Predicting Joint Roughness Coefficients Using Fractal Dimension of Rock Joint Profiles
The Joint Roughness Coefficients, JRC, is presented Barton and Choubey in 1977. A series of different rock joint profiles were reconstructed by means of the independent cut method (Voss, 1988) using the programs written by MATLAB language. The reconstructed joint profiles have different amplitude and roughness. JRC values of the joint profiles were calculated on the basis of an empirical formula founded by Tse Cruden in 1979 using measure interval space 0.5mm on the profiles. The fractal dimension values of the joint profile were calculated by means of stick measuring methods suggested by Xu in 1996. The relationships between JRC and fractal dimension for all joint profiles were analyzed and exist strong correlations. A new empirical equation describing the relationships was established based on nonlinear fitting analysis and can predict JRC values accurately.