Special Leture Behavior and Reinforcement of Rock Masses

It is well known that Rock Mechanics includes an important part of materials science (in the defining of constitutive equations) and an essential part of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (for calculating stresses and deformations, also structural equilibrium). We can see that these two major branches have no particular originality, neither for the experiments to define the constitutive equations in the laboratory or in-situ where the principles are drawn from Soil Mechanics and other related sciences, nor for the forecasting techniques where the principles are those of Mechanics and where the design methods, finite elements, analogical methods or small-scale models are in wide use elsewhere. So finally the only concept truly proper to Rock Mechanics is that of fissured material and of discontinuous medium: typical Rock Mechanics research is mainly centred on the properties related to fissures or on the design or forecasting methods linked to the discontinuous nature of the rock medium on which we base our structures. I will restrict my remarks more particularly to the constitutive equations of rock masses.