Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Rock Testing
INTRODUCTION
Rock Mechanics: field of applied science and has
been recognized as a discipline in engineering.
It is a study on:-
For artificial material like concrete, its strength can be readily estimated
from its designed mix and behaves relatively more homogeneous
compared to rock.
Rock names and classifications (as defined in Geology) do not provide the
numerical values on strength or material properties of rock.
Can be undertaken on the surface of block or core samples and does not
involve destruction of sample.
For fresh rock (weathering grade I), JCS is approximately equals to the
UCS of the rock material.
Schmidt's hammer test at Lab
(Rebound Hammer L-type)
Schmidt's hammer test at Lab
(Rebound Hammer L-type)
Schmidt's hammer test at Field
(Rebound Hammer L-type)
Correlation chart for Schmidt
(Rebound) Hammer Test
Correlation chart for schmidt (l) hammer, relating rock density,
compressive strength and rebound number
Slake’s durability
Slake's durability test is used for measuring the
'resistance index' of a rock when subjected to
weathering.
Typical P-wave velocity (Vp) for materials like top soils and clays is less
than 2000 m/s compared to hard rock that may exceed 3000 m/s.
P-wave velocity used to differentiate between soil and rock material and
also as a guide for rock classification.
Besides UCS (MPa), if uniaxial strain (εa) and lateral strain (εr) are measured
during testing, value of Young's modulus (E) and Poisson ratio (v) of the rock
sample can also be determined.
Graph that normally plotted is STRESS (MPa) versus uniaxial and lateral
STRAIN (%) (stress-strain curve), such as Figure 8.7.
E = σ / εa
Cont’d
The average value of E (GPa) is the gradient of stress-
strain curve taken at 50% UCS (50% σc).
V = εr / (-εa)
This indicates their brittleness, i.e. higher stress and smaller strain at
failure.
Typical modes of failure for rock samples are shown in Figure 8.10
(Farmer 1982).
Table 8.2 Typical static mechanical properties of some common
rock types (after Bengt Stillborg, 1986)
Unconfined
Tensile Modulus of Point load
compressive Angle of
Rock class Rock type Strength σt elasticity E Index
strength σc Friction, Ø°
[MPa] [GPa] Is(50)[MPa]
[MPa]
Limestone 50 - 200 5-20 20 - 70 0.5 - 7 33 -40
Mudstone 5-15 - - 0.1 -6 -
Sedimentary rock Sandstone 50- 150 5-15 15-50 0.2-7 25-35
Siltstone 5 - 200 2-20 20-50 6- 10 27-31
Shale 50- 100 2- 10 5 -30 - 27
Gneiss 100-200 5-20 30-70 2- 11 23 - 29
Metamorphic rock Marble 100-200 5-20 30-70 2-12 25 - 35
Quartz 200 - 400 25 - 30 50-90 5- 15 48
Basalt 100-300 10- 15 40-80 9- 14 31 -38
Igneous rock Gabbro 100 - 300 10-15 40- 100 6- 15 -
Granite 100-200 5-20 30-70 5- 10 29-35
Mode of failure of rock under compression: crushing, fracture plane and barreling (ductile)
Triaxial Compression Test
This test is to evaluate the strength of rock under
confined conditions, representing rock occurring at
depth (σ = ρgh).
Shear test is normally conducted on weakness planes in rock (joint, fault and
bedding plane).
Failure and instability in rock mass (plane, wedge, toppling and rock fall) are
usually associated with weakness planes.
Thus to evaluate the stability of cut slopes and tunnel walls, the shear strength of
the discontinuities in the in-situ rock must be evaluated using laboratory test or
field test (if necessary).
During sampling and sample preparation, care and precaution must be taken to
ensure simple is not disturbed.
Portable shear box apparatus
Direct shear apparatus
Direct shear apparatus with Shear box assembly for 300 × 300 mm
servo-controlled system square-shape joint block.
(a) and (b) types of in situ shear test. (c) shear test on unconfining sliding block at constant normal load (d)
shear test on confined sliding block, variable normal load to ensure constant normal displacement (Bradey &
Brown, 1985)
Parameters affecting laboratory testing
Standard testing and sample preparation procedures (ISRM 1982) are mainly to
minimize factors affecting data obtained from a test. Among the factors include:
Specimen size (when discontinuities are included in the sample; core sample of
clastic sedimentary rock and metamorphic rock).
Loading rate (kN/s), straining rate (% strain/s) and shearing rate (mm/s) - the
higher the loading rate, the lower the strength. (ISRM recommended range: 0.1 to
0.001 millistrain/s or corresponding to 1,000 to 10 psi/s
For a given simple diameter (D), ultimate compressive strength (σult) decreases with
increasing sample height (H).
For H/D greater than 2.0 σult remains constant, thus the recommended H/D > 2 to eliminate size
effect.
End-conditions also affect σult. The stronger the end platens (graphite, rubber and steel) the
higher is the σult. (note: an important aspect in designing a pillars size in underground coal
mining).
Stiffness of compression machine use - stiff loading column or machine equipped with closed-
loop servo-controlled loading system to reduce sudden/violent post failure mode.
The state of stress (remnant stress) in tie rock mass may affect the strength of rock sample
obtained for testing.
Most of the above effect cannot be eliminated but can be minimized through standard
procedures (ISRM, ASTM, U.S. Bureau of Mines, South African Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy).
Figure 8.12: Effect of sample height and
end-platens on UCS of rock
Discontinuities in rock and
their effect on strength
Strength of rock material and rock mass consist of
compression (uniaxial and tri-axial), tensile, shear
(discontinuity planes) and other strength properties
like fatigue and creep.
Figure 8.15 shows the effect of single joint and multiple joint-set under
different inclination of uniaxial compression.
Table 8.4 can be used to estimate the strength reduction of the rock.
Q & A
Figure 8.13 Effect on flow cleavage
(schistosity) on strength of rock material
Figure 8.14 Scale effect – transition from intact rock to
heavily jointed rock mass with increasing sample size
Figure 8.15 The influence of weakness or discontinuity planes
on strength, e.g joint orientation with respect to loading axis
Table 8.4 Description of zone and weathering grade of rock (Attwell, 1993)
Figure 8.6 UCS Test
porosity
X X
X
of Void ratio X
Density: X X X X
properties of Natural X X
Maximum X X
rock and soil Minimum
Relative
X
X
(after Hunt, Hardness X
1984) Durability X
Sonic-wave characteristics X X X X
Grain-size distribution X
Liquid limit X
Plastic limit X
Plasticity index X
Shrinkage limit X
Uniaxial compression X
Point-load Index X
Permeability X X X X
Deformation modulus X X X X
Consolidation X X
[ixpansion X X X X
Strength: X X X X
Unconfined X X
Confined