Unwedge v. 4.

0
Tutorial 9 | Probabilistic Support

Topics Covered:

Persistence
Bolt spacing
Out of plane offset
Random offset
Scatter plot

Unwedge v. 4.0 Tutorial Manual

Tutorial 9: Probabilistic Support

Introduction
This tutorial will use probabilistic analysis to add a bolt support pattern to the roof of a
section of an underground spiral access ramp.

The Model
For this tutorial we will start by reading in the file Tutorial 02 Scaling Wedges.weg which
you should find in the Unwedge 4.0 Examples > Tutorials folder in your Unwedge installation
folder.
Select: File > Recent Folders > Tutorials Folder, or use the dropdown arrow on the Open
toolbar button to choose the tutorials folder.
Select the Tutorial 02 Scaling Wedges.weg file.
Open the Project Settings dialog from the toolbar or the analysis menu. Ensure the units are
set to Metric, stress as MPa. Change the Analysis Type to Probabilistic. In the Sampling tab,
ensure the advanced location dependent scaling box is checked. Click OK.
As you can see, all of the Perimeter Wedges (roof, sides and floor wedges) are the maximum
possible size for the excavation cross-section.
Open the Input Data dialog from the toolbar or the Analysis menu. Click on the Joint
Properties tab and change the Joint Structure Continuity from Infinite to Persistence. Change
the persistence to 3 m. Change the cohesion to zero. Repeat this process for Joint Properties
2 and Joint Properties 3 by clicking on each tab on the left of the screen. Select OK.

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Tutorial 9: Probabilistic Support

Probabilistic Input
We will only add variability to the persistence values in this tutorial. All other values will be
assumed to be exact.
Select: Statistics > Joint Properties
In the Joint Properties 1 tab, click Add. Change the property to Persistence. Give it an
exponential distribution with a mean = 3, relative minimum = 2, and relative maximum = 8.
Repeat this process for Joint Properties 2, and Joint Properties 3, by clicking on each tab on
the left side. Click OK.

We are now ready to compute. Select the Compute button from the toolbar or the Analysis
menu. This may take a couple of minutes.

Probability View
Switch to Probability View by using the drop-down menu on the toolbar or the Select View
sub-menu of the View menu.
From the sidebar on the right, we can see that the values on the screen represent the
Maximum Support Pressure for each segment. The roof appears to have a maximum support
pressure of 0.045 MPa.
From the drop-down menu on the sidebar, select Maximum Wedge Depth. Since the
maximum roof wedge depths do not surpass 4 m, we will use 4 m long bolts.

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Tutorial 9: Probabilistic Support

Perimeter Support: Bolt Pattern

Switch to the Perimeter Support Designer view by using the drop-down menu on the toolbar
or the Select View sub-menu of the View menu.
Select the Bolt Properties button from the toolbar or the Support menu. Notice that the
capacity of the default Mechanically Anchored bolt is 0.1 MN. Select Cancel.
If we used a bolt spacing of 2 m by 2 m, the resulting pressure, depending on offset, would
be about:
0.1 MN / 4 m2 = 0.025 MPa which does not cover the 0.045 MPa maximum support pressure
we saw in the Probability View.
We will try to use a spacing of 1.5 m by 1.5 m instead: 0.1 MN / (1.5 m)2 = 0.0444 MPa.

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Tutorial 9: Probabilistic Support

Bolt Spacing: 1.5 m x 1.5 m

Select the Add Bolt Pattern button from the toolbar or the Analysis menu.
Enter a Bolt Length = 4 m, and In Plane Spacing = Out of Plane Spacing = 1.5 m. Select OK.
Click on right corner of the roof and then on the left corner of the roof (always going counterclockwise) to create a bolt pattern on the roof only, as shown.

We are now ready to compute. Select the Compute button from the toolbar or the Analysis
menu. This may take a couple of minutes.
Switch to Probability View by using the drop-down menu on the toolbar or the Select View
sub-menu of the View menu.
From the drop-down menu on the sidebar, select Maximum Support Pressure. The Maximum
Support Pressure on most of the roof segments has been greatly reduced, but it has not
been eliminated. Therefore, we will try using a smaller bolt spacing.

Bolt Spacing: 0.75 m x 0.75 m

Switch to the Perimeter Support Designer view by using the drop-down menu on the toolbar
or the Select View sub-menu of the View menu.
Right-click on a bolt and select Edit Bolt Pattern. Change the In Plane Spacing = Out of Plane
Spacing = 0.75 m. Select OK.
Select the Compute button from the toolbar or the Analysis menu. This may take a couple of
minutes.
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Tutorial 9: Probabilistic Support

Switch to Probability View by using the drop-down menu on the toolbar or the Select View
sub-menu of the View menu. The Maximum Support Pressures on the majority of the
roof segments is now zero. However, the right-most segment on the roof has a Maximum
Support Pressure of 0.014 MPa. We will investigate this in the 3D Wedge View.
Select the New Window button from the toolbar or the Window menu. The Probability View
should now be vertically tiled with the 3D Wedge View.
In the Probability View window, click on right-most roof segment in question, such that it
turns red. The 3D Wedge View should have updated.
As we can see, the non-zero value is due to the right side wedge that is intersecting the
corner of the roof, as shown. Applying support to the right side of the tunnel will be left as
an exercise for the user.

Out of Plane Offset

Close the 3D Wedge View and maximize the Probability View. Switch to the Perimeter
Support Designer view by using the drop-down menu on the toolbar or the Select View submenu of the View menu.
Right-click on a bolt and select Edit Bolt Pattern. Notice that the out of plane offset is
currently set to 0.
By default, a bolt pattern is positioned along the z-axis of the excavation, such that the
pattern is aligned with the z = 0 coordinate. In Unwedge, z = 0 is the plane parallel to the
Opening Section, which contains the apex of each perimeter wedge as drawn on the 3D
Wedge View.
If you want to shift the position of the bolt pattern along the axis of the excavation, then
enter a value for the Out-of-Plane Offset. The value of the Out-of-Plane offset should be less
than the value of the Out-of-Plane Spacing.
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The Out-of-Plane offset option is useful if you wish to test the sensitivity of the safety factor
to the z-location of the pattern along the tunnel (e.g. run the analysis with zero offset, and
then re-run it with the offset = half of the Out-of-Plane Spacing).
The offset option is also useful for offsetting the z-positioning of multiple bolt patterns
(e.g. place a second pattern halfway between rows of the first pattern). It is an extremely
important consideration when adding a bolt pattern. Select Cancel.
The out of plane offset can be defined as a statistical parameter so that you can evaluate
the influence of the offset on wedge factors of safety. In this way you can determine a
distribution of factor of safety according to the offset and thus use the minimum factor of
safety for design. This section will look at the importance of out of plane offset on wedges
supported by bolt patterns.
Select: Statistics > Bolt Properties
Check the Use random bolt offset box. This will apply a random offset to our pattern.
Select OK.
Select the Compute button from the toolbar or the Analysis menu.
Switch to Probability View by using the drop-down menu on the toolbar or the Select View
sub-menu of the View menu. The Maximum Support Pressure on the roof is no longer zero.
Select the New Window button from the toolbar or the Window menu. The Probability View
should now be vertically tiled with the 3D Wedge View.
Click on the 3D Wedge View window and change the Bolt Visibility option on the sidebar from
Intersecting Wedges, to All. You should now be seeing all the bolts on the roof.
In the Probability View window, click on one of the non-zero roof segments, such that it turns
red. The 3D Wedge View should have updated.
Examine the Perspective View. You will notice that several bolts by-pass the roof wedge, as
shown.

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Tutorial 9: Probabilistic Support

This demonstrates that there are values of the offset that result in wedges not being
intersected by any bolts. As a result, these wedges are completely unsupported and could
fail, despite the default offset of zero resulting in all wedges being stable. It is important to
investigate offset to ensure that large wedges that could fail secondary support systems
such as wire mesh or shotcrete, do not sneak through the bolt pattern.

Scatter Plot: Bolt Offset vs. Factor of Safety

In the Probability View window right-click on the segment we are viewing (Segment 13) and
select Plot Scatter from the menu.
Set X Axis Dataset = Bolt Offset and Y Axis Dataset = Factor of Safety. Ensure Single
Segment is selected and click OK.
You should see the following scatter plot. Notice the highlighted row of data in the image
below. These values all have a factor of safety of zero, meaning they have failed. They
represent the failed wedges from the 10,000 trials that were placed in between the bolts and
hence did not receive any support.

This concludes the Probabilistic Support tutorial.

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