Joint Rock Coefficient Estimation Based on Hausdorff Dimension

Abstract

The strength of rock structures strongly depends inter alia on surface irregularities of rock joints. These irregularities are characterized by a coefficient of joint roughness. For its estimation, visual comparison is often used. This is rather a subjective method, therefore, fully computerized image recognitionprocedures were proposed. However, many of them contain imperfections, some of them even mathematical nonsenses and their application can be very dangerous in technical practice. In this paper, we recommend mathematically correct method of fully automatic estimation of the joint roughness coefficient. This method requires only the Barton profiles as a standard.The strength of rock structures strongly depends inter alia on surface irregularities of rock joints. These irregularities are characterized by a coefficient of joint roughness. For its estimation, visual comparison is often used. This is rather a subjective method, therefore, fully computerized image recognitionprocedures were proposed. However, many of them contain imperfections, some of them even mathematical nonsenses and their application can be very dangerous in technical practice. In this paper, we recommend mathematically correct method of fully automatic estimation of the joint roughness coefficient. This method requires only the Barton profiles as a standard.