Layout design of rockbolts for natural ground reinforcement

The present study addresses a layout design of rockbolts for reinforcing natural ground structures applying a special optimization method, called multiphase layout optimization. Rockbolts are used to tighten loosed natural ground, and the layout of rockbolts are determined without sufficient information about the physical properties of the ground materials. Because of this uncertainty, unexpected deformation often occurs at the excavation surface of natural ground. In that case, it is requested to determine an effective layout of the additional rockbolts promptly with respect to the actual deformation at the construction site. However, it is not easy to determine the optimal layout because of its complexity, and consequently, it has no choice but to determine the layout in an empirical way.This study introduces a numerical approach to determine an optimal layout of rockbolts with respect to arbitrarily possible deformation of natural ground. The objective is to maximize the stiffness of the overall ground structure reinforced with rockbolts. For optimization, a gradient-based optimization scheme is applied because of its numerical efficiency. It was verified from a series of numerical examples that this method has great potential to improve the stiffness of the overall ground structure and shows a certain applicability to a practical design.