E. Hoek et Et. Brown, PRACTICAL ESTIMATES OF ROCK MASS STRENGTH, International journal of rock mechanics and mining sciences, 34(8), 1997, pp. 1165-1186
The Hoek-Brown failure criterion was originally developed for estimati
ng the strengths of hard rock masses. Because of the lack of suitable
alternatives, the criterion has been applied to a variety of rock mass
es including very poor quality rocks, which could almost be classed as
engineering soils. These applications have necessitated changes to th
e original criterion. One of the principal problems has been the deter
mination of equivalent cohesive strengths and friction angles to meet
the demands of software written in terms of the Mohr-Coulomb failure c
riterion. This paper summarises the interpretation of the Hoek-Brown f
ailure criterion which has been found to work best in dealing with pra
ctical engineering problems. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.