Rock Joints deals exclusively with the mechanical genesis of joints in rocks. It is aimed at a coherent, critical and comprehensible presentation of the underlying mechanical processes of various types of joints and joint systems. Special care is taken to elucidate and quantify the role of high fluid pressures in the formation of joints. The background is an offshoot of the author's courses on "Genesis of Rock Joints" in the Department of Rock Mechanics and Tunneling at the Technical University of Graz, Austria.

Proceedings of the International Symposium on Rock Joints held at Loen, Norway, June 1990. Subjects include geological aspects of joint origin and morphology, mechanical behaviour such as shear strength, hydraulic behaviour, and dynamic behaviour.

Joints in rocks, as distinct from tectonic faults, are fractures that form without "visible" displacement along the fracture plane. They are usually interpreted as tension fractures and analysed mechanically by employing a continuum mechanical theory of this fracture mode. "Rock Joints" deals exclusively with the mechanical genesis of joints in rocks. It is aimed at a coherent, critical and comprehensible presentation of the underlying mechanical processes of various types of joints and joint systems. In addition to tension fractures, the book extensively treats jointing from a different origin, i.e. hydraulic intrusion fractures, cleavage fractures, and shear joints. Throughout, special care is taken to elucidate and quantify the role of high fluid pressures in joint formation. Field examples illustrate formational aspects of jointing, and Mohr's stress circle used where possible to simplify the mathematics.

This title covers the fundamental properties of rock joints, the method of laboratory testing of rock joints, and shear strength assessment under different loading conditions. This work is intended as a reference text for students and practitioners in mining and rock engineering.

This title covers the fundamental properties of rock joints, the method of laboratory testing of rock joints, and shear strength assessment under different loading conditions. This work is intended as a reference text for students and practitioners in mining and rock engineering.

The thirty papers published in this book represent the latest developments in Discontinuous Deformation Analysis (DDA). The Numerical Manifold Method (NMM) and other numerical methods and their applications are also covered, as are the theoretical contributions of 3D DDA, modelling and visualization of 3D joint systems, and high-order NMM. Applications of these advances include the stability of underground works, rock slopes and boreholes.

This volume presents the proceedings of a symposium on rock mechanics, held in the USA in 1995. Topics covered include: rock dynamics; tool-rock interaction; radioactive waste disposal; underground mining; fragmentation and blasting; theoretical and model studies; hydrology; and rock creep.