ABSTRACT
Anyone setting out to write a book on the design of underground excavations in rock soon realises the enormity of the task being undertaken and the impossibility of satisfying the requirements of all possible readers. Underground excavations are constructed for a wide variety of uses in a large number of different rock types. In the mining industry, many different underground mining methods are used, depending upon the dip and the thickness of the ore body and the characteristics of the country rock. In civil engineering applications, excavations designed to store gas or oil, to house power generating equipment, for the disposal of waste materials, to conduct water or to allow the passage of vehicles must all satisfy different requirements.
