International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029

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Analytical models for rock bolts

C. Li*, B. Stillborg
Division of Rock Mechanics, Lulea University of Technology, SE-971 87 Lulea, Sweden
Accepted 21 August 1999

Abstract

Three analytical models have been developed for rock bolts: one for bolts subjected to a concentrated pull load in pullout
tests, one for bolts installed in uniformly deformed rock masses, and one for bolts subjected to the opening of individual rock
joints. The development of the models has been based on the description of the mechanical coupling at the interface between the
bolt and the grout medium for grouted bolts, or between the bolt and the rock for frictionally coupled bolts. For rock bolts in
pullout tests, the shear stress of the interface attenuates exponentially with increasing distance from the point of loading when
the deformation is compatible across the interface. Decoupling may start rst at the loading point when the applied load is large
enough and then propagate towards the far end of the bolt with a further increase in the applied load. The magnitude of the
shear stress on the decoupled bolt section depends on the coupling mechanism at the interface. For fully grouted bolts, the shear
stress on the decoupled section is lower than the peak shear strength of the interface, while for fully frictionally coupled bolts it
is approximately the same as the peak shear strength. For rock bolts installed in uniformly deformed rock, the loading process
of the bolts due to rock deformation has been taken into account in developing the model. Model simulations conrm the
previous ndings that a bolt in situ has a pick-up length, an anchor length and a neutral point. It is also revealed that the face
plate plays a signicant role in enhancing the reinforcement eect. In jointed rock masses, several axial stress peaks may occur
along the bolt because of the opening of rock joints intersecting the bolt. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction formance of fully grouted rock bolts in the Kielder

Rock bolts have been widely used for rock reinforce-
ment in civil and mining engineering for a long time.
Bolts reinforce rock masses through restraining the de-
formation within the rock masses. In order to improve
bolting design, it is necessary to have a good under-
standing of the behaviour of rock bolts in deformed
rock masses. This can be acquired through eld moni-
toring, laboratory tests, numerical modelling and ana-
lytical studies.
Since the 1970s, numerous researchers have car-
ried out eld monitoring work on rock bolts
installed in various rock formations [13]. Freeman
[1] performed pioneering work in studying the per-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +46-920-91352; fax: +46-920-
91935.
E-mail address: chunlin.li@ce.luth.se (C. Li).
experimental tunnel. He monitored both the loading
process of the bolts and the distribution of stresses
along the bolts. On the basis of his monitoring
data, he proposed the concepts of ``neutral point'',
``pick-up length'' and ``anchor length''. At the neu-
tral point, the shear stress at the interface between
the bolt and the grout medium is zero, while the
tensile axial load of the bolt has a peak value. The
pick-up length refers to the section of the bolt from
the near end of the bolt (on the tunnel wall) to the
neutral point. The shear stresses on this section of
the bolt pick up the load from the rock and drag
the bolt towards the tunnel. The anchor length
refers to the section of the bolt from the neutral
point to the far end of the bolt (its seating deep in
the rock). The shear stresses on this section of the
bolt anchor the bolt to the rock. These concepts
clearly outline the behaviour of fully grouted rock
bolts in a deformed rock formation. Bjornfot and

1365-1609/99/$ - see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 1 3 6 5 - 1 6 0 9 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 6 4 - 7
1014 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029

Nomenclature

A area of the cross-section of the bolt a a constant representing the coupling prop-
Eb Young's modulus of the bolt steel erty of the interface
Er Young's modulus of the rock mass d0 elongation of the bolt in section (0Rx<x0)
Eg Young's modulus of the grout d1 elongation of the bolt in section (x0Rx<x1)
L length of the bolt d2 elongation of the bolt in section (x1Rx<x2)
P0 applied pull load d3 elongation of the bolt in section (x2Rx<L )
P0max pullout load, i.e. the maximum applied pull dJ opening displacement of a rock joint
load dJi opening displacement of the ith joint (i = a,
S inuencing area of a bolt in the rock b, c, . . . )
d0 diameter of a circle in the rock outside dJmax maximum opening displacement of a joint
which the inuence of the bolt disappears before decoupling occurs
db diameter of the bolt ng Poisson's ratio of the grout
dg diameter of the borehole nr Poisson's ratio of the rock mass
du free deformation of the rock slice x a coecient related to the Young's moduli
dub elongation of the bolt element of the bolt steel and the rock
dur the reduction of deformation after bolt re- sb axial stress of the bolt
inforcement, i.e. dur=du dub sb0 axial stress of the bolt at the loading point
dx length of the rock slice sb0i axial stress of the bolt at the ith rock joint
p0 hydrostatic primary stress in the rock Dsr bolting-induced stress increment in the rock
Pf load on the face plate of the bolt mass
ri radius of the circular tunnel tb shear stress at the bolt interface
rp position of the decoupling front on the bolt tbB total shear stress at point B of the bolt
surface interface
s shear strength of the interface for friction- tb1 shear stress at the bolt interface, induced by
ally coupled bolts rock deformation
sr residual shear strength of the interface for tb2 shear stress at the bolt interface, induced
fully grouted bolts due to pull eect
sp peak shear strength of the interface for fully t dA shear stress at point A of the bolt interface,
grouted bolts induced by rock deformation
u original radial displacement of the rock at x t dB shear stress at point B of the bolt interface,
(without bolting) induced by rock deformation
x0,x1 decoupling boundaries at the interface of tA
B shear stress at B due to the pull action of
and x2 fully grouted bolts (see Fig. 4) t dA
o ratio of the residual shear strength to the
Greek symbols peak shear strength, o=sr/sp
D length of a bolt section, D=x2x1

Stephansson's work [2,4] demonstrated that in
joined rock masses there may exist not only one
but several neutral points along the bolt because of
the opening displacement of individual joints.
Pullout tests are usually used to examine the anchor-
ing capacity of rock bolts. A great number of pullout
tests have been conducted so far in various types of
rocks [59]. Farmer [6] carried out fundamental work
in studying the behaviour of bolts under tensile load-
ing. His solution predicts that the axial stress of the
bolt (also the shear stress at the bolt interface) will
decrease exponentially from the point of loading to the
far end of the bolt before decoupling occurs. Fig. 1(a)
illustrates the results of a typical pullout test [5]. Curve
a represents the distribution of the axial stress along
the bolt under a relatively low applied load, at which
the deformation is compatible on both sides of the
bolt interface. Curve b represents the axial stress along
the bolt at a relatively high applied load, at which
decoupling has occurred at part of the bolt interface.
Fig. 1(b) shows the axial stress along a rock bolt
installed in an underground mine drift [3]. It is seen
from this gure that the distribution of the axial stress
along the section close to the borehole collar is com-
pletely dierent from that in pullout tests. However,
along the section to the far end of the bolt, the stress
varies similarly to that in pullout tests. The reason for
these results is that bolts in situ have a pick-up length
and an anchor length, while bolts in pullout tests only
have an anchor length.
 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029
It is thought that the relative movement between the
rock and the bolt is zero at the neutral point [1]. In
the solution by Tao and Chen [10], the position of the
neutral point depends only on the radius of the tunnel
and the length of the bolt. That solution was im-
plemented in the analytical models created by Indrar-
atna and Kaiser [11] and Hyett et al. [12]. It seems
that Tao and Chen's solution is valid only when the
deformation is compatible across the bolt interface.
When decoupling occurs, the position of the neutral
point is obviously also related to the shear strength of
the interface. Field monitoring and pullout tests have
indicated two facts concerning the loading of a rock
bolt in situ: (1) rock deformation applies a load on the
pick-up section of the bolt; (2) the load on the pick-up
section drags the anchor section of the bolt towards
the underground opening. These two facts must be
taken into account in developing analytical models for
rock bolts.
The aim of this paper is to develop analytical
models for fully coupled rock bolts. A model for rock
bolts in pullout tests is introduced rst, together with
Fig. 1. Distribution of the axial stress (a) along a grouted steel bar
during a pullout test, after Hawkes and Evans [5], and (b) along a
grouted rock bolt in situ, after Sun [3].
1015
a description of the theoretical background, the devel-
opment of the model and an illustrative example. Two
models for rock bolts in situ are then presented, one in
uniformly deformed rock masses and one in jointed
rock masses. The details of the development of the
models are summarised in the Appendices.
2. Coupling between the bolt and the rock
Windsor [13] proposed the concept that a reinforce-
ment system comprises four principal components: the
rock, the reinforcing element, the internal xture and
the external xture. For reinforcement with a bolt, the
reinforcing element refers to the bolt and the external
xture refers to the face plate and nut. The internal
xture is either a medium, such as cement mortar or
resin for grouted bolts, or a mechanical action like
``friction'' at the bolt interface for frictionally coupled
bolts. The internal xture provides a coupling con-
dition at the interface. With reference to the com-
ponent of internal xture, Windsor [13] classied the
current reinforcement devices into three groups: ``con-
tinuously mechanically coupled (CMC)'', ``continu-
ously frictionally coupled (CFC)'' and ``discretely
mechanically or frictionally coupled (DMFC)'' sys-
tems. According to this classication system, cement-
and resin-grouted bolts belong to the CMC system,
while Split set and Swellex bolts belong to the CFC
system.
When fully grouted bolts are subjected to a pull
load, failure may occur at the boltgrout interface, in
the grout medium or at the groutrock interface,
depending on which one is the weakest. For fully fric-
tionally coupled bolts, however, there is only one
possibility of failure decoupling at the boltrock
interface. In this study we concentrate on the failure at
the interface between the bolt and the coupling med-
ium (either the grout medium or the rock).
In general, the shear strength of an interface com-
prises three components: adhesion, mechanical inter-
lock and friction. They are lost in sequence as the
compatibility of deformation is lost across the inter-
face. The result is a decoupling front that attenuates at
an increasing distance from the point of the applied
load. The decoupling front rst mobilises the adhesive
component of strength, then the mechanical interlock
component and nally the frictional component. The
shear strength of the interface decreases during this
process. The shear strength after the loss of some of
the strength components is called the residual shear
strength in this paper. For grouted rock bolts like
rebar, all the three components of strength exist at the
bolt interface. However, for the fully frictionally
coupled bolt, the ``Split set'' bolt, only a friction com-
ponent exists at the bolt interface. For Swellex bolts,
1016 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029
mechanical interlock and friction comprise the strength
of the interface.
3. Rock bolts in pullout tests
3.1. Theoretical background
When a bolt installed in rock is subjected to a tensile
axial load, the relationship between the shear stress at
the bolt interface and the axial tensile stress of the bolt
can be established through considering a small section
of the bolt as shown in Fig. 2. The force equilibrium
in the axial direction leads to the following expression:
A dsb
tb
pdb dx
where db is the diameter of the bolt, and A is the area
of the cross-section of the bolt.
For the example shown in Fig. 1(a), the shear stress
along the bolt at the two levels of applied load is
obtained using Eq. (1) and illustrated in Fig. 3. When
the applied load is small, the shear stress decreases
with increasing distance from the point of loading
(curve a ). Progressive decoupling commences at the
loading point at a certain level of applied load. The
decoupling front moves towards the far end of the bolt
with an increasing applied load. The shear stress is at
the level of the shear strength at the decoupling front,
while behind the decoupling front the shear stress
becomes smaller, since the strength of the interface has
been partially lost due to decoupling. Curve b in Fig. 3
represents such a distribution of shear stress along the
bolt.
Based on experimental results as shown in Fig. 3, a
model for the shear stress along a fully grouted bolt
can be postulated as illustrated in Fig. 4. In this
model, the section of the bolt close to the loading
point is completely decoupled with a zero shear stress
Fig. 2. Stress components in a small section of a bolt.
Fig. 3. The shear stress on the steel bar, derived from Fig. 1(a).
1
at the bolt interface. Starting at a certain distance
from the loading point, say at x0, the bolt interface is
partially decoupled with a residual shear strength, sr.
Between point x1 and x2, the residual shear strength
linearly increases from sr to the peak strength sp.
Beyond point x2, the interface undergoes compatible
deformation and the shear stress attenuates exponen-
tially towards the far end of the bolt.
For fully frictionally coupled bolts, the magnitude
of the shear stress behind the decoupling front is ap-
proximately the same as the peak value. As mentioned
previously, the shear strength of the interface for this
type of bolt comprises one or two components, i.e.
either friction or mechanical interlock and friction.
The deformation incompatibility across the interface
does not make the friction disappear. In other words,
the residual shear strength of the interface is approxi-
mately the same as the peak strength for fully friction-
ally coupled bolts. The distribution of shear stress for
this type of bolt is illustrated in Fig. 5.
When a fully coupled bolt is subjected to a pull
load, the shear stress along the bolt is as shown in Fig.
Fig. 4. Distribution of shear stress along a fully grouted rock bolt
subjected to an axial load.
 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029 1017

bolts if the expression for the constant a is slightly

modied. Fully frictionally coupled bolts have direct
contact with rock. The constant a for this type of bolt
can be obtained from Eq. (3a) by letting the Young's
modulus and Poisson's ratio of the grout equal those
of the rock, i.e. Gg=Gr, ng=nr and dg=dr. Then we
obtain the expression of a for fully frictionally coupled
bolts as:

2Gr
a2   3b
d0
Eb ln
db

Fig. 5. Distribution of shear stress along a frictionally coupled rock

The axial stress of the bolt is calculated as:
bolt.
pdb x 2a
x
sb x sb0 tb xdx sb0 e db 4a
A 0
6 before decoupling occurs at the interface. For fully
grouted rock bolts, the attenuation of the shear stress or
is expressed as [6,14]:
a x 2
2a
tb sb0 e db 2 sb x tb x 4b
2 a

where
2Gr Gg
a2 "    #
dg d0 3.2. Fully grouted rock bolts
Eb Gr ln Gg ln
db dg
The stresses in dierent sections of the bolt can now
be described in detail as follows (see Fig. 4):
Er Eg
Gr and Gg 3a 1. On the section 0 R x < x0: the bolt interface is com-
21 nr 21 ng
pletely decoupled, leading to a zero shear stress at
sb0 is the axial stress of the bolt at the loading point, the interface and a constant axial stress in the bolt,
Eb is Young's modulus of the bolt steel, Er is Young's i.e.:
modulus of the rock mass, Eg is Young's modulus of
tb x 0
the grout, nr is Poisson's ratio of the rock mass, ng is
Poisson's ratio of the grout, dg is the diameter of the
borehole, and d0 is the diameter of a circle in the rock sb x sb0 5
outside which the inuence of the bolt disappears.
Eq. (2) is also valid for fully frictionally coupled 2. On the section x0 R x < x1: the interface is partially
decoupled, resulting in a residual shear strength sr
at the interface. The shear and axial stresses are
given by:

tb x sr

4sr
sb x sb0 x x 0 6
db

3. On the section x1 R x < x2: the interface is partially

decoupled with the residual shear strength linearly
increasing to the peak strength. The shear and axial
stresses are given by:

Fig. 6. Shear stress along a fully coupled rock bolt subjected to an x x1

tb x osp 1 osp
axial load before decoupling occurs. D
1018 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029

sb x sb0 on the basis of the pullout load. Stillborg [8] con-

  7 ducted a series of pullout tests on dierent types of
2sp 1 o
2ox x 0 x x 1 2 rock bolts. In one test, a 3 m long rebar with a diam-
db D eter of 20 mm was grouted within two identical con-
where D=x2x1, and o=sr/sp, the ratio of the re- crete blocks. The length of the bolt in each block was
sidual shear strength to the peak shear strength. 1.5 m. One block was xed to the ground, while the
4. On the section x > x2: the deformation is compati- other was pulled. The bolt was pulled out without rup-
ble across the interface and no decoupling occurs. ture, indicating that decoupling of the interface
According to Eqs. (2) and (4), both the shear and occurred along the entire length of the bolt. The pull-
axial stresses decrease exponentially towards the far out load registered was 180 kN. It is assumed that the
end of the bolt: distribution of shear stress has the form illustrated in
xx
Fig. 4 with x0=0. It is known from the test that:
2a d 2
tb x sp e b
P0max 180 kN, L 1:5 m, db 20 mm,

dg 35 mm, Eb 210 GPa
2sp 2a xx 2
sb x e db 8
a The values of the other parameters are assumed to be:
It is seen from Eq. (8) that the axial stress at x=x2 is Er concrete 45 GPa, Eg cement mortar 30 GPa,
given by
nr ng 0:25
2sp
sb x 2
a
o sr =sp 0:1, D 0:1 m, d0 10dg
On the other hand, the axial stress at x=x2 can be
obtained from Eq. (7) as: It is then obtained that the constant a=0.23 from Eq.
(3a) and the peak shear strength sp=12.8 MPa from
4P0 2sp Eq. (10). The shear stress and the axial load along the
sb x 2 2
2ox 2 x 0 1 oD
pd b db rebar are calculated on the basis of the model and il-
lustrated in Fig. 7. The axial load along the bolt at
where P0 is the applied pull load. Letting the right dierent levels of applied load is illustrated in Fig. 8.
sides of the above two expressions be equal, we obtain The curves in Fig. 8 are similar to those obtained in
the expression for the position of the decoupling front, pullout tests (e.g. Fig. 1(a)).
x2, as:
 
1 2P0 db
x2 x0 1 oD 9 3.3. Fully frictionally coupled rock bolts
2o pdb sp a

For equilibrium the applied load P0 should equal the For fully frictionally coupled rock bolts, the residual
total shear force at the bolt interface, i.e. shear strength of the interface is approximately the
L  same as the peak shear strength, i.e. sr=sp=s (see Fig.
1 5). The shear stress on dierent sections of the bolt is
P0 pdb tb dx pdb sr x 1 x 0 sp D1 o
x0 2 described in detail as follows:
  1. On the section 0 R x < x2: the shear stress has
db 2a
d Lx 2
sp 1 e b reached the level of the strength of the interface.
2a The shear stress on this section remains constant,
where L is the length of the bolt. It is obtained from while the axial stress linearly decreases, i.e.:
the above expression that the maximum applied load
tb x sr
P0max can be expressed as:
  
db pdb
P0max pdb sp o L ln o D x 0 sb x sb0 sx 11
2a A
 10
1 db 2. On the section x > x2: the deformation is compati-
D1 o 1 o ble across the interface and the shear stress is less
2 2a
than the peak shear strength. Both the shear and
The following is an example to demonstrate how to the axial stresses decrease exponentially towards the
back-calculate the peak shear strength of the interface far end of the bolt:
 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029 1019

Fig. 7. The shear stress and axial load along a fully grouted rock bolt subjected to an axial load of 90 kN.

xx 2

2a 2s
tb x s e db sb x 2
a
xx 2

2s 2a On the other hand, the axial stress at x=x2 can be
sb x e db 12
a obtained from Eq. (11) as:

It is seen from Eq. (12) that the axial stress at x=x2 is P0 pdb
sb x 2 sx 2
given by A A

Fig. 8. Axial load along a fully grouted rock bolt at dierent levels of applied load.
1020 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029

Letting the right sides of the above two expressions be db=35 mm. The length of the bolt section embedded
equal, we obtain the expression for the position of the in each concrete block was 1.5 m long, i.e. L = 1.5 m.
decoupling front, x2, as: Substituting these data into Eq. (15) yields the shear
  strength of the bolt interface, i.e. s = 0.7 MPa. It is
1 2As obtained from Eq. (3b) that the constant a=0.27. The
x2 P0 13
pdb s a shear stress and the axial load along the Swellex bolt
are calculated using the relevant equations above and
For equilibrium the applied load P0 should equal the
are illustrated in Fig. 9. The axial load of the bolt at
total shear force at the bolt interface, i.e.
dierent levels of applied load is shown in Fig. 10.
L
P0 pdb tb dx
0
   14 4. Rock bolts in situ
Lx 2
pd 2b s 2a db
spdb x 2 1e 4.1. A model for bolts subjected to uniform rock
2 a
deformation
The applied load reaches its maximum, P0max, when
the shear strength of the interface is mobilised along Rock bolts in situ tend to restrain the deformation
the entire length of the bolt, i.e. when x2=L. Substi- of rock with an increase in their axial loads. In other
tuting P0=P0max and x2=L into Eq. (13), we obtain words, it is rock deformation that applies a load to
the shear strength for fully frictionally coupled bolts rock bolts in situ. For the sake of simplicity, a bolt
as: anchored at two points, as illustrated in Fig. 11, is
P0max used to explain the superposition of two components
s 15 of the shear stress. Rock deformation will induce a
pdb L
component of shear stress t dA at A and a component
Stillborg [8] tested the Swellex bolt in his pullout of shear stress t dB at B. Assuming t dA > t dB, the shear
tests. Displacement monitoring at the far end of the force acting at anchor A would tend to drag the bolt
bolt indicated that the bolt was slipping under the to the left and thus induce another component of
load P0max=110 kN. That indicated that decoupling shear stress at point B, t A A
B . The sense of t B is opposite
d
occurred along the entire length of the bolt. The diam- to the sense of t B. The total shear stress at B is:
eter of the borehole was 35 mm. The diameter of the
Swellex bolt is the same as that of the borehole, i.e. tbB tA d
B tB 16

Fig. 9. The shear stress and axial load along a Swellex rock bolt at 5 kN of applied load.
 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029 1021

Fig. 10. The axial load along a Swellex rock bolt at dierent levels of applied load.

For a fully coupled bolt, the component t A B will be an bolt in the rock, which equals the area surrounded by
integration over the bolt section to the left side of four adjacent bolts in pattern bolting.
point B. On the basis of this idea, we obtained the ex- Here we take a tunnel circular in its cross-section as
pression of the shear stress at position x on the bolt an example to demonstrate the application of Eq. (17).
surface as follows (see Appendix A for detailed deri- Assume that the country rock surrounding the tunnel
vation): undergoes an elastic deformation. The second-order
" # derivative of the elastic radial displacement u of the
A d2 u a x d2 u 2a xt rock can be expressed as:
tb x xGr e db dt 17
pdb dx 2 2 ri dt2
p0 r2i
ux00 19
where Gr x 3

21 nr SEb where ri is the radius of the circular tunnel, and p0 is

x 18 the hydrostatic primary stress in the rock.
AEb SEr
Substituting Eq. (19) into Eq. (17) and using the fol-
u is the original radial displacement of the rock at x lowing values for the relevant parameters:
(without bolting), and S is the inuencing area of the
Young's modulus of the bolt steel Eb=210 GPa,
Young's modulus of the rock mass Er=5 GPa,
Poisson's ratio of the rock mass nr=0.25,
bolt spacing S = 1 m,
diameter of the bolt db=20 mm,
radius of the circular tunnel ri=4 m,
hydrostatic primary stress in the rock p0=15 MPa,

we obtain the shear stress along the bolt as illustrated

Fig. 11. A sketch illustrating the superposition of the components of
shear stress at position B.
in Fig. 12. It can be seen that the sense of the shear
stress on the bolt section close to the tunnel wall is
negative; that is the direction of the shear stress is
towards the tunnel. At a certain distance from the
wall, the shear stress becomes zero. Beyond this neu-
tral point, the sense of the shear stress becomes posi-
tive; that is the direction of the shear stress is towards
1022 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029

ponents: one induced by the rock deformation, one

due to the pull eect of the face plate load Pf , and one
due to the pull eect of the shear force on the
decoupled bolt section between ri and rp. In the case of
no face plate, the face plate load Pf is zero. The total
shear stress at x=rp equals the peak shear strength of
the interface (see Appendix A), i.e.
" #
A d2 u a rp d2 u
sp xGr dt ,
pdb dx 2 2 ri dt2 21a
for bolts with a face plate

or
Fig. 12. Shear stress along a fully grouted rock bolt under the con-
dition of compatible interface deformation (Eb=210 GPa, Er=5 A d2 u a pdb
sp xGr sr rp ri ,
GPa, nr=0.25, S = 1 m, db=20 mm, ri=4 m, p0=15 MPa). pdb dx 2 2 A 21b
for bolts without a face plate
the far end of the bolt. This agrees with the eld moni-
toring data obtained, for example, by Freeman [1]. In
Eqs. (21a) and (b) are used to determine the distance
this example, decoupling at the bolt interface has not
rp. The shear stress on the section x > rp is calculated
been considered. When the rock deformation is large
as:
enough, the shear strength of the interface will be
" #
mobilised in the pick-up section of the bolt. The distri-
A d2 u a x d2 u 2a xt
bution of shear stress along the bolt, when decoupling tb x xGr e db dt
pdb dx 2 2 ri dt2
occurs, will be as that illustrated in Fig. 13. The shear
failure at the interface would result in a release of the " #
a rp
d2 u xrp 22a
restrained rock deformation at the near end of the xGr dt e
2a d
b ,
bolt, if no face plate were to exist. In the case where a 2 ri dt2
face plate exists, the displacement of the tunnel wall
loads the plate. The load on the face plate can be cal- for bolts with a face plate
culated as:
! or
rp " #
A d2 u x
Pf pdb xGr 2 sr dx 20 A d2 u a d2 u 2a xt
ri pdb dx tb x xGr e db dt
pdb dx 2 2 rp dt
2

Shear failure ceases at x=rp and beyond that point xrp 22b
the displacement is compatible across the interface. a pdb 2a d
sr rp ri e b ,

The shear stress at x=rp is the sum of three com- 2 A

for bolts without a face plate

We take the circular tunnel under elastic deformation

Fig. 13. A schematic illustration of the shear stress along a rock bolt
in situ.
again as an example to demonstrate the application of
Eqs. (21) and (22). Assume that the peak shear
strength of the bolt interface is sp=0.5 MPa and the
residual shear strength sr=0.2 MPa. Using the values
given before for other relevant parameters, we can
obtain the decoupling boundary rp from Eq. (21) and
the shear stress on the interface at x > rp from Eq.
(22). The calculated results are shown in Fig. 14 for a
fully grouted bolt with a face plate and in Fig. 15 for
a fully grouted bolt without a face plate. It can be
found by comparing the curves in these two gures
that: (i) the decoupled length of the bolt is shorter
with a face plate than without a face plate; and (ii) the
axial stress in the decoupled section is larger for the
 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029 1023

4.2. A model for bolts subjected to the opening of a rock

joint

The opening of a rock joint applies a tensile load to

both sides of the bolt intersecting the joint. During
joint opening, decoupling of the bolt interface is acti-
vated rstly at the joint and then propagates along the
interface with an increase in the opening displacement.
When the embedment length of the fully coupled bolt
is suciently long on each side of the joint, the shear
stress as well as the axial stress along the bolt will be
symmetrical to the joint, as shown in Fig. 17. When
the opening displacement of the joint is small, both the
shear stress and the axial stress decrease exponentially
with increasing distance from the joint. When the
Fig. 14. Theoretical solution of the shear stress and axial stress along
a fully grouted rock bolt with a face plate (sp=0.5 MPa, sr=0.2 opening displacement is large enough, decoupling will
MPa). be activated at the bolt interface and the shear and
axial stresses along the bolt will look like those illus-
bolt with a face plate than the bolt without a face trated with dashed lines in Fig. 17. According to the
plate. That indicates that rock bolts with a face plate models for shear stress illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, we
have a better reinforcement eect than those without a obtain the following relationships between the opening
face plate.
Fig. 16 shows the monitored results of the shear
stress along two fully grouted bolts in a mine drift in
Sweden [2,4]. The shear stress along bolt No. 9, pre-
sented in Fig. 16(a), agrees well with the theoretical
curve shown in Fig. 12, implying that no decoupling
occurred at the bolt interface. The shear stress along
bolt No. 1, presented in Fig. 16(b), matches the curve
shown in Fig. 15, indicating that decoupling occurred
at the interface of this bolt.
The analytical model introduced in this section pro-
vides a means for studying rock bolts in a uniformly
deformed rock mass. The key for determining the
shear stress along the bolt is the original rock defor-
mation around the excavation opening.

Fig. 15. Theoretical solution of the shear stress and axial stress along
a fully grouted rock bolt without a face plate (sp=0.5 MPa, sr=0.2 Fig. 16. The shear stress measured on two fully grouted bolts in situ,
MPa). (a) bolt No. 9, (b) bolt No. 10. After Bjornfot and Stephansson [4].
1024 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029

displacement dJ and the tensile axial stress of the bolt

at the joint, sb0, as follows (see Appendix B for the
detailed derivations):
1. For fully grouted bolts (assuming x0=0),
sb0 db 2sp
dJ 1 , when sb0 R 23
aEb a
otherwise,
"
2 x 2 D2
dJ sb0 x 2 2osp
Eb db
# 24
2D2 sp
2o 1sp 2 db
3db a Fig. 18. The axial stress and load of the bolt versus the opening dis-
placement of the joint for fully grouted bolts. Parameters: sp=12
The position of the decoupling front is at MPa, o=0.1, d2=20 mm, D=0.1 m, Eb=210 GPa, Er=45 GPa,
  Eg=30 GPa, nr=ng=0.25.
db sb0 1 D
x2 1 o 25
2o 2sp a db for a fully grouted bolt and in Fig. 19 for a fully fric-
2. For fully frictionally coupled bolts, tionally coupled bolt. The values of the relevant par-
ameters used for the calculations are listed in the
sb0 db 2s captions of the gures. It is seen that the bolt interface
dJ 1 , when sb0 R 26
aEb a starts to be decoupled at a very small opening displa-
cement of the joint. This conrms the results arrived at
otherwise, by other studies [8,15,16], showing that decoupling of
   the interface occurs at an extremely small displace-
2 p 2 1
dJ sb0 x 2 sdb x2 2 27 ment, because the compatibility of deformation is lost
Eb 2A a
across the interface at such a low load.
The position of the decoupling front is at Field measurements, for instance those carried out
  by Bjornfot and Stephansson [2,4], have demonstrated
A 2s that bolts installed in jointed rock masses sometimes
x2 sb0 28
pdb s a are subjected to several axial stress peaks. These peaks
are thought to be caused by the opening of the rock
Using the relevant equations above, the axial stress joints intersecting the bolt. The following is an
of the bolt at the joint, sb0, versus the opening displa- example to show the axial stress along a bolt intersect-
cement of the joint is calculated and shown in Fig. 18

Fig. 19. The axial stress and load of the bolt versus the opening dis-
placement of the joint for frictionally coupled bolts. Parameters for
Fig. 17. The shear stress (tb) and the axial tensile stress (sb), induced Standard Swellex: s = 0.7 MPa, db=39 mm, t = 2 mm, Eb=210
by joint opening, in fully coupled rock bolts GPa, Er=45 GPa, nr=0.25.
 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029
Fig. 20. Axial stress along a bolt subjected to joint openings. The
opening displacements: dJa=50 mm at joint a, dJb=20 mm at joint b
and dJc=5 mm at joint c.
ing three rock joints. Assume that the three joints, a, b
and c, have opened 50, 20 and 5 mm, respectively,
since the bolt was installed (see Fig. 20). The axial
stress along the bolt would be the superposition of the
stresses caused by the opening displacements at the
three joints. Assuming that the bolt interface is still in
the stage of compatible deformation, the axial stress
can be expressed as:
2a
sb x Ssb0i e
d jxx i j
b i a, b and c 29
where sb0i=(aEb/db)dJi, according to Eq. (23) for fully
grouted bolts. Using the following values for the rel-
evant parameters: a=0.23; Eb=210 GPa; db=20 mm;
dJa=50 mm at xa=0.4 m; dJb=20 mm at xb=0.6 m;
dJc=5 mm at xc=0.8, we obtain the axial stress along
the bolt as illustrated in Fig. 20. Hyett et al. [12] and
Bawden et al. [16] obtained similar results through nu-
merical simulations.
5. Concluding remarks
An analytical model has been established for rock
bolts subjected to a pull load in pullout tests. Decou-
pling starts at the loading point and propagates along
the bolt with an increasing applied load. The shear
stress at the decoupled interface is lower than the ulti-
mate shear strength of the interface and even drops to
zero for fully grouted bolts, while it is approximately
at the same magnitude as the ultimate shear strength
for fully frictionally coupled bolts. The shear stress on
the non-decoupled interface decreases exponentially
with increasing distance from the decoupling front.
Two analytical models have been developed for rock
bolts in situ, one for uniform rock deformation and
another for discrete joint opening. For rock bolts in
situ, the models conrm the previous ndings: (i) in
1025
uniformly deformed rock masses, the bolt has a pick-
up length, an anchor length and a neutral point; (ii)
the face plate enhances the reinforcement eect
through inducing a direct tensile load in the bolt and
reducing the shear stress carried on the bolt surface;
and (iii) in jointed rock masses, the opening displace-
ment of rock joints will induce axial stress peaks in the
bolt.
Acknowledgements
The grant for this work from Ake and Greta Lis-
shed's Foundation is acknowledged. The valuable
comments by the anonymous reviewers are greatly ap-
preciated.
Appendix A. Stress analysis of a rock bolt in situ
Let us consider a rock bolt installed within a rock
mass (see Fig. A1). It is assumed that the range of in-
uence of one bolt extends half the distance to all
adjacent bolts. Thus, in pattern bolting, the area of in-
uence of one bolt equals the area surrounded by four
adjacent bolts. Consider a thin slice of the bolted rock,
dx, which will be used to study the interaction between
the bolt and the rock. The thin slice of the bolt-re-
inforced rock is shown in Fig. A2. Let the free defor-
mation of the rock slice dx, i.e. the deformation before
bolting, be termed as du. The deformation of the rock
slice becomes dub when it is reinforced by a bolt. The
elongation of the bolt is also dub if it is assumed that
the bolt and the rock are deformed together. The mag-
nitude of dub can thus be calculated from the
elongation of the bolt. The reduction of deformation,
dur, is the result of the stress increment, Dsr, in the
rock mass induced by bolting. It is obvious that the
sum of dur and dub equals the free deformation du,
Fig. A1. A sketch illustrating a bolt installed within a rock mass.
1026 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029

shear stress on the bolt interface can be expressed as:

A dsb A d2 u
tb1 x xGr A5
pdb dx pdb dx 2

where db is the diameter of the bolt.

The shear stress tb1 is caused by rock deformation.
On the other hand, the shear stress on the bolt inter-
face in the section between ri and x has a pull eect on
the section of the bolt on the right side of x, and there-
fore induces another component of shear stress, tb2.
The shear stress tb1 on a small element of the bolt, dt,
brings about a normal stress increment, dsb(t ), in the
Fig. A2. Stress components in the bolt and in the rock. bolt. Similarly to Eq. (2), the shear stress increment at
x, dtb2(x ), induced by the normal stress increment
i.e.: dsb(t ) at t, can be expressed as;

sb Dsr a xt
2a d
du dub dur dx dx A1 dtb2 x dsb te b A6
Eb Er 2

where dx is the length of the rock slice, du is the free The total shear stress at x induced due to the pull
deformation of the rock slice, dub is the elongation of eect of the shear stress on the bolt section between ri
the bolt element, dur is the reduced deformation of the and x is obtained by integration of the above shear
rock due to bolting, sb is the tensile stress in the bolt, stress increment, that is:
Dsr is the compressive stress increment in the rock x x
mass, induced by bolting, Er is Young's modulus of a d2 u 2a xt
tb2 x dtb2 x xGr 2
e db dt A7
the rock mass, and Eb is Young's modulus of the bolt ri 2 ri dt
steel.
The force equilibrium on the plane perpendicular to Finally, the total shear stress on the bolt at x is the
the bolt gives: sum of tb1 and tb2, that is:

sb A Dsr S A2 tb x tb1 tb2

" x #
where A is the cross-section area of the bolt, and S is A8
A d2 u a d2 u 2a xt
the inuencing area of the bolt in the rock, equal to xGr e db dt
pdb dx 2 2 ri dt
2
the area surrounded by four adjacent bolts in pattern
bolting.
Substituting Eq. (A2) into Eq. (A1), we obtain the Eq. (A8) is a general solution to the shear stress on
expressions for sb and Dsr as: the bolt without decoupling at the bolt interface.
When decoupling occurs, a certain portion of the load
du originally carried on the decoupled section of the bolt
sb x xGr
dx will either be transferred to the face plate, if there is
one, or released with a free rock deformation in the
A du case without a face plate.
Dsr x xGr A3 For the case with a face plate (see Fig. 14), the load
S dx
transferred to the face plate due to decoupling is calcu-
where lated as:
21 nr SEb rp
x Pf pdb tb1 sr dt
AEb SEr ri
rp
Er d2 u
Gr A4 AxGr dt pdb sr rp ri A9
21 nr ri dt2

du/dx is the rst-order derivative of the free radial dis- The shear stress, at x=rp, induced by the axial load
placement of the rock, u, with respect to x. on the face-plate load, Pf , and by the shear stress on
From the point of view of force equilibrium, the the decoupled interface, sr, is:
 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029 1027
 
a Pf opening and the load induced in the bolt. An opening
tb2 rp pdb sr rp ri
2 A displacement of the rock joint is equivalent to applying
rp 2 A10 an axial tensile load to both sides of the bolt at the
a d u
xGr dt joint. We shall look at this problem for fully grouted
2 2
ri dt bolts and for frictionally coupled bolts separately.
For equilibrium the total shear stress at rp should
B.1. Fully grouted rock bolts
equal the peak shear strength of the interface, that is:
The axial tensile stress in the bolt is symmetric to
sp tb1 rp tb2 rp the rock joint. Therefore, we consider only half of the
" # rockbolt system. The model for the shear stress along
rp a bolt subjected to an axial load is shown in Fig. 4.
A d2 u a d2 u
xGr dt A11 The elongation of the bolt in dierent sections is
pdb dx 2 2 ri dt2
denoted as follows: d0 is the elongation of the bolt in
Eq. (A11) is used to determine the distance rp for bolts section (0 R x < x0); d1 is the elongation of the bolt in
with a face plate. For x > rp, the total shear stress is section (x0 R x < x1); d2 is the elongation of the bolt
calculated as: in section (x1 R x < x2); and d3 is the elongation of
" # the bolt in section (x2 R x < L ), where L is the half
length of the bolt. The sum of these four components
A d2 u a x d2 u 2a xt
tb x xGr e db dt
is the total elongation of the bolt from each side of the
pdb dx 2 2 ri dt2
A12 joint. Thus, the displacement of the joint opening is
" # twice this summation, i.e.
rp 2
a d u xt
2a d
xGr dt e b
2 ri dt 2 X
3
dJ 2 di B1
For a bolt without a face plate, Pf is zero. The shear i0

stress, at x=rp, induced by the shear stress on the Not all the four elongation comments appear in the
decoupled interface, sr, becomes above expression at any given time. When the joint
a pdb opens very little, the axial load induced does not cause
tb2 rp sr rp ri A13 the interface to be decoupled. In this case, only d3
2 A
exists in Eq. (B1). The components d2, d1 and d0
Similarly to the case with a face plate, the total shear appear subsequently in the equation with increases in
stress at rp should equal the peak shear strength of the the joint opening.
interface, that is
1. For the case where the interface undergoes compati-
sp tb1 rp tb2 rp ble deformation across the interface, the shear stress
along the bolt is illustrated in Fig. 6. In this case we
A d2 u a pdb have
xGr sr rp ri A14
pdb dx 2 2 A
d0 d1 d 2 0 B2
Eq. (A14) is used to determine the distance rp for bolts
As shown in Eqs. (2) and (4), the shear and axial
without a face plate. For x > rp, the total shear stress
stresses along the bolt are given by
is calculated as:
2 3
2 x 2 2a x t
4 A d u a d u db dt 5
tb x xGr e
pdb dx 2 2 rp dt2
A15
xt
a pdb 2a
db
sr rp ri e
2 A

Appendix B. Joint opening and the stresses induced in

rock bolts

Fig. B1 illustrates a bolt intersecting a rock joint.

We shall establish the relationship between the joint Fig. B1. A sketch illustrating a rock bolt intersecting a joint.
1028 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029

a 2a
x
2sp
tb x sb0 e db sb x 2
2 a

x Therefore, we obtain
2a d
sb x sb0 e b B3  
db sb0 2 D
x2 21 o B10
This stage ceases when the shear stress at x = 0 4o sp a db
reaches the peak shear strength of the interface, sp.
The corresponding axial stress at the joint at this The elongation of the bolt can be obtained by the
moment is following integration

2sp 1
sb0 B4 di e dx sb dx B11
a Eb

The elongation of the bolt is calculated as (assum- i.e.

ing L>>db) x 1  
1 x
d1 sb0 4sr dx
2 L db sb0 Eb 0 db
dJ 2d3 sxdx1 B5
Eb 0 aEb " #
1 x 2 D2
When sb0=(2sp/a ), the opening displacement sb0 x 2 D 2sr B12
Eb db
reaches its maximum, dJmax, before decoupling
occurs. It is given by: (
x 2 
2db sp 1 2sp
dJmax 2 B6 d2 sb0 2ox
a Eb Eb x1 db
)
2. For the case where decoupling occurs (assuming x x 1 2
x0=0): 1 o dx B13
D
Let D x 2 x 1 , and o sr =sp ( )
1 2D2
sb0 D 2o 1sp
Eb 3db
For x < x 1 :
L xx 2

tb x sr 1 2sp 2a 1 sp
d3 e db dx1 db B14
Eb x2 a E b a2
x
sb x sb0 4sr B7 The opening displacement of the joint is calculated
db as
For x1 R x < x2: dJ 2d1 d2 d3
x x1 "
tb x sr 1 osp
x2 x1 2 x 2 D2
sb0 x 2 2osp
Eb db B15
 
2sp x x 1 2 #
sb x sb0 2ox 1 o B8 2D2 sp
db D 2o 1sp 2 db
3db a
For xrx2:
xx 2

2a
tb x sp e db

B.2. Fully frictionally coupled rock bolts

2sp 2a xx 2
sb x e db B9 In the stage of compatible deformation, the shear
a
and axial stresses have the same forms as those
At x=x2, we have from Eqs. (B8) and (B9) expressed in Eq. (B3) and the elongation has the same
forms as those expressed in Eqs. (B5) and (B6).
2sp When decoupling occurs at the interface, the shear
sb x 2 sb0 2ox 2 1 oD
db stress along the bolt is illustrated in Fig. 5. The
 C. Li, B. Stillborg / International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 36 (1999) 10131029 1029
 
elongation of the bolt in this case is calculated as fol- 2 psdb 2 sdb
dJ 2d1 d3 sb0 x 2 x2 2 B21
lows. Eb 2A a
For x R x2: the stresses are

tb x s References

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