Rock Mechanics an introduction for the practical engineer Parts I, II and III.pdf

Rock Mechanics - an introduction for the practical engineer
Parts I, II and III
First published in
Mining Magazine April, June and July 1966
Evert Hoek
This paper is the text of three lectures delivered by the author at the Imperial College of
Science and Technology, London in November 1965 as part of the University of
London series of Special University Lectures in Mining and Metallurgy.
Rock Mechanics
Rock Mechanics - an introduction for the practical engineer
E. Hoek, ., . (Eng.), . (Eng.).
Senior Chief Research Officer, Rock Mechanics Division,
National Mechanical Engineering Research Institute,
South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research,
Pretoria, Republic of South Africa
Part 1. Theoretical Considerations
In this, the first of three articles containing extracts from a series of six lectures delivered
at the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College of Science and Technology in November
1965, the author covers theoretical considerations. The other two will deal with
laboratory techniques and then with rock mechanics in the field.
The purpose of this series of articles is to present some of the principles of rock
mechanics to the reader who is interested in knowing something about the subject without
having to e too involved in technical details. The content of the articles is based,
almost entirely, upon the author's own experience and, hence, does not represent a
complete review of the whole subject of rock mechanics. Consequently, the formulation
of an overall rock mechanics philosophy has been assiduously avoided and the reader is
left to draw his own conclusions from the facts as they are presented.
Definition and Scope
In 1963 the Rock mittee of the American National Academy of Science
adopted the following definition1:
Rock mechanics is the theoretical and applied science of the mechanical behaviour of
rock. It is that branch of mechanics concerned with the response of rock to the force