AUTHOR: GODFREY MOENG MONYAKENG

ST ID: 17000196
COURSE: MINING ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT: MINING AND GEOLOGICAL
LECTURE: DR YENDAW
EXPERIMENT TITLE: UN-AXIAL COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH TEST

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... 3
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 4
PROCEDURE ............................................................................................................................... 6
RESULTS ...................................................................................................................................... 7
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ........................................................................................ 10
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 11

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ABSTRACT
An experiment was carried out with the aim of determining the Un-Axial Compressive Strength
of core rock specimen. 5 core rock specimens were used to carry out the experiment. They
were all subjected to compression along their longitudinal axis and the failure loads were
recorded. It was found that the specimen 2 was able to fail at the highest value of a given load
which was 191.1kN hence giving an Un-axial Compressive strength of 107.82Mpa. It was also
found that specimen 3 was the weakest with a failure load of 76.9kN hence giving an Un-Axial
Compressive stress of 43.05Mpa.

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INTRODUCTION
In engineering applications it is very vital for engineers to study the behavioural effects of a
material. Agustawijaya(2007) says that this is for the purpose of knowing in what orientations
will the material likely fail, and at what values of applied loads will the material also fail. This
data is very useful for engineers to use as a point of reference when they make geological
structures such as tunnelling, excavations etc. Index tests are a very useful means of
determining certain properties by referencing certain samples that are used to represent a larger
geological area. There are many criteria used for these tests.
Compressive strength test
‘’Uniaxial compressive strength is used to design many geotechnical engineering structures
such as foundations and thus, it is a very valuable parameter. Many models were available in
the literature based on Uniaxial compressive strength (it is also referred to as unconfined
compressive strength, UCS)’’ (Sazzad, 2017).

Figure.1 Mode of load application to test for UCS

The compressive strength of a material is its ability to resist the forces trying to push the
material together (J.R.Manuel, 2015). This characteristic is dependent on so many factors such
as the isotropic or anisotropic character of type of material, machine used for testing, the
geometrical nature of material etc, volume of voids pre-existing, amount of moisture (Barton,
2017). Different materials/rocks exhibit this behaviour in different manners due to the
complexity of the type of bonding/crystalline that they have. (J.R.Manuel, 2015)
Several properties of a material play a role in its compressive strength as shown below:
-Volume of voids in the material: Voids serve as a route for cracks to propagate through a
material.
-Height/Diameter ratio

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-Rate of application of load
-rock type
-surrounding Temperature: ‘’The uniaxial compressive strength of a rock under static loading
often decreases with an increasing temperature at which the rock has been heat-treated before
strength testing’’ (J.R.Manuel, 2015)

Unaxial Strength classification system collected from (J.R.Manuel, 2015)

UCS Rating
<5Mpa Very low
5-25Mpa Low
25-50Mpa moderate
50-100Mpa medium
100-250Mpa high
>250Mpa Very high

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PROCEDURE
Apparatus
• Load frame
• Flat steel platen with thickness of 15mm or D/3
• Upper spherically seated compression platen

Actual Methodology
The specimens which were used to carry out the Un-Axial compressive strength were 5
core rock specimen. The core rock specimen were machined to specific geometrical
requirements that the ratio of their heights to diameters ranged between 2.5 to 3.0 and it
was also preferred that the diameter of the specimen is not less than NX core size.
The geometrical properties which included the heights and diameters of the specimen were
measured so that it was made sure their H/D ratios were in the required range. Their masses
were also considered. The 5 core rock specimens were also machined on the cross-sectional
area surfaces to be flat or at-least not deviate to more than 0.05mm to 5mm of being
perpendicular to the specimen.
The 5 core rock specimens were given labels or marked awaiting to be tested for their Un-
Axial compressive strength. Each of the specimen were introduced to the machine, one at
a time. Each were inserted into the machine and ensured of their flatness on the steel platen
and that the specimen stood almost perfectly upright close to a 90 degree angle.
The purpose for ensuring the flatness of the cross sectional area of the specimen was to
make sure that the axis of loading was in line with the longitudinal axis of the core rock
specimen to that any compression effects experienced by the specimen are about uniform
throughout.
After the insertion procedures, the machine was turned on, and the rate of at which the
compression platens moved towards the specimen was tuned to a very slow rate such that
the loading rate is between on 0.5Mpa/s and 1.0 Mpa/s so that the failure occurs 5 to 10
minutes of loading. Results were then taken and recorded to compute the Un-Axial
compressive strength of the core rock specimens.

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RESULTS
Failure Average
Sample Diameter H/D Failure
Weight(g) Height(m) Area Stress/UCS UCS(Mpa
Number (m) Ratio load(kN)
(Mpa) )
1 657.28 0.139 0.04780 0.00178 3 89 50.06
2 662.85 0.139 0.04751 0.00177 3 191.1 107.82
52.14
3 663.55 0.140 0.04769 0.00179 3 76.9 43.05
5 668.59 0.141 0.04742 0.00177 3 119.1 7.63

Sample 1

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Sample 2

Sample 3

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Sample 5

Sample Calculations
Calculation for UCS
𝐹𝑓
𝜎=
𝐴
For sample 3
σf = 76.9 X 103N/0.00179m2
= 43.05 N/m2

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DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
It was found that the core rock specimen which was able to attain more load without failure
was sample 2 with a failure load of 191.1kN. By convention using the stress formula it was
also found that the Un-axial compressive stress of the specimen was 107.82Mpa. This means
that this is the maximum stress value that the specimen can absorb before it fractures. This also
means that at micro-level, the specimen is able to withstand both axial and lateral deformations
for a long time before the maximum stress value. This also means the material had a high UCS
rating.
It was also determined that the core rock sample which failed at a very low load was sample 3
with a failure load of 76.9kN. By convention using the stress formula it was also found that the
Un-Axial compressive stress was 43.05Mpa. This could mean that the sample might have had
pre-existing discontinuity planes or weak planes which are inclined favourable to the axis of
loading to cause a quick failure. This also means the sample had a very low UCS rating

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REFERENCES
Agustawijaya, D., 2007. Research Gate. [Online]
[Accessed July 2020].

Barton, N., 2017. Research Gate. [Online]

Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/where_is_used_the_uniaxial_compressive_strength
[Accessed July 2020].

J.R.Manuel, 2015. Science Direct. [Online]

Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/uniaxial-compressive-strength/pdf
[Accessed July 2020].

Sazzad, M. M., 2017. Research Gate. [Online]

Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/where_is_used_the_uniaxial_compressive_strength
[Accessed July 2020].

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