Rock Engineering

13.07.2022
As a geotechnical engineer, we have to know the engineering associated with this natural occurring
material, rock which is very much different from soil and concrete.
Topics
Rock formation:
Rock forming minerals, identification, geological classification of rocks, geological structures ,
folds,faults , joints
Stereographic projection of geologic data:

Lecture 10: Laboratory testing of rocks – Sampling

How to get samples from field, how to bring it to lab, how to prepare specimens in lab
Strength, modulus and Stress-strain response of rocks are influenced by the mineralogical content,
extent of pore and presence of pore fluid,
Rock cores – various tests in the laboratory to determine the
Mineralogical composition
Physical properties
Engineering properties
One rock is different from the other with respect to the mineralogical composition. The identification
does not fall in the civil engineering field. But we need to know the composition of the rock in
general. Micrographic tests for petrographic description of rocks to indicate mineral content, grain
size, texture, fabric, degree of weathering, micro-fracture and porosity – all these are conducted on the
thin section of the rock.
Physical properties – Bulk and saturated unit weight, specific gravity, water content, porosity, void
ratio, degree of saturation
Engineering properties – They are used in the design of underground excavations, tunnel, dam
foundation etc.
Unconfined compression strength test – compressive strength, modulus, Poisson’s ratio, stress strain
response including modes of failure
Brazilian tensile test – obtains the tensile strength
Shear tests – obtains the shear strength parameters on joints with or without gouge material
Unconfined compression test – loading is applied in one direction; specimen is failed and strength is
obtained in one directional compression.
Brazilian tensile test – Tensile strength for rock is almost zero for soil, whereas rock has some tensile
strength. The tensile strength is less than the compressive strength. For eg. During analysis of tunnel
at the crown of the tunnel, even under the application of compressive stress, there will be tensile
stresses in the crown of the tunnel. Therefore, knowing tensile strength is also equally important.
Triaxial test: To obtain strength envelope, shear strength parameters of chosen failure criterion, stress-
strain responses, variation of moduli and modes of failure of rock specimens with confining pressure.
Point load strength index test – obtain compressive strength, tensile strength
Slake durability test – resistance of rock samples to disintegration when subjected to wetting and
drying, index is obtained which indicates the rocks resistance to weathering
Sound velocity test – elastic waves, P and S waves are propagated into the rock and estimate elastic
constants like the modulus of elasticity, modulus of rigidity and poisons ratio.
Swelling test – Few minerals when they come in contact with water expands. When such minerals are
present this test is conducted
Schmidt rebound hammer number – rebound number is found and is correlated with the compressive
strength for the rocks
Dry unit weight = weight of grain of sample / bulk volume of sample
Water content = weight of water / weight of solid
Volume of solid grains = Dry unit weight / Specific gravity
Volume of voids = 1- volume of solids
Void ratio = Volume of voids / volume of solids
Porosity = volume of voids/ total volume
Moisture content at 100% saturation = 100* void ratio / specific gravity
Degree of saturation = 100* weight of soil / weigh of solids
Rock Coring
Rock sample extraction is not that easy when compared to the soil. Obtaining the rock cores is called
Coring. The strength characteristics of rock is higher than the soil and therefore to extract the rock
from ground, we have to use thick-walled tube barrels, the tips are made of diamond or tungsten. The
rotary drills grind away an annular zone around the sample and advances into the ground while
cuttings are washed out by circulating water, in a manner similar to wash boring in soils. Extraction
process is very much different from soil and one has to use hardest material for extraction of rock
from the ground. Core boxes are used to store the rock cores. There should not be additional cracks
and breakage to the rock cores and hence they are to be preserved before testing. In the core box the
rocks are arranged in the order of which it was obtained from the ground. The core boxes are to be
carefully studied before testing the rocks.
Drilling sizes
Diameter – EX – 23 mm
AX – 28 mm
BX – 41 mm
NX – 54 mm (recommended by ISRM)
How to do the coring?
Rock masses in general are highly heterogeneous. It is extremely important to collect samples from
every possible location. Extracting the rock samples from the field is very expensive. Proper
lithological study is to be performed and where the variation is seen has to be noted on the cross
section of the deposit. Further, the presence of the cleavage planes, joints, cracks and other
discontinuities have to be taken into account. Once the rocks are sampled, they have to be carefully
transported without causing any new cracks or extension of the existing cracks.
Sample preparation
Types of specimens

 Cylindrical, Prismatic or cubic

 Irregular – If not possible to get regular specimen these can be used
 Special shape specimens
Length / Diameter ratio for some tests: ISRM guidelines
Compressive strength test – 2.5 to 3.0 (2 to 2.5 is acceptable)
In weak rocks it is difficult to get 2.5 to 3.0, 2 to 2.5 also serves the purpose
Brazilian test – 0.5 to 1
Bending test – 3 to 7
Punch test – 0.20 to 0.25
Sometimes it is not possible to conduct tests in the fields due to the blasting. The large blocks are
transported to the laboratory. The blocks are cut into small ones using machines or manually. During
this process, no new cracks are to be introduced. Cores are drilled out from these blocks. L/D has to
be cut with a margin for smoothening the specimen. The ends of the specimen may not be smooth. It
is important to finish the ends of the specimen. There should not be ridges or hollows at the ends. If
they are present, the rock fails at a lower load. Specimen ends need to be finished using a surface
grinder, lathe machine. ISRM has given a tolerance for specimens tested for compressive strength test.
The ends of the specimen shall be flat to 0.02 mm. Ends of the specimen should be perpendicular to
the axis of the specimen and the deviation permitted is 0.001 radian. Sides should be straight all along
its length.
Specimen preparation is very important. If not prepared properly the test results might be misleading.
When the specimen is irregular, ie when the corners are sharp, they are tapped with a hammer and
made blunt.
How many samples should we test?
Rock is highly heterogeneous. The scatter is much more as compared to the soils. Depending upon the
scatter, the number of specimens is decided.
Not much variability in the lithology – no of samples – UCS test – 5 samples

Unconfined Compressive Strength test

The result from the UCS test is in the form of a plot of load (x axis) vs. displacement (x axis)
Compressive strength = peak load/ initial crosssectional area of the specimen perpendicular to the
direction of loading.
Factors influencing compressive strength
1. Specimen features
Shape, L/D ratio, volume
 Lower L/D ratio – higher compressive strength
Higher L/D ratio – lower compressive strength because the number of fractures present in the
volume is more, larger the volume more is the presence of microcracks.

2. Friction at the ends

The platens are placed at the loading ends. There is an interface between the platedn and the
specimen, if the friction is high, the compressive strength is high. This is misleading as the
rock will not have so much strength.

3. Rate of loading
Higher rate – higher compressive strength

4. Temperature
Test at higher temperature – lower compressive strength

5. Stiffness of the machine

Load is applied in increments. When the peak load is reached failure takes place. The load vs.
deformation plot drops down. If the machine is not stiff then the behaviour of the rock in the
post peak is not seen. The machine has to be sufficiently stiff and needs to be servo
controlled. The servo controlled can either be stress controlled and strain controlled. The load
is applied to the specimen through a spherical seating platen at a stress rate of 0.5 to 1.0
MPa/sec or test is completed within 5 to 10 mins i.e strain controlled (strain rate is less than
0.01 cm/cm/sec). Stress controlled test is close to realistic problems
Diameter measurement of the specimen
Take 6 values and take the average value.
Stress at any axial strain = axial load / cross sectional area of the specimen
Corresponding axial strain = Deformation under load P / original length
At failure, Load at failure / CSA of the specimen
The specimen when applied with axial load, as it is not confined in both the sides, it is free to deform
in the lateral direction as well.
Diametral strain = diametric deformation / diameter of the specimen
Volumetric strain at any axial strain = axial strain + 2(diametral strain)
Important observations from the UCS test
Tangent modulus – usually at 50% of the failure stress
Secant modulus – usually upto 50% of the failure stress
Initial tangent modulus – slope of the initial portion of the curve
Poissons ratio can also be obtained from the straight line portion of the plot.

At times it is not possible to get specimens with L/D = 2 or more than 2. ISRM suggests that L/D has
to be between 2.0 to 3.0. Based on the dimensions of the core that is obtained from the field, we can
decide the size of the specimen. In this case a size correction is applied.
In case the L/D is less than 2 , ie the specimen L/D must be within 1 to 2.
0.222
σ c =σ c 1 [0.778+ ]
()L
d

σ c1 = compressive strength for L/D = 1 specimen

σ c = compressive strength for required L/D (1 to 2)

Suppose I conduct UCS test on a specimen with L/D ratio of 1.5.

Test gives σ c at 1.5

0.222
σ c(1.5)=σ c 1 [0.778+ ]
1.5
From the above equation we can get the σ c1
Suppose σ c1=22 MPa

0.222
σ c =22[0.778+ ]
2
We will get the value for L/D = 2, ie UCS of the rock.
The elastic modulus value obtained can be taken as the elastic modulus and does not require any
correction.
Type of rocks Poissons ratio
Andesite 0.20 – 0.35
Basalt 0.10 – 0.35
Conglomerate 0.10 – 0.40
Diorite 0.20 – 0.30
Gneiss 0.10 – 0.30
Granite 0.10 – 0.33
Rock salt 0.05 – 0.30

The large variation in the poison’s ratio is because of the large number of rocks due to the variation in
the mineralogical composition. Similar to the variation in the poison’s ratio, the UCS value variation
is also very large. The strength may vary from 100 to 320 MPa (eg.). This might be due to the
mineralogical composition and also due to the microcracks present. The quantification of the
microcracks is practically possible and they are an inherent property of the rocks. Almost all the
properties obtained from the field shows large variation due to the presence of these microcracks. The
UCS range is wide in the case of rocks.

Typical stress-strain response in uniaxial compression

Typical pre and post peak stress strain curve in uniaxial compression
Factors influencing the compressive strength
1. Friction between end platen and end surface
Specimen section – divided into 2 major regions
One containing biaxial compressional stresses (strains) near contact surfaces
Other containing tensile stresses (strains) in one axis
Near the ends, in the conical portions there is biaxial compression stresses, one due to the
axial load and the other due to the friction between the platen and the surface of the rock
specimen.
In the other section, the zone is subjected to tensile stresses along one direction. What does
this tensile stress do?
Radial shear lines originate from A,B,D,E
Biaxial compressional stresses induce strengthening effect whereas the tensile stresses have a
weakening effect on the compressive strength.
Biaxial compressive stresses have significant influence on the strength, the friction at these
contact surfaces need to be minimised.
In the actual compressive strength test, a slight amount of radial as well as circumferential
expansion of the ends is expected so that the stress distribution has greater uniformity – this
effect at ends – UCS higher than its actual value.
Providing a layer of grease in between the end platen and end surface is helpful to overcome
this influence.

2. Specimen geometry
Cylindrical, prismatic, cubic.
Cylindrical is preferred, since preparation is easy and the stress distribution in uniform

L/D ratio
Specimens with small L/D
 The loading tends to be triaxial and in case if there is this state of stress, the UCS value will
be very high
Specimens with very large L/D
When loaded, there will be elastic instability and the specimen will fail because of this.
So, L/D of 2.0 has to be adopted. Reducing the friction leads to the occurrence of uniaxial
compressive stresses, stress distribution is uniform.

Size
Compressive strength of specimen reduces with increase in size. When there is large size,
there might be larger flaws during extraction of the specimen.

3. Rate of loading
Compressive strength increases with increased rate of loading.
For eg. Impact and sonic velocity test, the strength characteristics are higher than that
obtained under slow loading rate.

ISRM suggests stress rate – 0.5 to 1.0 MPa.

Compressive strength increases considerably with higher rate of straining and the specimen
fails violently and abruptly. Strain rate less than or equal to 0.01 cm/cm/sec

4. Environmental factors
Increase in moisture content – reduces the compressive strength
When samples are tested dry, they do not represent the exact field conditions.
Type of the liquid – some minerals when it comes in contact with the liquid, it expands in
volume and this propagates the cracks and reduces the strength.
No oils are to be used during the cutting as this will influence the strength of the rock. The
heat generated during the cutting also creates cracks. And hence plain water is used during
cutting.
Temperature – Temperature influences the strength, test

Pattern of failure of the rock specimen – symmetric or random

Three types of failure
1. General crumbling – multiple cracks parallel to the direction of the loading, starting from
mid height and extension of these cracks along the centre and the ends. When the
specimen collapses, ie and the end of the test

2. Occurs with the development of more or more cracks parallel to the direction of
application of force resulting in a series of columns. Termed as slabbing, vertical
splintering or splitting
3. Shearing of test specimen along a single oblique plane
First mode of failure is the most common.
Second type of failure occurs only when the end constraint is removed.
Third type of failure is generally due to platen rotation or lateral translation of platens
relative to each other, this type of failure occurs due to the characteristic of loading
system.

Failure mechanism of specimens in compression

First mode of failure – Rocks have microcracks. They are not under the category of joints
or fissures. Any intact rock has microcracks. We apply load in increments till the
specimen fails. During initial load, cracks which lie in the most unfavourable condition
wrt to the application of the load will propagate and it will start branching. This effect is
called branching effect. This aligns itself in the direction of loading. Then the axial
loading is increased. Now, when the stress is increased, the branch cracks propagate and
align themselves in the vertical direction. The process will continue until all the
microcracks orient along the direction of the applied load. Ultimately there is formation
of interconnecting cracks which lead to macroscopic failure. Biaxial state of stress, in the
two conical portions, gives the strengthening effect, so when the cracks get aligned, these
cracks will not be able to propagate to these conical zones. The macro fractures are along
the diagonal direction of the specimen. The two conical portions are free from cracks. The
other portions are heavily microcracked.

Post peak behaviour

Normal machine – not possible to attain the post failure curve.
When the peak strength is exceeded, the rapid failure occurs due to the release of the
excessive energy. The normal machine cannot capture the post failure. Hence, stiff
machines need to be used. Converting a normal machine to stiff machine, increase the
cross sectional area and reduce the length of the various components. The post failure
curves in general are characterised by sudden drop in the load-displacement behaviour.
 The failure pattern can be divided into 8 different zones. Regions 1,2,3, when load is applied,
the microcracks get closed. Then random crack formation is seen, the cracks grow and then
sliding take place. When there is a transition between 3 and 4, peak occurs. In the 4th region,
some cracks formed more or less parallel to the direction of loading which grow in
subsequent stages of post-failure curve with almost no change in their orientation. The cracks
appearing at the centre of the specimen height leads to spalling of material resulting in
reduction of CSA. Spalling continues in the region 5. There is rapid reduction in the stress
and the cross-sectional area. This continues with the shear fractures in region 6. Shear failures
grow rapidly. Loose mass oof broken material are held together by friction.

If we have a good core recovery of the rocks, if L/D is greater than 2 then preparation is easy.
In weak rocks, irregular specimens are tested. When the rocks are very strong, extraction of
specimen from the sample becomes difficult. During transportation, new cracks should not be
propagated.

ISRM method (1961) for testing irregular specimens

Egg shaped irregular specimen is taken. Irregular specimen is hit with the hammer and the
edges are made blunt and egg-shaped specimens are prepared. The load is applied along the
longest axis. The ratio of the dimension can be 1.5:1. Roughly the volume has to be 100
cm^3. At least 15 samples need to be tested if the specimen is irregular.
Compressive strength = applied force at failure / maximum area of cross section of the
specimen.
Compressive strength of regular specimen = compressive strength of irregular specimen /
0.19

Indirect methods for determining the UCS

Point load strength index test
Roughly chiselled spherical mass of 30 to 50 mm diameter is taken.
Load is applied and the specimen is broken.

Th loading platens are cones with apex angle of 60 degree and 5 mm radius.
Point load strength index = P/d^2
d is the size of the specimen after placing between the conical tips
Compressive strength = K* Point load index
K varies between 15 to 35 (20 to 25 generally taken)
If 50 mm size samples are not available, then correction is applied similar to that of the UCS of the
rock specimen. If the specimen is 30 mm size, then the correction is applied and the point load index
is calculated as I50= F* (Load / d^2)
Where F = (d/50) ^ 0.45
Compressive strength obtained from point load index can’t be used for the design purpose, it can be
used only for classification of rocks.
For different shapes specimens, there are certain conditions to be followed.

If the conditions are not followed, the UCS value determined is unreliable.

Tensile Strength of the Rock

As against soil, rock possess some tensile strength. In the case of tunnels, drilling and blasting
activity, tensile stresses develop. Tensile strength of the rock is also equally important. Specimens
tested for compressive strength at times fail due to the development of the tensile stresses. In the case
of CS determination, the specimen was subjected to compression directly. For tensile test, we have to
apply a pull with grip on the edges. The gripping of the specimen becomes very difficult in the case of
direct tests. To get uniform distribution of tensile stresses, the specimen shape has to be briquette
shaped which is not easy to make. If the specimen has to be applied with tensile stresses, gripping has
to be given in such a manner that it holds the specimen at the ends. Huge stress concentration is
located in the interface. The moment when there is non uniform stress distribution, the strength from
the test is misleading. To overcome these difficulties, indirect methods are devised.
 Bending tests
 Hydraulic extension test
 Brazilian test – generally used in the lab
 Ring test
 Diametral compression of cylinders, spheres
Brazilian test
Circular solid disc is taken. The specimens are compressed and hence called indirect test.
Specimen is assumed to be homogeneous, isotropic, linearly elastic
Limitations of test do exist, but gives reasonable values and hence can be adopted.
The stress distribution along the diameter is of great interest.
L/D ratio is taken as 1.
D = 54 mm
Tensile strength increases with the increased rates of loading and decrease with increase in water
content.
Specimen is fixed between the arrangement; a ball is placed on the top and compressed. Th specimen
loaded along the diameter. Tensile strength is greatly influenced by the plane of weakness or across it
in anisotropic specimen of slate, schist, or phyllite.

Reduces with the increase in volume or length due to the increase of microfractures.
The load at which the rock specimen fails can be obtained from the dial gauge.
Tensile strength can be assumed as some percentage of the UCS.
Usually TS is taken as UCS/10 as thumb rule.
Literatures have given ratios of UCS/ TS for different types of rocks.

Schmidt Rebound Hardness Test

Originally developed to test the insitu strength of concrete. There are different types of hammers. For
rocks we use L type hammer, energy 0.74 Nm. The hammer is pressed and released; we get the
recorded value. Correlation between UCS and Schmidt Rebound Number is given in the form of a
chart. The surface tested has to be perpendicular to the hammer.