Research Progress on the Impact of Structural Planes on Tunnel Rockburst Based on Engineering Cases and Laboratory Tests

Abstract

Rockbursts occur frequently in deep hard-rock tunnels, posing a major challenge to the safe and efficient construction of underground engineering. Engineering practice shows that in addition to high in-situ stress and hard brittle lithology, widely distributed structural planes in surrounding rock also significantly modify rockburst failure modes and intensity. This review systematically investigates structural-plane-controlled rockburst phenomena in deep hard-rock tunnels, based on 16 published field cases and more than 40 laboratory studies. First, we summarize the influence mechanisms of structural planes on tunnel rockbursts at the engineering scale through statistical analysis of case data. We then integrate existing experimental findings to analyze how the geometric and physical properties of structural planes alter rockburst behavior, from four perspectives: location (concealed/exposed), attitude (dip angle, strike, length), filling state, and multi-plane combination. We further synthesize multi-physical field response characteristics (acoustic emission, infrared thermal radiation, and surface strain field) from laboratory tests, and compare crack propagation and energy evolution patterns dominated by structural planes. The scale dependence of structural plane effects is discussed, highlighting consistencies and discrepancies between laboratory-scale mechanisms and field-scale engineering phenomena. Finally, we analyze rockburst mechanisms under the coupled action of structural planes and dynamic disturbances, and propose targeted engineering control strategies for different structural plane conditions. The purpose of this review is to integrate a set of analysis frameworks to establish the relationship between structural plane characteristics (location, attitude, filling state, and multi-plane combination) and multi-physical field responses, fracture evolution and energy evolution laws, as well as engineering-scale rockburst behavior. It is noteworthy that the engineering cases compiled in this review predominantly originate from deep hard-rock tunnels in China. The universality of the impact of structural planes on rockbursts still needs to be further verified by combining cases from different structural settings and engineering backgrounds.