17/09/2019

Lecture 9
INDEX PROPERTIES OF
ROCKS

ROCK INDEX PROPERTIES

• Certain rock properties are of particular
importance as they may affect the planning
and cost of a project
• Prior knowledge of these index properties
guide certain project decisions. E.g.:
• whether a rock will be blasted by explosives or
simply be removed by ripping
• whether excavated rock is good construction
material for a specific purpose or lacks the
essential characteristics.

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INDEX PROPERTIES Include:

POROSITY (n)
• Fraction expressing the proportion of void space to the total
space (volume) in the rock or the ratio of the volume of voids in a
soil or rock

• Vp – volume of pores
• Vt – total volume
• In sedimentary rocks, n generally varies between 0 & 90%
• Typical average values for sandstones – 15%
• For these rocks, porosity generally decreases with age and depth
below the surface
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Porosity contd
• In crystalline limestone, most igneous & metamorphic
rocks, a large proportion of the pore space is made up of
planar cracks called fissures
• In igneous rocks, porosity is < 2% unless the rock is
deeply weathered (may be > 20%).
• High porosity in such rocks can therefore serve as an
indication of the quality/competence of the rock
• Porosity can be determined from any of the following:
• Water content after saturation in water
• Mercury content after saturation with mercury
• Measured solid volume and pore air volume using Boyle’s Law

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Typical Porosity values of some common rock types.

DENSITY
• Density or ‘Unit weight’ of a rock refers to its specific weight. Closely
related to this is the Specific Gravity Gs.
• Gs is the ratio between the rock’s density & the unit weight of water γw
• Rocks with a specific gravity of 2.6 has a density of approximately 26
kN/m3
Relevant relationships
• γdry = Gs γw(1-n)
• γdry = γwet/(1+w)
• A relationship between w & n
• n = wGs/(1+wGs)
• Rocks exhibit a far greater range in density values than soils
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Importance of rock density to Engineering &

Mining practice

• Usually high density (e.g. in a roof of a mine tunnel) implies

shortening the safe span of the roof
• A concrete aggregate with higher than average density may
mean smaller volume of concrete required (e.g. for a concrete
retaining wall/dam)
• In oil shale, the density indicates the value of the mineral
commodity – oil yields correlates directly with the unit weight

PERMEABILITY
• Evaluates the relative interconnection of the pores in rock
• Measurement of this property can help deal with various practical
problems related to:
• Pumping of water, oil, gas
• Disposing of liquid waste into porous formations
• Assessing water-tightness of a reservoir
• Predicting water inflows/floods into tunnels

• qx – rate of flow in the x- direction

• h – hydraulic head
• A – x-sectional area normal to x

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• Equation most appropriate when dealing with water flow thru

rocks at a temp. of approx 20o
• When temp. varies considerably from 20o or when other
fluids are to be considered, a more useful form of Darcy’s
Law is:

• P – fluid pressure
• µ - viscosity of the permeant/fluid

Determination of permeability
• Permeability coeff from a radial
1.Measuring time for a specific
volume of fluid to pass through
a specimen when a constant air
pressure acts over the surface
of a fluid
2.Generating a radial flow in a
hollow cylindrical specimen,
prepared by drilling a coaxial
central hole in a drill core.
Radial flow can be from inside
or from outside
flow test can be approximated
using the expression:
• q – rate of flow
• L – length of specimen
• R1 & R2 – outer & inner radii of
specimen
• Δh – head difference across the
flow region corresponding to an
appropriate Δp used in the test

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• Dense rocks like granite, basalt & crystalline

limestone usually exhibit very small permeability
as laboratory specimens
• However, field tests in such rocks may show
significant permeability
• The reasons for this discrepancy is usually
attributed to regular sets of open joints and
fractures in the rock mass

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STRENGTH – as an index property

• Strength as an index property can be evaluated
using the POINT LOAD test
• In this test a piece of rock is loaded between two
60o hardened steel cones with a tip radius of
5mm
• The equipment used is a standard portable
apparatus ideal for rapid, direct field testing
• Can be used on rock cores as well as irregular
rock lumps

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SLAKING & DURABILITY

• These properties have to do with the breakdown of rock
structure in conjunction with degradation of rock quality
• Can be as a result of hydration, solution, oxidation, abrasion &
other processes
Quick testing for these properties include the following:

a. Soaking
• Performed on shales & claystones & measures the rate &
amount of strength reduction as a result of soaking

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b. Slake Durability test

• Apparatus consists of a drum, 140mm in diam & 100 mm long with
sieve mesh forming the cylindrical walls (2mm openings)
• About 500g of rock is broken into 10 lumps & loaded inside the
drum, which is turned at 20 revs/min in a water bath
• After 10 min, the %age of rock retained inside the drum, on a dry
weight basis, is reported as the slake durability index

REBOUND NUMBER
• Rebound number (R), measured using a Schmidt Concrete Test
Hammer, type N can be used to assess in situ strength of rocks.
• The rebound height of the hammer is expressed as a percentage of
the forward travel distance of the hammer mass.
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SWELLING COEFFICIENT (Es)

• A measure of the change of length of a sample which was
initially oven dried then soaked in water till it becomes fully
saturated
• Expressed as a ratio of the original (dry) and final (saturated)
lengths.
• This swelling behaviour is related to the amount of
expansive clay minerals contained in a rock.
• Es and the saturation moisture content can give an indication
of the susceptibility of a given rock to weathering processes

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