Engineering analysis of underground rock excavation

• Main Author: Xu, Yuan Hao.
• Other Authors: Low Bak Kong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/53376
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Rock mechanics or rock engineering was developed since the 1960s, but the underground excavation in rocks is still at its infant stages. The construction and maintenance of underground rock tunnel or caverns require prudent and detailed designs in the excavation process. To be able to predict the effects of the excavation process and estimate the effectiveness of the support designs, one has to understand the properties of the rock materials and their likely behaviour with the physical elements. This places great importance on the study of the deformation of the rock tunnel during excavation, particularly because deformations such as inward displacement can influence its stability. In this project, using stress analysis, investigations on the extent of deformation of rock tunnels during excavation will be conducted. Also uncover out the factors that contribute to the instability and displacement of underground excavations. This project focuses on the stress-controlled instability mechanisms. Assumptions are based on idealized cases to facilitate the investigation of simple excavation boundary. This project also analyses the investigation of rock tunnelling projects based on recent cases of underground rock tunnels. The software Examine2D, from RocScience, will be used extensively in this project to simulate underground rock tunnels in two-dimension and the results generated will be investigated and analyzed.