Rock mass damage assessment

Methods and applications

Rock Mass Damage

Engineering perspective: damage is any change in a material property which degrades the materials performance. (Brown et al 1994) Geotechnical perspective: fracturing or discontinuity generation, extension or degradation, or any irreversible deformation such as the shearing and opening of discontinuities, which causes deterioration of the rock mass strength (Li 1993).

Potential Failure Plane

Zone of Rock Bridge

Blast Damage Assessment Open pits

(Bye, 2006)

Zone of Joint Cracking

Zone of Rock Cracking

Large basal fault

80% Charge, 20% Air

Presplit

Jointing sub-parallel to fault plane

Damage assessment - Underground

Damage assessment methods (After Brown et al, 1994)

Method
DIRECT METHODS
Excavation monitoring systems Damage Mapping Borehole TV, periscope survey Core logging

Quantity observed or measured

Excavation profile; overbreak, back break and dilution Fracture distribution and half barrels visible Fracture frequency and aperture Fracture frequency Blast induced vibration; fragmentation Change in P-wave velocity; rise time; signal amplitude Displacements within the rock mass; rock mass moduli inferred Rock mass displacements and moduli Rock mass permeability; fracture apertures and extent of disturbed zone inferred Scaling times

INDIRECT METHODS
Blast monitoring Seismic monitoring Extensometers Back analysis Permeability Man-shift evaluation

Damage assessment methods recent technologies

Technology
3D Digital image mapping Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Ground Probe Radar 3D digital photogrammetry (SiroVision) Crack monitors Laser Scanner Downhole imaging Impulse response technique (CSM)

Quantity observed or measured

Excavation profile; overbreak
Depth of damage. Non-destructive method that uses electromagnetic radiation in the microwave band (UHF/VHF frequencies) of the radio spectrum, and detects the reflected signals from subsurface structures Measure and monitor the stability of rock walls (sub mm accuracy) High-precision 3D images used for the mapping and analysis of rock mass surfaces. Measures crack displacement Pre and post blast wall displacement (30 mm accuracy) Pre and post blast fracture mapping

Depth of damage

Slope Monitoring Techniques

Technology Precision Wall Coverage Update Rate Range Deployment All weather

SSR

0.2 mm

Broad Area Discrete Points Broad Area Discrete Points Discrete Points Broad Area

~ mins

450 m (1 km) < 2 km < 200 m n/a n/a < 150 m

Easy

Yes

Laser (Prisms) Laser (Prismless) Extensometers GPS

~ 1s cm ~ 10s cm ~ 1s mm ~ 10s cm

Twice Daily ~ secs ~ secs ~ secs ~ mins

Difficult Moderate Difficult Difficult Moderate

No No Yes Yes No

Photogram- ~ 1s cm metry

Direct methods - observations

Borehole surveys

Half barrels

Downhole imaging

(courtesy Wellfield Services Limitada)

Subsurface damage
Section A-B A
damage inspection boreholes (1m apart) 1m

9.2 m distance f rom damage to nearest fully coupled blasthole

Chapter 11, LOP, 2007)

Direct methods profile measurements

Reflectorless distance measurement systems

Major structures

Measured profile

Desired profile

Photo: Leica TMS Total Station

Direct method of overbreak measurement in underground environments - cavity monitoring system (CMS)

CMS

Developed by Noranda and Optech systems Canada.

Direct methods profile measurements with 3D digital imaging

Courtesy MD Robotics

Indirect methods - seismic tomography

Electronic Detonators Vs Pyrotechnic (After Ichijo et al, 1994)

Seismic monitoring relative reduction in Vp

ASP Blastronics, 2006

GPR technology - Underground

GPR technology Open pit

Codelco IM2, 2006

Impulse response technique

Petr, 2005

Ground Probe Radar

(Bye, 2006)

RIEGL Laser Scanner

(Bye, 2006)

3D digital photogrammetry SiroVision

Other instrumentation - crack monitors

Addressing blasting complaints

Eight month history of displacement and crack displacement showing greatest change width to correlate with the most intense and longest drop in humidity in April
Dowding and Siebert, 2000

Damage Assessment from Vibration Monitoring

Data Cable

Vertical Geophone

Radial Geophone

Transverse Geophone

Uphole Geophone Schematic

Triaxial Geophone

PVC Pipe

Grout Bleeding Hose Plug Grout Pumping hose

Example of commercial data acquisition systems

Instantel

Texcel

Terminology on vibrations
Peak particle velocity (PPV) refers to the peak vibration velocity measured in a given transducer (e.g. radial, transverse or vertical) Attenuation refers to the diminishing of intensity of a wave front as it progresses through a media Vector sum is the resultant of the magnitude to the three orthogonal components coincident with time Peak vector sum is the resultant of the peak magnitude of each orthogonal component not coincident with time

Types of wave motion Body waves

Compressional wave (P-wave). The particle motion is parallel to the direction of the wave propagation

Propagation direction

Particle motion

Types of wave motion Body waves

Shear waves (s-waves) the particles generally move transversely to the direction of the wave propagation
Particle motion

Propagation direction

Types of wave motion surface waves

At interfaces (Ground and air, ground and joints) different type of surface waves are developed. The most important is the Rayleigh wave (R-wave)
Particle motion

Propagation direction

Indirect methods Near field peak particle velocity (PPV) monitoring

Geophone hole A

Geophone hole B

Observation Holes (diamond drilled) 0.5-0.8m from geophone holes

Station 1

Lagging Tunnel

Leading Tunnel

Plan View

Vibration measurements Equipment requirements

Fit for use sensors Good and consistent coupling Data capturing and reporting Monitoring system with auto-trigger level capabilities Adequate calibration Ideally, the monitoring system should be self reliant, that is have long life battery or permanent power

Damage assessment - PPV based monitoring

Damage assessment - PPV based monitoring

Damage assessment - PPV based monitoring

 Best practice is to use a combination of direct and indirect methods to infer damage
Combination of borehole surveys with vibrations Extensometers with seismics

Open discussion session

Local experience on rock mass damage assessment Use of PPV based criteria
Can it be used for structurally controlled damage ? Single versus a range of values PPV relation to strain Intact rock versus rock mass

Quantifying the impact of damage

Surface stability Rock reinforcement and support

Mechanisms of damage (gas versus stress induced)