Preservation of Historical Underground Sites in Soft Rock: A Case Example

Abstract

<jats:p>Rehabilitation works are often needed to preserve historical underground galleries built in soft carbonate rock. The Kalemegdan fortress galleries, located in Belgrade (Serbia) were built during the 18th century using the room-and-pillars method. Instabilities have been caused by the detrition and weathering of the rock which formed the pillars. Regardless of the fact that they lost their bearing capacity, the main requirement of the authorities was that the pillars be preserved in their current state. This controversial and difficult task was achieved by the suspension of the roof in the gallery using a combination of pre-stressed geotechnical anchors and passive rock bolts. Control of the mobilization of the anchors and the geodetic survey of the target benchmarks proved that the rehabilitation was successful in the long-term. The results of the geological investigation of the site, research solutions and remedial works are described in this paper.</jats:p>

Effect of Intermediate Principal Stress on the Bearing Capacity of Footings in Soft Rock

“…A rock material can be classified as soft rock if the uniaxial compressive strength (USC) is below 30 MPa [1,2]. The deformation process of soft rock often has a remarkable strain-softening characteristic with a peak and residual strength [3][4][5][6]. Many researchers investigate the problems of soft rock in geotechnical engineering.…”