scholarly journals Energy Release Analysis of a Severe Rockburst in a Headrace Tunnel Crossing a Tectonic Stress Zone

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. M. Tian ◽  
W. Z. Chen ◽  
C. S. Ma ◽  
D. S. Yang ◽  
X. J. Tan

When tunneling in a hard and brittle rock mass within a tectonic stress zone, dynamic failure of rock mass-rockburst may occur. Considering the occurrence of rockburst is generally induced by a sudden release of storage elastic energy, a numerical analysis based on the geotechnical conditions of the headrace tunnels of the Neelum–Jhelum hydroelectric project was carried out to investigate the variations of the storage elastic energy of surrounding rock mass during excavation in the tectonic stress zone. As expected, the numerical results show that the storage elastic energy concentration zones is elliptical around the tunnel due to the influence of the tectonic stress field and that the long axis of the ellipse is perpendicular to the orientation of the maximum principal stress of the tectonic stress. Furthermore, the calculated storage energy concentration zone is consistent with the locations of blasting overbreak in the tunnel. Rockburst predictions were carried out using the strength-stress ratio and energy criteria to identify the applicability of the criteria in a tectonic stress zone. The comparisons between the predictions and the field observations show that the strength-stress ratio criteria based on the uniaxial tests do not consider the influence of the tectonic stress on the strength of the rock. These criteria overpredict the extent of the blasting pits in the tectonic stress zone. However, the energy criteria based on the energy conversion of unloading confining pressure tests are able to reflect the influence of the tectonic stress, and the prediction results are more close to the field observations.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Weibin Ma ◽  
Jinfei Chai ◽  
Degou Cai ◽  
Xiaoyan Du ◽  
Jie Dong ◽  
...  

In situ stress is the natural stress existing in the stratum without engineering disturbance, also known as initial stress, absolute stress, or original rock stress. In order to master the in situ stress of the Manmushu Tunnel and Mamo Tunnel in Southwest China, the casing stress solution method is adopted in this paper. Through the combination of field measurement and laboratory test, the basic data such as initial strain during stress relief are collected, and the in situ stress values are analyzed in combination with indoor temperature compensation test, confining pressure calibration, and relevant rock mechanics tests. The measured results show the following: (1) the maximum horizontal principal stress σh.max ranges from 6.44 MPa to 19.74 MPa; the vertical principal stress σ v ranges from 4.11 MPa to 13.48 MPa; and the minimum horizontal principal stress ranges from 4.32 MPa to 11.22 MPa. (2) The maximum horizontal principal stress directions of the five measuring points are all located in the NW direction, which is basically consistent with the maximum principal stress direction of the regional tectonic stress field. The maximum horizontal principal stress (σh.max), the minimum horizontal principal stress (σh.min), and the vertical principal stress ( σ v ) all increase with the increase of buried depth, and the relationship is approximately linear. It is suggested that, in the actual construction process, the construction method and construction parameters should be optimized scientifically and reasonably to reduce the disturbance of blasting on the tunnel surrounding rock. After tunnel excavation, support measures should be taken quickly, timely, and scientifically to reduce and control the deformation of the surrounding rock.


Author(s):  
Xiaoming Lou ◽  
Mingwu Sun ◽  
Jin Yu

AbstractThe fissures are ubiquitous in deep rock masses, and they are prone to instability and failure under dynamic loads. In order to study the propagation attenuation of dynamic stress waves in rock mass with different number of fractures under confining pressure, nonlinear theoretical analysis, indoor model test and numerical simulation are used respectively. The theoretical derivation is based on displacement discontinuity method and nonlinear fissure mechanics model named BB model. Using ABAQUS software to establish a numerical model to verify theoretical accuracy, and indoor model tests were carried out too. The research shows that the stress attenuation coefficient decreases with the increase of the number of fissures. The numerical simulation results and experimental results are basically consistent with the theoretical values, which verifies the rationality of the propagation equation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2627-2635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Feng ◽  
B. Li ◽  
Y. P. Yin ◽  
K. He

Abstract. Calcareous mountainous areas are highly prone to geohazards, and rockslides play an important role in cliff retreat. This study presents three examples of failures of limestone cliffs with subhorizontal bedding in the southwestern calcareous area of China. Field observations and numerical modeling of Yudong Escarpment, Zengzi Cliff, and Wangxia Cliff showed that pre-existing vertical joints passing through thick limestone and the alternation of competent and incompetent layers are the most significant features for rockslides. A "hard-on-soft" cliff made of hard rocks superimposed on soft rocks is prone to rock slump, characterized by shearing through the underlying weak strata along a curved surface and backward tilting. When a slope contains weak interlayers rather than a soft basal, a rock collapse could occur from the compression fracture and tensile split of the rock mass near the interfaces. A rockslide might shear through a hard rock mass if no discontinuities are exposed in the cliff slope, and sliding may occur along a moderately inclined rupture plane. The "toe breakout" mechanism mainly depends on the strength characteristics of the rock mass.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 4299-4330
Author(s):  
Z. Feng ◽  
B. Li ◽  
Y. P. Yin ◽  
K. He

Abstract. Calcareous mountainous areas are highly prone to geohazards, and rockslides play an important role in cliff retreat. This study presents three examples of failures of limestone cliffs with sub-horizontal bedding in the southwestern calcareous area of China. Field observations and numerical modeling of Yudong Escarpment, Zengzi Cliff, and Wangxia Cliff showed that pre-existing vertical joints passing through thick limestone and the alternation of competent and incompetent layers are the most significant features for rockslides. A "hard on soft" cliff made of hard rocks superimposed of soft rocks is prone to rock slump, characterized by shearing through the underlying weak strata along a curved surface and backward tilting. When a slope contains weak interlayers rather than a soft basal layers, a rock collapse could occur from the compression fracture and tensile split of the rock mass near the interfaces. A rock slide might shear through a hard rock mass if no discontinuities are exposed in the cliff slope, and sliding may occur along a moderately inclined rupture plane. The "toe breakout" mechanism mainly depends on the strength characteristics of the rock mass.


2012 ◽  
Vol 166-169 ◽  
pp. 2774-2781
Author(s):  
Yong Zhang ◽  
Da Jian Hu ◽  
Lu Xue

In step with body Ⅱ, analytic solution and illustration of elastic energy releasing amount of rock mass dynamic destabilization are given for the first time in the form of precise and approximate catastrophe model. It is upgraded from qualitative understand to quantitative description that study on rock stability at the stage before and after earthquake and rockburst. The halting point’s position of rock mass dynamic destabilization is ascertained strictly, and it offers scientific basis for the calculation on earthquake efficiency, the study on earthquake energy magnitude released, earthquake stress drop, fault offset after earthquake and amount of elastic strain recovery of surrounding rock. The system possesses the capability of applying work to surroundings when it destabilizes, and earthquake wave energy is the work that destabilizing rock system applies to surroundings by way of destructive. The given illustration of elastic energy releasing amount implicates wealth of information, it produces credible evidence for confirming that the mathematical abstract of rock dynamic destabilization is fold catastrophe model.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 5141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei ◽  
Li ◽  
Han ◽  
Han ◽  
Wang ◽  
...  

To achieve the purposes of disposing industry solid wastes and enhancing the sustainability of subgrade life-cycle service performance in seasonally frozen regions compared to previous research of modified silty clay (MSC) composed of oil shale ash (OSA), fly ash (FA), and silty clay (SC), we identified for the first time the axial deformation characteristics of MSC with different levels of cycle load number, dynamic stress ratio, confining pressure, loading frequency, and F-T cycles; and corresponding to the above conditions, the normalized and logarithmic models on the plastic cumulative strain prediction of MSC are established. For the effect of cycle load number, results show that the cumulative plastic strain of MSC after 1, 10, and 100 cycle loads occupies for 28.72%~35.31%, 49.86%~55.59%, and 70.87%~78.39% of those after 8000 cycle loads, indicating that MSC possesses remarkable plastic stability after 100 cycles of cycle loads. For the effect of dynamic stress ratio, confining pressure, loading frequency, and F-T cycles, results show that dynamic stress ratio and F-T cycles are important factors affecting the axial deformation of MSC after repeated cycle loads; and under the low dynamic stress ratio, increasing confining pressure and loading frequency have insignificant effect on the axial strain of MSC after 8000 loads. In term of the normalized and logarithmic models on the plastic cumulative strain prediction of MSC, they have a high correlation coefficient with testing data, and according to the above models, the predicted result shows that the cumulative plastic strain of MSC ranges from 0.38 cm to 2.71 cm, and these predicted values are within the requirements in the related standards of highway subgrades and railway, indicating that the cumulative plastic strain of MSC is small and MSC is suitable to be used as the subgrade materials.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Xinyu Liu ◽  
Zhende Zhu ◽  
Aihua Liu

Filling is commonly found in natural cracked rock mass. As the weakest part of the rock, the filling properties directly affect the rock deformation and strength, permeability, and so on and affect the safety and stability of the rock mass engineering. In this study, a single slit has been preset in sandstones and filled with different physical properties materials. Based on the laboratory triaxial seepage test, the permeability and strength characteristics of filled cracked sandstones are analyzed, and the failure modes are obtained. The main findings of this study are as follows: (1) The permeability coefficient peak value of the filled cracked rock appears before the stress peak. (2) At the same confining pressure growth rate, the peak stress growth rate of the filled cracked rock is generally higher than that of the intact rock and the strength growth rate of the cracked rock increases with the length of the fracture. The strength characteristics of the filling in the uniaxial compression tests and triaxial seepage tests are significantly affected by the hydraulic properties. (3) The strength and permeability coefficients of cracked rock filled with cement mortar are more sensitive to the change of confining pressure, while under the same condition, the ones of cracked rock filled with gypsum mortar are stable. (4) According to the failure mechanism, under the seepage stress, the secondary cracks can be divided into 3 types and the failure modes can be divided into 2 types.


2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (11) ◽  
pp. 1767-1779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Buddhima Indraratna ◽  
Mandeep Singh ◽  
Thanh Trung Nguyen ◽  
Serge Leroueil ◽  
Aruni Abeywickrama ◽  
...  

A long-term issue that has hampered the efficient operation of heavy-haul tracks is the migration of fluidized fines from the shallow soft subgrade to the overlying ballast, i.e., mud pumping. This paper presents a series of undrained cyclic triaxial tests where realistic cyclic loading conditions were simulated at low confining pressure that is typical of shallow subgrade beneath a ballast track. Subgrade soil specimens with a low-plasticity index collected from a field site with recent history of mud pumping were tested at frequencies from 1.0 to 5.0 Hz and a cyclic stress ratio (CSR) from 0.1 to 1.0. The experimental results indicate that under adverse loading conditions of critical cyclic stress ratio (CSRc) and frequency, there is upward migration of moisture and the finest particles towards the specimen top and this causes the uppermost part of the soil specimen to soften and fluidize. Conversely, a smaller value of CSR tends to maintain stability of the specimen despite the increasing number of loading cycles. It is noteworthy that for any given combination of CSR and frequency, the relative compaction has a significant influence on the cyclic behaviour of the soil and its potential for fluidization.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 535
Author(s):  
Shuaiqi Liu ◽  
Fengshan Ma ◽  
Haijun Zhao ◽  
Jie Guo ◽  
Xueliang Duan ◽  
...  

Water inrush caused by hydrosplitting is an extremely common disaster in the engineering of underground tunnels. In this study, the propagation of fluid-driven fractures based on an improved discrete element fluid-solid coupling method was modeled. First, the interactions between hydrosplitting fractures (HFs) and preexisting weak planes (WPs) with different angles were simulated considering water pressure in the initial fracture. Second, the influence of the in situ stress ratio and the property of WPs were analyzed, and corresponding critical pressure values of different interactions were calculated. Lastly, the maximum principal stress and maximum shear stress variation inside the pieces were reproduced. The following conclusions can be drawn: (1) Five different types of interaction modes between HFs and natural WPs were obtained, prone to crossing the WPs under inclination of 90°. (2) The initiation pressure value decreased with an increased in situ stress ratio, and the confining stress status had an effect on the internal principal stress. (3) During HFs stretching in WPs with a high elastic modulus, the value of the maximum principal stress was low and rose slowly, and the maximum shear stress value was smaller. Through comprehensive analysis, the diversity of the principal stress curves is fundamentally determined by the interaction mode between HFs and WPs, which are influenced by the variants mentioned in the paper. The analysis provides a better guideline for understanding the failure mechanism of water gushing out of deep buried tunnel construction and cracking seepage of high head tunnels.


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