Tishk International University

Engineering Faculty
Petroleum & Mining Eng. Department
INTRODUCTION TO MINING PTR 318

Lecture 7-Part 1
3rd. Grade - Fall Term 2021-2022

 
Instructor: Professor, Dr. Hamed M. Jassim
Rock Quality Designation (RQD)
It is defined as the percentage of intact core pieces longer than 100 mm in the total
length of core run. In other words:
∑ intact core pieces longer than 100 mm
RQD = x 100
Total length of core run
The rock quality can be classified according to the RQD value as shown in the
following table:
RQD Range Rock Quality Description
0 – 25 Very poor
25 – 50 Poor
50 – 75 Fair
75 – 90 Good
90 – 100 Very good

:Solved Example

The following figure illustrates the lengths of core pieces which were obtained from
a rotary drilling operation of a rock mass.
It is required to calculate the RQD value of this rock material and to describe its
.quality
Length measurement of core pieces
The same piece of core could be measured in three ways: along the central line,
from tip to tip, or along the fully circular section. The recommended procedure is to
.measure the core length along the central line
Measurements of the degree of jointing

The size of the rock mass of interest is generally so large

that it is mostly impossible to measure its mechanical
properties. Therefore, the best way to obtain information on
the joint properties (density and other joint characteristics)
of the rock mass is to perform observations in the field or
on drill cores.

The most common methods to assess the degree of

jointing or the density of joint are:
- Observation and/ or measurements in rock surfaces;

- Observation and/ or logging of drill cores;

- Assessment from geophysical measurements, either along

profiles or along bore holes:
1- Measurements of the Volumetric Joint Count (Jv):
The volumetric joint count is a measure for the number of joints
intersecting a volume of rock mass. It is defined as number of joints
per m3 .

1-1 From joint set spacings:

It can be measured from the joint set spacings
within a volume of rock mass.

Jv = 1/S1 + 1/S2 + 1/S3 + …… + Nr/Sr

Where S1, S2, S3 are the average spacing for joint sets.
Nr is the number of random joints
Sr is the random joint spacing, and it can be set equal to
5 m.
1-2 From 2-D measurements on an area or surface
The 2-D joint frequency (Na) is the number of joints measured in an
area or surface.

Na = (1/√ A)∑(nai × Li) + Nai

Where
nai = the joint i with length Li shorter than the length of the
observation area,

Nai = the number of joints longer than the length of the

observation area, and

A = the area of the observation surface.

To summarize, we have dealt in this lecture with the
principles of Rock Quality Designation (RQD) and its
.engineering significance
Then we had a closer and a more detailed look into the
measurements of the degree of jointing with some solved
.examples