Summary
The block sizes in a rock mass play an important role in many rock engineering projects and therefore the assessment of in-situ block size distribution (IBSD) has been an increasing pursuit of researchers in mining, quarrying and highway cutting operations. This paper discusses further developments in the assessment of IBSD which build upon a broadly accessible approach for engineers published previously by the Geomaterials Unit. The original research provided look-up tables appropriate for field data, with theoretical joint set spacing distributions and an assumption that discontinuities extend indefinitely. The developments reported in the paper include: the prediction of IBSD with special reference to discontinuity sets with fractal spacing distributions; the influence of impersistence of discontinuities on the prediction of IBSD; and the use of grey correlation analysis when selecting a closely fitting theoretical distribution for discontinuity spacing data. Various approaches to IBSD assessment are discussed.
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Lu, P., Latham, JP. Developments in the Assessment of In-situ Block Size Distributions of Rock Masses. Rock Mech Rock Engng 32, 29–49 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s006030050042
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s006030050042