Practical Rock Mechanics

Book excerpt: This text provides an introduction for graduate students, as well as engineering geologists and geotechnical engineers. It is also relevant to those working in nuclear waste disposal and oil and gas production. The early chapters deal with fundamental mechanics and physics as they apply to rock masses. It provides an introduction to the geological processes that give rise to the nature of rock masses and control their mechanical behavior. It discusses stresses in the earth's crust and explains methods of measurement and prediction.