What Is ROCK MECHANICS?

ROCK MECHANICS is the study of the mechanical behavior of subsurface sedimentary strata
and rock that are formed.
Rock mechanics involves characterizing the intact strength and the geometry and mechanical
properties of the natural fractures of the rock mass.
Rock mechanics is a theoretical and applied science of the mechanical of behavior of rocks and
rock masses.

ROCK MECHANICS CAN BE DIVIDED INTO TWO SUBCATEGORIES:

• ENGINEERING ROCK MECHANICS
• GEOLOGICAL ROCK MECHANICS

• Engineering rock mechanics is applied in human activities including civil engineering,

engineering geology, mining, petroleum, and environmental engineering.
•Geological rock mechanics deals with the rock’s response caused by natural geological
processes such as faults, folds, or fractures.

STRESS AND STRAIN

• The earth’s crust is constantly subjected to forces that push, pull, or twist it. These forces are
called stress. One type of stress is uniform, which means the force applies equally on all sides of
a body of rock. The other three types of stress are tension, compression, and shear, they are non-
uniform, or directed, stresses. In response to stress, rock may undergo strain.
STRESS
•Stress is the force applied to an object. In geology, stress is forced per unit area that is placed on
a rock.
•Rocks are also subjected to the three types of directed(non- uniform) stress.
1.Compression
2.Tension
3. Shear
COMPRESSION
•Compression is a directed(non-uniform) stress that pushes rocks together. The compressional
forces push towards each other, causing rocks to fold or fracture(break)
• Compression is the most common stress at divergent plate boundaries.
TENSION
•Tension is a directed(non-uniform) stress that pulls rock apart in opposite directions. The
tensional (also called extensional) forces pull away from each other. Rocks under tension
lengthen or break apart.
•Tension is the major type of stress at divergent plate boundaries.
SHEAR
• Shear stress is a directed(non - uniform) stress that pushes one side of a body of rock in one
direction, and the opposite side of the body rock in the opposite direction. The shear forces are
pushing in opposite ways.
•Shear stress is the most common stress at transform plate boundaries.

STRAIN
• Strain is the deformation of a material from stress. It is any change in volume or shape. Strain is
also known as deformation.
• In response to stress, rock may undergo three types of strain:
1.Elastic Strain
2.Ductile Strain
3.Fracture
ELASTRIC STRAIN
• Elastic strain is reversible
•Rock that has undergone only elastic strain will go back to it’s original shape if the stress is
released.
DUCTILE STRAIN
•Ductile strain is irreversible
•A rock that has undergone ductile strain will remain deformed even if the stress stops .
• Another term for ductile strain is plastic deformation.
FRACTURE
• Fracture is also called rupture.
• A rock that has ruptured has abruptly broken into distinct pieces. If the pieces are offset- shifted
in opposite directions from each other- the fracture is a fault.

STRESS AND STRAIN

With increasing stress, the rock undergoes: (1)elastic deformation, (2)plastic deformation, and(3)
fracture.
Explanation:
When the stress is increasing the rock may undergo elastic strain
When the stress is released in the elastic region the rock will return to it’s original shape but
when stress is higher than the elastic region or the elastic capacity of the rock then it will move
or undergone the plastic bleed or move into the plastic strain or the plastic deformation or also
known as ductile strain which is the rock will never return to it’s original shape.
When the stress is higher and constantly increasing that the rock cannot tolerate the increase of
stress the rocks will turn or the rock will break or fracture and this is called the rupture
deformation.
DUCTILE ABD BRITTLE
•Ductile Materials are able to undergo an extensive amount of ductile strain in response to stress.
•Brittle materials, which will only undergo a little or no ductile strain before the fracture.
• The factors that determine whether a rock is ductile or brittle include:
1.Compostion
2. Temperature
3. Lithostatic Pressure
4. Strain Rate
FACTORS THAT DETERMINE WHETHER A ROCK IS DUCTILE OR BRITTLE
• COMPOSITION. Some minerals, such as quartz, tend to be brittle and are thus more likely to
break under stress. Other minerals such as calcite, clay , and mica tend to be ductile and can
undergo much plastic deformation. In addition, the presence of the water in rock tends to make it
more ductile and less brittle.
• TEMPERATURE. Rocks become more softer ( more ductile) at higher temperature. Rocks at
mantle and core temperatures are ductile and will not fracture under the stresses that occur deep
within the earth. The crust and to some extent the lithosphere, are cold enough to fracture if the
stress is high enough.
• LITHOSTATIC PRESSURE
• STRAIN RATE. The faster a rock is being strained, the greater it’s chance of fracturing. Even
brittle rock and minerals, such as quartz, or a layer of cold basalts at the Earth’s surface, can
undergo ductile deformation if the strain rate is slow enough.