Abstract
One of the most significant challenges of construction of underground large size structures is to determine the effect of the geological discontinuities. Fault is a natural discontinuity which allows significant displacement of the rock mass along the fault plane and increases the plastic zones around the underground structure. For instance, an underground hydropower plant comprising more than two underground caverns and large distance between the underground cavern incurs the higher cost because of connecting tunnels or transfer of electricity from powerhouse cavern to transformer cavern. However, presence of the fault would result in the increase of the plastic zone and shear displacement along the fault. Thus, with regards to the effect of the fault on the stability of the two parallel caverns, in this paper different numerical models were simulated to study the effect of the fault on plastic zone around the cavern group and pillar between the caverns, and shear displacement along the fault plane under different scenarios such as fault location, fault dip angle, fault friction angle and in-situ stress conditions. The results are produced graphically and discussed. These results offer advance guidelines in construction of the two parallel large size caverns.
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Prajapati, S.K., Verma, A.K. Effect of Fault Characteristics on Plastic Zones around Parallelly Spaced Two Underground Caverns and Shear Displacement along the Fault Plane. J Geol Soc India 99, 765–772 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-023-2383-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-023-2383-0