Lectures on Rock Mechanics

SARVESH CHANDRA
Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
KANPUR, 208016 India
email: sarv@iitk.ac.in

INTRODUCTION
What is Rock
Mechanics?
Rock mechanics is a
discipline that uses the
principles of mechanics to
describe the behaviour of
rock of engineering scale.

Rock Mechanics Problems

How will rock react when put to mens use?
What is the bearing capacity of rock on surface an at
depths?
What is the shear strength of rocks?
What is the response of rocks under dynamic /
earthquake type loading?
What is the modulus of elasticity of rock and how to get
it?
What are the effects of rock defects (jointing bedding
planes, schistocity, fissures, cavities and other
discontinuities) on its strength?
What are the mechanisms of failure of rocks?

Rock as a Construction Material

For laying structural foundations to support
structures
For constructing Underground openings
For protecting slopes
For supporting railway tracks Ballasts
As base and sub-base for roads and runways
As aggregate in concrete
Making facia for buildings.

Era

Period
Quaternary

Geolo
gic
Time
Scale

Cenozoic

Pleistocene
Miocene

Tertiary

Oligocene
Eocene
Paleocene

Cretaceous
Mesozoic

Silurian
Ordovician
Cambrian

2 million
5 million
26 million
38 million
54 million
65 million
185 million
230 million

Permian

Devonian

10,000

130 million

Jurassic
Triassic

Paleozoic

Time Boundaries
(Years Ago)

Holocene - Recent
Pliocene

Carboniferous

Greenland

Epoch

Pennsylvanian
Mississippian

265 million
310 million
355 million
413 million
425 million
475 million
570 million

Precambrian

3.9 billion

Earth Beginning

4.7 billion

What are we calling a rock?

Grade Description Lithology

Excavation

Foundations

VI

Soil

Some organic content,

no original structure

May need to
Unsuitable
save and re-use

Completely
weathered

Decomposed soil, some

remnant structure

Scrape

Assess by soil
testing

IV

Highly
weathered

Partly changed to soil,

soil > rock

Scrape NB
corestones

Variable and
unreliable

III

Moderately
weathered

Partly changes to soil,

rock > soil

Rip

Good for most

small structures

II

Slightly
weathered

Increased fractures and

mineral staining

Blast

Good for
anything except
large dams

Fresh rock

Clean rock

Blast

Sound

Engineering classification of weathered rock

Primary Rock Types by Geologic

Origin
Sedimentary Types
Grain
Clastic
Aspects

Metaphorphic

Igneous Types

Carbonate

Foliated Massive Intrusive

Extrusive

Coarse

Conglomerate
Breccia

Limestone
Conglomerate

Gneiss

Marble

Pegmatite
Granite

Volcanic
Breccia

Medium

Sandstone
Siltsone

Limestone
Chalk

Schist
Phyllite

Quartzite

Diorite
Diabase

Tuff

Fine

Shale
Mudstone

Calcareous
Mudstone

Slate

Amphibolite

Rhyotite

Basalt
Obsidian

Index Properties of Intact Rock

Specific Gravity of Solids, Gs
Unit Weight,

Porosity, n
Ultrasonic Velocities (Vp and Vs)
Compressive Strength, qu
Tensile Strength, T0
Elastic Modulus, ER (at 50% of qu)

Specific Gravity of Rock Minerals

galena
pyrite
barite
olivine
dolomite
calcite
chlorite
feldspar
quartz
serpentine
gypsum
halite

Common Minerals
Average Gs = 2.70

0
Reference Value
(fresh water)

Specific Gravity of Solids, Gs

Unit Weights of Rocks

3

Saturated Unit Weight, T (kN/m )

28

sat = water [ Gs(1-n) + n]

26

24

22

20

Dolostone
Graywacke
Mudstone
Sandstone

18

16

Granite
Limestone
Siltstone
Tuff

Gs =
2.80
2.65
2.50

14

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

Porosity, n

0.4

0.5

0.6

Geologic Mapping of Rock Mass

Features

Quantitative Classification of Rock

Mass
Description of Joints:
Orientation, Persistence, Roughness, Wall
Strength, Aperture, Filling, Seepage,
Number of sets, Block size, spacing.
ISRM commissions report
Classification of Rock Material
Based on Uniaxial Compressive Strength

Uniaxial Compressive
Strength

Ranges for some

Common Rock
Material
Schist, Silt stone
Term
Kg/cm2
VW-W, Sand
Very Weak- VW
< 70
Stone, Lime stone
Weak- W
70-200
VW-M,Granite,
Medium Strong-MS 200-700 Basalt, Gneiss,
Strong- S
700-1400 Quartzite, Marble
MS-VS
Very Strong- VS
> 1400
|

Classification for Rock Material

Strength

Intact Rock Classification

Rock Type
Geologic Formation and Age
Indices:
Specific Gravity, Porosity, Unit Weight,
Wave Velocities
Strength (compressive, tensile, shear)
Elastic Modulus

Site investigation boreholes

Percussion drilling
soils/soft clay rocks
core recovery

Rotary coring
soil or rock >100m deep
core recovery

Rock probing
rotary percussion rig
soil or rock
no core recovery

Cable (percussion) rig

Shell

Rotary rig

Core bit

Core drilling

Rock core

 How to correlate the properties of rock studied in

the laboratory with in-situ properties?
What in-situ test methods will provide actual insitu conditions and properties of rock?
What design parameters are to be used for rock
slope design?
How to stabilize slopes and underground
openings?