Stability analysis of block in the surrounding rock mass of a large underground excavation

Keyblock has been received a lot of attention in underground engineering because it loses its stability first after excavation. Block theory originally proposed by Shi could not build the geometric characteristics of keyblock and explain how to determine the precise locations of keyblock. Therefore, the Unwedge program based on keyblock theory could not predict complicated polyhedral block except tetrahedral block and determine its precise location. In this paper, the stability of keyblock of a large underground excavation is analyzed in detail. First, the Unwedge program (Ver.2.35) is used to identify possible keyblocks and some limitations are discussed. Then many kinds of geometric models of polyhedral keyblock are built, a new computer program is developed to search keyblocks and determine their precise locations, comprehensively considering the action of gravity and dynamic loadings. Finally, the results of two methods are compared and the differences are analyzed.