Composite Geological Strength Index Approach with Application to Hydrothermal Vein Networks and Other Intrablock Structures in Complex Rockmasses

Abstract

Conventional rockmass characterization and analysis methods for geotechnical assessment in mining, civil tunnelling, and other excavations consider only the intact rock properties and the discrete fractures that are present and form blocks within rockmasses. As modern underground excavations go deeper and enter into more high stress environments with complex excavation geometries and associated stress paths, healed structures within initially intact rock blocks such as hydrothermal veins, veinlets and stockwork (termed intrablock structures) are having an increasing influence on rockmass behaviour and should be included in modern geotechnical engineering design. Field observations indicate the conventional Geological Strength Index (GSI) does not accurately estimate rockmass strength and behaviour of complex rockmasses. A modified GSI chart to include intrablock structures and a new Composite Geological Strength Index (CGSI) methodology to combine multiple suites of rockmass structure using a weighted harmonic average are presented as tools to evaluate complex rockmasses that contain multiple suites of structure for application to geomechanical numerical models. CGSI is introduced and numerically validated using implicit and explicit finite element method numerical simulations of an underground excavation and a case study of field observations in an adit at the El Teniente mine in Chile. In both cases, the CGSI approach using the modified GSI chart results in an improved estimate of rockmass behaviour in implicit equivalent continuum numerical models when compared to a conventional GSI approach.