Challenges in Applying Fixed Partial Factors to Rock Engineering Design

The Swedish national guidelines for design of the main structural support system in road and railway rock tunnels have been adjusted to cohere with Eurocode 7. In the design guidelines, the limit states that the designer should consider are specified. The main method to account for uncertainties in the Swedish guidelines is similar to the method preferred in Eurocode 7: the partial factor method. For each limit state, fixed partial factors retrieved from different sections of the Eurocodes are specified. However, fixed partial factors may not correspond to the same structural reliability for all design situations. In this paper, we show for a common design situation in rock engineering design how partial factors in theory should vary with design geometries and uncertainties. The derived partial factors are compared to the Eurocodes' fixed values. We find that using fixed partial factors to ensure structural safety in these limit states might not be suitable. The implications are discussed along with suggestions of other more suitable methods to account for uncertainties in rock engineering design.