GSI for RocK

ABSTRACT: In rock engineering design significant advances have occurred in recent years in numerical
modelling capability. Better and more advanced insight is now possible of rock-support interaction and
rockmass progressive failure processes. However one major drawback to more realistically evaluating these
processes has been and still remains the lack of reliable estimates of strength and deformation characteristics.
Use of the GSI rockmass classification system and the associated m, s and a parameter relationships linking
GSI with the Hoek-Brown failure criterion provides a proven, effective and reliable approach for prediction of
rockmass strength for surface and underground excavation design and for rock support selection. Backanalyses of tunnels, slopes and foundation behaviour using the approach attest to its reliability. One of the key
advantages of the index is that the geological reasoning it embodies allows rating adjustments to be made to
cover a wide range of rockmasses and conditions, whilst also allowing some understanding to be gained of
applicability limits. This paper attempts to outline approaches for the application of GSI for the quantitative
characterization of rockmasses for inclusion in the Hoek-Brown failure criteria for rock engineering design, not
just for the original range of applicability, but also for both ends of the rock competence scale.

1 INTRODUCTION
In recent years, significant advances have occurred
within almost every area of geotechnical design. In
rock engineering arguably the greatest developments
have been in numerical modelling capability. Codes
are now available that can not only afford better and
more advanced insight into rock-support interaction
and rockmass progressive failure processes, but they
are now capable enough to allow synthetic
rockmasses to be efficiently built so that design
layouts can be more realistically evaluated. The
drawback to maximizing the advantages that this
progress allows is that to date similar levels of
improvement have not occurred in the observational
characterization of geological variability existing in
natural rockmasses.
For effective rock engineering design it is
necessary that reliable estimates be available of
strength and deformation characteristics of the
rockmasses on which or within which engineering
structures are to be created, be it a tunnel, a
foundation or a slope.
Definition of rockmass properties for a particular
design problem usually involves one or more of the
following data acquisition methods: a) laboratory
testing; b) in situ testing, c) use of rockmass
1

classifications and/or d) back analysis. However,

there can be significant differences in scale between
results that each of these approaches may yield.
Additional complications in representativeness may
also arise because, for instance, laboratory scale
samples may not be truly representative of the
rockmass due to natural heterogeneity present for
most formations. Cost and time issues additionally,
complicate data acquisition, particularly when it
comes to carrying out in situ tests. To estimate
reasonable geotechnical parameters for the design of
many engineering projects, and in particular for
design of tunnel support for long deep tunnels
beneath mountain ranges where drilling is difficult
before construction starts, and where a back analysis
approach would not be possible, there is no option
but to rely upon the use of some form of rockmass
classification scheme that is correlated with the basic
parameters needed for design. Back-analysis, is
indisputably the best way to estimate appropriate
geotechnical parameters, when construction has
started, provided the analysis approach being used
for the parameter definition is valid. For almost all
rock engineering problems, back-analysis evaluation
of deformation measurements generally provides the
most insight, and oftentimes yields the most credible
parameter understanding, such that it can be used to

validate or modify any parameters previously used

for design.
The need for design input parameters is satisfied
nowadays mainly through the use of geotechnical
classification systems. When the earliest of the more
well-known and more commonly applied rockmass
classification systems were initially developed
(Terzaghi 1946, Lauffer 1958, Barton et al. 1974,
Bieniawski 1973), they were intended principally for
tunnelling and mainly as an empirical design method
for the purpose of estimating underground support.
The knowledge base for these approaches were the
hundreds of kilometres of tunnels that had to that
date been successfully constructed under moderate
stresses and in good quality rock conditions. With the
rapid growth of improved numerical design tools,
which now allow progressive failure processes and
also sequentially installed support to be analyzed, and
synthetic rockmasses to be built, the need for
acquisition of more reliable rockmass parameters has
also grown.
Introduction of the Hoek-Brown failure criterion
in 1980 has over the last three decades provided a
sound basis for the evaluation of rock mass strength
parameters when predicated on reliable engineering
geological input, but only when parameters are
carefully selected with good geological judgment.
While the Hoek-Brown criterion has aided the
revolution in rock engineering, it has over the years
also suffered a lack of precision in definition of input
constants. It was recognized that this was only
partially initially addressed through use of the then
available rockmass classification systems. As these
were considered at the time somewhat restrictive and
not sufficiently linked with real geological
observation, and thus were perceived to be overrigid, almost mechanical in their application, the
Geological Strength Index, GSI, was developed,
initially by Hoek (1994) but then amplified and
improved in subsequent papers published by Hoek,
Marinos and Benissi (1998) and Marinos & Hoek
(2000, 2001) and Marinos, Marinos and Hoek
(2007), resulting in the now familiar basic chart, as
per Figure 1.
According to the original Hoek-Brown failure
criterion publication of 1980, the criterion is based
upon an assessment of the interlocking of rock
blocks and the condition of the surfaces between
these blocks. The geological strength index (GSI)
more than the other available classification systems
was formulated to attempt to characterize
rockmasses from a more geological rather than a
typical engineering approach so as to better meet the
need for delivering reliable input data, particularly
related to those rockmass properties required as
inputs into numerical analysis or into closed form
solutions for designing tunnels, slopes or foundations
in rocks.
2

One of its great advantages over other approaches

is that it allows characterization of difficult-todescribe rockmasses.
This paper attempts to outline the approaches for
application of GSI for quantitative characterization
of rockmasses for inclusion in the Hoek-Brown
failure criteria for rock engineering design.

Figure 1. Basic GSI Chart for Visual Geologic

Characterization of Rockmasses

2 THE GEOLOGICAL STRENGTH INDEX

2.1 Background to development of GSI
Right from the inception of the Hoek-Brown failure
criterion, these two authors recognized that for it to
have practical value it must be related to geological
observations that could be made quickly and easily
by an engineering geologist or geologist in the field.
Initially, they considered developing a completely
new classification system during the evolution of the
criterion in the late 1970s, but soon gave up the idea
and settled with using the already published RMR
system. In the early days this worked well because
most of the problems being evaluated in the 1970s
were in reasonable quality rockmasses (RMR>30)
under moderate stress conditions. In the context of
the Hoek-Brown criterion the estimation of a rock
quality value was needed so that it could be used as a
primary scaling correction on intact strength for use

in the criterion. Since the RMR classification value

was being solely utilized in the Hoek-Brown
criterion, for estimating rockmass properties tha