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18-Geol-A5 Rock Mechanics: December 2014

Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)

  1. Question 1 Joint Shear Strength — Patton Bilinear Criterion and Pore-Pressure-Induced Failure
  2. Question 2 Pre-Construction and Construction-Phase Strategy for a Subway Tunnel Under Uncertainty
  3. Question 3 Combined Toppling (Block A) and Sliding (Block B) — Verification-Case Statics
  4. Question 4 Elastic Constant and Mohr-Coulomb Parameters from a Zero-Axial-Strain Triaxial Path
  5. Question 5 Single-Plane-of-Weakness Theory — Two Orthogonal Fracture Sets

Start with Question 1 →

National Exams — December 2014 — 04-Geol-A5 Rock Mechanics. Three-hour, open-book exam; one of two approved calculators permitted. Five questions of equal value (20 marks each); the paper instructs candidates to answer only the first 4 of 5 questions appearing in the answer book — all five are answered here as a complete study resource. Selected equations and rock-mass-classification charts are supplied at the back of the exam paper.

Reference texts: Hoek, Practical Rock Engineering — shear strength of discontinuities (Patton bilinear criterion), triaxial Mohr-Coulomb fitting, and single-plane-of-weakness theory used in Q1/Q4/Q5; Wyllie & Mah, Rock Slope Engineering (5th ed.) — limit-equilibrium analysis of sliding and toppling rock-block systems used in Q3; Bieniawski, Engineering Rock Mass Classifications — geomechanical classification and observational design used in Q2; Brady & Brown, Rock Mechanics for Underground Mining (3rd ed.) — Mohr-Coulomb criterion cross-reference used in Q4/Q5.