Discontinuity Analysis for Rock Engineering

Engineers wishing to build structures on or in rock use the discipline known as rock mechanics. This discipline emerged as a subject in its own right about thirty five years ago, and has developed rapidly ever since. However, rock mechanics is still based to a large extent on analytical techniques that were originally formulated for the mechanical design of structures made from man­ made materials. The single most important distinction between man-made materials and the natural material roc...