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Characterizing Rockbursts Along a Structural Plane in a Tunnel of the Hanjiang-to-Weihe River Diversion Project by Microseismic Monitoring

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Abstract

Rockbursts pose serious threats to the safety of personnel and equipment in tunnels of the Hanjiang-to-Weihe River Diversion Project. Small-scale structural planes around the tunnel play an important role in controlling the occurrence and intensity of rockbursts. To study the characteristics and evolution of rockbursts along a structural plane, three successive, intense rockbursts in the #4 sub-tunnel were summarized in detail and investigated by analyzing 492 recorded microseismic events. The rockbursts were closely related to the structural plane, because most events had a ratio of S-wave energy to P-wave energy larger than 10 and were associated with shearing along the existing structural plane. The statistical parameters, which include the energy index, cumulative apparent volume, and b value, were used to analyze the evolution of the three rockbursts. Quantitative interpretation of the source parameter and statistical parameters for a given microseismic data set provided a significant insight into characterization of rockbursts along the structural plane. In addition, some distinctive seismic precursors for rockbursts along the structural plane were acquired; therefore, rockbursts along the structural plane may be effectively predicted based on these seismic precursors. Preliminary results in the current study are valuable for predicting and mitigating rockburst hazards in tunnels with similar conditions.

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Abbreviations

\({x_i},{\text{ }}{y_i},{z_i}\) :

Coordinates of the ith accelerometer

\(x,{\text{ }}y,z\) :

Coordinates of the seismic source

\({t_i}\) :

Triggering time of the ith accelerometer

\(t\) :

Occurrence time of the seismic event

\({V_{\text{p}}}\) :

P-wave velocity

\({M_0}\) :

Seismic moment

\(\mu\) :

Shear modulus of the rock mass

\(\overline {u}\) :

Average displacement

\(A\) :

Source area

\(M\) :

Moment magnitude

\(X(k)\) :

Signal series in the frequency domain

\(x(n)\) :

Signal series in the time domain

\({N_{\text{s}}}\) :

Number of sampling points

\(k\) :

Natural number

\({E_T}\) :

Cumulative radiated energy for a given time T

\({N_T}\) :

Event counts for a given time T

T :

Observation time

\({V_{\text{I}}}\) :

Volume of the interest zone

\({n_i}\) :

Event count of the ith sub-zone

\({q_i}\) :

Event density of the ith sub-zone

\({E_{\text{S}}}\) :

S-wave energy

\({E_{\text{P}}}\) :

P-wave energy

\({\sigma _A}\) :

Apparent stress

\(E\) :

Seismic energy

\(V\) :

Source volume

\({V_{\text{A}}}\) :

Apparent volume

\(\Delta \sigma\) :

Static stress drop

\(N\) :

Number of seismic events with a magnitude larger than M

\(a\) :

Constant of the fitted magnitude–frequency curve

\(b\) :

Slope of the fitted magnitude–frequency curve

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Key Basic Research Development Plan (973) (no. 2014CB047100) and the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (nos. 51627804 and 41572249), which is greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, Liaoning, China

    Fei Liu, Chun’an Tang & Tianhui Ma

  2. School of Mining Engineering, University of Science and Technology Liaoning, Anshan, 114051, Liaoning, China

    Liexian Tang

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  1. Fei Liu
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  2. Chun’an Tang
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Correspondence to Chun’an Tang.

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Liu, F., Tang, C., Ma, T. et al. Characterizing Rockbursts Along a Structural Plane in a Tunnel of the Hanjiang-to-Weihe River Diversion Project by Microseismic Monitoring. Rock Mech Rock Eng 52, 1835–1856 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-018-1649-0

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