ABSTRACT
Rock engineering software first became available to the industry and consulting engineer a little over 35 years ago. In the two decades before that, rock mechanics analysis was evolving on mainframe computers within academic institutions. Project engineers were limited to empirical design, simple analytical tools, and the past experiences of their teams and experts. While laboratory testing of rock samples had evolved and been standardized through the 1970s, our ideas about in situ rockmass behaviour during excavation were comparatively primitive and our ability to rationally engineer in these materials was guided primarily by recently codified empirical design tools. The questions asked of these tools were simple. Will the stresses induced around (simplified) excavation shapes exceed the rock strength? What will the deformations induced be (elastic or plastic)? Will joints form simple 2D and 3D blocks that will fall out under gravity? Will my pillars yield (according to simple criteria)? How does my rockmass-excavation system compare to past successes and failures? Through the last two decades of the 20th century, and thanks to personal computer evolution and user interface development, the tools of rock and rockmass engineering evolved at a rapid pace, along the ability to use them. The toolbox continued to expand exponentially in scope, power, and complexity through the next two decades to the present day. It is important, however, to examine whether our engineering questions have evolved, whether our investigation and data collection has improved, and whether the answers obtained have improved along with the complexity of our toolset.
