Chen, J, Chen, Y, Cohn, AG orcid.org/0000-0002-7652-8907 et al. (3 more authors) (2022) A novel image-based approach for interactive characterization of rock fracture spacing in a tunnel face. Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 14 (4). pp. 1077-1088. ISSN 1674-7755
Abstract
This paper presents a novel integrated method for interactive characterization of fracture spacing in rock tunnel sections. The main procedure includes four steps: (1) Automatic extraction of fracture traces, (2) digitization of trace maps, (3) disconnection and grouping of traces, and (4) interactive measurement of fracture set spacing, total spacing, and surface rock quality designation (S-RQD) value. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, sample images were obtained by employing a photogrammetry-based scheme in tunnel faces. Experiments were then conducted to determine the optimal parameter values (i.e. distance threshold, angle threshold, and number of fracture trace grouping) for characterizing rock fracture spacing. By applying the identified optimal parameters involved in the model, the proposed method could lead to excellent qualitative results to a new tunnel face. To perform a quantitative analysis, three methods (i.e. field, straightening, and the proposed method) were employed in the same study and comparisons were made. The proposed method agrees well with the field measurement in terms of the maximum and average values of measured spacing distribution. Overall, the proposed method has reasonably good accuracy and interactive advantage for estimating the ultimate fracture spacing and S-RQD. It can be a possible extension of existing methods for fracture spacing characterization for two-dimensional (2D) rock tunnel faces.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) |
Keywords: | Fracture set grouping; Fracture spacing; Image processing; Rock tunnel |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Computing (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number National Highways Limited fka Highways England Co Ltd Not Known |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 31 Jan 2022 09:44 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:53 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.jrmge.2021.10.012 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:182736 |