Arbanas, Ž, Grošić, M & Kovačevic, MS 2007, 'Rock Mass Reinforcement Systems in Open Pit Excavations in Urban Areas', in Y Potvin (ed.), Slope Stability 2007: Proceedings of the 2007 International Symposium on Rock Slope Stability in Open Pit Mining and Civil Engineering, Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, pp. 171-183, https://doi.org/10.36487/ACG_repo/708_10
(https://papers.acg.uwa.edu.au/p/708_10_Arbanas/)
Abstract: In the City of Rijeka, Croatia, in the Kantrida region, the Water Sport Complex for the 2008 European 
Champion ship is under construction. An excavation for a garage in the north part of the complex is the most 
geotechnically demanding part of the project. Several existing buildings (a petrol station and an apartment 
building) and a traffic line to the north are in close proximity to the construction site. Geotechnical 
conditions at the site are very complex: on the lateral sides of the pit a limestone rock mass outcrops at 
surface while in the eastern central part of the location there is a ravine filled with deep clayey deposits. The 
natural surficial terrain has significantly been changed by cut and fills activities. The excavation itself 
involves a construction pit, varying from 14.50 m deep on the northern end to 1 m depth on the southern end, 
which was designed, based on the results of the detailed geotechnical investigation work performed. The 
open pit was constructed in several phases, with a retaining wall constructed for the soil layers and 
reinforcement by bolting and a grid reinforced concrete construction. During the open pit construction, a 
monitoring system was established. An active design procedure was established which made possible 
required changes to the rock mass reinforcement system in the cuts. This paper presents the execution of this 
work, as well as the behaviour of reinforcement systems, comparing deformations obtained from a numerical 
model and in situ measurements during the excavation of the open pit.