National Exams, December 2017 — 04-Geol-A5, Rock Mechanics. Closed-book, 3-hour
exam; 5 questions of 20 marks each (80 marks total); candidates were instructed to answer only 4 of
the 5 — all 5 are answered below as a complete study resource.
Reference texts for this subject:
- Bieniawski, Z.T. (1989), Engineering Rock Mass Classifications, Wiley.
- Hoek, E. (2007), Practical Rock Engineering, Rocscience (open-access course notes).
- Brady, B.H.G. & Brown, E.T., Rock Mechanics for Underground Mining, 3rd ed.
- Wyllie, D.C. & Mah, C.W., Rock Slope Engineering, 5th ed.
- Barton, N., Lien, R. & Lunde, J. (1974), “Engineering Classification of Rock Masses for
the Design of Tunnel Support” (the NGI Q-system).
“1. Rock Mass Rating System…”, “5. Core Recovery View…”)
and the page-1 NOTES list interleave with the five real, printed Value / 20 Marks /
Question #N headings on pages 3–8. It does not affect the solutions
below, which are worked from the real printed question text.
