Effect of Vertical Change of the Rock Mass Characteristics on Rock Mass Classification by Numerical Analysis

암반특성의 수직변화가 암반분류에 미치는 영향에 관한 수치해석적 연구

The selection of the support system is an important design parameter in design and construction of the tunnel using the new Australian tunnel method. It is a common practice to select the support based on the rock mass grade, in which the rock mass is classified into five rock groups. The method is applicable if the characteristics of the rock mass are uniform in the vertical direction. However, such case is seldom encountered in practice and not applicable when the properties vary along the vertical direction. This study performs comprehensive three dimensional finite difference analyses to investigate the ground deformation pattern for cases in which the rock mass properties change in the vertical direction of the tunnel axis. The numerically calculated displacements at the tunnel crown show that the displacement is highly dependent on the stiffness contrast of the rock masses. The results strongly indicate the need to select the support type $0.5{\sim}1.0D$(vertical direction) on the rock mass boundary. The paper proposes a new guideline for selecting the support type based the results of the analyses.