The marble quarry herein considered is located in the Apuan Alps (Italy), at the base of a deep gully cut by vertical walls, reaching a height of 180 m. The rock mass is cut across by different discontinuity sets, whose spacing is generally wide. The various sets significantly differ in persistency and thus affect the overall strength. In this paper the stability of a plane section of a typical steep face is studied by the Distinct Element Method. The stress-strain behaviour of the discontinuities is represented by the Barton-Bandis model and the presence of rock bridges is explicitly accounted for. The influence of different lengths of rock bridges and spacings on the overall stability was investigated by means of sensitivity analyses. Three different indexes were adopted to synthetically represent the severity of the stress state in the successive stages of excavation. Comparison among such parameters highlights similar trends as the excavation advances, thus indicating that the three indexes generally provide a “measure” of stability. The quarry faces exhibit a very limited amount of displacement and stability is obtained in each of the excavation steps.
Perazzelli, P., Rotonda, T., Graziani, A. (2009). Stability analysis of an active marble quarry by DEM modelling. In Proceedings Int. Conf. on Rock Joints and Jointed Rock Masses (pp.1-8). TUCSON : Pinnaduwa H.S.W. Kulatilake.
Stability analysis of an active marble quarry by DEM modelling
GRAZIANI, ALESSANDRO
2009-01-01
Abstract
The marble quarry herein considered is located in the Apuan Alps (Italy), at the base of a deep gully cut by vertical walls, reaching a height of 180 m. The rock mass is cut across by different discontinuity sets, whose spacing is generally wide. The various sets significantly differ in persistency and thus affect the overall strength. In this paper the stability of a plane section of a typical steep face is studied by the Distinct Element Method. The stress-strain behaviour of the discontinuities is represented by the Barton-Bandis model and the presence of rock bridges is explicitly accounted for. The influence of different lengths of rock bridges and spacings on the overall stability was investigated by means of sensitivity analyses. Three different indexes were adopted to synthetically represent the severity of the stress state in the successive stages of excavation. Comparison among such parameters highlights similar trends as the excavation advances, thus indicating that the three indexes generally provide a “measure” of stability. The quarry faces exhibit a very limited amount of displacement and stability is obtained in each of the excavation steps.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
