Investigation of the effects of nonstationary features on rock joint roughness using the laser scanning technique

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - Accurately estimating rock joint roughness is crucial for understanding the shear mechanism and permeability behavior of a rock mass. Several...     

Influence of range measurement noise on roughness characterization of rock surfaces using terrestrial laser scanning

The application of laser scanning in studying rock surfaces is limited by the range measurement noise inherent in the laser scanner data. In this paper we investigate the influence of range measurement noise on the quantification of rock surface roughness. Roughness measures derived from the laser scanner data are compared with those derived from manual measurements. The comparison shows that the presense of noise in range measurements leads to an overestimation of the fractal dimension and amplitude of roughness profiles. Experiments with wavelet decomposition and thresholding methods for reducing noise in the laser range data are presented. The results indicate that wavelet de-noising methods in general lead to more realistic estimates of the roughness of the laser profiles.     

Method for visualizing the shear process of rock joints using 3D laser scanning and 3D printing techniques

This study presents a visualized approach for tracking joint surface morphology. Three-dimensional laser scanning (3DLS) and 3D printing (3DP) techniques are adopted to record progressive failure during rock joint shearing. The 3DP resin is used to create transparent specimens to reproduce the surface morphology of a natural joint precisely. The freezing method is employed to enhance the mechanical properties of the 3DP specimens to reproduce the properties of hard rock more accurately. A video camera containing a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera is utilized to record the evolution of damaged area of joint surface during the direct shear test. The optimal shooting distance and shooting angle are recommended to be 800 mm and 40°, respectively. The images captured by the CCD camera are corrected to quantitatively describe the damaged area on the joint surface. Verification indicates that this method can accurately describe the total sheared areas at different shear stages. These findings may contribute to elucidating the shear behavior of rock joints.     

Estimation of the joint roughness coefficient (JRC) of rock joints by vector similarity measures

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - Accurate determination of joint roughness coefficient (JRC) of rock joints is essential for evaluating the influence of surface roughness on...     

节理粗糙度与分维

岩体节理粗糙度JRC不但是估算节理抗剪强度和变形指标最重要的参数,而且对于研究岩石的剪胀效应和渗流性质等具有重要意义.笔者主要回顾了近年来国内外对岩石节理粗糙度系数(JRC)研究的进展,以及所取得的成果,尤其将分形理论应用于研究岩石节理的粗糙度以后,使得对岩体节理粗糙度的描述取得了一定的发展,并得出了JRC与维数的一系列的关系.     

Estimating the relation between surface roughness and mechanical properties of rock joints

Discontinuities in rock masses have an important influence on deformational behaviour of blocky rock systems. For a single rock joint, the roughness of its surface is of paramount importance to its mechanical and hydraulic properties, such as friction angle, shear strength, and dilatancy/aperture. Many methods have been used to characterize the surface roughness of rock joints, such as joint roughness coefficients (JRC), root mean square (RMS) value, structure function (SF) etc. However, most of these methods can only be used in the 2-D models. In this study, we carried out direct shear experiments on rock joints under both constant normal load (CNL) and constant normal stiffness (CNS) conditions, and measured the surfaces of rock joints before and after shearing, using a 3-D laser scanning profilometer system. By using a 3-D fractal evaluation method of roughness characterization, the projective covering method (PCM) and a direct shear apparatus of high accuracy, the relation between mechanical properties of rock joints under different boundary conditions and the change of their fractal dimensions in both 2-D and 3-D models have been examined, which gives a new approach to accurately evaluate the evolution of roughness of rock joint surfaces and its influence on the hydro-mechanical behaviours of rock joints.     

天然岩体结构面粗糙度各向异性、尺寸效应、间距效应研究

为了研究天然岩体结构面粗糙度评价结果影响因素,以重庆武隆地区大尺寸岩体结构面为例,运用三维激光扫描技术,基于Grasselli改进法描述粗糙度在不同采样方向、尺度与精度下的变化规律。结果显示:所选用的天然岩体结构面具有明显的各向异性、正尺寸效应和间距效应,因此在进行粗糙度评价时,采样方向务必与剪切方向保持一致,采样尺寸与采样间距应大于等于和小于等于有效采样尺寸与间距;为便于不同评价方法间结果对比,应保证在相同的采样参数下开展研究。     

Effect of roughness on the shear behavior of rock joints subjected to impact loading

The shear behavior is regarded as the dominant property of rock joints and is dramatically affected by the joint surface roughness. To date, the effect of surface roughness on the shear behavior of rock joints under static or cyclic loading conditions has been extensively studied, but such effect under impact loading conditions keeps unclear. To address this issue, a series of impact shear tests was performed using a novel-designed dynamic experimental system combined with the digital image correlation (DIC) technique. The dynamic shear strength, deformability and failure mode of the jointed specimens with various joint roughness coefficients (JRC) are comprehensively analyzed. Results show that the shear strength and shear displacement characteristics of the rock joint under the impact loading keep consistent with those under static loading conditions. However, the temporal variations of shear stress, slip displacement and normal displacement under the impact loading conditions show obviously different behaviors. An elastic rebound of the slip displacement occurs during the impact shearing and its value increases with increasing joint roughness. Two identifiable stages (i.e. compression and dilation) are observed in the normal displacement curves for the rougher rock joints, whereas the joints with small roughness only manifest normal compression displacement. Besides, as the roughness increases, the maximum compression tends to decrease, while the maximum dilation gradually increases. Moreover, the microstructural analysis based on scanning electron microscope (SEM) suggests that the roughness significantly affects the characteristics of the shear fractured zone enclosing the joint surface.     

三维激光扫描技术在危岩体勘查中的应用

以拟建渝利铁路线青石岩段为例,利用三维激光扫描仪快速、准确的获取边坡点云数据,这些数据经过处理后即可得到边坡的数字模型,通过等高线模型及地形剖面图,可以看出边坡可能存在危岩体的位置,进而量算出危岩体的产状、体积等参数。     

Geostructural stability assessment of cave using rock surface discontinuity extracted from terrestrial laser scanning point cloud

The use of terrestrial laser scanning(TLS) in the caves has been growing drastically over the last decade.However, TLS application to cave stability assessment has not received much attention of researchers.This study attempted to utilize rock surface orientations obtained from TLS point cloud collected along cave passages to(1) investigate the influence of rock geostructure on cave passage development, and(2)assess cave stability by determining areas susceptible to different failure types. The TLS point cloud was divided into six parts(Entry hall, Chamber, Main hall, Shaft 1, Shaft 2 and Shaft 3), each representing different segments of the cave passages. Furthermore, the surface orientation information was extracted and grouped into surface discontinuity joint sets. The computed global mean and best-fit planes of the entire cave show that the outcrop dips 290° with a major north-south strike. But at individual level, the passages with dip angle between 26° and 80° are featured with dip direction of 75°-322°. Kinematic tests reveal the potential for various failure modes of rock slope. Our findings show that toppling is the dominant failure type accounting for high-risk rockfall in the cave, with probabilities of 75.26%, 43.07%and 24.82% in the Entry hall, Main hall and Shaft 2, respectively. Unlike Shaft 2 characterized by high risk of the three failure types(32.49%, 24.82% and 50%), the chamber and Shaft 3 passages are not suffering from slope failure. The results also show that the characteristics of rock geostructure considerably influence the development of the cave passages, and four sections of the cave are susceptible to different slope failure types, at varying degrees of risk.     

基于三维激光扫描技术的建筑物墙面平整度检测

阐述了三维激光扫描技术在某建筑物平整度检测中的应用,重点探讨了三维激光扫描仪进行建筑物平整度检测的数学模型、作业流程和点云数据处理方法,指出利用三维激光扫描仪进行建筑物的平整度检测具有精确可行性。     

粗糙节理的峰值抗剪强度准则

采用3组具有不同表面形貌的节理试件分别在0.5,1.0,1.5,2.0,3.0 MPa的法向应力下进行直剪试验,研究常法向应力条件下峰值抗剪强度与节理表面三维形貌特征参数之间的定量关系。选用有效三维平均倾角、最大可能接触面积比作为表征节理三维形貌特征的参数;在分析剪胀角与法向应力关系的基础上基于试验结果提出双曲线形式的经验剪胀角模型,进而建立新的节理峰值抗剪强度公式。与Barton公式、Son公式进行了对比,在分析计算偏差的基础上对新公式做出简要评价。     

Estimation of joint length distribution using window sampling

One of the most difficult procedures in statistical joint modeling is the determination of the joint length distribution. In this study, a window sampling method was adopted to estimate the trace length distribution for the Poisson disc joint model. Four kinds of equations were derived for estimating the trace length distribution from contained or dissecting trace length distributions in a rectangular or circular window. The equations were tested for accuracy through Monte Carlo simulation and their efficiencies for estimating the trace length distribution were compared. This new technique using window sampling was compared with the method using a semi-trace or complete trace length distribution from scanline sampling. A numerical technique for determining the diameter distribution from the trace length distribution was also suggested. To check the validity of this numerical method, it was applied to solving four example cases and their results were compared with theoretical solutions.     

Assessment of rock fracture surface roughness using Riemannian statistics of linear profiles

The mechanical behaviour of rock masses is complex, due partly to the presence of discontinuities within them. Of the geometrical parameters of discontinuities, surface roughness, which encapsulates the topographical features of a rock surface, is known to play a significant role. Here, a new parameter for quantitative roughness determination based on the distribution of unit normal vectors to a rock profile is presented.The analysis of unit normal vectors in terms of directional statistics is customarily performed in Euclidean space using a Cartesian co-ordinate system. Here, the analysis is developed using Riemannian geometry, with Mahalanobis distances being proposed for discrimination between different rock profiles. Statistical parameters on the unit circle are extracted using Riemannian geometry, and from that a roughness parameter, D_R1, is obtained. This parameter corresponds to 1D Riemannian dispersion, and as such D_R1 increases as profile roughness increases.D_R1 is applied to the analysis of synthetic profiles and some real rock profiles. Conclusions are drawn that demonstrate the advantages of the new method in terms of investigating the scale effect in roughness determination as well as in comparing different profiles.A preliminary study into the correlation between D_R1 and the shear strength of a fracture, using analytical and numerical investigation of the strength of profiles comprising symmetric triangular asperities sheared at different normal stress levels, shows a clear relation between Riemannian roughness parameter and profile shear strength.     

A numerical study to investigate the influence of surface roughness and boundary condition on the shear behaviour of rock joints

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - The shear behaviours of rock joints with and without rock bolt support are numerically studied using the discrete element code PFC2D. A...     

三维激光技术在高陡危岩体调查中的应用

崩塌危岩多发育在高陡的斜坡地带,具有隐蔽性与突发性,经常造成重大人员伤亡与财产损失。因采用传统测量方法难以得到危岩体规模、负地形、不利结构面组合特征,进而判识危岩失稳模式与预测危害性,故危岩体的调查一直是地质灾害防治较为突出的难题。三维激光扫描技术通过激光反射,快速获取危高位危岩体点云特征,非接触得到所需的高陡斜坡危岩体几何与地质信息,获取传统测量无法得到的成果。本文以Optech扫描仪在高位危岩体调查中的应用为研究基础,阐述了该项技术在高陡斜坡地形图生成、节理裂隙统计、规模计算等方面的应用。并以旧关岭崩塌与南川甑子岩危岩体调查为例,诠释了激光扫描应用过程中的方法与技巧,为高陡危岩体的调查提供参考。