Fractal behaviour of the microseismic energy associated with immediate rockbursts in deep, hard rock tunnels

•An energy fractal calculation method of microseismic events in tunnel was proposed.•The fractal behaviour of different types of immediate rockbursts was distinguish.•The relationship between the fractal dimension and structural planes was discussed.•The physical significance of microseismic energy fractal dimension was explored.•The daily energy fractal dimension of rockbursts was calculated and analysed.

Rockbursts in tunnels can be a significant hazard. During the development of immediate rockbursts, a series of fractures is generated which can be monitored using microseismic events. A fractal calculation method has been proposed to study the self-similarity of the energy distribution of microseismic events during the development of immediate rockbursts. The proposed method was used to study the fractal behaviour of the energy distribution of microseismic events during the development of immediate rockbursts that occurred in four deep headrace tunnels and one drainage tunnel at the Jinping II hydropower project, China. The overburden of the studied tunnels, which are excavated in marble, is between 1900 m and 2525 m. The tunnels have a total length of 12.4 km. The results indicated that the energy distribution of microseismic events during the development of immediate rockbursts has a fractal structure. The fractal behaviour of microseismic energy during the development of immediate strainbursts and immediate strain-structure slip rockbursts are distinguishable. The energy fractal dimensions of immediate strainbursts were larger than 0.2 but those of immediate strain-structure slip rockbursts were less than 0.2. For both immediate strainbursts and immediate strain-structure slip rockbursts, if the intensity was higher, the energy fractal dimensions were larger. The daily energy fractal dimension for microseismic events increased as approach of the immediate rockbursts. The energy fractal behaviour was used as a guide to establish a dynamic warning system based on the evolution of microseismic events to reduce the risk of immediate rockbursts during excavation of deep, hard-rock tunnels.