The elasto-plastic response of underground excavations in rock masses that satisfy the Hoek–Brown failure criterion

This paper is intended to illustrate the relationship between the Hoek–Brown parameters describing the strength of rock masses and the mechanical response of underground openings. A formulation of the elasto-plastic behavior of rock in terms of the Hoek–Brown criterion is presented. The analysis assumes that the joint system present in the rock mass has no preferred orientation so that the medium can be considered to behave as an isotropic...