• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.61-81
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• 2011

In this paper, a complement to the Hoek-Brown criterion is proposed in order to derive the strength of anisotropic rock from strength of the corresponding truly intact rock. The complement is a decay function, which unlike other modifications or suggestions made in the past, is multiplied to the function of the original Hoek-Brown failure criterion for intact rock. This results in a combined and extended form of the criterion which describes the strength of anisotropic rock as a varying fraction of the corresponding truly intact rock strength. Statistical procedures and in particular regression analyses were conducted into data obtained in experiments conducted in the current research program and those collected from the literature in order to define the Hoek-Brown's criterion complement. The complement function was best described by a simple polynomial including only three constants to be empirically evaluated. Further investigations also showed that these constants can be related to the other readily available parameters of rock material which further facilitate determining the constants. A great and prime advantage of the proposed complement is that it is mathematically simple including the least possible number of empirical constants which are easily estimated with minimum experimental effort. Moreover, proposed concept does not suggests any change to the original Hoek-Brown criterion itself or its constants and serves whenever anisotropy does exist in the rock. This further implies on the possibility of using any other failure criterion for intact rock in conjunction with the compliment to reach the strength of anisotropic rock.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.595-603
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• 2019

A modified model combining Kriging and Monte Carlo method (MC) is proposed for probabilistic estimation of tunnel face stability in this paper. In the model, a novel uniform design is adopted to train the Kriging, instead of the existing active learning function. It has advantage of avoiding addition of new training points iteratively, and greatly saves the computational time in model training. The kinematic approach of limit analysis is employed to define the deterministic computational model of face failure, in which the Hoek-Brown failure criterion is introduced to account for the nonlinear behaviors of rock mass. The trained Kriging is used as a surrogate model to perform MC with dramatic reduction of calls to actual limit state function. The parameters in Hoek-Brown failure criterion are considered as random variables in the analysis. The failure probability is estimated by direct MC to test the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed probabilistic model. The influences of uncertainty level, correlation relationship and distribution type of random variables are further discussed using the proposed approach. In summary, the probabilistic model is an accurate and economical alternative to perform probabilistic stability analysis of tunnel face excavated in spatially random Hoek- Brown media.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.284-292
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• 2015

The generalized Hoek-Brown failure criterion, the strength parameters of which are determined by using the GSI index, is an empirical nonlinear failure criterion of rock mass and has been widely employed in various rock engineering practices. Many rock engineering practitioners, however, are still familiar with the description of the strength of rock mass in terms of friction angle and cohesion. In addition, almost all rock mechanics softwares incorporate the simple linear Mohr-Coulomb function. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a tool to implement the Hoek-Brown function in the framework of the Mohr-Coulomb criterion. In this study, the use of upper-bound solution of limit analysis for bearing capacity of a strip footing resting on the ground surface is proposed for the estimation of the equivalent friction angle and cohesion of rock mass incorporating the generalized Hoek-Brown failure criterion. The upper-bound bearing capacity is expressed in terms of friction angle by use of the relationship between tangential friction angle and tangential cohesion implied in the generalized Hoek-Brown function. The friction angle minimizing the upper-bound bearing capacity is taken as the equivalent friction angle. Through the illustrative implementations of the proposed method, the influences of GSI, $m_i$ and D on the equivalent friction angle and cohesion are investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.434-443
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• 2009

Slope stability analysis is an essential part of rock slope design. For highly fractured rock, the limit equilibrium method (LEM) based slope stability analysis with a circular failure surface is often carried out assuming the rock mass behaves more or less as a continuum. This paper examines first, the applicability of the finite-element method (FEM) based shear strength reduction (SSR) technique for highly fractured rock slope, and second the use of Mohr-Coulomb (MC) failure criterion in conjunction with generalized Hoek-Brown (HB) failure criterion. The numerical results on a number of cases are compared in terms of the factor of safety (FS). The results indicated that the FEM-based SSR technique yields almost the same FSs from LEM, and that the MC and HB failure criteria yield almost identical FSs when the strength parameters for MC failure criterion are obtained based on the modified HB failure criterion if and only if value of the Hoek-Brown constant $m_i$ is smaller than 10 and slope angle is smaller than 1:1, otherwise MC failure criteria over-estimate the factor of safety.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.2 s.67
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• pp.119-127
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• 2007

Based on the critical plane approach, a methodology far predicting the anisotropic strength ot transversely isotropic rock is Proposed. It is assumed that the rock failure is governed by Hoek-Brown failure criterion. In order to establish an anisotropic failure function, Mohr envelope equivalent to the original Hoek-Brown criterion is used and the strength parameters m, s are expressed as scalar functions of orientation. The conjugate gradient method, which is one of the robust optimization techniques, is applied to the failure function for searching the orientation giving the maximum value of the anisotropic function. While most of the existing anisotropic strength models can be applied only when the stress condition is the same as that of conventional triaxial compression test, the proposed model can be applied to the general 3-dimensional stress conditions. Through the simulation of triaxial compression tests for transversely isotropic rock sample, the validity of the proposed method is investigated by comparing the predicted triaxial strengths and inclinations of failure plane.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.172-183
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• 2019

The generalized Hoek-Brown (GHB) failure criterion developed by Hoek et al. (2002) is a nonlinear function which defines a stress condition at failure of rock mass. The relevant strength parameter values are systematically determined using the GSI value. Since GSI index is a value quantifying the condition of in-situ rock mass, the GHB criterion is a practical failure condition which can take into the consideration of in-situ rock mass quality. Considering that most rock mechanics engineers are familiar with the linear Mohr-Coulomb criterion and that many rock engineering softwares incorporate Mohr-Coulomb criterion, the equations for the equivalent friction angle and cohesion were also proposed along with the release of the GHB criterion. The proposed equations, however, fix the lower limit of the minor principal stress range, where the linear best-fitting is performed, with the tensile strength of the rock mass. Therefore, if the tensile stress is not expected in the domain of analysis, the calculated equivalent friction angle and cohesion based on the equations in Hoek et al. (2002) could be less accurate. In order to overcome this disadvantage of the existing equations for equivalent friction angle and cohesion, this study proposes the analytical formula which can calculate optimal equivalent friction angle and cohesion in any minor principal stress interval, and verified the accuracy of the derived formula.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.867-877
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• 2016

Collapse shape of tunnel roof in layered Hoek-Brown rock media is investigated within the framework of upper bound theorem. The traditional collapse mechanism for homogeneous stratum is no longer suitable for the present analysis of roof stability, and it would be necessary to propose a curve failure mode to describe the velocity discontinuity surface in layered media. What is discussed in the paper is that the failure mechanism of tunnel roofs, consisting of two different functions, is proposed for layered rock media. Then it is employed to investigate the impending roof failure. Based on the nonlinear Hoek-Brown failure criterion, the collapse volume of roof blocks are derived with the upper bound theorem and variational principle. Numerical calculations and parametric analysis are carried out to illustrate the effects of different parameters on the shape of failure mechanism, which is of overriding significance to the stability analysis of tunnel roof in layered rock media.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.503-515
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• 2014

On the basis of Hoek-Brown failure criterion, a numerical solution for the shape of collapsing block in the rectangular cavity subjected to seepage forces is obtained by upper bound theorem of limit analysis. The seepage forces obtained from the gradient of excess pore pressure distribution are taken as external loadings in the limit analysis, and the pore pressure is easily calculated with pore pressure coefficient. Thus the seepage force is incorporated into the upper bound analysis as a work rate of external force. The upper solution of the shape of collapsing block is derived by virtue of variational calculation. In order to verify the validity of the method proposed in the paper, the result when the pore pressure coefficient equals zero, and only hydrostatic pressure is taken into consideration, is compared with that of previous work. The results show good effectiveness in calculating the collapsing block shape subjected to seepage forces. The influence of parameters on the failure mechanisms is investigated.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.53-63
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• 2023

Rock disturbance caused by blasting and stress relaxation is commonly observed during excavation. As the distance from the source of disturbance increases, the degree of disturbance decreases, and rock at a large depth does not experience disturbance. However, in stability analyses, a single value of disturbance is often applied to the entire rock mass, which leads to underestimated results. In this study, this modeling mistake is addressed by considering realistically varying rock disturbance. The safety of infinite slopes in a disturbed rock mass with a strength governed by the Hoek-Brown failure criterion is investigated based on the kinematic approach of limit analysis. The maximum disturbance is assigned to the outermost slope face because it is directly exposed to blasting damage and dilation, and the disturbance progressively decays with distance in the rock mass. The safety analysis results indicate that the assumption of uniform disturbance in the entire rock mass leads to underestimation of the rock strength and safety on infinite rock slopes. A critical slip surface appears to be within the disturbed rock layer as well as the interface between the disturbed upper rock and undisturbed lower rock.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.115-124
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• 2015

Determination of mobilized shear strength parameters (that identify stresses on the failure plane) is required for analyzing the stability by limit equilibrium method. Generalized Hoek-Brown (GHB) and Mohr-Coulomb (MC) failure criteria are usually used for obtaining stresses on the plane of failure. In the present paper, the applicability of these criteria for determining the stresses on failure plane is investigated. The comparison is based on stresses on the real failure plane which are obtained from the Mohr stress circle. To do so, 18 sets of data (consist of principal stresses and angle of failure plane) presented in the literature are used. In addition, the values account for (VAF) and the root mean square error (RMSE) indices were calculated to check the determination performance of the obtained results. Values of VAF and RMSE for the normal stresses on the failure plane evaluated from MC are 49% and 31.5 where for GHB are 55% and 30.5, respectively. Also, for the shear stresses on failure plane, they are 74% and 36 for MC, 76% and 34.5 for GHB. Results show that the obtained stresses and angles of failure plane for each criterion differ from real ones, but GHB results are closer to the empirical results. Also, it is inferred that results are affected by the failure envelope not real failure plane. Therefore, obtained shear strength parameters are not mobilized. Finally, a multivariable regressed relation is presented for determining the stresses on the failure plane.