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ROCK MASS CLASSIFICATION

ROCK MASS CLASSIFICATION

 Rock mass classifications constitute the foundation of experimental geotechnical

design and are widely used in rock engineering.
 The classification schemes have been developing for over 100 years since Ritter
(1879) attempted to formalize an empirical approach to tunnel design, in particular
for determining support requirements.
 The classification of rock mass is frequently being used in the initial phase of a
project to foresee the rock mass quality and the probable support required. The
consequence is an assessment of the stability quantified in subjective terms such as
bad, fair, good and excellent conditions.
 The failure of the Malpasset concrete dam in France in 1959 and the Vajont dam in
Italy had a major influence on rock mechanics in geotechnical engineering (Jaeger,
1972). These incidents were responsible for the commencement of several research
programmes that resulted in major progress in the techniques used in rock engineering.

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The four most commonly used rock mass classification systems today are;
1. The geomechanics classification or Rock Mass Rating (RMR, Bieniawski, 1974-
South Africa)
2. The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) index (Q system, Barton et al.,
1974)
3. Rock Quality Designation (RQD), which was introduced by Deer in 1963 as an
index for assessing rock quality quantitatively
4. Geological Strength Index (GSI) by Hoek et al. (1995)
The objective of rock mass classification are to;
 Identify the most important parameters influencing the rock mass
 Divide a rock mass formation into groups of similar behaviour
 Derive quantitative data and guidelines for engineering design
 Provide common basis for communication between geologist and engineers.

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In 1946, Terzaghi proposed a simple rock classification system for use in estimating the loads to be
supported by steel arches in tunnels. He described various types of ground and, based upon his
experience in steel-supported rail and road tunnels in them Alps, he assigned ranges of rock loads for
various ground conditions.
He quoted “knowledge of the type and intensity of the rock defects may be much more important than
the type of rock which will be encountered”.
He then defined these tunneling terms as follows:
Intact rock: It contains neither joints nor hair cracks. Hence, if it breaks, it breaks across sound rock.
On account of the injury to the rock due to blasting, spalls may drop off the roof several hours or days
after blasting. This is known as a spalling condition. Hard, intact rock may also be encountered in the
popping condition involving the spontaneous and violent detachment of rock slabs from the sides or
roof.
Stratified rock: The rock is hard and layered. The layers are usually widely separated. The rock may
or may not have planes of weakness. In such rock, spalling is quite common.
Moderately jointed rock: It contains joints and hair cracks, but the blocks between joints are locally
grown together or so intimately interlocked that vertical walls do not require lateral support. In rocks
of this type, both spalling and popping conditions may be encountered.

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Blocky and seamy rock: Closely spaced joints. Block size is less than l m. It consists of almost
chemically intact rock fragments which are entirely separated from each other and imperfectly
interlocked. Some side pressure of low magnitude is expected. Vertical walls may require support.
Crushed but chemically intact rock: Comprises chemically intact rock having the character of a
crusher run aggregate. There is no interlocking. Considerable side pressure is expected on tunnel
supports. The block size could be few centimeters to 30 cm.
Squeezing rock: These rocks slowly advances into the tunnel without perceptible volume increase.
A prerequisite for squeeze is a high percentage of microscopic and sub-microscopic particles of
micaceous minerals or clay minerals with a low swelling capacity.
Swelling rock: Swelling is associated with volume change and is due to chemical change of the
rock usually in presence of moisture or water. Some shale absorb moisture from air and swell.
Rocks containing swelling minerals such as montmorillonite, illite, kaolinite and others can swell
and exert heavy pressure on rock supports. The rocks advances into the tunnel chiefly on account of
expansion.

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 Deere (1963) introduced an index to assess

rock quality quantitatively, called the rock
quality designation (RQD).
 Rock Quality Designation (RQD) is a measure
of quality of rock core taken from a borehole.
RQD signifies the degree of jointing or fracture
in a rock mass measured in percentage.

The RQD value can be obtained using the given

formula
Σ of number of core pieces > 10 cm
RQD = × 100 %
Total core length

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 RQD can also be found from the number of joints/ discontinuities per unit
volume (Jv) on the rock surface. Palmstrom (1982) presented a relationship
for a clay free rock mass along a tunnel:
RQD = 115- 3.3 Jv
where Jv is known as the volumetric joint count and is the sum of the number
of joints per unit length for all joint sets in a clay free rock mass.
Rock Quality RQD (%)
Very poor (Completely weathered <25%
rock)
Poor (weathered rocks) 25 to 50%

Fair (Moderately weathered 51 to 75%

rocks)
Good (Hard Rock) 76 to 90%
Very Good (Fresh rocks) 91 to
100%

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Rock Mass Rating (RMR)

 Bieniawski (1973) introduced the Geomechanics Classification also named the Rock
Mass Rating (RMR), at the South African Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR).
 RMR classification is based on the summation and subtraction of rating values of six
parameters with different conditions, which can be measured from the site.
 The following six parameters are used to classify a rock mass using RMR system
1. Uniaxial compressive strength of rock material;
2. Rock Quality Designation (RQD);
3. Spacing of discontinuities;
4. Condition of discontinuities;
5. Groundwater conditions; and
6. Orientation of discontinuities.

Uniaxial Compressive Strength Test

 Compressive strength measured by UTM on standard sized sample.
 The rating values vary from 1 for very low strength to maximum of 15 for very high strength
rocks.
 Lab facility is not immediately available for measuring UCS, instead Point Load Index
Strength can be used which then collated with UCS by following table:

Qualitative Compressive Point load

Table 1: Ratings for rock description strength (Mpa) strength (Mpa) Rating
mass on the basis of rock
strength test values. Extremely
strong > 250 8 15
very strong 100-250 4-8 12
strong 50-100 2-4 7
Medium strong 25-50 1-2 4
5-25 2
preferr
UCS is

Weak
Use of

ed

Very weak 1-5 1

Extremely weak <1 0

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 Since both UCS and point load test requires samples to be tested in the laboratory the
strength of the rock mass in the site itself can be determined using the method as given in the
table below

Rock Quality Designation (RQD)

The RQD value can be obtained using the given formula

Σ of number of core pieces > 10 cm
RQD = × 100 %
Total core length

or RQD = 115- 3.3 Jv

Table 2: Ratings assigned for different RQD values of rock mass obtained after calculation

Qualitative
description RQD (%) Rating
Excellent 90-100 20
Good 75-90 17
Fair 50-75 13
Poor 25-50 8
Very Poor < 25 3

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Spacing of discontinuity
 The term discontinuity includes joints, beddings or foliations, shear zones,
minor faults, or other weakness planes.
 The linear distance between two adjacent discontinuities should be measured
for all sets of discontinuities and the rating should be obtained from Table 3 for
the most critical discontinuity.
Table 3: Ratings assigned on the basis of spacing between the discontinuity

Description Spacing (m) Rating

Very wide >2 20
Wide 0.6-2 15
Moderate 0.2-0.6 10
Close 0.06-0.2 8
Very close < 0.06 5

Condition of discontinuity
This parameter includes roughness of discontinuity surfaces, their separation (aperture or opening),
length or continuity, weathering of the discontinuity surfaces, and infilling (gouge) material.

Parameter Ratings
Discontinuity <1m 1-3 m 3-10 m 10-20 m > 20 m
Table 4: The details of length
rating for condition of (persistence) 6 4 2 1 0
discontinuity.
Separation None < 0.1 mm 0.1-1.0 mm 1-5 mm >5 mm
(Aperture) 6 5 4 1 0
Roughness of Slightly
discontinuity Very rough Rough rough Smooth Slickensided
surface 6 5 3 1 0
Hard filling Soft filling
Infillings None < 5 mm > 5 mm < 5 mm > 5 mm
(gouge) 6 4 2 1 0

Weathering Slightly Moderately Highly

discontinuity Unweathered weathered weathered weathered Decomposed
surface 6 5 3 1 0

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Weathering condition
 Weathering in general is the process which brings about several changes to the properties of rock mass
due to its exposure to changing environmental (physical, chemical and biological) conditions.
 Hence from the engineering point of view, grading of weathering becomes very important.
Table 5: Ratings for different grades of weathering in rock mass

Description Rating
Very rough and unweathered, wall rock tight and
discontinuous, no separation 30
Rough and slightly weathered, wall rock surface
separation < 1 mm 25
Slightly rough and moderately to highly
weathered, wall rock surface separation < l mm 20
Slickensided wall rock surface or 1-5ram thick
gouge or 1-5ram wide continuous discontinuity 10
5mm thick soft gouge, 5mm wide continuous
discontitnuity 0

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Groundwater condition
 The presence of groundwater in rocks in primary pores and along discontinuity surfaces
create pore or fracture water pressure. This pressure act against the confining pressure and
also across the fracture width.
 Water also act as an agent of alteration.
 Hence, the maximum rating of 15 is given to rock mass which are completely dry.
 For rock mass in which water is freely flowing the rating value is 0.
 In the case of tunnel, the rate of inflow of ground water in liters per minute per 10 m length of
the tunnel should be determined, or general condition can be described as completely dry,
damp, wet dripping & flowing.
 If actual water pressure data is available, these should be stated & expressed in terms of the
ratio of the seepage pressure to the major principal stress.

General Completely
description dry Damp Wet Dripping Flowing
Rating 15 10 7 4 0

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Orientation of discontinuity
 The influence of the strike & dip of the discontinuities
is considered with respect to the direction of tunnel
drive or slope face orientation or foundation
alignment.
 To facilitate a decision whether the strike & dip are
favourable or not, reference should be made to (Table
6 and Table 7) which provide a quantitative
assessment of critical joint orientation effect with
respect to tunnels & dams foundation respectively.
 Once the ratings for the effect of the critical
discontinuity are known, an arithmetic sum of the joint
adjustment rating in and the RMR basic is obtained.
This number is called the final rock mass rating RMR.

Strike Perpendicular to Tunnel Axis

Strike Parallel to Tunnel Irrespective Table 6: Condition of
Drive with dip Drive against dip Axis of Strike excavation on the
basis of orientation of
Dip 45° - 90° Dip 20° - 45° Dip 45° -90° Dip 20° - 45° Dip 20° - 45° Dip 45° - 90°Dip 0° - 20° rock mass

Very Very
favorable Favorable Fair Unfavorable Fair unfavorable Fair
Joint
orientation Very Very
assessment for favorable Favorable Fair Unfavorable unfavourable Table 7: Ratings
Tunnels 0 -2 -5 -10 -12 assigned for various
Raft excavation conditions
foundations 0 -2 -7 -15 -25
Slopes 0 -5 -25 -50 -60

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Bieniawski (1989) published a

set of guidelines for the
selection of support in
tunnels in rock for which the
value of RMR has been
determined.

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Q-system (Rock mass quality)

 The Q-system was developed at Norwegian Geotechnical Institute between 1971
and 1974.
 It originally included a little more than 200 tunnel case histories, mainly from
Scandinavia (Barton et al., 1974).
 The Q-value may be used for classification of the rock mass around an
underground opening, as well as for field mapping.
 The different Q-values are related to different types of permanent support by means
of a schematic support chart. This means that by calculating the Q-value it is
possible to find the type and quantity of support that has been applied previously in
rock masses of the similar qualities.
 The Q-value gives a description of the rock mass stability of an underground
opening in jointed rock masses.
 High Q-values indicates good stability and low values means poor stability.

Based on 6 parameters the Q-value is calculated using the

following equation:

𝑅𝑄𝐷 𝐽𝑟 𝐽𝑤
𝑄= × ×
𝐽𝑛 𝐽𝑎 𝑆𝑅𝐹
The six parameters are:
RQD = Degree of jointing (Rock Quality Designation)
Jn = Joint set number
Jr = Joint roughness number
Ja = Joint alteration number
Jw = Joint water reduction factor
SRF = Stress Reduction Factor
• The Q-value varies between 0.001 and 1000.
• Sometimes, there is difficulty in obtaining RMR in poor rock masses. The Q' may thus
be used more often as it is relatively more reliable than RMR, specially in weak rocks.

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• Rock mass stability is influenced by several parameters, but the

following three factors are the most important:
1. Block size (RQD/Jn),
2. Inter-block shear strength (Jr/ Ja), and
3. Active stress (Jw/SRF)

RQD/Jn
 It is a measure of block size formed by the presence of different discontinuities
 This measure represents the condition of the rock mass.
Here we take the example of range of block size from 100/0.5 to 10/20.
Block 1 = 100/0.5 = 200cm (assume the quotient in cm), it means RQD = 100 and Jn
= 0.5 (no to very few joints). This means the size of Block is massive.
Block 2 = 10/20 = 0.5cm, it means RQD = 10 and Jn = 20 (crushed rock or
earthlike). This means block size is 0.5cm.

• The degree of jointing, or block size, is determined by the joint pattern, i.e.,
joint orientation and joint spacing.
• Stability will generally decrease when joint spacing decreases and the number
of joint sets increases.
• In soft rocks where deformation can occur independently of joints, the degree
of jointing has less importance than it has in hard rocks.

Joint set number Jn

Massive, no or few joints 0.5-1.0
One joint set 2
One joint set plus random joints 3
Two joint sets 4
Two joint sets plus random joints 6
Three joint sets 9
Three joint sets plus random joints 12
Four or more joint sets, random heavily jointed “sugar 15
cube”, etc
Crushed rock, earth like 20

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Jr/Ja
 It represents joint roughness and frictional characteristics of joint wall and
infilling materials
 The rough and unaltered joints will have higher values whereas the smooth
and altered (clay filled) joints will have lower values
Joint friction
 In hard rocks, deformations will occur as shear displacements along joints. The
friction along the joints will therefore be significant for the rock mass stability.
 Joint friction is dependent on joint roughness, thickness and type of mineral
fillings. Very rough joints, joints with no filling or joints with only a thin, hard
mineral filling will be favourable for stability.
 On the other hand, smooth surface and/or a thick filling of a soft mineral will result
in low friction and poor stability.
 In soft rocks where deformation is less dependent of joints, the joint friction factor is
less significant.

Joint roughness Jr
The measure of joint roughness, it lies between 0.5 and 4

Condition Jr

a) Rock wall contact and b) Rock wall contact

before 10 cm shear
A Discontinuous joint 4
B Rough or irregular, undulating 3
C Smooth, undulating 2
D Slicken sided, undulating 1.5
E Rough or irregular, planar 1.5
F Smooth, planar 1
G Slicken sided, planar 0.5

c) No rock wall contact when sheared

Zone containing clay minerals thick enough to
H prevent rock wall contact 1
Snady gravelly or crushed zone thick enough to
I prevent rock wall contact 1

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Jw/SRF
Jw
 It is a measure of water pressure, which has an adverse effect on shear strength of
joints due to decrease in effective normal stress.
 The presence of water creates smoother surface and outwash the clay filling in joints.
SRF
It is a measure of:
 Loosening of pressure during excavation through shear zones and clay bearing rock
masses
 Rock stress which is qc/ σ1 where; (qc is the UCS value of the rock mass and σ1 the
major principal stress before excavation)
 Squeezing or swelling pressure in incompetent rock masses

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Geological Strength Index (GSI)

 Hoek and Brown (1994) introduced recently the Geological Strength Index (GSI), both
for hard and weak rock masses.
 It was developed to quantify the quality of poor quality rock mass which have low
RMR values.
 Primarily quantified by geological observation.
There are two major parameters
1. Surface condition of the discontinuity
2. Interlocking among the rock blocks

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GSI is one of the parameter in

accessing the strength and
deformability of rock mass
using Hoek-Brown failure
criterion.

Hoek and Brown failure criterion

 The Hoek and Brown (1980) failure criterion is widely used for estimating rock
mass strength properties in intensely fractured rock.
 The criterion suggests that mass strength is dependent primarily on lithological type,
fracture spacing and intact rock strength relative to the in-situ stress level.
𝜎3
𝜎1 ′ = 𝜎3 ′ + 𝜎𝑐 [𝑚𝑏 + 𝑠]𝑎 ……………(1)
𝜎𝑐
where:
σ1 ′ = major principal effective stress at failure,
σ3 ′ = minor principal stress at failure, and
σc = uniaxial compressive strength of intact rock
mb is a constant for the rock mass and corresponds approximately to the friction angle, φ within the linear Mohr-
Coulomb criterion. It varies both with rock type (mi component) and an index called the Geological Strength
Index (GSI) which in turn is related directly to the rock mass classification ratings of Barton et al., (1974) and
Bienawski (1976)
s and a are constants which depend upon the characteristics of the rock mass; s is analogous approximately to
cohesive strength within the Mohr-Coulomb criterion and tends to zero for a very poor quality rock mass,
reflecting the low tensile strength of such a weak rock mass.

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GSI is used to find the values

𝐺𝑆𝐼−100
mb = mi exp ( )
28

 For good quality rock mass (GSI>25)

a = 0.5 and
𝐺𝑆𝐼−100
s = exp( )
9
 For poor quality rock mass (GSI<25)
𝐺𝑆𝐼
a = 0.65 -
200
s=0

 Hoek and Brown have introduced their failure criterion in an attempt to provide
analysis data for the design of underground excavations in hard rock.

 The criterion is applicable to fractured rock masses where the potential for simple
kinematical failure along individual discontinuities is not possible.

 By applying the equations derived by their results geoscientists can estimate under
which stresses will a rock mass enter the failure state.

 Dam engineers frequently use the Hoek-Brown failure criterion to estimate

foundation parameters of highly jointed rock masses.

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