# A comparative study on machine learning approaches for rock mass classification using drilling data

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.10404 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10404/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 9 of its 64 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 15 Mar 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6980/) (2014)
- [PyTorch: An Imperative Style, High-Performance Deep Learning Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.01703/) (2019)
- [XGBoost: A Scalable Tree Boosting System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.02754/) (2016)
- [Optuna: A Next-generation Hyperparameter Optimization Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.10902/) (2019)
- [PyOD: A Python Toolbox for Scalable Outlier Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.01588/) (2019)
- [Delving into Deep Imbalanced Regression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.09554/) (2021)
- [Balanced MSE for Imbalanced Visual Regression](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.16427/) (2022)
- [Distance and Similarity Measures Effect on the Performance of K-Nearest Neighbor Classifier -- A Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.04321/) (2017)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Unsupervised machine learning for data-driven rock mass classification: addressing limitations in existing systems using drilling data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.02631/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Current rock engineering design in drill and blast tunnelling primarily relies on engineers' observational assessments. Measure While Drilling (MWD) data, a high-resolution sensor dataset collected during tunnel excavation, is underutilised, mainly serving for geological visualisation. This study aims to automate the translation of MWD data into actionable metrics for rock engineering. It seeks to link data to specific engineering actions, thus providing critical decision support for geological challenges ahead of the tunnel face. Leveraging a large and geologically diverse dataset of 500,000 drillholes from 15 tunnels, the research introduces models for accurate rock mass quality classification in a real-world tunnelling context. Both conventional machine learning and image-based deep learning are explored to classify MWD data into Q-classes and Q-values, examples of metrics describing the stability of the rock mass, using both tabular and image data. The results indicate that the K-nearest neighbours algorithm in an ensemble with tree-based models using tabular data, effectively classifies rock mass quality. It achieves a cross-validated balanced accuracy of 0.86 in classifying rock mass into the Q-classes A, B, C, D, E1, E2, and 0.95 for a binary classification with E versus the rest. Classification using a CNN with MWD-images for each blasting round resulted in a balanced accuracy of 0.82 for binary classification. Regressing the Q-value from tabular MWD-data achieved cross-validated R2 and MSE scores of 0.80 and 0.18 for a similar ensemble model as in classification. High performance in regression and classification boosts confidence in automated rock mass assessment. Applying advanced modelling on a unique dataset demonstrates MWD data's value in improving rock mass classification accuracy and advancing data-driven rock engineering design, reducing manual intervention.