Discontinuity

Analysis for
Rock Engineering
 Discontinuity
Analysis for
Rock Engineering

STEPHEN D. PRIEST
Professor and Head of Mining Engineering,
University of South Australia

SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.

First edition 1993
Reprinted 1995

© 1993 Stephen D. Priest

Originally published by Chapman & Hall in 1993

Typeset in 10/12pt Plantin by Best-set Typesetter Ltd, Hong Kong

ISBN 978-94-010-4656-5 ISBN 978-94-011-1498-1 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-1498-1

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For Rosie, Robert and David
and for my brother Peter
 Contents

Preface and acknowledgements Xlll

Foreword xv
List of tables xvii

1 Introduction to discontinuities 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Definitions and principles 5
1.3 Discontinuities and their origins 10
1.3.1 Faults 10
1.3.2 Joints 12
1.3.3 Bedding 13
1.3.4 Cleavage 14
1.3.5 Fractures, fissures and other features 15
1.4 Discontinuities in rock engineering 16
1.4.1 Ground movements caused by tunnelling in chalk
(Priest, 1976) 16
1.4.2 Sugarloaf Reservoir Project (Regan and Read, 1980) 18
1.4.3 Maniototo Scheme Paerau Diversion (Paterson et al.,
1988) 20
1.4.4 Varahi Underground Power House (Eshwaraiah and
U padhyaya, 1990) 21
Exercises for Chapter 1 and Appendix A 23

2 Measurement of discontinuity characteristics 24

2.1 Introduction 24
viii CONTENTS

2.2 Borehole sampling 26

2.3 Measurement at exposed rock faces 31
2.3.1 Scanline sampling 31
2.3.2 Window sampling 46
2.4 Preliminary data processing 48
2.5 Geostatistical methods 50
2.5.1 Introduction 50
2.5.2 The semi-variogram 51
2.5.3 Kriging 54
2.5.4 Application of geostatistics to discontinuity analysis 55
2.6 Rock mass classification 58
Exercises for Chapter 2 and Appendices Band C 61

3 Discontinuity orientation 63
3.1 Introduction 63
3.2 Graphical representation of orientation data 64
3.3 Vectorial representation of orientation data 69
3.4 Orientation sampling bias due to a linear survey 71
3.5 Identifying and delimiting sets 76
3.6 Representative orientation for a set 83
3.7 The Fisher distribution 87
Exercises for Chapter 3 93

4 Discontinuity frequency 94
4.1 Introduction 94
4.2 Volumetric and areal frequency 94
4.3 Linear frequency 96
4.4 Discontinuity frequency extrema 101
4.5 Discontinuity occurrence 114
Exercises for Chapter 4 118

5 Discontinuity spacing 121

5.1 Introduction 121
5.2 Discontinuity spacing distributions 123
5.3 Rock Quality Designation 128
5.4 Accuracy and precision of discontinuity spacing estimates 134
5.4.1 Inaccuracy caused by short sampling lines 134
5.4.2 Imprecision caused by small sample sizes 141
Exercises for Chapter 5 148

6 Discontinuity size 150

6.1 Introduction 150
 CONTENTS ix

6.2 Discontinuities as circular discs 151

6.3 Discontinuities as linear traces 157
6.3.1 Sampling bias imposed by scanline surveys 158
6.3.2 Semi-trace lengths measured by scanline surveys 162
6.3.3 Curtailment of long semi-trace lengths measured by
scanline surveys 165
6.4 Distribution independent and other methods for estimating
mean trace length 174
6.5 Trimming of short discontinuity traces 180
6.6 The relation between linear frequency, areal frequency and
size 182
6.7 The practical determination of discontinuity size 183
6.8 Generation of random fracture networks 187
6.8.1 Networks in three dimensions 188
6.8.2 Networks in two dimensions 192
Exercises for Chapter 6 194

7 Stresses on discontinuities 197

7.1 Introduction 197
7.2 Graphical representation of three-dimensional stress 198
7.3 Extreme stresses in a plane 205
7.3.1 Graphical construction for extreme stresses 205
7.3.2 Resultant stress method 207
7.3.3 Alternative resultant stress method 208
7.4 Two-dimensional analysis of stresses on a discontinuity
adjacent to a circular opening 210
Exercises for Chapter 7 and Appendix E 216

8 Analysis of rigid blocks 219

8.1 Introduction 219
8.2 Two-dimensional single plane sliding 220
8.2.1 Geometrical analysis 221
8.2.2 Analysis of forces 222
8.3 Two-dimensional multiple plane sliding 226
8.4 Three-dimensional single- and double-plane sliding of
tetrahedral blocks 231
8.5 Inclined hemisphere projection 240
8.6 Polyhedral blocks 242
8.6.1 Warburton's vectorial method 244
8.6.2 Goodman and Shi's method 246
8.7 Analysis of three-dimensional random realisations 250
Exercises for Chapter 8 and Appendix D 254
 x CONTENTS

9 Discontinuities and rock strength 259

9.1 Introduction 259
9.2 The shear strength of discontinuities 261
9.2.1 The fundamentals of discontinuity shear behaviour 261
9.2.2 Shear testing of discontinuities 266
9.2.3 Models for the shear strength of discontinuities 270
9.3 The single plane of weakness model 276
9.4 Rock mass strength criteria 285
9.5 Model tests 293
Exercises for Chapter 9 297

10 Discontinuities and rock deformability 300

10.1 Introduction 300
10.2 Principles of deformability, stiffness, strain energy and 301
constitutive relations for a continuum
10.3 Constitutive relations 305
10.4 Principles of deformability, stiffness and strain energy for a
discontinuity 306
10.5 Deformability of a single discontinuity 308
10.5.1 Normal stiffness 308
10.5.2 Shear stiffness 317
10.6 The deformability of rock containing discontinuities 322
10.6.1 Equivalent continuum models 323
10.6.2 Explicit methods 330
Exercises for Chapter 10 339

11 Fluid flow in discontinuities 340

11.1 Introduction 340
11.2 Basic principles of fluid flow 342
11. 3 Flow along a single fracture 347
11.4 Discontinuity aperture and its estimation 348
11.4.1 Direct measurement of discontinuity aperture 350
11.4.2 Indirect estimation of discontinuity aperture 351
11.5 The analysis of flow through two-dimensional fracture
networks 357
11.5.1 Analytical models 357
11.5.2 Random realisations and their geometrical analysis 357
11.5.3 Analysis of flow 361
11.6 Equivalent permeability 372
11. 7 Transient flow 374
11.8 Flow in three-dimensional networks 376
Exercises for Chapter 11 379
 CONTENTS xi

Appendices
A Hemispherical projection methods 382
A.I Introduction 382
A.2 Plotting and un-plotting lines 385
A.3 Plotting and un-plotting planes 388
A.4 The angle between lines 390
A.5 Intersecting planes 392

B Statistics and probability density 395

B.1 Populations, samples and statistics 395
B.2 Distributions 397
B.3 The mean and other moments 402
B.4 Generation of random values 407
B.4.1 Uniform distribution 408
B.4.2 Negative exponential distribution 409
B.4.3 Normal and lognormal distributions 409
B.4.4 Fisher distribution 410

C Rock mass classification 412

C.1 Rock Mass Rating System for geomechanics classification 412
C. 2 The Q-system for rock classification and support design 417

D Analysis of forces 423

D.l Vectorial representation of a force 423
D.2 Hemispherical projection representation of a force 424
D.3 Resultant of forces 426
D.4 Decomposition of forces 428
D.4.1 Algebraic method 429
D.4.2 Graphical method 431

E Stress analysis 437

E.l Three-dimensional stress 437
E.2 Stress transformation 441
E.3 Principal stresses 443

References 445
Answers to exercises 460
Index 467
 Preface and
acknowledgements

The idea of writing this book was developed by the Author and Professor John
Hudson in 1985 as a culmination of many years of collaborative research
and publication in the area of discontinuity analysis. The Author moved to
Australia in 1986 and John Hudson took on additional responsibilities asso-
ciated with the publication of the major work Comprehensive Rock Engineering,
so progress was delayed for some years. In 1989 pressure of work forced
Professor Hudson to withdraw from the project, leaving the Author to write
the book alone.
The aim of this book is to open up a relatively new area of rock mechanics
by gathering together principles and analytical methods that have previously
been distributed between journal papers, conference proceedings and more
general text books. The book does not pretend to be the final word on the
topic but rather seeks to set out basic ideas that can be built upon by others.
The book is directed towards 3rd and 4th year undergraduate students
studying civil, mining and geological engineering and to Master's students
pursuing postgraduate coursework in rock mechanics, soil mechanics, engin-
eering geology, hydro(geo )logy and related subjects. Most of the analytical
sections and examples require only an elementary knowledge of mathematics,
statistics and mechanics, to about 1st year undergraduate level. Appendices
have been included to help readers with the basic principles of stereographic
projection, statistics, probability theory, rock mass classification and the
analysis of forces and stresses in three dimensions. In all writing there is
personal style and bias. The over-riding desire to make explanations clear and
unambiguous has lead, at times, to a somewhat 'clinical' style that may create
the false impression that the subject of discontinuity analysis is cut and dried.