Story 2: Understanding the Basics of Geotechnical Engineering

Continued…. (Go to Story 1)

At the initial stage, we were completely blank about the theories and the real problems of mining industries on the geotechnical part. Obviously, we studied a lot of theories during our college days but after 3-4 years of practical experience- we were utterly blank at that time. Interestingly after 3 months of classroom training, slowly we understood the basic fundamentals, i.e. what is geotechnical engineering? what is rock mechanics? Why it is important? What is the difference between Geotechnical engineering and rock mechanics? How to manage the stability of an open pit slope etc.?

On the first day, one of the professors from ISM- Dhanbad came to the classroom at around 10 O’clock in the morning. His first question to us was-“Do you know why you are here? How much your organization (HZL) has paid for this?”. We really didn’t know the answer to the second question, but obviously, the answer to the first question was- “we are here for the training on rock mechanics.” When the professor told that almost 1 Cr rupees have been paid by our company to complete this training, instantly a special respect from the heart went beyond mere admiration and appreciation.

Now the prof said- “What’s your responsibility?”. He continued. “Your responsibility is to behave like a good student, not an engineer.” He repeated the sentence- “Your responsibility is to behave like a good student, not an engineer.”

His next sentence was- “if you understood the above sentence, then you have understood the definition of rock mechanics”. How?

In a particular situation, how you are behaving defines your character and the same is applicable for rockmass also. Here we came to the institute to learn something. Hence it’s right to behave like a student to maximize our learning curve. If we behave like a competent engineer then we’ll not be able to learn in full swing. Exactly the same is applicable to Rockmass also. How a rockmass is behaving in a particular situation, in a stressed field how does a rock or rock mass mechanically behave, the study of this is called “rock mechanics”. It was so simple.

In the institute, your learning will not depend on how much you are physically strong. Rather it will depend on your IQ level, your mental level, your mental stability, your concentration, and many other parameters. But obviously, physical strength is also a parameter that gives you confidence and keeps diseases away to focus on your study. Exactly the same is applicable to rockmass also. The hardness and strength of rock is one of the important parameters to decide the stability of a structure or any slope, but it is not the only parameter to decide the stability of any slope or rock structure. You can get tons of examples where 30MPa compressive strength’s rock is not failing but 100MPa’s rockmass is sliding/failing. In the next story, we will understand what are those parameters which affect the stability of a rock structure.

Read the first story- Story 1: Starting my Career as a Geotech Engineer

Watch this video on rock mechanics- Lec01:Rock mechanics||Rock engineering||What is a Rock, What is Rock mechanics, What is Rock mass