Hossein Masoumi

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• Doctor of Engineering
• Professor (Associate) at Monash University (Australia)

Accurate prediction of compressional (P-wave) and shear (S-wave) velocity is vital for structural, geomechanical, and petrophysical analyses of subsurface formations. Since velocity is typically measured as its reciprocal, slowness is the standard parameter recorded in sonic logs and is the focus of this study. This work investigates the predictive...

In this paper, 114 uniaxial compressive strength tests were carried out on specimens of veined gneiss with diameters ranging from 14 mm to 100 mm. The main objective of the study was to investigate the influence of the specimen size on the strength behavior of this metamorphic, heterogeneous rock. This size effect results in an increase in strength...

Contrary to the conventional size effect on rock strength, the reverse size effect refers to a rise in the unconfined compressive strength of small cylindrical rock specimens with an increase in the diameter. The current study attempts to explain this phenomenon by building upon the existing end surface damage explanation (flaws/imperfections gener...

Sustainable underground mining operation at deep levels requires a clear understanding of in situ stress conditions to ensure safety of personnel and equipment for continuous exaction of natural resources. Obtaining representative three-dimensional (3D) stress data at depth remains a significant challenge due to the operational complexities, high c...

Many underground mining operations require the design of pillars that their long-term structural integrity under creep loading is essential for sustainable operation of mines and safety of personnel. Characterizing the mechanical behavior of rocks at different shapes over the long-term can assist in efficient design of underground pillars. Over the...

This paper introduces an innovative approach to measuring the dielectric constants of solid geological samples using a crosspolarised chipless radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor. Copolarised RFID sensors often face interference from the material under test (MUT), resulting in significant deviations in resonance frequency. To address this...

This study developed a coupled elasto-damage constitutive model for predicting the transition from brittle to ductile behaviour in quasi-brittle rocks. By integrating the bounding surface framework with damage evolution hardening, the model can accurately simulate the stress-strain behaviour under various loading conditions. Unlike traditional elas...

Accurate dielectric constant measurements are crucial in Internet of Things (IoT) sensing applications to characterise materials and their properties. This paper introduces an innovative capacitor-based chipless radio frequency identification (RFID) sensory array tailored specifically for precise measurements of dielectric constants in IoT contexts...

This study investigates the impact of various notch corner shapes on the load-bearing capacity of timber components of timber chocks as one of standing support systems in underground mines. Three notch configurations including rectangular-rounded, double-rectangular and double-rounded types created from spotted gum, a common Australian hardwood, ar...

Sustainable mining development requires structures on or within rock masses that can withstand deformation over a long period without compromising safety. Understanding of time-dependent behaviour of rocks is essential for such a purpose which is commonly investigated under sustained loading or so-called “creep” condition within the laboratory envi...

Hierarchically oriented macroporous NiO–BaZr 0.1 Ce 0.7 Y 0.2 O 3− δ (BZCY7) anode‐supporting layer (ASL) was developed using the freeze casting technique. The resulting freeze‐cast structure was analyzed through scanning electron microscopy and X‐ray computed tomography. A thin layer of BZCY7 was utilized as a proton‐conducting electrolyte, wherea...

Tensile strength plays a vital role in the efficient design of underground openings and support system in rock engineering practice. Among various approaches developed for estimating this property, Brazilian testing has received considerable attention in analytical, numerical, and experimental studies. The test has been deployed for various materia...

An extensive experimental study is presented including around 140 triaxial compressive strength tests on artificially jointed hard rock. The experiments were performed on cylindrical and jointed specimens with either 1 sub-vertical and 2 sub-horizontal (1 + 2) or 2 sub-vertical and 3-sub-horizontal (2 + 3) joint sets. The specimen diameter consiste...

To achieve the net-zero target, hydrogen (H 2) will emerge as an essential cornerstone within the energy supply chain of the future. To effectively attain such a target for an integrated and sustainable large-volume economy based on H 2 on a global scale, proper H 2 storage is imperative. This is where the significance of Underground H 2 Storage co...

To stabilize underground coal mining operations, timber chocks play a vital role by providing resistance against roof and floor convergences, which can help to maintain safety and productivity at a high level. This type of standing support system offers numerous benefits, including cost-effectiveness, rapid installation and minimal service requirem...

Block in matrix rocks (bimrocks) are known as a challenging material for engineering geologists due to their complex composition and associated difficulties in the determination of their mechanical properties. A novel numerical approach has been developed for the simulation of unwelded bimrocks based on the discrete element method. Three different...

Brittleness is an intrinsic mechanical property of rock materials that has attracted significant attention to be properly quantified as it plays an important role in characterization of brittle fracturing. Endeavors have led to the establishment of many Brittleness Indices (BIs) for various rock types and widespread engineering applications. Among...

Cable bolt systems are extensively used to stabilize the roof of underground mining roadways from collapse due to the movement of unstable rock strata. These cable bolts are anchored at both ends and grouted. The inaccessible end of the cable bolt is typically anchored via a resin plug, whereas the exposed end comprises a steel plate with a barrel...

Understanding size effects is important to rigorously analyse the behaviour of rocks and rock masses at different scales and for different applications. A number of empirical and numerical studies have included size effects on the uniaxial compressive strength of different rocks, but only few have focussed on the triaxial compressive strength. In t...

Characterizing the mechanical behavior of jointed rocks is important to understand the behavior of structures in rock masses. Jointed rocks can be composed of persistent and nonpersistent joints where the impact of nonpersistent joints requires careful consideration for an accurate rock mass mechanical characterization. Most previous investigations...

A frequent and accurate quality inspection procedure to assess the quality requirements during the life cycle of buildings is crucial. Among different quality measures, the dimensional quality that involves spatial features of buildings is of significant importance. However, the traditional manual inspection of dimensional quality in buildings is u...

The mining conveyor belt is an imperative component of the mine industry which serves the crucial role of transporting materials. Predicament such as conveyor belt cracks has to be avoided, because any potential cause of conveyor belt failure constitutes risk of fatalities and significant economic implications. Hence, a new crack detection method i...

A geometric digital twin (gDT) model capable of leveraging acquired 3D geometric data plays a vital role in digitizing the process of structural health monitoring. This study presents a framework for generating and updating digital twins of existing buildings by inferring semantic information from as-is point clouds (gDT’s data) acquired regularly...

Conveyor belts in mining sites are prone to cracks, which leads to dramatic degradation of overall system performance and the breakdown of operation. Crack detection using radio frequency identification (RFID) sensing technology is recently proposed to provide robust and low-cost health monitoring systems for conveyor belts. The intelligent machine...

Roofing slate was traditionally quarried in Spain for roofing purposes since the Middle Ages. 40 years ago, and due to an increasing market demand from European countries, convenient prices and depletion of old quarries, producers envisaged the underground exploitation of these deposits. Nowadays, there are some underground room and pillar roofing...

Gas pre-drainage through underground-to-inseam (UIS) horizontal boreholes is one of the common practices for the management of environmental and safety concerns in underground coal mining. In the design of UIS boreholes, local experience is invaluable; however, an experienced-based design is not necessarily optimal from both economic and technical...

Understanding the behavior of reservoir rocks under various in-situ stress conditions is important for compaction evaluation, reserve estimation, production forecasting, pressure maintenance, and casing collapse diagnosis. Such a behavior can be affected by change in rock porosity, permeability and pore volume compressibility which are all function...

Fragmentation characteristics can provide a good basis for identifying the brittleness level and failure mode in rock materials. Investigating the rock fragmentation is important in many rock mechanics applications such as evaluating the blasting efficiency, wear of cutting tools in mechanized excavation, mineral processing recovery, and rock burst...

The hydromechanical behaviour of fractured coal is a complex function of interaction between coal bulk and fracture deformation driven by fluid pressure and external stress. Despite the research studies conducted to date, the combined effect of mineral content and fracture structure on hydromechanical behaviour of sorptive fractured coal remains un...

Point clouds are increasingly being used to improve productivity, quality, and safety throughout the life cycle of construction and infrastructure projects. While applicable for visualizing construction projects, point clouds lack meaningful semantic information. Thus, the theoretical benefits of point clouds, such as productivity, quality, and saf...

This paper presents the design and analysis of a novel passive Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) based sensor for crack detection in coal mining conveyor belts. The proposed sensor is built on an interdigital capacitor (IDC) based resonator integrated with a commercial UHF RFID chip. The paper illustrates the theoreti...

The acoustic wave propagation in geomaterials at different frequencies (ultrasonic, sonic, and seismic) has been extensively studied in the past to relate geomaterials' physical parameters to wave features. The ultrasonic analysis, commonly used for laboratory scale measurements, has been mainly employed to investigate wave propagation in non-sorbi...

Gas sorption and its induced volumetric strain can significantly influence gas flow in coal by controlling the change in the conductivity of coal cleats. A significant number of studies have been conducted to date to describe the coal swelling stress with sorbing gases and several theoretical models have been proposed to estimate swelling stresses....

Permeability is arguably the most important parameter in gas pre-drainage and production practices in coal mining and coal seam gas industries. In fractured coal seams, permeability can significantly vary both laterally and vertically. Knowing the vertical variation of permeability in relatively thick coal seams is important in optimizing inseam pr...

This study presents a novel constitutive model to characterise the mechanical behaviour of cable bolts under axial loading and subjected to different boundary conditions including constant confining pressure and constant normal stiffness. Such a model is developed based on the modified Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion as well as a newly proposed non-...

The effective stress coefficient (ESC) is a key parameter in the linear poroelastic effective stress formulation. In fluid-bearing porous media, the effective stress is the difference between total stress and a fraction of the pore fluid pressure controlled by the ESC. The ESC is either measured in the laboratory or estimated by empirical models us...

An analytical model is developed to simulate the load-displacement performance of rock bolts under axial loading based on Modified Continuously Yielding Criterion. Such a model accounts for various surface geometries of rock bolt as well as the various confining pressures at the rock bolt to the grout interface which play significant roles in the b...

Borehole breakout initiation stress is critical for mining and geotechnical engineering as it indicates horizontal stress magnitudes and rock quality in a specific layer. This stress can be significantly intensified under laboratory conditions where the borehole size is small, although the specimen sizes in previous studies varied. This may result...

In general, crack monitoring of coal mining conveyor belt is carried out by simple visual inspections which are found to be inefficient due to being quite labor-intensive and for providing inaccurate health conditions of the conveyor belt. In this paper, we propose a robust and low-cost passive ultra-high-frequency (UHF) based radio frequency ident...

This paper proposes the design of an Ultra High-frequency (UHF) based passive radio frequency identification (RFID) passive tag-sensor to monitor the structural crack of a coal mining conveyor belt. A detailed comparative analysis is also conducted on the effects of varying crack orientations and widths. However, it is a challenging task, since the...

The use of in-situ soil testing has become popular in many geotechnical projects because of its high measurement accuracy and low disturbance of the soil sample during the testing process. Pressuremeter Test (PMT) and standard penetration test (SPT) are two important in-situ tests in geotechnical engineering. The former is an expensive and tim...

Characterising the size-dependent behaviour of rock has been a significant challenge in rock engineering particularly during the design of structures on or within a rock mass. Generally, the mechanical characterisation of rock starts at the laboratory scale where the intact rock is tested and then the resulting data is extrapolated to the field con...

Many experimental studies have been carried out to characterise the mechanical performance of cable bolts under axial or shear loading. The common limitation in all these studies is that only single-variate descriptive analysis was included leading to an insufficient understanding of interactive influences of a range of parameters on the mechanical...

Several underground coal mines have reported floor heave associated with the buckling mechanism. However, studies on the coal mine floor, especially the buckling failure mechanism in the floor and relevant analysis techniques, are still insufficient. This paper introduces a new floor classification system, the Coal Mine Floor Rating, based on the u...

The paper presents a new methodology for monitoring health conditions of mining conveyor belts using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based sensors. The existing monitoring technique is based on simple visual inspections which is quite labor intensive and do not provide accurate health condition of the conveyor belt. The new methodology based...

Understanding the mechanical behaviour of jointed rock particularly under uniaxial compression is so important for an appropriate design of structures on or within a rock mass. Jointed rocks may consist of persistent or non-persistent joints. Typically, the persistent joints can dominate the whole mechanical behaviour of jointed rocks while the eff...

Due to the difficulties associated with performing a direct uniaxial tensile test, the tensile strength of brittle materials is commonly estimated indirectly. The Brazilian test is probably the most widely accepted indirect technique among others. Since the development of the Brazilian test, the test has received considerable attention due to its e...

new generation of Hoek cells was designed and built to conduct triaxial testing on rock-like materials. The new design has the advantages of both conventional Hoek cells (e.g., minimal preparation and setup time) and conventional triaxial systems (e.g., on specimen radial deformation measurement), and it is capable of measuring the permeability at...

Analytical solutions of near-borehole stress–strain responses are often based on simple elastic-perfectly plastic constitutive models. However, such models are incapable of capturing rock softening, and thus often disagree with observed failure patterns. Therefore, in this study, we present a set of closed-form solutions to estimate the stress–stra...

Changes in effective stress around a borehole due to pressure drop can cause formation instabilities leading to issues such as sand/solid production and wellbore stability. Analytical studies have been conducted in the past to gain insights into physical mechanisms involved in this complex process. The developed analytical solutions for such hydro-...

This study aims to experimentally and analytically investigate the behaviour of two different cable bolts, including Sumo and TG using an advanced pull-out testing facility capable of testing the cable bolts under axial loading and constant normal stiffness. The quantitative contribution of a range of parameters (e.g. uniaxial compressive strengths...

Structural mapping of pit walls can be performed using digital images and photogrammetry software, but the performance is limited by weather and environmental conditions including dust, rain and light. On the other hand, active sensors such as terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) and total stations (TS) suffer from vertical orientation bias and occlusi...

The laboratory short encapsulation pull-out test (LSEPT) has been widely accepted as the most efficient method to characterize the mechanical behaviour of cable bolts under axial loading. In this study, a number of LSEPTs was performed on conventional (Plain SuperStrand) and modified (MW9S) cable bolts using the improved pull-out test design. The e...

A wide range of modified cable bolts are currently used for ground support in different conditions in Australian underground coal mining operations. This is mainly based on the belief that the performance of modified cable bolts is better than conventional cable bolts. Despite this positive view, very few studies have characterised the performance...

The problem of scale-size dependency of the mechanical properties of intact rock has been extensively investigated with a particular focus on uniaxial compressive strength, whereas a limited number of studies have included point-load and tensile testing. Such mechanical properties, in particular tensile strength, are of fundamental importance in th...

In this paper, a number of artificial rock specimens with two parallel (stepped and coplanar) non-persistent joints were subjected to direct shearing. The effects of bridge length (L), bridge angle (γ), joint roughness coefficient (JRC) and normal stress (σn) on shear strength and cracking process of non-persistent jointed rock were studied extensi...

Understanding the mechanical properties of shaly sandstone is of great importance in reservoir geomechanics. Because of the lack of core data, measurements based on acoustic wave velocities are often conducted. In such measurements, the mechanical properties such as uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and Young’s modulus (EE) are related to the por...

In this study, ultrasonic waves recorded during direct shear experiments on rock joints were employed to investigate the shear failure processes. Three types of wave attributes were systematically observed prior to the shear failure of the rock joints: (a) maximum in the amplitude of the transmitted wave, (b) maximum in the dominant frequency of th...

Cable bolts are extensively used in mining and civil structures as one of the most important support systems for ground control. In order to design an effective support system, understanding the performance of cable bolts under the conditions other than those tested in the laboratory is essential. Thus, this paper outlines the development of a cons...

The applicability of a new test method involving semi-circular (truncated) Brazilian disc specimens is examined in this study to effectively eliminate the unwanted high shear stresses at the loading points, as well as the multiple cracking that commonly occurs in the testing of standard Brazilian dicks comprising hard and brittle materials. A serie...

The Brazilian test is one of the most established techniques used for indirect measurement of rock tensile strength. When the test is applied to soft to medium strength rocks, the rupture mechanism is always through the formation of a single diametrical crack initiated at the centre of the disc, where the induced tensile stress is the maximum. Howe...

While rock strength is an important input parameter in geotechnical engineering, the size effect of intact rock samples on strength has long been recognised as an issue. Conventionally, it has been believed that increase in size leads to decrease in strength. A few investigations have reported different trend to that consider conventionally where t...

Frictional behaviour of rocks from the initial stage of loading to final shear displacement along the formed shear plane has been widely investigated in the past. However the effect of sample size on such frictional behaviour has not attracted much attention. This is mainly related to the limitations in rock testing facilities as well as the comple...

Total rock porosity is a key parameter in a wide range of disciplines from Petroleum to Civil and Mining Engineering. Porosity is particularly important in petroleum engineering applications, e.g. from estimation of hydrocarbon in place to prediction of geomechanical properties. Conventional techniques used to measure the total porosity – i.e. merc...

The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of sedimentary rocks is one of the key parameters in petroleum related geomechanical projects from hydraulic fracturing to the estimation of in-situ stress magnitudes. Due to the scarcity of the rock samples the UCS is often correlated to the interval transient time (equivalent to P-wave velocity) for the fie...

The size dependency of intact rock is of importance to different disciplines, such as civil and mining engineering. One example relates to the design of structures on or within a rock mass for which an estimation of the strength of the intact rock blocks within the mass is essential. Despite a large number of studies on size effects in rock, less r...

The design of structures on or within a rock mass requires an estimation of the strength of the intact rock blocks. These blocks can be many orders of magnitude greater in scale than the core samples typically tested. Thus, including the scale effect into a failure criterion is required for a more realistic estimation of rock strength with various...

The complete uniaxial or triaxial stress-strain behavior of a rock sample can be achieved in compressive testing using a servo-controlled testing system. Initially, the load-deformation data is recorded during an experiment, and then to eliminate the scale dependency of force, this data are converted to the stress-strain curve for final reporting....

A suite of laboratory testing was performed on Gosford sandstone samples having a range of sizes, including point-load and uniaxial compressive tests. A unified size-effect law (USEL), based on the work by Zdenek Bazant, involving fracture energy as well as fractal theories, was introduced. It was shown that USEL correlates well with the ascending...

Since the introduction of the point load test, size effect has been observed in the point load strength index. While considerable research has been undertaken to investigate the size effect in the point load strength index, and the general cause of size effect, there has been limited research applying size effect theories to the size effect observe...

A new constitutive model for intact rock is presented recognising that rock strength, stiffness and stress-strain behaviour are affected by the size of the rock being subjected to loading. The model is formulated using bounding surface plasticity theory. It is validated against a new and extensive set of unconfined compression and triaxial compress...

Many studies have been conducted on the size effects behavior of intact rocks and the majority of them have focused on a standard ratio of length to diameter (slenderness ratio) as determined by the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM). The main aim of this research was to investigate the correlation between slenderness ratio and the mec...

Discontinuities have a significant effect on the mechanical behavior of the rock mass and understanding the mechanical behavior of discontinuities is essential for reliable design of any structure inside or on the rock mass. Predominant joint models have been developed under constant normal loading condition. However, it is widely accepted that the...

The design of structures on or within a rock mass requires an estimate of the strength of the intact rock blocks within the mass. These blocks of rock can be many orders of magnitude greater in scale than the core samples typically tested. Including the scale effects into a failure criterion is important for better estimation of the rock strength....

The dominating parameters of a discontinuous rock mass are joint orientation, joint frequency and joint strength. Under experimental testing conditions, these parameters can individually influence rock mass strength, elastic properties and the mode of failure. This study aimed to assess the effects of joint frequency on rock mass properties, partic...

A number of studies have investigated the size effect of intact rock mostly focusing on the uniaxial compression test. The most widely used being that by Hoek and Brown [1]. The authors have conducted a suite of uniaxial compressive and point load tests on some igneous and metamorphic rocks to assess the effect of size on the results. The results i...

Investigation of mechanical behavior in intact rock can help to better understand the stressstrain correlation in accordance with yielding. Attention to the formulation of yield criteria can direct the research into two areas, developing the criteria based on interpolation of experimental data and detailed study of micromechanics. The aim in the ma...