New directions in rock mechanics — report on a forum sponsored by the American Rock Mechanics Association

Abstract

The American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA) and the ARMA Foundation sponsored a forum on New Directions for US Rock Mechanics which was held at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California, USA, during 18–20 October 1998. The goal of the Forum was to focus on: (1) a strategic vision for the future of rock mechanics in the United States; (2) the identification and delineation of critical issues facing the rock mechanics community; (3) the role of research in addressing these issues; and (4) critical areas of research in each of the topic areas addressed at the forum including examples of specific research initiatives. To a large degree, rock mechanics has been used successfully to model and predict the behavior of fractured rock masses for building large structures. However, improvements on present success, and future advances in modeling and construction, are predicated on better characterization of fractured rock masses. This will require increasing emphasis on non-linear and discontinuity-based models to reflect the mechanisms at work in fractured rock masses. For example, relevant characterization schemes, as well as field, laboratory, and logging techniques have yet to be developed for weak rock conditions and for all but the simplest fluid flow conditions. This report summarizes two days of discussion held during the Forum. It was the sense of the Forum participants that fundamental improvements in in situ rock mass characterization is of the utmost importance. Every session emphasized that obtaining valid information from large volumes of rock is the prerequisite for the effective and improved practice of rock mechanics. Research and application of remote imaging and non-destructive evaluation of the subsurface should provide a source of economically realizable data from large volumes of rock. This area should be a primary goal of future research. Associated with the question of site characterization is the degree of uncertainty associated with the data, and with the chosen interpretive model. Forum participants also recommended conducting research to find implementations of stochastic techniques, which would allow uncertainty to be dealt with in a rational manner.