• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.168-180
• /
• 1991

Through field measurements, it was shown that the shear stresses along a fully grouted rock blot were proportional to the differences between the displacement of a bolt rod and that of surrounding rock. Accordingly the theoretical equation for the displacement along a rock bolt, R(x), can be proposed as differential form; $ \frac{d^2R(x)}{dx^2}-aR(x)=-a^2U(x)$ where U(x) is the displacement of surrounding rock and α is a constant. In this study above equation was applied to the boundary element analysis which can simulate the supporting behavior of each rock bolt around a tunnel and the results of the implementation of boundary element technique were shown.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.547-556
• /
• 2020

An understanding of the influence of MR (Magmatic Rock) thickness on the surrounding rock behaviors is essential for the prevention and management of dynamic disasters in coal mining. In this study, we used FLC3D to study the breaking and instability laws of surrounding rock with different MR thicknesses in terms of strata movement, stress and energy. The mechanism of dynamic disasters was revealed. The results show that the thicker the MR is, (1) the smaller the subsidence of the overlying strata is, but the subsidence span of the overlying strata become wider, and the corresponding displacement deformation value of the basin edge become smaller. (2) the slower the growth rate of abutment pressure in front of the working face is, but the peak value is smaller, and the influence range is larger. The peak value decreases rapidly after the breaking, and the stress concentration coefficient is maintained at about 1.31. (3) the slower the peak energy in front of coal wall, but the range of energy concentration increases (isoline "O" type energy circle). Finally, a case study was conducted to verify the disaster-causing mechanism. We anticipate that the research findings presented herein can assist in the control of dynamic hazards.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.485-498
• /
• 2019

Pre-tensioned rock bolts can be classified into fully anchored, lengthening anchored and point anchored bolts based on the bond length of the resin or cement mortar inside the borehole. Bolts in varying anchoring methods may significantly affect the supporting effect of surrounding rock around a tunnel. However, thus far, the theoretical basis of selecting a proper anchoring method has not been thoroughly investigated. Based on this problem, 16 schemes were designed while incorporating the effects of anchoring length, pretension, bolt length, and spacing, and a systematic numerical experiment was performed in this paper. The distribution characteristics of the stress field in the surrounding rock, which corresponded to various anchoring scenarios, were obtained. Furthermore, an analytical approach for computing the active and passive strengthening index of the anchored surrounding rock is presented. A new fully anchoring method with pretension and matching technology are also provided. Then, an isolated loading model of the anchored surrounding rock was constructed. The physical simulation test for the bearing capacity of the model was performed with three schemes. Finally, the strengthening mechanism of varying anchoring methods was validated. The research findings in this paper may provide theoretical guidelines for the design and construction of bolting support in tunnels.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.77-94
• /
• 2016

A forked tunnel, as a special complicated underground structure, is composed of big-arch tunnel, multi-arch tunnel, neighborhood tunnels and separate tunnels according to the different distances between two separate tunnels. Due to the complicated process of design and construction, surrounding jointed rock mass stability of the big-arch tunnel which belongs to the forked tunnel during excavation is a hot issue that needs special attentions. In this paper, an elasto-plastic damage constitutive model for jointed rock mass is proposed based on the coupling method considering elasto-plastic and damage theories, and the irreversible thermodynamics theory. Based on this elasto-plastic damage constitutive model, a three dimensional elasto-plastic damage finite element code (D-FEM) is implemented using Visual Fortran language, which can numerically simulate the whole excavation process of underground project and perform the structural stability of the surrounding rock mass. Comparing with a popular commercial computer code, three dimensional fast Lagrangian analysis of continua (FLAC3D), this D-FEM has advantages in terms of rapid computing process, element grouping function and providing more material models. After that, FLAC3D and D-FEM are simultaneously used to perform the structural stability analysis of the surrounding rock mass in the forked tunnel considering three different computing schemes. The final numerical results behave almost consistent using both FLAC3D and D-FEM. But from the point of numerically obtained damage softening areas, the numerical results obtained by D-FEM more closely approach the practical behaviors of in-situ surrounding rock mass.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.14 no.5
• /
• pp.439-451
• /
• 2018

The stress path characteristics of surrounding rock in the formation of gob were analysed and the unloading was solved. Taking Chengchao Iron Mine as the engineering background, the model for analysing the instability of deep gob was established based on the mechanism of stress relief in deep mining. The energy evolution law was investigated by introducing the local energy release rate index (LERR), and the energy criterion of instability of surrounding rock was established based on the cusp catastrophe theory. The results showed that the evolution equation of the local energy release energy of the surrounding rock was quartic function with one unknown and the release rate increased gradually during the mining. The calculation results showed that the gob was stable. The LERR per unit volume of the bottom structure was relatively smaller, which mean the stability was better. The LERR distribution showed that there was main energy release in the horizontal direction and energy concentration in the vertical direction which meet the characteristics of deep mining. In summary, this model could effectively calculate the stability of surrounding rock in the formation of gob. The LERR could reflect the dynamic process of energy release, transfer and dissipation which provided an important reference for the study of the stability of deep mined out area.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.11 no.6
• /
• pp.787-803
• /
• 2016

DDARF (Discontinuous Deformation Analysis for Rock Failure) is a numerical algorithm for simulating jointed rock masses' discontinuous deformation. While its reinforcement simulation is only limited to end-anchorage bolt, which is assumed to be a linear spring simply. Here, several new reinforcement modes in DDARF are proposed, including lining reinforcement, full-length anchorage bolt and equivalent reinforcement. In the numerical simulation, lining part is assigned higher mechanical strength than surrounding rock masses, it may include multiple virtual joints or not, depending on projects. There must be no embedding or stretching between lining blocks and surrounding blocks. To realize simulation of the full-length anchorage bolt, at every discontinuity passed through the bolt, a set of normal and tangential spring needs to be added along the bolt's axial and tangential direction. Thus, bolt's axial force, shearing force and full-length anchorage effect are all realized synchronously. And, failure criterions of anchorage effect are established for different failure modes. In the meantime, from the perspective of improving surrounding rock masses' overall strength, a new equivalent and tentative simulation method is proposed, it can save calculation storage and improve efficiency. Along the text, simulation algorithms and applications of these new reinforcement modes in DDARF are given.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.253-267
• /
• 2016

The stability of surrounding rock will be poor when the tunnel is excavated through nearly horizontal stratum. In this paper, the instability mechanism of local nearly horizontal stratum in super-large section and deep buried tunnel is revealed by the analysis of the macro failure and micro fracture. A structural model is proposed to explain the mechanics of surrounding rock collapse under the action of stress redistribution and shed light on the macroscopic analytical approach of the stability of surrounding rock. Then, some highly effective formulas applied in the tunnel engineering are developed according to the theory of mixed-mode micro fracture. And well-documented field case is made to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed analytical methods of mixed-mode fracture. Meanwhile, in order to make the more accurate judgment about yield failure of rock mass, a series of comprehensive failure criteria are formed. In addition, the relationship between the nonlinear failure criterion and $K_I$ and $K_{II}$ of micro fracture is established to make the surrounding rock failure criterion more comprehensive and accurate. Further, the influence of the parameters related to the tension-shear mixed-mode fracture and compression-shear mixed-mode fracture on the propagation of rock crack is analyzed. Results show that ${\sigma}_3$ changes linearly with the change of ${\sigma}_1$. And the change rate is related to ${\beta}$, angle between the cracks and ${\sigma}_1$. The proposed simple analytical approach is economical and efficient, and suitable for the analysis of local nearly horizontal stratum in super-large section and deep buried tunnel.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.201-211
• /
• 2014

In the present study, the thermal performance of multiple rock caverns for large-scale thermal energy storage (TES) was numerically investigated for different separation distances between the caverns through heat transfer analysis using a computational fluid dynamics code, FLUENT. The thermal performance of multiple caverns was assessed in terms of the thermal stratification within the caverns and the heat loss to the surroundings, and the heating characteristics of the rock around the caverns were investigated. The results of numerical simulation showed that there was little difference in thermal performance between multiple TES caverns with different separation distances when the surrounding rock was less heated and it reached thermal steady-state, which represent the thermal states of the surrounding rock at the early and long-term operational stages of the TES caverns, respectively. However, as the separation distance decreased, the rock between the caverns reached thermal steady-state more quickly, and thus the heat loss from the caverns tended to converge rapidly to the value of heat loss occurred under thermal steady-state conditions in the surrounding rock. This result implies that the operating cost of heating the surrounding rock (i.e., rock heating) can be reduced with a reduction in the separation distance between multiple caverns, and suggests that the separation distance should be determined by considering the operating cost of rock heating as well as the construction cost of the caverns.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.188-195
• /
• 2012

Using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, FLUENT, the present study investigated the thermal stratification behavior of Lyckebo storage in Sweden, which is the very first large-scale rock cavern for underground thermal energy storage. Heat transfer analysis was carried out for numerical cases with different temperatures of the surrounding rock mass in order to examine the effect of rock mass heating due to periodic storage and production of thermal energy on thermal stratification and heat loss. The change of thermal stratification with respect to time was quantitatively examined based on an index of the degree of stratification. The results of numerical simulation showed that in the early operational stage where the surrounding rock mass was less heated, the stratification of stored thermal energy was rapidly degraded over time, but the degradation and heat loss tended to reduce as the surrounding rock mass was heated during a long period of operation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.168-185
• /
• 2015

The thermal-hydrological-mechanical (T-H-M) behavior of rock mass surrounding a large-scale high-temperature cavern thermal energy storage (CTES) at a shallow depth has been investigated, and the effects of hydrological conditions such as water table and rock permeability on the behavior have been examined. The liquid saturation of ground water around a storage cavern may have a small impact on the overall heat transfer and mechanical behavior of surrounding rock mass for a relatively low rock permeability of $10^{-17}m^2$. In terms of the distributions of temperature, stress and displacement of the surrounding rock mass, the results expected from the simulation with the cavern below the water table were almost identical to that obtained from the simulation with the cavern in the unsaturated zone. The heat transfer in the rock mass with reasonable permeability ${\leq}10^{-15}m^2$ was dominated by the conduction. In the simulation with rock permeability of $10^{-12}m^2$, however, the convective heat transfer by ground-water was dominant, accompanying the upward heat flow to near-ground surface. The temperature and pressure around a storage cavern showed different distributions according to the rock permeability, as a result of the complex coupled processes such as the heat transfer by multi-phase flow and the evaporation of ground-water.