A Combined Three-Dimensional Geological-Geostatistical-Numerical Model of Underground Excavations in Rock

Summary. This paper exploits geological and borehole geotechnical data obtained in the exploratory phase of a tunneling project to investigate in a first place if the kriging interpolation scheme may effectively reproduce the spatial variability of rock mass quality (Rock Mass Rating, RMR) in the vicinity of tunnels. For this purpose a quick solver in Fortran has been developed that performs variography analysis of 3D spatial data, fast kriging estimations of RMR between borehole sampling locations at the centroids of the elements of the numerical model, and model validation. For the purpose of an integrated underground excavation design, a step further is made by incorporating into the 3D mechanical numerical model of the rock mass, the three-dimensional (3D) solid geological model, thus coupling the geology with the ground (geotechnical) model (i.e. each element of the numerical model is assigned a geological material). The mechanical properties of each finite difference cell (or Representative Elementary Volume) of the ground model were then prescribed according to its geological type, the spatial heterogeneity of the rock mass expressed quantitatively with the kriging model, and the upscaling calculations of the mechanical properties of the intact rocks determined in the laboratory, based on the size-effect (strength dependence on size) and Damage Theory. Furthermore, a preliminary numerical simulation of the advance of unsupported tunnels in the model of the heterogeneous rock mass was performed for illustration purposes.