Determining of the Joint Roughness Coe cient (JRC) of Rock Discontinuities Based on the Theory of Random Fields
Journal
Geosciences
Date Issued
July 2019
Author(s)
DOI
10.3390/geosciences9070295
Abstract
This work intends to embed the estimation of the joint roughness coe cient (JRC) in the
framework of random fields. The random field method is a probabilistic approach which involves
modeling of the spatial variability of the pertinent physical quantities as a fundamental part of the
(assumed) underlying probabilistic structure. Although this method is one of higher complexity in
regard of the presumed background knowledge, it encodes naturally subtler information about the
rock surface roughness. It is noted that, the proposed random field approach considers automatically
the scale of the problem (no correction factor is needed), whilst the JRC estimates appear to be more
stable (compared to those derived from Z2 or SF) in the sense that images of the same profile but
of di erent quality give similar results for its roughness. The present work could also be useful
in advanced probabilistic rock slope stability analysis based on random fields. In such a case,
the required spatial correlation length can be obtained by the proposed = 145.5 /JRC relationship
( = variance of the profile). The JRC can be obtained through tilt tests, push or pull tests, or matching
roughness profiles, whilst can be obtained from inspection of the digitized profile.
framework of random fields. The random field method is a probabilistic approach which involves
modeling of the spatial variability of the pertinent physical quantities as a fundamental part of the
(assumed) underlying probabilistic structure. Although this method is one of higher complexity in
regard of the presumed background knowledge, it encodes naturally subtler information about the
rock surface roughness. It is noted that, the proposed random field approach considers automatically
the scale of the problem (no correction factor is needed), whilst the JRC estimates appear to be more
stable (compared to those derived from Z2 or SF) in the sense that images of the same profile but
of di erent quality give similar results for its roughness. The present work could also be useful
in advanced probabilistic rock slope stability analysis based on random fields. In such a case,
the required spatial correlation length can be obtained by the proposed = 145.5 /JRC relationship
( = variance of the profile). The JRC can be obtained through tilt tests, push or pull tests, or matching
roughness profiles, whilst can be obtained from inspection of the digitized profile.
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