This paper discusses the purposes of, and the processes involved in, the several types of technical audit and/or review of aspects of rock engineering projects carried out in an international consulting practice. The reviews discussed relate to the investigation, design and construction of surface and underground rock engineering projects in the civil engineering, mining and energy resource industries. Eleven categories of review carried out in the authors' consulting practice are identified and discussed. Some, but not all, of these types of review are similar to the technical audits detailed by Hudson & Feng (2010) and Feng & Hudson (2011) as part of the work of the ISRM's Commission on Rock Engineering Design Methodology. Case examples are given of the authors' recent experience in carrying out three of the 11 types of rock engineering review identified.
This paper discusses the purposes of, and the processes involved in, the several types of technical audit and/or review of aspects of rock engineering projects carried out in an international consulting practice. The reviews discussed relate to the investigation, design and construction of surface and underground rock engineering projects in the civil engineering, mining and energy resource industries.
The impetus for preparing this paper was provided by the seminal publications on the technical auditing of rock mechanics modelling and rock engineering design by Hudson & Feng (2010) and Feng & Hudson (2011) arising out of their work for the Commission on Rock Engineering Design Methodology of the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM) in the period 2007–2011. The several types of technical review customarily carried out by the authors include reviews similar to the technical audits detailed by Hudson&Feng (2010) and Feng&Hudson (2011), but they sometimes have different purposes, emphases and reporting requirements.
