MINE6101 Advanced rock mechanics 5 (30 10 10)

Objective: To provide overview of mine design and operations fundamentals with a focus on the
future trends which considers where the industry will be in the next decade(s)? Topics give an
over-arching significance to social, environmental, health and safety considerations in traditional
design and operations decision-making.

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Chapter 1: Theory of Elasticity, Rock as a structure,
Strength and deformation of rock; In-situ stresses
Question: Are rocks elastic or plastic material?

1.1 Introduction

Many engineering components, while in service, are subjected to a variety of loading. Examples
include formation rocks subjected to pore pressure, in situ stresses and forces imposed by a
drilling bit. There are many cases in rock engineering where the stresses are not applied as such;
rather, the stress state is altered by the engineering activities, e.g. in the case of excavating a rock
slope or tunnel.

In such situations, it is necessary to know the characteristics of the engineering component‟s

materials such that any resulting deformation will not be excessive and failure will not occur.
This is achieved by means of stress-strain relationships.

Theory of elasticity is one of these methodologies that create a linear relation between the
imposing force (stress) and resulting deformation (strain), for majority of materials which behave
fully or partially elastically. It plays an important role in the design of man-made components
and structures as well as the integrity assessment of already stable natural sys- tems disturbed by
man.

1.2 Stress-strain diagram for rocks

Typical stress-strain behavior of rock under loads is shown in Figure 1.1.

Rocks behave similarly to brittle metals; i.e. they deform linearly at small loads, but in a non-
linear or plastic fashion at higher loads.

 Rocks that fail with no previous deformations are referred to as brittle.

 Rocks that develop plastic deformations before failure are considered to be ductile.
Example: soft rock (including shale and sandstone).

As most rocks are brittle, the plasticity domain of such rocks is relatively small. For such rocks,
the stress is proportional to strain and the unconfined compression test typically ends in abrupt
failure. Such materials are referred to as linear-elastic. The terms “quasi- elastic” and “semi-
elastic” are used for rocks that exhibit a nearly linear stress-strain relationship to the point of
failure.

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Figure 1.1 Typical stress ( )-strain ( ) diagram for rocks.

1.3 Hooke’s law

According to Hooke‟s law, the stress σ (or Δσ) is proportional to strain ε (or Δε), as shown in
Figure 1.2 and Equation 1.1.

Figure 1.2 Stress-strain diagram showing linear elastic deformation (a) RocK before and after
elongation (b) Stress-strain diagram for the elongated rock.

1.1

Where

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1.2

and the engineering strain definition of , is used

1.3

where E is the Young‟s modulus of elasticity. For most rock material, the proportional limit
(point P.L. in Figure 1.1) coincides with the yield point (point Y).

For engineering purposes, it is essential to know the modulus of elasticity so that it is possible to
accurately estimate the rock deformation under various load conditions. The modulus of
elasticity, which can be obtained experimentally from unconfined compression tests, varies with
the rock type, porosity, rock texture and water content. Typical values of the modulus elasticity
for common rocks are given in Table 1.1.

Example #1

Table 1.1 Elasticity modulus and Poisson‟s ratio of some rocks

1.4 Poisson's Ratio

The ratio of traverse strain to axial strain is defined as the Poisson‟s ratio expressed by:

1.4

Table 1.1 gives typical values of Poisson‟s ratio (ν) obtained for different types of rock.

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Stretch a thick rubber band, and you notice the material gets thinner as it gets longer. This effect
occurs in rocks, metals, plastics, concrete, and many other materials.

We can predict how much the thickness changes with a materials

property called Poisson‟s ratio, 5 which relates the strain along the
tensile axis with the strain in the transverse (crosswise) direction.

 Laboratory testing indicates that Poisson‟s ratio for most rocks varies from 0.15 to 0.35.
 The sign convention for strain is positive for expansion, negative for shrinkage.
Example #2

1.4 In situ rock stress

1.4.1 Why determine in situ stress?

The basic motivations for in situ stress determination are two-fold.

1. To have a basic knowledge of the stress state for engineering, e.g. in what direction and
with what magnitude is the major principal stress acting? What stress effects are we
defending ourselves and our structures against? In what direction is the rock most likely
to break? All other things being equal, in what direction will the groundwater flow? Even

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for such basic and direct engineering questions, a knowledge of the stress state is
essential.
2. To have a specific and 'formal' knowledge of the boundary conditions for stress analyses
conducted in the design phase of rock engineering projects.

1.4.2 Presentation of in situ stress state data

The stress state at a given point in a rock mass is generally presented in terms of the magnitude
and orientation of the principal stresses (remember that the stress state is completely described
by six parameters). In Fig. 1.3(a), we recall that the principal stresses have a certain orientation,
and in Fig. 1.3(b) that the principal stresses have certain magnitudes. The orientations are often
presented as in Fig. 1.3(c) via a stereographic projection.

Figure 1.3 (a) Principal stresses acting on a small cube. (b) Principal stresses expressed in matrix
form. (c) Principal stress orientations shown on a hemispherical projection.

1.4.3 Methods of stress determination

Clearly, any system utilized for estimating the in situ stress state must involve a minimum of six
independent measurements. There are methods of ‟direct‟ stress measurement and there are
methods of estimating the stresses via various „indirect‟ or „indicator‟ methods.

The four direct methods Figure 1.4 recommended by the I S M are:

(a) the flatjack test;

(b) the hydraulic fracturing test;
(c) the United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) overcoring torpedo; and
(d) the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization/(CSIRO) overcoring
gauge.

There are a multitude of direct and indicator approaches available.

(a) borehole breakouts-damage to a borehole indicating principal stress orientations;

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(b) fault plane solutions-back analysis of principal stresses causing faults;
(c) acoustic emission-the rock emits low-intensity ‟noise‟ when it is stressed;
(d) anelastic strain relaxation--core exhibits expansion/contraction on removal from the
borehole;
(e) differential strain analysis-pressurizing a piece of rock indicates its previous stress state
through differential strain effects;
(f) core discing-geometry of stress-induced core fracturing indicates stress components;
(g) observations of discontinuity states, e.g. open discontinuities are not transmitting stress
across the gap.

Figure 1.4 The four ISRM suggested methods for rock stress determination and their ability to
determine the components of the stress tensor with one application of the particular method

1.5 Predictions of natural in situ stress states based on elasticity theory

We have mentioned that the in situ stress field is conveniently expressed via the orientations and
magnitudes of the principal stresses. As a first approximation, therefore, let us assume that the
three principal stresses of a natural in situ stress field are acting vertically (one component) and
horizontally (two components). Following this assumption concerning orientations, it becomes
possible to predict the magnitudes of these principal stresses through the use of elasticity theory.

1.5.1 The vertical stress component

For rock mass (Figure 1.5), the vertical stress (σv ) at a depth of z is given by the weight of the
overlying material (Eq. 1.5)

1.5

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where is the depth, measured in metres, below the ground surface and is the unit weight,
measured in MN/m3. Examples of are:

1.5.2 The horizontal stress components

Given that the vertical stress has a particular magnitude at a point in a rock mass, we might
expect that a horizontal stress would be induced as a result of the vertical compression of the
rock. To provide an initial estimate of this stress, based on elasticity theory and assuming
isotropic rock, we must introduce the parameters Young‟s modulus and Poisson‟s ratio.

In Fig. 1.5, an illustration of an element of rock being uniaxially stressed is given-the applied
axial stress is 0, and the resulting axial strain is E,. There is also a lateral strain induced, E~,
because the element expands laterally as it is being axially compressed. From these values, we
define the Young‟s modulus and Poisson‟s ratio as:

Utilizing these parameters, we can derive expressions for the strain along any axis for the small
cube at depth in a rock mass illustrated in Fig. 1.6(c).

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Figure 1.6 Strains on a small element of rock. (a) Axial strain and Young‟s modulus. (b) Lateral
strain and Poisson‟s ratio. (c) Vertical and horizontal strains.

In this case, the total strain along any given axis may be found from the strain due to the
associated axial stress, with the induced strain components due to the two perpendicular stresses
being subtracted. For example, the vertical strain, , is given by the expression

where and are the two principal horizontal stress components.

In the same way, the horizontal strain, can be expressed as

To provide an initial estimate of the horizontal stress, we make two assumptions:

(a) the two horizontal stresses are equal; and

(b) there is no horizontal strain, Le. Both and are zero.

We began this analysis by considering an element within an isotropic rock mass, and so we
would expect the two horizontal stresses induced by the vertical stress to be equal. Moreover, the
element of rock cannot expand horizontally because it is restrained by similar adjacent elements
of rock, each of which is also attempting to expand horizontally. If, therefore, we take ~ as
zero in the second equation above we find

and so

where = = This relation has been known for some time, it was first derived by
Academician Dinnik in 1925.

1.4 Problems

1. How do you know if a material is elastic?

2. How is time taken into account in the theory of elasticity?
3. What is the meaning of the first stress invariant and the first strain invariant?
4. For construction purposes, is it possible to increase the modulus of elasticity?
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5. There is no internationally agreed terminology for words describing the state of stress in a
rock mass. However, describe in one sentence what you think is meant by each of the
following terms.

Natural stress Thermal stress

Induced stress Palaeostress
Gravitational stress Near-field stress
Tectonic stress Far-field stress
Residual stress Local stress
6. How many experimental set-ups are required to determine the 3-0 state of stress in a rock
mass, using each of the stand- ard stress measurement methods of flat lack, hydraulic
fracturing, USBM gauge and CSlRO gauge? (Assume that the stress field is constant in
the vicinity of the test site.)

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