Advanced 3-D Boundary Element analysis of underground excavations

In this work a novel approach is presented for the Boundary Element analysis of underground excavation problems. Firstly, Non-Uniform Rational B-Spines (NURBS) are used for the description of the geometry and for the approximation of the unknowns. This results in a significant decrease in the number of parameters used for an accurate description of the geometry as well as a decrease in the number of degrees of freedom required for good quality results. Secondly, NURBS are also used for the description of the geometry of geological inclusions, which can have properties different to the rock mass and can experience inelastic behavior.