 30° is critical. Thus considering only one set of joints
cann’t capture the anti-symmetry in deformations. In the present analysis, the influence of two
different joint sets is simulated by taking a Jf value of 41 for the right portion of the cavern starting
from the axis of the cavern and a Jf value of 111 for the left portion of the zones. This variation of
Jf in two different sides of the cavern is incorporated in the model using FISH intrinsic to obtain
the zone centroid and use these values in an ‘if ‘condition (FLAC3D manual, Itasca Consulting
Group Inc. 2001).
 50
50
45
45 (a) (b)
40 Crack tensor model 40
Damage tensor model
Crack tensor model Equivalent rock analysis 35
35

Displacement (mm)
Damage tensor model
Displacement (mm)
MBC
Equivalent rock analysis Multiple yield model 30
30 MBC NAPIS
Multiple yield model Measured values (Horii et al.,1999) 25
25 NAPIS ECM - Present analysis
Measured values (Horii et al.,1999)
20 ECM - Present analysis 20
15 15
10 10
5 5
0 0
0 5 10 15 20 20 15 10 5 0
Distance from cavern wall (m) Distance from cavern wall (m)
50 60
45 (c) (d)
40 50
Crack tensor model Crack tensor model
Damage tensor model Damage tensor model
35 Equivalent rock analysis
Displacement (mm)

Equivalent rock analysis

Displacement (mm)
MBC 40
30 MBC
Multiple yield model Multiple yield model
NAPIS NAPIS
25 Measured values (Horii et al.,1999) Measured Values (Horii et al.,1999) 30
ECM - Present analysis ECM - Present analysis
20
15 20

10
10
5
0
0
0 5 10 15 20
20 15 10 5 0
Distance from cavern wall (m)
Distance from cavern wall (m)

Fig.6. Comparison of relative displacements along the measurement line

a) BI 10 b) BI 11 c) BI 16 d) BI 17

The relative displacement versus distance from the cavern wall after the final stage of
excavation along the measurement lines BI10, BI11, BI16 and BI17 were compared with
measured values from the field, shown in Fig. 6. In Table 2, given the comparison of
displacements along measurement lines BI 10 and BI 11. The results from the analysis are also
compared with the results of six computation models (Horii et al.,1999) which were applied to this
cavern. From the above four figures, it is understood that the practical equivalent continuum model
is capable of predicting the real behavior of the cavern by efficiently simulating the rock mass
properties and it is comparable with other equivalent continuum models. The model is also
efficient in simulating the progressive excavation and anti-symmetry in displacements due to
anisotropy in the variation of joint factor. The numerical results matched very well with the field
measurements as observed in Fig. 6. The largest value of displacement is observed at the crown
and the displacement of the left side (BI11 and BI17) of the cavern is relatively higher than the
right side (BI10 and BI16) due to higher joint frequency in the left side. This is convincing with
the deformation of joints which reduces the stiffness of the jointed rock mass. Yoshida and Horii
(2004) have also found the similar results and they observed that large deformation of joints was
above the left side of the cavern due to 60R joint set. They concluded that size of drop in stiffness
depends strongly on the length and spacing of joints. In all the measurement points the left side
displacement is higher than the right side of the cavern.
Numerical analysis of the cavern with concrete liner and shotcrete support using FLAC3D
was very effective in reducing the over all deformations. The close up view of the cavern with
concrete liner and shotcrete support used in this analysis is as shown in Fig. 7. Comparison of the
deformation recorded from the analysis were compared for the two different cases, without support
and with support. As shown in Fig. 8, the utilization of supports drastically reduces the
displacements near the crown. The maximum z-displacement recorded in the case of without
support is approximately 46 mm, where as, it reduced to 16 mm approximately with supports (see
Fig. 8).
Table 2. Displacement values (in mm) along measurement lines
Distance from the Along BI 10 Along BI 11
cavern wall (m)
Measured value Estimated using Measured value Estimated using
Horii et al.(1999) ECM-Present analysis Horii et al.(1999) ECM-Present analysis
0 11.4 21.1 33.9 25.4
1.5 11.1 16.3 29.2 20.6
3 6.5 13.1 19.1 16.0
5 3.8 11.0 6.3 12.2
10 1.2 5.6 1.3 7.7
15 0.2 0 1.7 4.8
20 -- -- 0.26 0

a b
Fig. 7. Close up view of the cavern face with support a) Concrete liner b) Shotcrete
(after first stage of excavation)

a b
Fig.8. Comparison of Z-displacements a) without support (maximum is 46 mm)
b) with support (maximum 16 mm)

4. Conclusions

The practical equivalent continuum model, incorporated into ‘Fast Lagrangian Analysis of
Continua’ in 3-dimension (FLAC3D) has been used to analyze the 3-dimesional stress and
deformational behavior of the Shoibara power cavern in Japan and results were compared with the
instrumented data from the field. The variation of the displacements along some particular
measurement line, after completion of the final stage of excavation ware analyzed. The values
predicted with the numerical model compared well with the measured results. The modeling
results were also compared with six other computation models which are used to analyze the same
cavern and it has been observed that the results from the present work were at par with them. It can
be concluded from the practical equivalent continuum model can be used as a efficient tool for
analyzing large scale excavation in jointed rock mass. An attempt has also been made to
numerically model the supports and investigate the efficiency of reinforcements using FLAC3D.
Two types of support mainly shotcrete and concrete liner have been modeled to minimize the large
settlements due to excavation. It has been observed that the use of reinforcement technique
drastically reduce deformation and excessive settlements due to large scale excavations in jointed
rocks.

Acknowledgments
The authors thank Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for financial support
through the project titled “Practical Equivalent Continuum Modeling of Jointed Rocks and
Analysis of Large–Scale Excavations in Rock-Mass.” (Ref. No. 70(0046)/ 03/ EMR-II under
extramural research division).

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