Lecture material and related spreadsheets will be made available to students in printed form, on DVD and via email.

The recommended textbook is B H G Brady and E T Brown, Rock Mechanics for Underground Mining, Wiley.

The course will be based on lectures, supported by take-home assignments and a programme of laboratory practicals.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements. Please note that the workload calculated here are only approximate figures.
 

Learning activity	Estimated hours per activity	Number of activities	Total hours of workload
Lectures	1	36	36
Assignments	3*	5	15
Tests	2	2	4
Laboratory practicals	1.5	2	3
Laboratory practicals preparation and write up	3*	8	24
Revision for tests and examination	3*	12*	36
Examination	2	1	2
Total			120

* These values will, of course, vary substantially from student to student.
A total of 120 workload hours over 14 weeks (including 2 weeks swot) is approximately 8 hours per week. Students who commit this time can be expected to obtain a Pass or Credit for this Course. Students who wish to secure a Distinction or Higher Distinction will need to commit additional hours.

Laboratory exercises

Please refer to the Rock Mechanics Laboratory Handout and also the Video Introduction to the Rock Mechanics Laboratory Exercises on the DVD. It will be assumed that you have studied the handout and the video introduction prior to your arrival in the laboratory, so you will be given minimal instruction. Please return the Rock Mechanics Laboratory video with your laboratory report (you are, of course, free to make a copy if you wish). Academic and technical staff will be on hand to assist and to answer any questions.

The eight exercises in this programme have been designed to provide an introduction to, and an awareness of, basic measurements and test procedures in rock mechanics. The tests will be conducted in the Engineering Annex (LG09), Room NG31 and adjacent areas. Mechanical tests will be conducted on 42 mm diameter Hawkesbury Sandstone specimens, prepared by the University of New South Wales.

The Class has been randomly divided into Groups of 2 and 3 students. Each Group will work separately through the eight exercises. Each Group will test only one specimen in each of the destructive tests (1, 2, 4a and 4b) then share their results with the Class towards the end of the semester. If one of your destructive tests is unsuccessful, describe what happened in your report, then use the results obtained by another Group. Each Group will attend the laboratory on two occasions: Once to undertake tests 1, 2 and 3 and once to undertake tests 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Your Group has limited time to conduct these tests so it is imperative that you are well prepared and arrive on time. You will not have time to read through the laboratory handout during the laboratory session, so it is important you study this handout and also the video introduction prior to your session. When you arrive in the laboratory, sign in, locate your test equipment and specimens then start preliminary measurements immediately. Technical staff will be on hand to show you how to operate the mechanical test equipment. Sign out as you leave the laboratory. If you do not sign in and sign out we will assume you have not attended the session. If you are unable to attend your scheduled laboratory session due to illness or other unavoidable factors and are able to submit a doctor’s certificate, join another group and undertake the exercises at another time. Alternatively make arrangements with the lecturer to attend during one of the spare sessions.

Test number	Description	Approximate duration, minutes	Equipment in Engineering Annex (LG09) unless otherwise stated
1	Uniaxial Compression Test	15	Seidner compression testing machine
2	Triaxial Test	30	Seidner compression testing machine
3	Deformation Test. Demonstration	15	M&F compression testing machine, Room NG31 off Chapman Laboratory
4a and 4b	(a) Point Load Test and (b) Brazilian Disc Test	15	Point Load tester
5	Sonic Velocity Test	15	PUNDIT 7
6	Sonic Velocity Test	15	Wooden block model and compass, in car park
7	Core Logging	10	Core boxes

This laboratory programme carries a weighting of 15% for the course. Individual reports (not Group reports) must be handed in by 5.00 pm Monday 13 June 2012. Please return the Rock Mechanics Laboratory video with your laboratory report (you are, of course, free to make a copy if you wish). These laboratory exercises are a compulsory component of the course. Students who do not attend the laboratory sessions and/or do not hand in a laboratory report will fail the course. Students who do not attend the laboratory sessions (or do not sign in and out), but do hand in a laboratory report based on results obtained by other students, will fail the course.

Module	Assignments	Test	Laboratories	Examination	Totals
Deformable Materials and Fluid Flow	3 questions at 5% = 15%	2 tests at 12.5 % 60 minutes 25%	No laboratories	No examination	40%
Rock Mechanics and Slope Stability	2 questions at 7.5% = 15%	No test	Hand in report by 5.00 pm Monday 20 June. 15%.	2 hours = 30%	60%
Totals	30%	25%	15%	30%	100%

All assessment will be summative. This assessment has, however, been designed to develop and reinforce students’ understanding of the Course material.

The laboratory exercises are a compulsory component of the course. Students who do not attend the laboratory sessions and/or do not hand in a laboratory report will fail the course. Students who do not attend the laboratory sessions (or do not sign in and out), but do hand in a laboratory report based on results obtained by other students, will fail the course.

The 60 minute test for Deformable Materials and Fluid Flow will be full open book. Student answers will be submitted in the form of handwritten into an examination booklet. Student can bring their hand calculator. No workstation or any other electronic devices is not allowed.

The 2-hour examination covering the Rock Mechanics and Slope Stability modules will be held during the normal University examination period.

Assignments are to be submitted for marking by the specified deadline, which will be about 10 days after the assignment is set.

Marked assignments will be returned together with outline answers, about two weeks after the submission date. Outline answers will be emailed to students in electronic form. No marks will be awarded for work submitted after the submission time and date. Relatively few brief comments will be written on the student assignments; instead, general comments will be emailed to the class. Any student who needs further clarification or explanation of an assignment (or indeed any other topic) can raise the matter in class, or alternatively make an appointment to meet with the course lecturer. The following approximate schedule will apply for the assignments. These dates are subject to change as requirements demand:

		Dates
Assignment	Topic	Set, by email	Submission, before 5.00 pm
Min Geo 1	Deformable Materials	Friday 16 March	Monday 26 March
Min Geo 2	Deformable Materials	Friday 30 April	Monday 09 April
Min Geo 3	Fluid flow	Friday 20 April	Monday 30 April
Min Geo 4	Rock mechanics	Friday 11 May	Monday 21 May
Min Geo 5	Rock mechanics	Friday 1 June	Friday 12 June

Assessment criteria

The following assessment criteria will be applied to assignments, laboratory reports and examination questions:

- The numerical ‘result’ must be substantiated by an ‘answer’comprising a complete mathematical working with appropriate definitions, assumptions, explanations and sketch diagrams at each stage.

- The result must be numerically correct, with the correct units, magnitude and sign.

- The appropriate number of significant figures should be reported in the result and the accuracy of the result must not be compromised by rounding errors.

- Where appropriate, there should be some discussion of the reliability and applicability of the result in the relevant engineering context.

- The answers to purely descriptive questions, which do not require any calculation and do not have a numerical result, should clearly and comprehensively address the specific question, supported by appropriate diagrams, graphs, formulae, examples and cited references.

A key ability of an engineer is to recognise when a numerical result ‘looks wrong’ and then go back over the work to check the input data, assumptions, and calculations. The number of significant figures in a numerical result should reflect the precision of the input data. In most cases, 3 or 4 significant figures will be appropriate. More significant figures can be used for intermediate results, to minimise the risk of rounding errors.

Please use the standard School cover sheet, which can be found at:
http://www.ecms.adelaide.edu.au/civeng/students/docs/assessment_cover_sheet.pdf

Please post your submissions into the ‘Mining Geomechanics’ box outside the School Office before 5.00 pm on the specified submission date. Work submitted after the submission time and date will be returned unmarked and will be assigned zero marks, unless a doctor’s certificate is presented. Marked assignments will be returned at a suitable lecture. Assignments that have not been collected by students will be available for collection from the box marked ‘Mining Geomechanics’ in room N135d.