Section 3: Field Description of

Rock Mass in Engineering

Practice.
Practical 4: Systematic Description
of Rocks and Rock Discontinuity.
Introduction
Rock Mass should be described first as a rock
material, and its includes:
Colour.
Texture + grain size.
Structure (fabric).
Weathering state.
Rock group name and specific geological name.
Engineering properties + strength.
The shear strength of a rock mass and its
deformability are very much influence by
discontinuity pattern, it geometry and how it
is developed.

Important factor in rock stability:
Number of set of discontinuities which intersect.
Number of set also effect the degree of overbreak.
Introduction (cont)
The description of jointed rock masses base
on:
Incidence of discontinuity.
Geometry of discontinuity.
Surface of discontinuity.
Flow of water in discontinuity.
Introduction (cont.)
Discontinuities
Discontinuities are fracture and plane of
weakness in the rock mass.
Tensile strength reaches minimum value
across discontinuities.
Joint frequently appear as parallel sets of joint
planes (called joint set).
Single faults may be encountered in a rock
mass, but seldom more than one.

The data needs for each discontinuity:
Continuous or not.
Spacing (Table 4.1 pg 83)
Nature of discontinuity.
Attitude of discontinuity (horizontal, vertical,
inclined).

Discontinuities (cont)
Terminology:
Type of discontinuity:
Fault, vein, joint, fracture, cleavages, bedding plane,
etc.
Number of discontinuity set.
Location and orientation scan line + strike & dip.
Spacing between adjacent discontinuities.
Aperture of discontinuity surfaces (Table 4.2 pg
84)
Infilling clay, quartz, etc.
Discontinuities (cont)
Terminology (cont):
Persistence or the extent continuous or not.
Nature of discontinuity surface Table 4.3 pg 84.
Discontinuity spacing in 3-D Table 4.4 pg 85 and
Figure 4.4 pg 86.
Blocky
Tabular
Columnar
Weathered and alteration conditions Table 4.5
pg 86.
Weathering grade I, II, III, IV, V or VI.
Discontinuities (cont)
Discontinuities (cont)
Discontinuity Survey
Direct Discontinuity
Survey Using Scan Line
2 types of Discontinuity Survey: Direct and Drill holes.

Streographic
Representation
One of Kajang Housing Development area: Ehsan from SEADPRI UKM
Plane failure:
1 plane failure occur at the discontinuity line of______
outside the slope face in the direction of _____N

Wedge failure:
1 wedge failure occur at the intersection of 2
discontinuity line of line _______and line _______
outside the slope face in the direction of ________N.

Toppling failure:
1 toppling failure occur at the discontinuity line of
_________ inside the slope face in the direction of
_______N.
Failure:
Draw the streonet: (Try exercise 4.2 pg 105)
1. Draw the circle.
2. Indicate the north pole.
3. Draw the slope face: given 358
o
/45
o
.
4. Mark the strike / facing direction = 358
o
.
5. Rotate the tracing paper:
If direction 180
o
, rotate it to west position (270
o
).
If direction 180
o
, rotate it to east position (90
o
).
6. Count from outside into inside: for angle 45
o
.
7. Draw the line from 0
o
to 180
o
along that side, using
solid line.
8. Rotate the tracing paper back to datum: North.
Streographic
Representation (cont..)
9. Draw the discontinuity data set: given 87
o
/80
o
.
10. Mark the strike / dip direction = 87
o
.
11. Rotate the tracing paper:
If direction 180
o
, rotate it to west position (270
o
).
If direction 180
o
, rotate it to east position (90
o
).
12. Count from outside into inside: for angle 80
o
.
13. Draw the line from 0
o
to 180
o
along that side, using
discontinuous line.
14. Rotate the tracing paper back to datum: North.
15. Repeat procedure 9 to 14 for the rest.

Streographic
Representation (cont..)
Points to remember:
Never write on the projection itself; always
write on the tracing paper.
Use pencil, not pen.
Make notes on the tracing paper as you go.
When rotating, always use the normal to
plane.

Streographic
Representation (cont..)
Exercise 1: Slope Stability
Slope Face = 162/68. Please identify the possible
failure.
Discontinuity readings are:


162/58 68/86 322/69 123/57 300/56
98/76 106/80 126/54 93/72 183/74
216/48 16/62 100/57 64/70 78/56
93/56 165/65 81/56 284/28 108/58
144/72 182/74 162/60 337/87 154/88
176/84 264/82 178/68 274/32 128/38
THANK YOU