ABSTRACT
For underground engineering, such as tunnel, underground mine and ancient constructions, the impact of water needs to be considered. Prof. Chen once remarked that the main reasons of the break and inward movement of the surrounding rock are rock swelling when socked in water and dilating when forced by deviatoric stress (Chen, 1982). According to Li, the effect of saline-alkali caused great damage to the frescos of grottoes on the Silk Road, when soluble salt was transported and accumulated as water rushed through the strata on which the frescos were painted. Hence, to protect and reinforce the frescos, water needs to be properly controlled (Li et al., 2006). Furthermore, by means of monitoring, infrared scanning, electronic resistivity test and laboratory experiments, C. Tanimoto examined the interaction between water and limestone of Eocene, and the corrosion mechanism of the Great Sphinx of Giza in Egypt: abundant pores on the Sphinx show corrosion of water (C. Tanimoto, 1997). In addition, Yuan took the weathering of stone sculpture on Yungang grotto as an example, and pointed out that the principle of protecting grottoes from water is to
1 INTRODUCTION
Since its discovery in 1992, Longyou Caverns have been the focus of many subjects such as engineering geology, archaeology, and tourism planning (Li, 2005; Wang, 2001; Yang et al., 2010) The research involves scientific and technological highlights on Longyou Caverns, rock mechanics and engineering geological conditions relating to the stability of the caverns, and the reinforcement and protection of the caverns.
