Rock anchors are used primarily for resisting uplift forces.

On the contrary, rock

sockets serve three main purposes:
(i) Rock socket friction and end bearing to resist vertical load.
(ii) Passive resistance of rock sockets contribute to resistance of lateral load.
(iii) Socket shaft friction is also used for resisting uplifting forces. But only70% of this
capacity should be used because of the effect of negative Poisson ratio.
Note: Rock anchors, which may consist of a high tensile bar or a stranded cable, are
provided for tension piles when there are insufficient soil covers to develop the
required uplifting resistance.
Rock Anchors
Advantages
Less drilling is necessary to develop the same shear cone as the bonded anchor
system. Also, less grout is needed since there is less hole volume. The installer can
pre-stress and grout the anchor in the same day. There is no cracking of the grout
column, since the installer is pre-stressing the anchor before grouting. The oversized
drill hole provides for excellent grout coverage
Disadvantages The mechanical rock anchor should only be used in competent
rock. The maximum working load for Williams largest mechanical anchor, utilizing
a2:1 safety factor from the ultimate tensile steel capacity, is180 kips.
Concerning socio-economic development of Bhutan, Hydropower development plays a vital role.
Envisaging a total theoretical potential of 30,000 MW, according to Power System Master Plan, 2002,
the government now has taken up measures for accelerated development to harness 11777 MW by
year 2020, and more beyond this time frame. Nevertheless, there is always a difficulty to harness the
great hydropower potential due to the uncertainties and challenges faced in tunneling through
Himalayan Geology. The challenges can be attributed to the difficulty in obtaining a reliable & better
early investigation results due to inaccessibility of the area. The unpredictable geological conditions in
the Himalayan region in general, and the difficulty for geotechnical studies have been the greatest
setbacks to find better options for locating and aligning the underground openings. These have
caused severe stability problems during construction of underground cavities or tunnels in Bhutan,
mainly related to rock mass quality and rock stresses. Tala Hydroelectric Project with an installed
capacity of 1020 MW on the river Wangchu Basin of Western Bhutan is so far the biggest project
constructed (1997 2007). This project has suffered rock engineering problems during construction to

post construction phases and continuing still in the operation period. The constructions of almost all
the major components of the project have met with stability challenges. The machine and transformer
caverns are still experiencing two main problems: i) the failure of rock bolts which fly out of caverns
walls and, ii) convergence of walls, since the construction period and are continuing during operational
phase too. These are serious problematic issues, creating hazardous situations and uncertain long
term stability may affect the operation of the plant. In this thesis, efforts have been made to study the
problems encountering in the machine hall of Tala Hydroelectric Project and finally determined the
main causes of the resulting instabilities of the case. After having addressed the problems in Tala, this
work started on reviewing the case based mainly on geology, rock mass quality, in-situ stresses,
geometry, and excavation & supports. Chukha Hydroelectric Project lying 2 km upstream of Intake for
Tala, along the same river basin (1974 1988), on the other hand, has not faced such problems
during operation period. A review study is conducted in a similar manner on Chukha project as well.
The works throughout are focused on machine halls of the two projects. Qualitative studies of the
machine halls of two projects have been carried out to compare and identify the most likely aspects of
stability problems. The work involves theoretical study and application of engineering geology and
rock engineering in reviewing of the cases. The engineering geological investigations of respective
phases have been reviewed and through evaluation of deviations, the causes of the instabilities are
ascertained. It is found that Tala Cavern is located in closer proximity to MCT and narrower valley than
Chukha powerhouse, which signifies high stress regime. Weak rocks such as phyllite & quartzitic
phyllite dominate the rock mass in Tala, while Chukha cavern constitutes better grade of metamorphic
rock like biotite gneisses. The joints are normally clean in Chukha but infilling materials prevail in Tala
with puckered and folded foliations. All the rock mass properties and classifications reveal weaker
rock mass quality in Tala than the later project. Based on the above studies, this thesis presents a
discussion on the probable reasons of stability problems being faced in Tala cavern. It is evaluated
that the powerhouse is constructed in a high stress regime influenced due to tectonic activity,
topography and overburden. Besides, the rock mass quality is found to be poor and deteriorated
further during excavation. The failures of rock bolts in sections are mainly due to excessive
overburden loads and existing weak rock mass conditions in folds enabling development of stresses
under compression and tension in varying depth. The creeping nature of the rock mass prevail due to
high horizontal stress, time-dependent behavior of highly jointed weak rock mass, reduced shear
strength and unfavorable orientation of the cavern with respect to discontinuities. Geometry for shape
and dimensions play important roles for the stability of the underground caverns. Beyond qualitative
analysis, Examine2D program has been used to investigate the influence of geometry and induced
stresses due to excavation. The analysis results indicated higher relative stress regime situation and
more relative deformations for Tala compared to Chukha, which has quite favorable stress regime with
negligible elastic deformation along the walls. The zones of influence of induced stresses and failure
trajectories expand in larger area and in fact they intersect between the two caverns of Tala. At the
end, some recommendations are put forth which may be used for successful construction and
implementation of future projects under similar conditions in the vicinity of tectonic thrusts. This study
has found that fixing location of underground cavity must be studied and options to be explored
through qualitative judgment of investigations. The results of the investigation phases show great
variations. These make the input parameters for any analysis unreliable and uncertain to a greater
extent. An attempt to improve the quality judgment through involvement of experienced and right
professional is mandatory for any future project. The designs pertaining to shapes and dimensioning

under such conditions need serious attention. Most importantly, proper sequential and careful
excavation must be incorporated at all times in such geology. Implementation of any future project
must be documented properly and experiences from such cases may be made available to achieve
successful tunneling in the Himalayan region.

What is Anchor Bolt?

The factored base shear in column, in normal loading conditions, is resisted by friction
between plate and support of it. The introduction of anchor bolts is to provide addition
capacity against shear that may occur due to many unfavorable conditions.
Function of anchor bolts:
1.To stabilize column preventing uplift induced by moments that generated by lateral
load(earthquake
and
wind)
or
any
other
sources.
2. To keep the column in position during erection process.

Types of Anchore bolt:

a.Drilled-inbolts
b. Cast-inplace bolts
The application of these types of anchor bolts are :
a. Drilled-in bolts
Drilled-in anchor bolts are not frequently used. In this process bolts are installed after
the concrete is set.

b. Cast-inplace bolts
Cast-inplace anchor bolts are placed before setting of concrete. This ancor bolt may be
bolts, threaded rods having nuts or hooked bars.
Hooked bars:
Among these anchor bolts the hooked bars are suitable for base plates that are loaded
axially.
Bolts:
Bolts can be used either to anchor base plate subjected to moments or to anchor axially
loaded base plate.

Threaded rods:

Both axially loaded base plates and base plates subjected to moments and be anchored
by threaded rods with nuts. This system of anchoring are required when the size and
length obtained from design calculation for the specific design exceed those of standard
size bolts. This threaded nut system fails when stress in the rod is reached to tensile
capacities.