Abstract ▼ AI-Helper

Fractures, especially faults have most significant influence on the difficulties encountered in various engineering and mining works, because they can give rise to inevitable reductions in shear strength as well as large increase in permeability. Thus, before underground access is possible, it is de...

Fractures, especially faults have most significant influence on the difficulties encountered in various engineering and mining works, because they can give rise to inevitable reductions in shear strength as well as large increase in permeability. Thus, before underground access is possible, it is desirable to estimate the distribution and geometry of fractures in advance, if reliable structural data from e.g. Televiewer tool are available. To this end, fracture face mapping is just the evaluation method used to form a fracture image determined by intersecting of each fracture plane with a selected plane section of a rock mass, assuming that all fractures be planar with fixed-aperture. Although many fractures are geometrically complex and others are altered chemically, according to the abundant experiments in recent years, it would seem that the technique could be applied to benefit the design of numerous engineering works such as slope stability, tunnel excavations, dam foundation and diverse environmental works. This paper presents at first an evaluation algorithm for fracture face mapping and then concludes with various representative examples of applications.