Abstract
Rock masses are fractured structure and consist of rock blocks in three-dimensional space: the nature and distribution of the fractures is termed “rock mass structure”. Although the 3-D geometry of the structure is one of the primary parameters that dominates rock mass behavior, the subject has not been studied adequately. This paper introduces a new computational 3-D geometry management method for rock mass structure, i. e., directed body theory. A computational system based on the directed body concept has been developed to the state where it can handle the terminated discontinuities in rock blocks and also non-convex blocks, together with calculation of quantities, such as volumes and surface area. Thus, the system fuccessfully produces a geometrical database of a representative 3-D rock mass structure in a generic manner.
