20 - Design of underground excavations

Abstract

The purpose of the engineered structure influence its design. For example, the stabilization measures required for an excavation. In civil, mining and petroleum engineering, there will are different constraints on the tolerable disturbance caused by excavation, on the rock displacements, on the type of instability that can be allowed to occur, on the type of support that could be installed, and so on. As with the design of surface structures on rock masses, it is necessary to establish the project objective before deciding on the type of analysis that will be conducted. The project objective determines the performance requirements of the structure, the modeling that should be used to provide the necessary predictive capability for rock engineering, and hence the rock mechanics information required. Although knowledge of, for example, the structural geology of the host rock and its basic mechanical properties are always useful, there is no such thing as a standard modeling procedure and hence no standard site investigation procedure for rock engineering.