Rockbursts may cause damages to underground openings and to equipment, and constitute a major hazard to the safety of mine workers. One method that can be used to evaluate if there is a rockburst potential is to compare the stiffness of the failed rock with that of the surrounding rock mass. This method has been applied successfully in the past to rockbursts involving fracturing of the rock mass. / This thesis deals with the development of a similar approach for rockbursts involving a violent slip along major geological discontinuities. To evaluate the post-peak shear stiffness of a discontinuity, a new non-linear constitutive model for rock joint was developed. This model is based on two exponential formulations expressing the two phenomena taking part in the shearing process: friction resistance along surfaces and shearing of asperities. Compared with test results, the model showed a correlation factor (R2) of 0.90. The model was then implemented in an existing boundary element code to evaluate the interaction between underground openings and nearby geological discontinuities. Verification of the implementation was done by reproducing direct shear tests on a discontinuity. Parametric analyses were performed on the new model that highlighted the most important parameters. Methods to obtain the different stiffnesses involved in the violent slip process were developed. Examples of applications were given to illustrate the proposed methods. / Finally, an alternative method to evaluate the fault-slip rockburst potential was developed. This new method relies on a linear analysis and the calculation of a new index called the Out-of-Balance Index or OBI. The OBI showed some agreement with the stiffness approach.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.35945 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Simon, Richard, 1967- |
| Contributors | Mitri, Hani S. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001654718, proquestno: NQ50263, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds