Journal of the Korean Geo-Environmental Society ISSN:1598-0820(Print) 2714-1233(Online) 한국지반환경공학회 논문집

The magnitude and distribution of earth pressure on the excavation wall in jointed rock mass were examined by considering different wall permeability conditions as well as rock types and joint inclination angles. The study was numerically extended based on a physical model test (Son & Park, 2014), considering rock-structure interactions with the discrete element method, which can consider various characteristics of rock joints. This study focused on the effect of the permeability condition of excavation wall on the earth pressure in jointed rock masses under a groundwater condition, which is important but has not been studied previously. The study results showed that the earth pressure was highly influenced by wall permeability as well as rock type and joint condition. Earth pressure resulted from the study was also compared with Peck’s earth pressure in soil ground, and the comparison clearly showed that the earth pressure in jointed rock mass can be greatly different from that in soil ground.