Cavern Design for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL)

该提案协调了 Homestake 矿深部地下科学与工程实验室 (DUSEL) 设施中计划的几位地质力学研究人员的工作。该项目将提供一个框架，使施工和运营决策能够有效地做出，同时确保获得重要的设计参数。目前，对岩体特征的了解，特别是预测地下开口性能的能力是有限的。这种限制是由于缺乏三维暴露、难以了解岩体中的成分以及缺乏对岩体等不连续介质的基本行为的了解而造成的。在 DUSEL，可以使用现有的和新的岩体暴露/勘探来开发岩体模型，然后在施工时将其与实际情况进行比较。由于施工是分阶段进行的，因此可以分阶段验证和改进模型。与其他科学家和工程师一起完成所有这些工作也很可能会导致对工程问题的创新思考。 DUSEL 为在研究和教育方面进一步发展科学和工程提供了绝对独特的机会。地下建设，无论是用于民用目的（运输、储存、公用事业，可能是居住）还是采矿，都非常昂贵且耗时。拟议的研究将带来创新，有可能在保持或提高安全性的同时节省大量成本和时间。

This proposal coordinates the efforts of several geomechanics investigators planned at the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) facility at Homestake Mine. The project will provide a framework that will allow construction and operational decisions to be made efficiently while ensuring that important design parameters are obtained. At present, knowledge of the characteristics of rock masses and, particularly the capability to predict the performance of underground openings are limited. This limitation is caused by the lack of three dimensional exposure, the related difficulty to know what is in the rock mass and the lacking knowledge of the basic behavior of discontinuous media such as rock masses. At DUSEL it will be possible to use existing and new rock mass exposure/exploration to develop rock mass models and to then compare them to reality when construction occurs. Since construction occurs in stages it will be possible to verify and improve the models in stages. It is also very likely that doing all this together with other scientists and engineers will lead to innovative thinking about engineering problems. DUSEL provides the absolutely unique opportunity to further science and engineering both in research and education. Underground construction, be that for civil purposes (transportation, storage, utilities, possibly habitation) or for mining, is very costly and time consuming. The proposed research will lead to innovations, which have the potential for significant cost and time savings while maintaining or increasing safety.