Minisymposium Presentation

In civil and mining works, the study of rock masses as well as understanding their structural arrangement is fundamental; each rock mass is unique, and its analysis also depends on the type of structure that is planned to be built. This work focuses on the analysis of the structural arrangement of the discontinuities and the volume of the generated blocks. The analysis of the structural arrangement of discontinuities in a rock mass is approached from its representation in planes. The interaction between the different families of discontinuities determines the rate of fracture and the volumetric arrangement of blocks within a rock mass. Computational tools were developed that allow a multi-directional in-depth study of the variations of discontinuities while mapping its behaviour through characteristic volumes, which distribution is determined through statistical analysis. A computational code was developed in Python for the analysis of the fracture index, the fracturing rate from multidirectional virtual drillings and a block volume analysis to obtain the volumes of the blocks formed from the interaction of the various planes making up the families of discontinuities. Besides being a very useful tool, this code allow creating aesthetic representation of rock masses as it will be presented.