HIGH ROAD CUTS IN A ROCK MASS WITH HORIZONTAL BEDDING

An unusual road has been designed and constructed in rugged topographic conditions of a deep canyon with vertical or subvertical sides. The road requires rock cuts up to 300 feet high which are excavated in competent sedimentary rocks having three distinct sets of dividing planes: horizontal bedding and two sets of vertical joints, perpendicular to each other. The rock cuts were designed so that: (1) The cuts are stable; (2) Problem of rockfall is eliminated or reduced to a minimum; and (3) Blasting produces a fairly clean face. The finite element method, both without and with "joint elements" , was applied in order to define the zones of tensile stresses in cliffs, both in the natural state and after the cut excavation has been completed.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Proceedings 16th Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Minnesota University, Minneapolis, September 22-24, 1975.
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Civil Engineers

  345 East 47th Street
  New York, NY  United States  10017-2398
• Authors:
  • Bukovansky, M
  • Piercy, N H
• Conference:
  • Proceedings 16th Symposium on Rock Mechanics, Minnesota University, Minneapolis, September 22-24, 1975.
• Publication Date: 1977

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 71-76

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Canyons; Construction; Highway design; Highway engineering; Presplitting (Blasting); Road construction; Roads; Rock excavation; Rock mechanics; Rockfalls; Strata; Structural design
• Old TRIS Terms: Bedding planes /rock formations/; Vertical joints
• Subject Areas: Construction; Geotechnology; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00164987
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Engineering Index
• Report/Paper Numbers: Proceeding
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 27 1977 12:00AM