Engineering rock mechanics is the discipline used to design structures built of rock. These structures encompass foundations, dams, slopes, shafts, tunnels, caverns, hydroelectric schemes, mines, radioactive waste repositories and geothermal energy projects: in short, any structure built on or in a rock mass. Despite the variety of projects that use rock engineering, the principles remain the same. Engineering Rock Mechanics clearly and systematically explains the basic principles, how to study the interactions between these principles and discusses the fundamentals of excavation and support and the application of the principles to the design of surface and underground structures.