Improved analytical solutions for the response of underground excavations in rock masses satisfying the generalized Hoek-Brown failure criterion

Vincent Labiouse
2015
Journal paper

Analytical solutions for tunnel design are widely used in practical engineering, as they allow a quick analysis of design issues such as estimation of support requirement. In recent years, several papers analyzing the behavior of rock masses that obey the conventional or generalized Hoek-Brown criterion have been published. This article presents a complementary analysis that includes a new normalization of the generalized Hoek-Brown failure criterion, complete solutions for associated and non-associated flow rules, with some new closed-form solutions in the latter case, and in-depth considerations regarding intermediate stresses and edge effects. The results obtained show full agreement with existing solutions in the literature, when possible, and with numerical finite element models in cases that had not been treated previously. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Vincent Labiouse
2015
Journal paper

Abstract

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/214115?ln=en

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Related concepts (3)

Tunnel

A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube construction techniques rather than traditional tunnel boring methods. A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. The central portions of a rapid transit network are usually in the tunnel.

Rock mechanics

Rock mechanics is a theoretical and applied science of the mechanical behavior of rocks and rock masses. Compared to geology, it is the branch of mechanics concerned with the response of rock and rock masses to the force fields of their physical environment. Rock mechanics is part of a much broader subject of geomechanics, which is concerned with the mechanical responses of all geological materials, including soils. Rock mechanics is concerned with the application of the principles of engineering mechanics to the design of structures built in or on rock.

Hoek–Brown failure criterion

The Hoek–Brown failure criterion is an empirical stress surface that is used in rock mechanics to predict the failure of rock. The original version of the Hoek–Brown criterion was developed by Evert Hoek and E. T. Brown in 1980 for the design of underground excavations. In 1988, the criterion was extended for applicability to slope stability and surface excavation problems. An update of the criterion was presented in 2002 that included improvements in the correlation between the model parameters and the geological strength index (GSI).