Rock Masses : Modeling of Underground Openings/Probability of Slope Failure/Fracture of Intact Rock

Dowding, C. H.; ,

Rock Masses: Modeling of Underground Openings/Probability of Slope Failure/Fracture of Intact Rock

by C. H. Dowding, (M.ASCE), Assoc. Prof.; Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Northwestern Univ., Evanston, Ill. 60201,

American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, NY
978-0-87262-446-7 (ISBN-13) | 0-87262-446-3 (ISBN-10), 1985, Soft Cover, Pg. 195

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Conference information: A Symposium of ASCE Convention | Denver, Colorado, United States | April 29-30, 1985

Out of Print: Not available at ASCE Bookstore.

Document Type: Book - Proceedings

Abstract:

While soil mechanics has been the dominant interest of Civil Engineers since Karl Terzaghi's recognition of the principle of effective stress, rock mechanics is becoming increasingly important. One only need look at the largest of constructed facilities for a demonstration of the role of rock mechanics in Civil Engineering. All of the world's tallest buildings and longest span bridges are founded on rock. Nuclear waste will be stored in rock at depths of 600m. The world's largest storm water collection facilities in Chicago and a similar system in Milwaukee are tunneled through limestone. Many of the last segments of the interstate system involve rock excavation as in Glenwood Canyon, Colorado. The world's largest existing or planned dams are (or will be) founded on rock. Protective structures for defensive nuclear weapons such as deep-based MX missiles will be built in rock. Rock mass behavior, which for engineering purposes can be described by its strength deformability and hydraulic conductivity, is controlled by the combined behavior of the continuous (intact) rock and the weaknesses (discontinuities). The discontinuities rupture the continuity of intact rock and are planes of smaller resistance and larger deformability and hydraulic conductivity. Since all rock masses are intersected by discontinuities (both as large as shear zones and as small as crystal-sized fractures) no volume of rock is without them. This volume represents an effort by the Geotechnical Engineering Division to collate the diverse rock mechanics in the division. The volume is divided into three sections: computer modeling of underground openings; probabilistic slope stability; and fracture of intact rock.

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