Design Analysis in Rock Mechanics

This comprehensive introduction to rock mechanics treats the basics of rock mechanics in a clear and straightforward manner and discusses important design problems in terms of the mechanics of materials. This extended third edition includes an additional chapter on Foundations on Jointed Rock.

Developed for a complete class in rock engineering, this volume uniquely combines the design of surface and underground rock excavations and addresses:
• rock slope stability in surface excavations, from planar block and wedge slides to rotational and toppling failures
• shaft and tunnel stability, ranging from naturally-supported openings to analysis and design of artificial support and reinforcement systems
• entries and pillars in stratified ground
• three-dimensional caverns, with emphasis on cable bolting and backfill
• geometry and forces of chimney caving, combination support and trough subsidence
• rock bursts and bumps in underground excavations, with focus on dynamic phenomena and on fast and sometimes catastrophic failures.

The numerous exercises and examples familiarize the reader with solving basic practical problems in rock mechanics through various design analysis techniques and their applications. Supporting the main text, appendices provide supplementary information about rock, joint, and composite properties, rock mass classification schemes, useful formulas, and an extensive literature list. The large selection of problems at the end of each chapter can be used for home assignment. A solutions manual is available to course instructors.

Explanatory and illustrative in character, this volume is suited for courses in rock mechanics, rock engineering and geological engineering design for undergraduate and first year graduate students in mining, civil engineering and applied earth sciences. Moreover, it will form a good introduction to the subject of rock mechanics for earth scientists and engineers from other disciplines.

William Pariseau obtained his B.S. degree in Mining Engineering at the University of Washington (Seattle) following the geological option and subsequently earned a Ph.D. in Mining Engineering at the University of Minnesota with emphasis on rock mechanics and with a minor in applied mathematics. Prior to his Ph.D., he obtained practical experience working for the City of Anchorage, the Alaska Department of Highways, the Mineral Resources Division of the U.S. Bureau of Mines (Spokane), the Anaconda Copper Co. in Butte, Montana, the New York-Alaska Gold Dredging Corp. in Nyac, Alaska. He served in the United States Marine Corps (1953-1956). He maintained a strong association with the former U.S. Bureau of Mines, first with the Pittsburgh Mining Research Center and later with the Spokane Mining Research Center. He is a registered professional engineer and has consulted for a number of commercial and government entities.
Currently, he is a professor emeritus and former holder of the Malcolm McKinnon endowed chair in mining engineering at the University of Utah. He joined the Department in 1971 following academic appointments at the Montana College of Science and Technology and the Pennsylvania State University. He has been a visiting academic at Brown University, Imperial College, London, and at the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia. He and colleagues have received a number of rock mechanics awards; he was recognized as a distinguished university research professor at the University of Utah in 1991. In 2010, he was recognized for teaching in the College of Mines and Earth Sciences with the Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award. The same year, he was honored by the Old Timers Club with their prestigious Educator Award. He was honored as a Fellow of the American Rock Mechanics Association in 2015.