IMPROVEMENT OF ROCK

MASS PROPERTIES
Most effective Methods :
1. Grouting
2. Rock Bolting
3. Shortcrete/Guniting
4. Cable anchorage
 Improvement of rock mass

• Pre-planned
• Emergent Condition
 Grouting
• Defined as the injection of a liquid of
variable viscosity under pressure into a
particular part of or parts of the earth’s crust
through specially constructed holes to fill
and seal voids, cracks, seams, fissures etc.
• Done for strengthening and/or water sealing
 Grouting

• Grout is a construction material used to fill voids, and seal

joints
• Grout is generally composed of a mixture of water,
cement, sand.
• It is applied as a thick liquid and hardens over time, much
like mortar.
• Initially, its application confines mainly in void filling,
water stopping and consolidation. Nowadays, it extends to
tunnel excavation works, to strengthen ground in solving
geotechnical problems.
 Grain size of the grout
• Grain size of the grouting fluid, such as
cement slurry should be smaller than the
size of the pores of the mass to be grouted
• For successful operation following criteria
is used
• D15 (Soil)/D85 (Grout) > 25 for Soil
• D (fissure)/Dmax (Grout) > 3 for Rock
 Types of Grouting
• GROUT can be applied as a solution, an emulsion or suspension
in water, which will harden after a certain time interval. It can
be divided into two main groups:
• 1. Suspension Grout
• 2. Liquid Grout or Solution Grout.
• Suspension grout is a mixture of one or several inert materials
like cement, clays etc. suspended in a fluid -- water.
• Liquid grout or solution grout consists of chemical products in
a solution or an emulsion form and their reagents. The most
frequently used products are sodium silicate and certain resins.
 Types of Grouts
• Cement Grouts: Cement-based grouts are the most frequently
used in both water stopping and strengthening treatment.

• Chemical Grout : Suitable for finely fissured rock mass

• Bituminous Grout: also known as emulsion grout, includes

bitumen because they form an emulsion when mixed with water,
bitumen grouts are sensitive to temp, hence they may not be
suitable at greater depth.
 Methods of Grouting
1. Stage Grout: done in stages, starting from
nearest discontinuity from surface to the
deepest discontinuity
2. Packer Grout: holes are first drilled to
deepest level to be grouted. The process is
repeated from bottom to top till the whole
section is grouted

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Compaction Grouting

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• Rock Fissure Grouting
• Rock fissure grouting is the use of a hole drilled through the
fissures and joints of a rock mass to allow grout to be injected at
close centers vertically and re-injecting, if necessary.
• Grouting Mechanism
– The grout is injected under pressure through the grout hole
drilled into the rock mass to be treated.

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 Rock fissure grouting
Main applications are:
1. Sealing rock mass underneath and at ends
of dams to prevent seepage or leaking of the
reservoirs.
2.Sealing rock mass above and underneath a
rock tunnel to prevent water seepage into
the excavated tunnel.
3. Cementing fractured rock mass.
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 Rock Bolting
• Done to reinforce and support partially
detached, thinly laminated or unsuitable
which otherwise would be subjected to
failure. With rock bolting, the rock is loaded
in such a way that the resistance to shear
along the planes of weakness is increased

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 Mechanism of rock bolting
• A number of holes are drilled in the rock at
a designated spacing, the length of holes are
selected such that they terminate in a sound
rock in which the bolt can be anchored
properly and take up the loads.

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Rock bolts

• Steel bolts are frequently set in holes drilled into the

rock to assist in supporting the entire roof or
individual rock slabs that tend to fall into a tunnel.

• Rock bolts maintain the stability of an opening by

suspending the dead weight of a slab from the rock
above by providing a normal stress on the rock surface
to clamp discontinuities together and develop beam
action by preventing key blocks becoming loosened so
that the strength and integrity of the rock mass is
maintained.
Rock Bolting
 Guniting/Shortcrete
• Fluid mixture of fine sand, cement and
water applied through nozzle ejecting at a
high velocity, done on the exposed surface
for sealing the surface cracks and protecting
the surface from weathering.
Shotcrete/Guniting
• mortar and concrete are increasingly being used for
the support of underground excavations.

• A combination of rock bolts and shotcrete has proved

an excellent temporary support for all qualities of
rock.

• Shotcrete is best known in tunnelling

• Quick-setting concrete is sprayed onto the bare rock

surface immediately after excavation, and rapidly
hardens to form a preliminary support until the final
lining of conventional poured concrete can be
installed.
 Cable Anchorage
• Purpose is same as that of rock bolting. The
difference in cable anchorage and rock bolting is
that cables have length much more than rock bolts.
In rock bolting system, individual rock bolts are
put into the rock at specified spacing. But in cable
anchorage system, a number of wires in a group
form a cable and the cables are put into the rock
mass at the pre-determined positions, suitable in
case of anchoring a foundation subjected to
bouncy, especially under sea