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- Bäckström, Ann, 1976-
(author)
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Rock damage caused by underground excavation and meteorite impacts
- 2008
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The intent of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the origin of fractures in rock. The man-made fracturing from engineering activities in crystalline rock as well as the fracturing induced by the natural process of meteorite impacts is studied by means of various characterization methods. In contrast to engineering induced rock fracturing, where the goal usually is to minimize rock damage, meteorite impacts cause abundant fracturing in the surrounding bedrock. In a rock mass the interactions of fractures on the microscopic scale (mm-cm scale) influence fractures on the mesoscopic scale (dm-m scale) as well as the interaction of the mesocopic fractures influencing fractures on the macroscopic scale (m-km scale). Thus, among several methods used on different scales, two characterization tools have been developed further. This investigation ranges from the investigation of micro-fracturing in ultra-brittle rock on laboratory scale to the remote sensing of fractures in large scale structures, such as meteorite impacts. On the microscopic scale, the role of fractures pre-existing to the laboratory testing is observed to affect the development of new fractures. On the mesoscopic scale, the evaluation of the geometric information from 3D-laser scanning has been further developed for the characterisation of fractures from tunnelling and to evaluate the efficiency of the tunnel blasting technique in crystalline rock. By combining information on: i) the overbreak and underbreak; ii) the orientation and visibility of blasting drillholes and; iii) the natural and blasting fractures in three dimensions; a analysis of the rock mass can be made. This analysis of the rock mass is much deeper than usually obtained in rock engineering for site characterization in relation to the blasting technique can be obtained based on the new data acquisition. Finally, the estimation of fracturing in and around two meteorite impact structures has been used to reach a deeper understanding of the relation between fracture, their water content and the electric properties of the rock mass. A correlation between electric resistivity and fracture frequency in highly fractured crystalline rock has been developed and applied to potential impact crater structures. The results presented in this thesis enables more accurate modelling of rock fractures, both supporting rock engineering design and interpretation of meteorite impact phenomena.
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- Lanaro, Flavio, et al.
(author)
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Characterisation of size, shape and texture of aggregates by fourier analysis of 3-D-laser images
- 2018
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In: ISRM International Symposium 2000, IS 2000. - : International Society for Rock Mechanics.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A new method for analysis of size, shape and roughness of aggregates based on a 3-D-laser-digitising technique is presented. Measurements of aggregate particles are carried out by a system consisting of a laser sensor and a co-ordinate-measuring machine; the accuracy of the system is ±50 µm. Scanned data are processed to create a digital image of aggregates to be employed in further analyses. Size, shape and volume analysis of particles has been conducted in two ways. A so-called geometrical analysis is based on simple applications of analytical geometry. Another method consists of the Fourier transform analysis of the topography of the two halves of the sample defined by a plane intersecting its mass center. Three-dimensional spectra are obtained as a function of two frequencies along the co-ordinate axes. The cross-sections of the spectrum are then investigated and the pattern of the power spectra gives the dimensions and shape of the particles. When comparing the results from these two methods, a very good agreement is obtained. From the spectrum, the texture component can be identified, which gives the roughness of the particles' surfaces. The new technique by Fourier transform analysis is promising giving repeatable results and performing a combined shape-size-texture analysis of the aggregate particles. .
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- Vatcher, Jessica
(author)
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Mine-scale rock mass behaviour at the Kiirunavaara Mine
- 2015
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Licentiate thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The interaction of the geological and mining environments leads to a variety of forms of rock mass behaviour, including seismicity and falls of ground. A precise understanding, however, of the role of geology in rock mass behaviour experienced by Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag’s (LKAB) Kiirunavaara Mine remains unknown.Since late 2008, the sublevel caving mine regularly experiences induced seismicity (Dahnér et al., 2012). Seismic events occur in the footwall, orebody, and hangingwall. Instabilities, sometimes related to specific seismic events, are unevenly distributed throughout the rock mass. Failure mechanisms of these instabilities include structurally controlled failure (sometimes as shake down), strainbursting and spalling, which are typically a result of local stress changes. Occasionally, these falls of ground are rockbursts; violent ejections of rock causing damage to infrastructure and/or personnel that are caused by remote seismic events.Some previous work has been done at the Kiirunavaara Mine for both specific events and specific volumes to better understand the rock mass behaviour (see e.g., Sjöberg et al., 2011, 2012). However, the causes of the uneven distribution of both seismicity and instabilities at the mine are not understood, particularly at the mine-scale. As part of a larger Ph.D. project, this study explores the role of geology in the mine-scale behaviour at the Kiirunavaara Mine. This is done through two approaches: 1) exploratory numerical stress modelling, and 2) development of a geomechanical model of the rock mass.The exploratory numerical modelling of the mine evaluated common assumptions made by researchers and consultants when completing numerical stress modelling of this orebody. A previously estimated virgin in situ stress state was applied in a 3-D model developed of the nearly 5 km long orebody and surrounding host rock. The model had definition between footwall, ore and hangingwall materials. Run as a continuum for this analysis, the stresses from the elastic and perfectly plastic models corresponded to stresses recently measured in situ at two sites using overcoring, indicating that the estimated virgin stress state is consistent at depth. Alternating two commonly used perfectly plastic material properties for the footwall significantly influenced the location of plastic failure throughout the rock mass, including in the hangingwall. A physical alignment of plastic failure from the models and mine seismicity for the entire rock mass was not found for the individual cases. Large magnitude shear events tended to be external to plastic failure. The difficulties relating plastic failure to seismicity can be associated with a number of causes, including that the rock mass characteristics were too simplified (for example, no discontinuities were included, the only geological units included were the footwall, hangingwall and orebody, etc.) to represent the rock mass behaviour.A geomechanical model of the rock mass is needed to better understand characteristics of the rock mass, in addition to those included in the stress models, which may be of importance to behaviour. Due to a complex, heterogeneous and clay-altered rock mass, a new methodology was developed to create a geomechanical model. The methodology is based upon standard statistics, geostatistics, and an extension of previous quantitative domaining work. Clay volumes (represented by a model based on borehole data calibrated to underground mapping) correlated to the geomechanical characteristics and behaviour of the rock mass. The rock mass in the immediate vicinity of the volumes of clay alteration had lower RQD values, more random jointing, and a higher concentration of falls of ground than the surrounding rock mass. The correlation between the geomechanical model and the falls of ground lead to the development of a new conceptual model of some of the mine-scale rock mass behaviour, in which the clay volumes play a significant role in stress redistribution.The understanding developed through this study has laid the framework for future analysis of a more advanced and complex nature. Numerical stress analysis will be used to test the conceptual model developed and further analyze the relationship between geology and mining, with the intention of improving the understanding of the causes of rock mass behaviour. This improved understanding has the potential to aid with selection of production planning alternatives for risk mitigation, not only for the Kiirunavaara Mine, but for other highly stressed, hard rock environments.
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