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MODULUS OF ELASTICITY
DETERMINATION OF ROCKS
USING COMRESSOMETER, STRAIN
GAUGE AND LVDT
Mehmet Cemal Acar

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 MODULUS OF ELASTICITY DETERMINATION OF ROCKS
USING COMRESSOMETER, STRAIN GAUGE AND LVDT

M. C. ACAR1, Z. GÜNDÜZ2, H. B. KARA3

1
Kayseri V.C, Department of Construction, University of Erciyes, Kayseri, Turkey, acarc@erciyes.edu.tr
2
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Sakarya, Sakarya, Turkey, gunduz@sakarya.edu.tr
3
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Erciyes, Kayseri, Turkey hbkara@erciyes.edu.tr

Abstract
The laboratory tests have been used most frequently to determine Modulus of Elasticity of rocks. The intact core
rock samples representing the region were tested to determine their Young’s modulus in the laboratory using three
different means. Compressometer, linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) and strain gauges type of
instruments were used in this study. The axial compressive strain values of rock sample with compressometer
apparatus were calculated by reading on the digital dial gauge indicator. On the other hand, to measure the axial
strain of LVDT and strain gauge, there needs to be some experimental tools as LVDT, 120 ohm resistive unit strain
gauges, the connection terminals,100 kN capacity load cell Testbox1001 8-channel data acquisition device (to turn
the signals into meaningful results), and the software. Although, strain values obtained with compressometer and
LVDT are not same as with strain gauge value, but it is observed that the elasticity modulus of the three methods
were close to each other. These three methods can be used to find Young’s modulus of rocks, but there are
important details that need to be considered. All the methods are compared with each other and the actual behavior
of the rock mass is predicted successfully.

Keywords: Compressometer, LVDT, Strain Gauge, Young’s Modulus, Rock

1. Introduction
In most cases, the base of buildings, dams, bridges, airports, highways and tunnels are in connection with the rocky
ground. Consequently, the foundation design must be made by considering all types of static and dynamic loads
acting on the rock mass. The foundations have been established taking into account the geotechnical properties of
the rock material. Stiffness properties of rocks must be determined as accurately as possible to make an economical
design with an adequate safety factor. Field and laboratory experiments are applied to determine the effects of
structure to the ground. Specifically, laboratory experiments are utilized in the study of geotechnical properties of
rocks. The samples representing the rock mass in the region are tested in the laboratory to predict the actual
behavior of the rock. The purpose of this study is determine the modulus of elasticity of rocks as close as possible
to the actual field value by various methods. The elastic modulus determination under unconfined compression
test is essential for the design of rock structures because the main static loads are compressional loads.

2. Site Introduction and Materials

The area studied is located in the province of Kayseri in Central Anatolia in the zone of İncesu. Tuff rock samples
taken from this area were tested (Figure 1.) İncesu is in the southwest of Kayseri and on the 30.th km of Kayseri-
Niğde State Road. The city was founded in a narrow valley in which the incesu creek flowing in the eastern
direction. In this area, there is plenty of gray and pink tuf formations which attract attention. Tuffs consist of
granular materials such as volcanic ash, gravel and sand that are consolideted in the lakes or sea bed during the
volcanism. Origins are volcanic ash and dust. (Fisher et al., 2006).
Gilbert (1938) and Smith (1960) proposed to use the term welded tuff instead of ignimbrite for the tuffs. Tuffs are
generally classified into three categories: non-welded, partially welded and welded. American literature is still

1
used the term welded tuff rather than the term ignimbrite for the tuff. İncesu tuff can be categorized as welded tuff.
Non-welded tuffs have low unit weight and high Porosity and permeability, can be easily broken and crumbling.
However, welded tuffs have high unit weight and low Porosity and permeability, that glassy, brittle, and have a
fragile structure.

Figure 1. Cylindrical tuff samples of various diameters and lengths in experimental apparatus

3. Previous Work
Factors affecting the mechanical properties of rocks, sample size, degree of water saturation, loading rate, loading
direction and porosity may be considered. Nowadays, NX size (54.5 mm diameter, about 110 mm length) samples
are widely used in rock mechanics tests. The use of this size does not mean will give accurate results at all times.
Indeed, the appropriate sample size is determined by preliminary tests in the laboratory. Researchers have
conducted studies to find the best reflect the small sample size that will be compatible with the field. Lundborg
(1966), Bieniawski (1967), Hawkes&Mellor (1970) and Hoek&Brown (1980), investigated the relationship with
compressive strength and rock dimensions. They stated that the smallest available ratio must be as L/D=2,0. Price
(1986), made compression test to 34 tuff samples taken from Yucca Mountain with diameters in the range of 25.4
mm (1 inch) -228.6 mm (9 inches), studied the effect of size on the compressive strength. As a result, it is found
that elasticity modulus and Poisson's ratio is much less affected from the sample size, but strength and shear strain
is inversely proportional to the diameter of the sample. To increase the degree of water saturation of rocks, rocks
leads to a decrease in cohesion value. As a result, the reduction in compression resistance and bearing strength,
shear wave velocity, elasticity modulus and Poisson's ratio are observed. Haupt et al., (1991), Martin et al., (1993)
and Price (2004) made in several experiments have shown that with an increase in water content of the rocks leads
to decrease in compression resistance, decrease in the shear wave velocity and reduction in modulus of elasticity.

Haupt et al. (1991), has found dry tuff samples E values more than 6% than the water-saturated tuff. Price (1983),
were examined correlation between porosity and elasticity of Yucca Mountain tuff samples taken from the fully
saturated with water in uniaxial compression test. He explained that there is a strong association between the
elasticity and the porosity.

Although tuffs were studied in various engineering purposes, comparison of modulus of elasticity measurement
of tuff rock with different methods such as comressometer, strain gauge and lvdt has not been reported in the
literature as far as this issue is searched.

4. Test Procedure
The determination of stress-strain curves of intact rock core specimens under uniaxial compression are given in
ASTM D7012 – 13. Mainly ISRM (1987) 's suggestions are taken into consideration in the following test methods.
In this study, 100 kN loading press cell, Ele LVDT (Linear variable differential transformer used for measuring
linear displacement), 120 Ω resistive unit strain gages with a gage factor of +2 and the connection terminals,
Testbox1001 brand 8-channel data acquisition device (data logger used for receiving the electronic signal from the
LVDT, load cell (load cells) and strain gauges) and the software (to convert these signals into meaningful results)
were used in the experimental apparatus (Figure 1).

4.1 Specimen Preparation

Tuff rock samples taken from İncesu were tested with a test program at Erciyes University in the laboratory of
Soil and Rock Mechanics conforming to ISRM recommendations. The maximum attention has been paid to the

2
rules of sampling and, in particular, samples were prepared to represent the formation and properties of the rock
mass. Tuff block coring machine and end cutting device was used for sampling (Figure 2.). The ends of the sample
were corrected, polished with sandpaper and ready to experiment. The intact core sample was selected without
fissure and crack in it. The cylindrical samples were cored in various sizes using two different diamond core bit
(diameter of 50 mm and 54 mm) with a length / diameter ratio to be 2.0-2.5.

a. Milwaukee Coring Machine 2800 W b. Core cutting, smoothing and polishing table
Figure 2. Preparation of tuff samples

4.2 Young’s Modulus determination

Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) testing is carried out using a digitally-controlled testing machine with
measurement of the applied stress with reporting of the stress/strain plot.
At present, there are many methods for measuring elastic modulus of rocks. In this study, different cylindrical
sample sizes were used. In the experiments, the relationship between sample size and compressive strength was
investigated for the same kind of tuff formation.
Compressive strength (UCS) and static elastic modulus (E) can be determined by using a digitally-controlled
testing machine with measurement of the applied stress with reporting of the stress/strain plot. The load cell, strain
gauges and LVDT are connected to the sample and the data logger named testbox 1001. Secant Modulus, Young's
Modulus (tangent modulus) and poisson's ratio are obtained (Figure 3.). Stress-strain relationship of rocks is
highly variable under uniaxial compression tests and they don’t exhibit excellent elasticity in the experiments.
Thus, many of the elasticity modulus are described in the literature. In this work, tangent and secant elasticity
modulus is used and defined as,
a. Tangent modulus is measured at 50 % of ultimate strenght as the slope of a line tangent to the stress-strain
curve, � = ∆�/∆�. It is most suitable for the İncesu tuff samples which don’t exhibit excellent elasticity
b. Secant elasticity modulus is measured as the slope of the line from the origin to 50 % of ultimate strenght

Figure 3. Schematic representation of Tangent and Secant Elasticity Modulus

5. Test Results and Discussions

In this paper a comperative study has been conducted on the three methods for measuring elastic modulus of rocks
with diferent core sizes.

a) First, using a compressometer (deformation jacket) for obtaining elastic modulus of rock specimens from
stress-strain curves;
Kayseri-İncesu core tuff samples with 150 mm in diameter and 300 mm in height were prepared to test. In this
method, each end of one ton increase in vertical load, the analog dial reading were taken from the dial gauges
connected to the center of the sample one horizontal and one vertical. (Figure 4.).

3
 Figure 4. Elastic modulus and Poisson ratio test with a compressometer

In experiments conducted in this way, one of compressive strength value of the İncesu cylindrical tuff specimen
(150x300 mm) was found as 25.7 N/mm2 (MPa). The stress is calculated from a total of 112 points, as
Stress (N/mm2) = A * (Strain) + B * (Strain) ^ 2 in the form of 2nd degree polynomial coefficients and
determination coefficients were calculated and plotted (Figure 5.)

Tangent Modulus = 10050 N/mm2 (MPa)=10 GPa

Secant Modulus = 11229 N/mm2 (MPa)=11,2 GPa were found.

Figure 5. Stress-Strain graph for 150 mm x 300 mm cylindrical tuff sample using a compressometer

Second, 120-ohm electric resistance strain gauges are used to obtain elastic modulus; the stress and strain diyağram
is plotted by means of 120-ohm resistance strain gauges glued to the surface of tuff specimen.
The TESTBOX1001 8 channel data logger is purchased with the support of Erciyes University Scientific Research
Projects. It provided a very accurate electrical signal, strictly proportional to the strain of the specimen submitted
to load application, for automatic determination of the Modulus of Elasticity as alternative to the compressometer.
In experiments in accordance with the rules specified in Standard, 1 cm and 2 cm in length strain gages are used.
Finaly, electrical transducer (LVDT) is used to measure tangent modulus of İncesu tuff rocks. The longitudinal
displacements were measured using an LVDT mounted on the edge of the samples. It provided an electric signal
proportional to the linear shaft displacement. The testing temperature was 22 degrees Celsius, the samples were

4
room dried applied. Figure 6. shows the variation of stress-strain diyagram. All signals generated by LVDT
sensors are converted into digital signals.

Lateral Stain Gauge (1212) and Lateral (1212) and axial (1211)
Axial LVDT (1217) Stain Gauges

Figure 6. Stress-Strain behavior of the tuff samples

The digital signals are then transferred to a data acquisition connected to the computer and recorded. The recorded
signals are all electrical voltages. So they need to be converted into the physical values such as displacement or
acceleration by multiplying the appropriate calibration factors.
Thus, it is recommended to perform compressive strength tests with tuff specimens with a L/D ratio in between 2
and 2.5 to attain the most representative and closest value to the field. On the other hand, the elastic modulus shows
relatively less sensitivity to specimen size. The variation of the average value of elastic modulus with specimen
size is not greater than 10% (Table 1.). Therefore, one can say that size is less important for testing this tuff with
respect to elastic modulus.

Table 1. Test Results

Core Origin Diameter Length Specific Tangent
and Type (mm) (mm) Gravity Modulus
Core D L Gs E (GPa)
Tangent Modulus (E) Determination with Strain Gauges
İncesu Tuff i-1 49,5 118,0 2.56 11.532
İncesu Tuff i-2 49.5 116.1 2.56 11.704
İncesu Tuff İ-3 49.5 115.5 2.56 09.919
İncesu Tuff i-4 49.5 119.8 2.56 10.927
İncesu Tuff i-5 53.0 130.5 2.56 09.283
İncesu Tuff i-6 53.0 116.0 2.56 11.646
Tangent Modulus (E) Determination with LVDT
İncesu Tuff i-1 49,5 118,0 2.56 09.014
İncesu Tuff i-2 49.5 116.1 2.56 09.982
İncesu Tuff İ-3 49.5 115.5 2.56 08.189
İncesu Tuff i-4 49.5 119.8 2.56 11.870
İncesu Tuff i-5 53.0 130.5 2.56 12.180
İncesu Tuff i-6 53.0 116.0 2.56 08.086
Tangent Modulus (E) Determination with Compressometer
İncesu Tuff 1 156 300 2.56 10.050
İncesu Tuff 2 156 300 2.56 12.240
İncesu Tuff 3 156 300 2.56 11.137
İncesu Tuff 4 156 300 2.56 10.658
İncesu Tuff 5 156 300 2.56 11.022
İncesu Tuff 6 156 300 2.56 11.214

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6. Conclusions
A number of 12 laboratory tests including 6 tests on small size and 6 big size cylindrical dry tuff specimen were
conducted. The laboratory measurements showed that obtained tangent elasticity of tuff were in good agreement
with previous studies.

As it is clear from the above Table 1., althoug the longitudinal displacemant obtained by strain gauge, LVDT and
compressometer is not same, but tangent young modulus of tuffs are almost same in all methods. It is thought that
the deformations measured by compresometer give generally the best results. This result is natural and reasonable.
Because, strain gauge measere only 1 or 2 cm of rock properties. However, compressometer measures bigger part
of tuff samples. Other important conclusions are that care must be taken when measuring tangent modulus of tuff
rocks such as dimensions of a sample should be measured carefully, sample shouldn’t be cracked or fissured and
specimen axis should be perpendicular to each other.

References

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