Preliminary development of a fully grouted rock bolt element for discontinuous deformation analysis

Ground control is one of the most important aspects in underground openings, having a profound impact on their usability and sustainability. The common use of rock bolts has required their implementation in most numerical modelling programs that are used with any regularity in analyzing underground excavations. In this study, pull-test data collected during laboratory tests using instrumented, fully grouted rock bolts performed by the NIOSH Spokane Research Laboratory personnel over the past 15 years was used to validate development and refinement of a fully grouted bolt element in the DDA for Windows program currently available from University of California-Berkeley.