Structural systems are consistently encountering the variabilities in material properties,
undesirable defects and loading environments, which may potentially shorten their designed …

Numerous joints are often randomly distributed in strata, which can affect the mechanical
behaviour of rock mass. The jointed rock mass at a large scale is modeled by the combined …

In most rock engineering, the rock mass was cut into different blocks by natural structural
planes, and the stability of underground openings was affected by the type, number, position …

The key block theory is often the first analysis carried out in assessing potential instability
caused by tunneling through jointed rock masses. This study suggests that it is beneficial to …

Excavation of shallow-buried, hard rock masses usually leads to the instability of rock blocks
delimited by discontinuity planes. Classic block theory only deals with the stability of rock …

Geometric distributions of fractures or discontinuities control the behaviour, and limit the
strength and the stability of rock masses where the best stabilization and improvement …

Several failure modes may occur around underground excavations, one of the most
common being block failure. The size distribution and occurrence probabilities of unstable …

Valid modeling and identification of rock blocks are the keys to analyzing rock-mass stability.
Based on the Monte Carlo method and 2D Poisson point process, an enhanced polygonal …

Highlights Stochastic structural planes are generated by considering parameter correlations.
The probability distributions of the inclination and the dip angle of stochastic structural …

Block theory is an important and commonly used method for addressing stability problems in
rock engineering, and it is very meaningful to simplify its analysis procedure and improve its …