Closely jointed greywacke rock masses are widespread throughout both the North and South Islands of New Zealand and much of New Zealand's infrastructure is constructed upon greywacke rock masses. This thesis deals with determining the rock mass strength of unweathered closely jointed New Zealand greywacke rock masses. Currently, the estimation of rock mass strength and deformability is reasonably well predicted through the use of such empirical failure criteria as the Hoek-Brown failure criterion and empirical expressions to predict deformability. However, previous studies upon predicting the strength and deformability of unweathered closely jointed New Zealand greywacke rock masses has shown that existing empirical methods of determining strength and deformability are unsatisfactory. The problem with predicting rock mass strength and deformability moduli of New Zealand greywacke and the lack of adequate data to calibrate a failure criterion was the starting point for this work. The objective of this thesis was to increase the knowledge of intact and defect properties of closely jointed greywacke, develop reliable rock mass data with which to calibrate a failure criterion and improve the ability to estimate the rock mass strength of greywacke rock masses. A review of existing failure criteria for rock masses was conducted and of these criteria, the Hoek-Brown rock mass failure criteria was selected to calibrate to both the intact rock and rock mass failure data, because of its broad acceptance in the rock mechanics community. A database of greywacke properties was developed based on previous studies upon unweathered greywacke around New Zealand and is attached to the thesis as an Appendix. The database included descriptions of greywacke defect properties and mechanical properties of the intact rock and joints. From this database, inputs could be justified for numerical modelling and later analyses of failure criteria. Records from the construction archives of the Benmore and Aviemore hydroelectric power projects in the South Island of New Zealand were reviewed to obtain information and results from a series of shear tests carried out on unweathered closely jointed greywacke in the 1960s. Data on rock mass strength at failure and rock mass deformability were extracted from these records to assess the predictability of the failure criterion and deformability expressions. Problems experienced during the shear tests at the Aviemore dam site created doubt as to the actual rock mass strengths achieved at failure. The behaviour of these tests was studied using the finite difference code FLAC. The work was aimed at investigating the potential for transfer of shear force between the two concrete blocks sheared in each test and the impact shear force transfer had upon the likely normal stresses beneath each block at failure. The numerical modelling results indicated that a combination of preferential failure occurring in one direction, and doubt in the actual normal load applied to the concrete blocks during testing lead to premature failure in the blocks sheared upstream. The blocks sheared in the opposite direction failed at normal stresses that are reflective of the strength of an unweathered greywacke rock mass, but these results could be explained by failure occurring along defects therefore not satisfying the assumptions of homogeneity typically required of a rock mass failure criterion. The Hoek-Brown failure criterion for intact rock was investigated by fitting it to the largest intact greywacke datasets. For a full set of test data (i.e. including tensile data), the Mostyn & Douglas (2000) variant of the Hoek-Brown failure criterion gave the best fit for a full set of rock mass data. A multiple regression method was developed which improved the fitted curve to intact data in the tensile region and gave the best estimate of tensile strength if no existing lab results for tensile strength were available. These results suggest that the Hoek-Brown failure criterion is significantly limited in its applicability to intact NZ greywacke rock. Hoek-Brown input parameters different to those suggested by Hoek et al (2002) are recommended for using the Hoek-Brown failure criterion for intact NZ greywacke. For closely jointed NZ greywacke rock masses, the results from the shear tests at Aviemore and Benmore were separated into different GSI classes and Hoek-Brown envelopes fitted to the datasets by multiple regression. Revised expressions were proposed for each Hoek-Brown input parameter (mb, s, ab) as a function of the GSI. The resulting revised Hoek-Brown failure envelopes for NZ greywacke offer a significant improvement on the existing criterion used to predict the strength of NZ greywacke intact rock and rock masses. The differences in the behaviour of the reaction blocks that failed before the test blocks and the reduction in rock strength due to sliding along defects from that predicted could be reasoned from recorded observations and the behaviour of the concrete blocks during the shear tests. This study has clearly illustrated the need for continued research in this area. This includes (1) a means of assessing the role of defects upon the shear strength of closely jointed greywacke rock mass into a failure criterion, (2) further modelling of the in-situ shear tests by a discrete element procedure to expressly determine the role of the defect on failure, (3) more testing on rock masses to obtain more data to calibrate a rock mass failure criterion, and (4) more studies on predicting the strength of extremely disturbed rock masses.

Considering the similarity between the mechanical behavior of artificially cemented soils and rock masses, this study proposes a methodology to obtain the envelopes resistance of artificially cemented soils, using the Hoek-Brown failure criterion. The proposed methodology consists basically in performing two triaxial tests, with the soil non-cemented and cemented with a high cement content, and estimate the strength envelopes for intermediate cement contents, using the equations presented in this research. To develop the methodology, initially, a number of unconfined compression tests and triaxial tests were carried out in order to quantify the influence of the porosity/cement ratio (n/Civ) on the strength parameters of the cement mixtures used. From the tests results and the Hoek-Brown failure criterion, new equations were developed to calculate the envelope parameters (a, m, s), as functions of porosity/cement ratio. The proposed method was applied to triaxial tests data presented in four different studies and the results showed that the Hoek-Brown envelope is suitable to represent the resistance of artificial cemented soils, being able to incorporate the effects caused by the confining pressure and by the cement content. The envelopes estimated and those obtained from the triaxial tests were very close, indicating that the proposed methodology can be used with a reasonable degree of reliability. The results obtained with the proposed methodology were used to simulate, by the Finite Element Method, the pressuresettlement behavior and the variation of the safety factor of a shallow foundation bearing on a double-layered system formed by an artificially cemented soil layer overlaying a soil stratum. The simulations were performed using as variables the cement content of the enhanced layer and the relationship between the thickness of the treated layer (H) and the diameter of the foundation (D). The results show that the use of artificially cemented layers considerably increases the vertical pressure required for an specific settlement and also the foundation safety factor. Thus, the execution of shallow foundations, replacing deep foundations, becomes feasible / Considerando a semelhanÃa existente entre o comportamento mecÃnico dos solos artificialmente cimentados e dos maciÃos rochosos, o presente trabalho propÃe uma metodologia para a obtenÃÃo das envoltÃrias de resistÃncia dos solos artificialmente cimentados, utilizando o critÃrio de ruptura geral de Hoek-Brown. A metodologia proposta consiste, basicamente, em realizar dois ensaios triaxiais, um com o solo nÃo cimentado e outro com o solo cimentado com um teor de cimento elevado, e estimar as envoltÃrias de resistÃncia para os teores de cimento intermediÃrios, atravÃs das equaÃÃes desenvolvidas. Para o desenvolvimento da metodologia, inicialmente, foram realizados ensaios de compressÃo simples e triaxiais nÃo drenados, com o objetivo quantificar a influÃncia do fator vazio/cimento (n/Civ) sobre os parÃmetros de resistÃncia das misturas cimentadas utilizadas. A partir dos resultados dos ensaios de resistÃncia e da equaÃÃo geral do critÃrio de Hoek-Brown, foram desenvolvidas equaÃÃes para calcular os parÃmetros da envoltÃria (a, m, s), em funÃÃo do fator vazio/cimento. A metodologia proposta foi aplicada aos resultados dos ensaios triaxiais apresentados em outros quatro trabalhos e os resultados mostraram que a envoltÃria de Hoek-Brown à adequada para representar a resistÃncia dos solos artificialmente cimentados, sendo capaz de incorporar os efeitos causados pela tensÃo confinante e pelo nÃvel de cimentaÃÃo. As envoltÃrias estimadas e as obtidas com os ensaios triaxiais ficaram bem prÃximas, indicando que a metodologia proposta pode ser empregada com um razoÃvel grau de confiabilidade. Os resultados obtidos com a metodologia proposta foram utilizados para simular, atravÃs do MÃtodo dos Elementos Finitos, o comportamento carga-recalque e a variaÃÃo do fator de seguranÃa de uma fundaÃÃo superficial assente sobre um sistema de dupla camada, sendo a superior cimentada. As simulaÃÃes foram realizadas utilizando como variÃveis o teor de cimento da camada reforÃada e a relaÃÃo entre a altura da camada cimentada (H) e o diÃmetro da fundaÃÃo (D). Os resultados obtidos mostram que a utilizaÃÃo de camadas artificialmente cimentadas eleva consideravelmente as tensÃes verticais necessÃrias para um recalque relativo especÃfico e, tambÃm, o fator de seguranÃa da fundaÃÃo. Com isso, a execuÃÃo de fundaÃÃes superficiais, em substituiÃÃo a fundaÃÃes profundas, torna-se viÃvel.