Experimental approach for stability evaluations of Carrara marble basins

Abstract

Because of the modern exploitation technologies for marble extraction, the open pit and underground quarries can quickly reach impressive sizes. Moreover the selection of exploited material or the geostructural conditions of the site can produce excavation with unusual and irregular shapes. Also for these reasons the appropriate design of the excavations, for quarrying activities, should require the knowledge of mechanical behaviour of the rock mass, of geo-structural conditions and of in situ stress. The main purpose of the quarry project should be to prevent instability of the rock mass, in every step of the foreseen exploitation. The lack of this specific technical evaluation contributed in the past to the development of large rock slide. The paper presents an applied approach for enhancing stability assessment and safety controls of marble quarries. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.