GEOMRI: High-performance computing technology for determining mechanical behaviour of soils and rock masses

  • Godoy, Eduardo (INGMAT Mathematical Engineering Company)
  • Durán, Mario (INGMAT Mathematical Engineering Company)
  • Toledo, Patricio A (Seismic Risk Program, Universidad de Chile)
  • Bustamante, Miguel (INGMAT Mathematical Engineering Company)

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In the past decade, our research group developed a variant of the boundary method for the elastic half-space in the axisymmetric case [1,2], which was successfully applied to compute the stress-state in open-pit mining [3] and in a wide range of geotechnical stability engineering projects. This method uses a first-order, non-local pseudodifferential operator, which allows us to rewrite the original boundary-value problem stated in the unbounded half-space, into a new boundary problem stated in a bounded domain that can be treated using standard numerical schemes. This approach has proven to have significant comparative advantages in terms of accuracy, computing times and versatility for sensibility studies. In recent years, this method has been extended to the full three-dimensional case, giving rise to GEOMRI, a high-level software tool designed to determine, in a timely, detailed, and versatile manner, the global 3D stress distribution in the rock mass or soil where a mining operation or civil work is located. Some specific features that have been incorporated include nonlinear constitutive material laws (elasto-plasticity), hydrogeology (pore pressure), and modelling of geological structures (faults and joints). In addition, the efficiency and robustness of the software allow the numerical results to be adjusted to instrumental measurements. Furthermore, in a paper in progress [4], GEOMRI technology is used to explain the fatal event of rockburst phenomenon appeared in Chilean mine El Teniente in July 2025. The property of global calculations in time and space plays a competitive fundamental role to achieve this study. In this work, GEOMRI technology is presented through some industrial applications of interest in mining and civil works that have been developed, including global stress state and stability in an open-pit operation, computation of the 3D stress distribution in underground excavations and pillars, and generation of a 3D model for predictive monitoring of tailings dams. 1. E. Godoy et al, A DtN finite element method for axisymmetric elastostatics…, J. Comput. Phys. 2017. 2. M. Durán et al, Accuracy of a DtN finite element approach for the elastic half-space, J. Miner. Sci. Materials 2022. 3. M. Durán et al, Open-pit slope design using a DtN-FEM: Parameter space exploration, Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. 2022. 4. P. Toledo et al, Clustering of topological charges around induced subsidence crater at the El-Teniente mega-deposit, in progress, 2026.