Rock Material

BY: PAWAN KUMAR

I.K Gujral Punjab Technical University

ENGINEERING GEOLOGY
Subject Code: BTCE-501-18
Semester: 5th
Civil Engineering
Acknowledgement

I would like to express our special thanks of gratitude to our teacher Er. Gurpal Singh who gave me the
golden opportunity to do this wonderful presentation on Rock Material, which also helped me in doing a lot
of Research and i came to know about so many new things, we are really thankful to them.
Contents

 Classification of Rock material

 Classification of Rock material strength
 Core logging
 Rock Quality Designation
 Rock Mass Description
Rock material

 Rock material: refers to intact rock within framework of discontinuities. It is Smallest

element of rock block not cut by any fracture: there are always some micro-fractures in
rock material, but not treated as fractures.
 Rock mass: refers to in-situ rock together with its discontinuities & weathering profile.
Classification of Rock material

Rock material

Physical characteristics
• Mineral, chemical Mechanical characteristics
composition • Strength tests: Uniaxial, point
• Colour load compressive strength.
• Texture, grain size & • Hardness: Schmidt hammer
shapes • Brittle behavior, violent
• Porosity failure, fracture mechanics
• Durability, plasticity &
swelling potential
Classification of Rock material Strength

UNIAXIAL COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH

 The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) is the maximum axial compressive stress that a
right-cylindrical sample of material can withstand before failing.

POINT LOAD INDEX

 Point load index is used for determining the Diametric Point Load Strength Index of rock
cores.
Core logging

 Core logging is the systematic recording and measuring to determine the lithology (rock
types), mineralogy, potential geological history, structure and alteration zones through a
tiny piece of cylindrical rock drilled and removed from a potential mineral deposit.
Rock Quality Designation

   index of assessing rock quality quantitatively. More sensitive as an index of core

An
quality than core recovery
 The RQD is a modified percent core recovery that incorporates only sound pieces of core
that are 100 mm or greater in length along the core axis

RQD =  x 100%
Rock Quality Designation

 Correlation b/w RQD and Rock quality.

RQD(%) Rock Quality

<25 Very Poor
25-30 Poor
50-75 Fair
75-90 Good
90-100 Excellent
Rock Quality Designation

Determination of RQD:
 Direct method: ISRM recommends a core size of at least NX drilled with double-tube
core barrel using a diamond bit * Artificial fractures can be identified by close fitting
cones & unstained surfaces. All of the artificial fractures should be ignored while
counting the core length for RQD * Slow rate of drilling gives better RQD
 Indirect method: It includes use of volumetric joint count RQD = 115 -
3.3 Jv (for clay free rock masses)
(Jv: total no. of joints per cubic meter)
Application of RQD

  Used in engineering classification of rock mass

 Used to estimate deformation modulus of rock mass as,

 
=

( are deformation moduli of rock mass & intact rock respectively)

 Deformation modulus: ratio of stress to corresponding strain during loading, including
elastic and inelastic behavior
 Elastic modulus: ratio of stress to corresponding strain during loading, including only the
elastic behavior
Rock Mass Description
 Thank You
“ THE ROAD TO SUCCESS IS ALWAYS UNDER CONSTRUCTION. ”