04-02-2025

Dr. Md Rehan Sadique

Assistant Professor
Civil Engineering Department
ZHCET

The study of the Engineering Properties of Rocks is termed Rock

Mechanics, which is defined as follows:

“The theoretical and applied science of the mechanical behaviour of

rock and rock masses in response to force fields of their physical
environment.”

It is really a subdivision of “Geomechanics” which is concerned

with the mechanical responses of all geological materials, including
soils.

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 During Engineering investigation, testing, analysis, design,

construction and monitoring of works, there are many rock
mechanics issues such as:

 Evaluation of geological hazards;

 Selection and preparation of rock materials;
 Evaluation of cuttability and drillability of rock;
 Analysis of rock deformations;
 Analysis of rock stability;
 Control of blasting procedures;
 Design of support systems;
 Hydraulic fracturing, and
 Selection of types of structures.

Geological Classification of intact rocks

Igneous rocks:
Strong and consisting interlocking network of crystals (which explains the small range for granite).
For crystalline rocks, the smaller grain size gives higher strength (the average and maximum strength
of basalt is higher than granite).
Extrusive rocks have variable strength, because of possible vesicular, pyroclastic textures.

Sedimentary rocks:
Limestone, dolomite: crystalline texture, thus generally strong, but variable (fossils).
Sandstone: wide range depending on the degree of cementation.
Shale: variable because of bedding.

Metamorphic rocks:
Strength increases in some cases because of compaction and recrystallization.
Schists have wide variation because of foliation.
Quartzite: strong because of interlocking silica crystals and absence of foliation.
Marble: similar to limestone or dolomite and smaller strength range.

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As you are well verse that rock properties tend to vary widely, often
over short distances.

 Engineering classification of intact rocks

 Intact rock is internally continuous, intact, and free from
weakness planes such as joints, bedding, and shearing.

 The standard engineering classification of intact rocks is based

on the uniaxial compressive strength (A to E) and the
modulus of elasticity, developed by Deere and Miller (1966).

 The uniaxial compressive strength is divided into five

categories: A through E for very high to very low level of
strength, ranging from above 32,000 to below 4,000 psi.

 Rock classification also involves the modulus of elasticity.

More specifically, the modulus ratio is used, which is the
ratio of the modulus of elasticity to the unconfined
compressive strength. Three modulus ratio categories are H
(high) for >500, M (medium) for 200-500, and L (low) for <200.

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Sample Preparation
The two principle types of drilling are diamond core drilling and
reverse circulation drilling (or RVC drilling).

Diamond core drilling uses a diamond bit, which rotates at the end of
drill rod (or pipe) (Figure 16 – 1). The opening at the end of the
diamond bit allows a solid column of rock to move up into the drill
pipe and be recovered at the surface.

Standard core sizes are

7/8 inch (EX) ≈23mm
1 3/16 inch (AX) ≈30mm
5
1 inch (BX) ≈41mm
8
5
2 inch (NX). ≈54mm
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Rocks and mineral samples frequently

require some degree of preparation (e.g.,
sorting, sieving, cutting, polishing) prior to
use.
The diamond bit is rotated slowly with
gentle pressure while being lubricated with
water to prevent overheating.

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ISRM recommended L/d Ratio for

different mechanical testing of rock
sample

Compression test 2-3

d
Bending Test 3-7

Brazillian Test 0.5- 1.0

Punch Test 0.2- 1.10 L

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 Such factors include:

 Mineralogical composition and texture;
 Planes of weakness;
 Degree of mineral alteration;
 Temperature and Pressure conditions of rock formation;
 Pore water content, and
 Length of time and rate of changing stress that a rock experiences.

 Mineralogical Composition and Texture.

 Very few rocks are homogeneous, continuous, isotropic (non directional)
and elastic.
 Generally, the smaller the grain size, the stronger the rock.

 Texture influences the rock strength directly through the degree of

interlocking of the component grains.

 Rock defects such as microfractures, grain boundaries, mineral cleavages,

twinning planes and planar discontinuities influence the ultimate rock
strength and may act as “surfaces of weakness” where failure occurs.

 When cleavage has high or low angles with the principal stress direction,
the mode of failure is mainly influenced by the cleavage.

 Rocks are seldom continuous owing to pores and fissures (esp.

Sedimentary rocks).

 Despite this it is possible to support engineering decisions with meaningful

tests, calculations, and observations.

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MICRO FISSURE MACRO FISSURE MACRO FRACTURE

Width < 1 μm Width ≈ 0.1 mm Width > 0.1 mm

Length 1-2 crystal Barely visible to naked Length up to tens of

eye meter

Exist at the boundary Exist at schistocity level Exist in Rock mass

of the crystal

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Anisotropy is common because of preferred orientations of minerals

and directional stress history.

Anisotropy can
significantly control the
failure mechanism and
progression of damage
into the rock mass,
particularly in high-stress
conditions.

Rocks, such as shale and slate, are not isotropic.

Because of some preferred orientation of fabric or microstructure, or the

presence of bedding or cleavage planes, the behaviour of those rocks is
anisotropic.

There are several forms of anisotropy with various degrees of

complexity. It is therefore only the simplest form of anisotropy,
transverse isotropy, to be discussed here.

The peak strengths developed by transversely isotropic rocks in triaxial

compression vary with the orientation of the plane of isotropy, plane of
weakness or foliation plane, with respect to the principal stress
directions.

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Figure shows some measured variations in peak principal stress

difference with the angle of inclination of the major principal stress to
the plane of weakness.

 Temperature and Pressure

 All rock types undergo a decrease in strength with increasing
temperature,
 An increase in strength with increasing confining pressure.
 At high confining pressures, rocks are more difficult to fracture as
incipient fractures are closed.

 Pore Solutions
 The presence of moisture in rocks adversely affects their engineering
strength.
 Reduction in strength with increasing H2O content is due to lowering of
the tensile strength, which is a function of the molecular cohesive
strength of the material.

 Time-dependent Behavior
 Most strong rocks , like granite show little time-dependent strain or
creep.

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Chemical • Minerals
Compositions

• Density, Sp. Gravity

Physical • Void Ratio/ Porosity
Lab Test properties
• Swelling

Analysis and Design

Engineering • Static Properties

properties • Dynamic Properties

 Since there are vast ranges in the properties of rocks.

 Hence, Engineers rely on a number of basic measurements to
describe rocks quantitatively. These are known as Index
Properties.
 Index Properties of Rocks:

 Porosity- Identifies the relative proportions of solids & voids;

 Density- a mineralogical constituents parameter;
 Sonic Velocity- evaluates the degree of fissuring;
 Permeability- the relative interconnection of pores;
 Durability- tendency for eventual breakdown of components
or structures with degradation of rock quality, and
 Strength- existing competency of the rock fabric binding
components.

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Density
➢ Density is common physical properties.
➢ Density is a measure of mass per unit of volume.
➢ It is sometimes defined by unit weight and specific gravity.
➢ Density of rock material varies, and often related to the porosity of
the rock.

➢ Most rocks have density between 2,500 to 2,800 kg/m3

➢ It is influenced by the specific gravity of the composition minerals

and the compaction of the minerals.
➢ Density is used to estimate overburden stress.

➢ A concrete aggregate with higher than average density can mean a

smaller volume of concrete required for a gravity retaining wall or
dam.

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Porosity
➢ Porosity describes how densely the material is packed.

➢ It is the ratio of the non-solid volume to the total volume

of material.

➢ Porosity therefore is a fraction between 0 and 1.

➢ The value is typically ranging from less than 0.01 for solid
granite to up to 0.5 for porous sandstone.

➢ It may also be represented in percent terms by multiplying

the fraction by 100%.

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………Porosity…water content
➢ Water content is a measure indicating the amount of water the rock
material contains.

➢ It is simply the ratio of the volume of water to the bulk volume of

the rock material.

➢ Typical values of void space for sandstones are around 15%.

➢ In Igneous and Metamorphic rocks, a proportion of the pore space

(usually < 1-2%) occurs as planar “fissures”.

➢ With weathering this increases to > 20%. Porosity is therefore an

accurate index of rock quality.

Density and porosity often related to the strength of rock

material.

A low density and high porosity rock usually has low strength.

Porosity is one of the governing factors for the permeability.

Porosity provides the void for water to flow through in a rock

material.

High porosity therefore naturally leads to high permeability

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Permeability
➢ Permeability is a measure of the ability of a material to transmit
fluids. Most rocks, including igneous, metamorphic and chemical
sedimentary rocks, generally have very low permeability.

➢ As discussed earlier, permeability of rock material is governed by

porosity. Porous rocks such as sandstones usually have high
permeability while granites have low permeability.

➢ Permeability of rock materials, except for those porous one, has

limited interests as in the rock mass, flow is concentrated in
fractures in the rock mass.

➢ Dense rocks like granite, basalt, schist and crystalline limestone

possess very low permeability as lab specimens, but field tests can
show significant permeability due to open joints and fractures.

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Sonic Velocity
➢ Measurements of wave are often done by using P wave and
sometimes, S waves.

➢ P-wave velocity measures the travel speed of longitudinal (primary)

wave in the material, while S-wave velocity measures the travel
speed of shear (secondary) wave in the material.

➢ The velocity measurements provide correlation to physical

properties in terms of compaction degree of the material.

➢ A well compacted rock has generally high velocity as the grains are
all in good contact and wave are travelling through the solid.

➢ For a poorly compact rock material, the grains are not in good
contact, so the wave will partially travel through void (air or water)
and the velocity will be reduced (P-wave velocities in air and in
water are 340 and 1500 m/s respectively and are much lower than
that in solid).

➢ Wave velocities are also commonly used to assess the degree of rock
mass fracturing at large scale.

➢ Longitudinal velocity Vl measured on rock core. Velocity depends

on elastic properties and density, but in practice a network of
fissures has an overriding effect can be used to estimate the degree
of fissuring of a rock specimen by plotting against porosity (%).

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Sonic Velocity

Any of the three different method may be employed to determine the

velocity of elastic wave propagation through rock in the laboratory.
(i) High frequency ultrasonic pulse
(ii) Low frequency ultrasonic

(iii) Resonant Method

The main electronic components:

(i) Pulse generator (ii) Transducers (iii) Cathode Ray Oscilloscope
(iv) Time mark generator (v) X-Y recorder

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Durability: Exfoliation, hydration, slaking, solution, oxidation &

abrasion all lower rock quality.

Franklin and Chandra’s (1972) designed “slake durability test” to

determine the durability of shale or other weak or soft rocks subjected to
cycles of wetting and drying.

In this test dried fragments of rock of 500 gm weight are placed in a

drum fabricated with 2.0 mm square mesh wire cloth.

The drum is rotated in a horizontal position along its longitudinal axis

while partially submerged in distilled water to promote wetting of the
sample.

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The specimens and the drum are dried at the end of the rotation cycle (10
minutes at 20 rpm) and weighed.

After two cycles of rotating and drying the weight loss and the shape and
size of the remaining rock fragments are recorded and the Slake
Durability Index (SDI) is calculated.

Both the SDI and the description of the shape and size of the remaining
particles are used to determine the durability of soft rocks.

The percentage of rock (dry weight basis) retained in the drum yields the
“slake durability index (Id)”. A six step ranking of the index is applied
(very high-very low).

The slake durability index (second cycle)nis calculated as the percentage

of final to the initial dry mass of rock lump as
𝑊
Id2 = 𝑊3 × 100 (%)
1

Where Id2 slake durability index,

W1= initial dry mass, W3= the final dry mass.

Usually while weighing, the weight of the drum with rock samples inside,
is taken in both cycles.
The slake durability index is reported to the nearest 0.1%.

If the Id2 is between 0 and 10%, the SDI Id1 based on the first cycle of
drying and wetting is estimated as:
𝑊
Id1 = 𝑊2 × 100 (%)
1

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This test is typically performed on shales and other weak rocks that may
be subject to degradation in the service environment.

When some shales are newly exposed to atmospheric conditions, they

can degrade rapidly and affect the stability of a rock fill or cut, the
subgrade on which a foundation is to be placed, or the base and side
walls of drilled shafts prior to placement of concrete.

Id2 (%) Classification

0-30 Very Low
30-60 Low
60-85 Medium
85-95 Medium High
95-98 High
98-100 Very High

Hardness

Hardness is the characteristic of a solid material expressing its resistance

to permanent deformation/ abraison.

Hardness of a rock materials depends on several factors, including

mineral composition and density.

It helps in estimating rock decay, when put to odd conditions.

A typical measure is the Schmidt rebound hardness number and Mohr’s

empirical hardness scale.

Schmidt hammers are available in several different energy ranges,

including (i) Type L-0.735 Nm impact energy, (ii) Type N-2.207 Nm
impact energy, and (iii) Type M-29.43 Nm impact energy.

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Abrasivity
Abrasivity measures the abrasiveness of a rock materials against other
materials, e.g., steel. It is an important measure for estimate wear of rock
drilling and boring equipment.

Abrasivity is highly influenced by the amount of quartz mineral in the

rock material. The higher quartz content gives higher abrasivity.

Abrasivity measures are given by several tests. Cerchar and other

abrasivity tests are described later.

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Compressive Strength

Compressive strength is the capacity of a material to withstand axially

directed compressive forces.

The most common measure of compressive strength is the uniaxial

compressive strength or unconfined compressive strength.

Usually compressive strength of rock is defined by the ultimate stress.

It is one of the most important mechanical properties of rock material,

used in design, analysis and modelling.

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Uniaxial Compression Strength Test

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Specimens of right circular cylinders having a height to diameter ratio of

2 or higher are prepared by cutting and grinding.

Two axial and one circumferential deformation measurement devices

(LVDTs) are attached to each of the specimen.

The specimen is then compressed under a stiff compression machine

with a spherical seating.

The axial stress is applied with a constant strain rate around 1 μm/s such
that failure occurs within 5-10 minutes of loading.

The load is measured by a load transducer.

Two axial deformations and one circumferential deformation

measurements are recorded at every 2-5 KN interval until failure.

Uniaxial compressive strength, Young's modules (at 50% of failure

stress) and Poisson's ratio (at 50% of failure stress) can be calculated
from the failure load, stress and strain relationship.

Uniaxial compressive strength, σc, is calculated as the failure load

divided by the initial cross sectional area of the specimen.

Axial tangential Young's modulus at 50% of uniaxial compressive

strength, Et 50% is calculated as the slope of tangent line of axial stress -
axial strain curve at a stress level equals to 50% of the ultimate uniaxial
compressive strength.

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Poisson's ratio at 50% of uniaxial compressive strength, ν50%, is

calculated as:

Reporting of results includes description of the rock, specimen

anisotropy, specimen dimension, density and water content at time
of test, mode of failure, uniaxial compressive strength, modulus of
elasticity, Poisson's ratio, stress-strain (axial and lateral) curves to
failure.

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Stage I – The rock is initially stressed, pre-existing

microcracks or pore orientated at large angles to the
applied stress is closing, in addition to deformation.

This causes an initial non-linearity of the axial stress-

strain curve. This initial non-linearity is more obvious
in weaker and more porous rocks,

Stage II – The rock basically has a linearly elastic behaviour with linear
stress-strain curves, both axially and laterally. The Poisson's ratio,
particularly in stiffer unconfined rocks, tends to be low.

The rock is primarily undergoing elastic deformation with minimum

cracking inside the material. Micro-cracks are likely initiated at the later
portion of this stage, of about 35-40% peak strength.

At this stage, the stress-strain is largely recoverable, as the there is little

permanent damage of the micro-structure of the rock material.

Stage III – The rock behaves near-linear elastic. The

axial stress-strain curve is near-linear and is nearly
recoverable. There is a slight increase in lateral strain
due to dilation.

Microcrack propagation occurs in a stable manner during this stage and

that microcracking events occur independently of each other and are
distributed throughout the specimen.

The upper boundary of the stage is the point of maximum compaction

and zero volume change and occurs at about 80% peak strength.

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Stage IV – The rock is undergone a rapid acceleration of microcracking

events and volume increase.
The spreading of microcracks is no longer independent and clusters of
cracks in the zones of highest stress tend to coalesce and start to form
tensile fractures or shear planes - depending on the strength of the rock.

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Stage V – The rock has passed peak stress, but is still intact, even though
the internal structure is highly disrupt.

In this stage the crack arrays fork and coalesce into macrocracks or
fractures. The specimen is undergone strain softening (failure)
deformation, i.e., at peak stress the test specimen starts to become
weaker with increasing strain.

Thus further strain will be concentrated on weaker elements of the rock

which have already been subjected to strain. This in turn will lead to
zones of concentrated strain or shear planes.

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Stage VI – The rock has essentially parted to form a series of blocks

rather than an intact structure.

These blocks slide across each other and the predominant deformation
mechanism is friction between the sliding blocks.

Secondary fractures may occur due to differential shearing.

The axial stress or force acting on the specimen tends to fall to a constant
residual strength value, equivalent to the frictional resistance of the
sliding blocks.

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Factors influencing strength due to testing procedure

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Broch and Franklin (1972).

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Point load index

Compressive Strength

Where, K (15-35 for most rocks)

For weathered Sedimentary Rocks e.g. Sandstones, Siltstones
and Shaley Mudstones K=6

Size Correction

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 Strength- Use Point Load Test of Broch and Franklin (1972).

Irregular rock or core samples are placed between
hardened steel cones and loaded until failure by
development of tensile cracks parallel to the axis of loading.

 IS = P/D2 , where P= load at rupture; D= distance between

the point loads and I s is the point load strength.

 The test is standardised on rock cores of 50mm due to the

strength/size effect
 Relationship between point load index (I s) and unconfined
compression strength is given by: q u =24I s (50) where q u is
the unconfined compressive strength, and I s (50) is the point
load strength for 50 mm core.
 All of the above are measured on Lab specimens,
not rock masses/ outcrops, which will differ due
to discontinuities at different scales.

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Young's Modulus
Young's Modulus is modulus of elasticity measuring of the stiffness of a
rock material. It is defined as the ratio, for small strains, of the rate of
change of stress with strain.

This can be experimentally determined from the slope of a stress-strain

curve obtained during compressional or tensile tests conducted on a rock
sample. Similar to strength, Young’s Modulus of rock materials varies
widely with rock type.

For extremely hard and strong rocks, Young’s Modulus can be as high as
100 GPa.

There is some correlation between compressive strength and Young’s

Modulus, and discussion is given in a later section. Poisson’s ratio
measures the ratio of lateral strain to axial strain, at linearly-elastic
region.

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Poisson’s Ratio

For most rocks, the Poisson’s ratio is between 0.15 and 0.4.

As seen from early section, at later stage of loading beyond linearly

elastic region, lateral strain increase fast than the axial strain and hence
lead to a higher ratio.

Stress-Strain at and after Peak

Strain at failure is the strain measured at ultimate
stress.

Rocks generally fail at a small strain, typically around

0.2 to 0.4% under uniaxial compression.

Brittle rocks, typically crystalline rocks, have low

strain at failure,

while soft rock, such as shale and mudstone, could

have relatively high strain at failure.

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Stress-Strain at and after Peak

Strain at failure sometimes is used as a measure of
brittleness of the rock.
Rocks can have brittle or ductile behaviour after peak.

Most rocks, including all crystalline igneous,

metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, behave brittle
under uniaxial compression.

A few soft rocks, mainly of sedimentary origin,

behave ductile.

Strain at failure increases with increasing confining

pressure under triaxial compression conditions.

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Triaxial Compression Strength Test

Triaxial compression test using Hoek cell

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Specimens of right circular cylinders having a height to diameter ratio of

2 or higher are prepared by cutting and grinding.

Two axial and two lateral deformation (or a circumferential deformation

if a circumferential chain LVDT device is used), measurement devices
are attached to each of the specimen.

The specimen is placed in a triaxial cell (e.g., Hoek-Franklin cell) and a

desired confining stress is applied and maintained by a hydraulic pump.

The specimen is then further compressed under a stiff compression

machine with a spherical seating.

The axial stress is applied with a constant strain rate around 1 μm/s such
that failure occurs within 5-15 minutes of loading.

The load is measured by a load transducer.

2 axial strain or deformation and 2 lateral strains or deformation (or a

circumferential deformation if a circumferential chain LVDT device is
used) are recorded at a fixed interval until failure.

Triaxial compressive strength, Young's modules (at 50% of failure stress)

and Poisson's ratio (at 50% of failure stress) can be calculated from the
axial failure load, stress and strain relationship.

Triaxial compressive strength, σ1, is calculated as the axial failure load

divided by the initial cross sectional area of the specimen.

Axial tangential Young's modulus at 50% of triaxial compressive

strength, Et50% is calculated as the slope of tangent line of axial stress -
axial strain curve at a stress level equals to 50% of the ultimate uniaxial
compressive strength.

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Poisson's ratio at 50% of triaxial compressive strength is calculated with

the same methods as for the uniaxial compression test.

For a group of triaxial compression tests at different confining stress

level, Mohr's stress circle are plotted using confining stress as σ3and
axial stress as σ1.

Failure envelopes (Mohr, Coulomb or Hoek and Brown) and parameters

of specified failure criterion are determined.

Effects of Confining Pressure

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Figure illustrates a number of important features of the behaviour of rock

in triaxial compression. It shows that with increasing confining pressure,

(a) the peak strength increases;

(b) there is a transition from typically brittle to fully ductile behaviour

with the introduction of plastic mechanism of deformation;

(c) the region incorporating the peak of the axial stress-axial strain curve
flattens and widens;

(d) the post-peak drop in stress to the residual strength reduces and
disappears at high confining stress.

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Tensile Strength
Tensile strength of rock material is normally defined by the ultimate
strength in tension, i.e., maximum tensile stress the rock material can
withstand.

Rock material generally has a low tensile strength.

The low tensile strength is due to the existence of microcracks in the

rock.

The existence of microcracks may also be the cause of rock failing

suddenly in tension with a small strain.

Tensile strength of rock materials can be obtained from several types of

tensile tests:

Direct tensile test,

Brazilian test and
flexure test.

Direct test is not commonly performed due to the difficulty in sample

preparation.

The most common tensile strength determination is by the Brazilian

tests.

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Tensile Tests

(a) Direct Tension Test

Direct tension tests on rock materials are not common, due to the
difficulty in specimen preparation.

For direct tension test, rock specimen is to be prepared in dog-bone OR

Briquette shape with a thin middle.

The specimen is then loaded in tension by pulling from the two ends.

Deformation modulus can be measured by having strain gauges attached

to the specimen.

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(b) Brazilian Tensile Strength Test

Cylindrical specimen of diameter approximately equals to 50 mm and

thickness approximately equal to the radius is prepared.

The cylindrical surfaces should be free from tool marks and any
irregularities across the thickness. End faces shall be flat to within 0.25
mm and parallel to within 0.25°.

The specimen is wrapped around its periphery with one layer of the
masking tape and loaded into the Brazil tensile test apparatus across its
diameter.

Loading is applied continuously at a constant rate such that failure occurs

within 15-30 seconds.

Ten specimens of the same sample shall be tested.

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The tensile strength of the rock is calculated from failure load (P),
specimen diameter (D) and specimen thickness (t) by the following
formula:
σt= –2P / Π D t

Reporting of results includes:

❑description of the rock,
❑orientation of the axis of loading with respect to specimen anisotropy
❑water content and degree of saturation,
❑test duration and loading rate,
❑mode of failure.

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(c) Flexure Tension Test

Test is also known as a modulus of rupture test or simple bending test.

Object of this experiment is to ascertain the strength of rock in bending.

Depending upon loading arrangement the test is designed as:

(a) Three point load test, 3P.a / bd2

(b) Four point load test, Pl / bd2

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(c) Flexure Tension Test

The flexural strength would be the same as the tensile strength if the
material were homogeneous.

A flexure test produces tensile stress in the convex side of the specimen
and compression stress in the concave side. This creates an area of shear
stress along the midline.

To ensure the primary failure comes from tensile or compression stress

the shear stress must be minimized.

This is done by controlling the span to depth ratio; the length of the outer
span divided by the height (depth) of the specimen.

For most materials S/d=16 is acceptable. Some materials require S/d=32

to 64 to keep the shear stress low enough.

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Shear Strength

Shear strength is used to describe the strength of rock materials, to resist

deformation due to shear stress.

Rock resists shear stress by two internal mechanisms, cohesion and

internal friction.

Cohesion is a measure of internal bonding of the rock material.

Internal friction is caused by contact between particles, and is defined by

the internal friction angle, φ.

Different rocks have different cohesions and different friction angles.

Shear strength of rock material can be determined by direct shear test and
by triaxial compression tests. In practice, the later methods is widely
used and accepted.

With a series of triaxial tests conducted at different confining pressures,

peak stresses (σ1) are obtained at various lateral stresses (σ3).

By plotting Mohr circles, the shear envelope is defined which gives the
cohesion and internal friction angle, as shown in Figure

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The Mohr’s circle can be plotted for a series of triaxial tests results with
σ1 at different σ3, forming a series circles, as typically shown in the
figure.
A straight line is draw to fit best by tangent to all the Mohr’s circles.

The line represents the shear strength envelope.

The angle of the line to the horizontal is the internal friction angle φ,
and the intercept at τ-axis is the cohesion c.

Alternatively, a series equation can be formed for sets of σ1 and σ3,

based on the Mohr-Coulomb criterion,

Cohesion c and friction angle φ can be computed by solving the

equations.

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Direct
Shear Test

The laboratory test equipment is shown below in Figure. The specimen is

placed in the lower half of the shear box and encapsulated in either
synthetic resin or mortar.

The specimen must be positioned so that the line of action of the shear
force lies in the plane of the discontinuity to be investigated, and the
normal force acts perpendicular to this surface.

Once the encapsulating material has hardened, the specimen is mounted

in the upper half of the shear box in the same manner.

A strip approximately 5 mm wide above and below the shear surface

must be kept free of encapsulating material.

The test is then carried out by applying a horizontal shear force T under a
constant normal load, N.

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Determination of shear strength of rock specimens is an important aspect in

the design of structures such as rock slopes, foundations and other purposes.

Pervasive discontinuities (joints, bedding planes, shear zones, fault zones,

schistosity) in a rock mass, and genesis, crystallography, texture, fabric, and
other factors can cause the rock mass to behave as an anisotropic and
heterogeneous discontinuum.

Therefore, the precise prediction of rock mass behavior is difficult.

For nonplanar joints or discontinuities, shear strength is derived from a
combination base material friction and overriding of asperities (dilatancy),
shearing or breaking of the asperities, rotations at or wedging of the
asperities (Patton, 1966).

Sliding on and shearing of the asperities can occur simultaneously. When

the normal force is not sufficient to restrain dilation, the shear mechanism
consists of the overriding of the asperities.

When the normal load is large enough to completely restrain dilation, the
shear mechanism consists of the shearing off of the asperities.

Using this test method to determine the shear strength of intact rock may
generate overturning moments that induce premature tensile breaking.

Thus, the specimen would fail in tension first rather than in shear.
Rock shear strength is influenced by the overburden stresses; therefore,
the larger the overburden stress, the larger the shear strength.

In some cases, it may be desirable to conduct tests in-situ rather than in

the laboratory to more accurately determine a representative shear
strength of the rock mass, particularly when design is controlled by
discontinuities filled with very weak material.

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Setup for oblique Shear Test (Prortodyakonov 1969)

Rock sample in the form of cube with standard dimensions is prepared.

Length of the cube varies from 5cm to 15cm (figure 12)

Sample is placed cubically at desirable angle.

Normal load is applied with compression machine till failure (shear)

along a predetermined surface.

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