Study of statistical parameters describing the joint profile

In studies of mechanical and hydro-mechanical behavior of rock joints, it is important to consider the joint surface geometry. Statistic methods are used for quantification of rock joint surface geometry. In these methods the geometry of joint surface are quantified by Centre Line Average height (CLA), Root Mean-Square of height (RMS), Auto Correlation Function (ACF), RMS of the first derivative of profile (Z2) and Relative Length (RL). In most of previous studies, one parameter (such as Z2 or RL) was used for quantification of surface roughness. In this study, the efficiency of statistical parameters for rock joint quantification is evaluated. With this regard, Barton’s profiles and some profiles with regular geometry are used. Each profile is digitized and statistical parameters are computed. It is revealed that in order to study the rock joints behavior, it isn’t appropriate to use one or some limited number of statistical parameters.