A methodology for determining overbreaks in hard rock tunnel construction using the drill-and-blast technique is presented this paper. The was developed and applied to crystalline medium- thick-bedded limestone, but it can be used any jointed mass. Overbreaks are inevitable tunnelling a low-confinement environment (shallow tunnels up several hundred meters deep) as result of wedge failures alon...

Deployable trusses that are widely applied in space missions utilize many hinged members to adapt to different geometrical shapes and work conditions. This paper presents two improved finite elements for a link and a bending beam to calculate dynamic characteristics of non-jointed and jointed trusses. First, the axial and transverse wave motion equations of a beam are used to get the shape func...

The applicability of Artificial Neural Networks for predicting the stress-strain response of jointed rocks at varied confining pressures, strength properties and joint properties (frequency, orientation and strength of joints) has been studied in the present paper. The database is formed from the triaxial compression tests on different jointed rocks with different confining pressures and differ...

This paper focuses on the application of a continuum-based method in the Shear Strength Reduction (SSR) analysis of the stability of jointed rock slopes. In order to take into account the jointed nature of the material, the Finite Element Method (FEM) is formulated based on Cosserat theory. Also, it is assumed that failure of the equivalent material can result from failure of the joints, failur...