ROCK MASS CLASSIFICATION - REVIEW | ROCK TUNNELLING


to be identified and addressed before new ones can be developed. In any case, certain objectives should be fulfilled with


the development, as pointed out in Bobet and Einstein (2024): RMCS for engineering design should be: (i)


economical, yet safe;


(ii) generally applicable and robust or only apply for a well-defined field of application;


(iii) based on parameters that are readily determinable; (iv) aware of their inherent subjectivity; and, (v) based on correct underlying assumptions and models whether they are explicit or implicit.


In addition to these fundamental requirements, we suggest that further or new developments of RMCS are: (i)


based on openly accessible databases and follow FAIR data principles (Wilkinson et al. 2016) so that developed relationships are comprehensible and retraceable to avoid distrust in the system;


(ii) consider measurable information through modern sensing technology to the largest possible extent and avoid parameters that are only estimated to avoid disputes about subjectivity in the assessment;


(iii) thoroughly describe the system, the involved processing of the dataset used and the data collection process in peer-reviewed scientific papers; and,


(iv) apply modern statistical methods ranging from multivariate statistics, Bayesian statistics to machine learning (ML).


A last way forward could be to move away from rock mass classification approaches in general. However, this requires further developments in rock engineering design practices. Focusing more on rock mass characterisation instead of classification might be a way to more realistically describe the complex geological nature of the rock mass instead of trying to put everything into inherently non-existing classes.


Acknowledgements: Mrs. Timna Plöchl is thanked by the authors for her assistance in creating the family tree of rock mass classification systems. Declarations (Conflict of interest): The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.


This paper was originally published online in Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering Journal, from Springer, in October 2024, under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/). Open access funding for original publication of the paper was provided by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI). As permitted under the particular open access facility, this version of the original paper has been abridged and edited for space, and images have been adapted to house-style. The original paper is available in full at https://doi.org/10.1007/ s00603-024-04215-8.


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