Evaluation of Spalling Fallout on Excavation Disturbed Zone under Deep Hard Rock Tunnel

The prediction of compressive stress-induced failures is of concern when designing and constructing facilities in rock for deep underground excavation. The purpose of this study is to model compressive stress-induced failure and fallouts with appropriate material models and strength parameters for deep hard rock tunnel excavation. Three method of numerical modelling are used, which are Generalised Hoek-Brown; Mohr-Coulomb; and Mohr-Coulomb with Cohesion Softening Friction Hardening (CSFH) material models for capturing the observed rock behaviour. A parametric study was also carried out to verify that the peak friction angle of 100 used in CSFH model. The results show that numerical models used only Generalised Hoek-Brown and Mohr Coulomb strength parameters does not show a good agreement with the observed fallout. The comparison revealed that the numerical models using the Mohr-Coulomb with CSFH provides most realistic to the observation fallout length. This model is valid for prediction of failure and fallouts in hard rock masses with high quality (GSI >65 MPa; intact rock compressive strength >70MPa).