Lectures on Rock Mechanics

SARVESH CHANDRA Professor Department of Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur KANPUR, 208016 India email: sarv@iitk.ac.in

INTRODUCTION
What is Rock Mechanics? Rock mechanics is a discipline that uses the principles of mechanics to describe the behaviour of rock of engineering scale.

Rock Mechanics Problems

How will rock react when put to mens use? What is the bearing capacity of rock on surface an at depths? What is the shear strength of rocks? What is the response of rocks under dynamic / earthquake type loading? What is the modulus of elasticity of rock and how to get it? What are the effects of rock defects (jointing bedding planes, schistocity, fissures, cavities and other discontinuities) on its strength? What are the mechanisms of failure of rocks?

Rock as a Construction Material

For laying structural foundations to support structures For constructing Underground openings For protecting slopes For supporting railway tracks Ballasts As base and sub-base for roads and runways As aggregate in concrete Making facia for buildings.

Era

Period
Quaternary

Epoch

Time Boundaries (Years Ago)

10,000 2 million 5 million 26 million 38 million 54 million 65 million 130 million 185 million 230 million 265 million 310 million 355 million 413 million 425 million 475 million 570 million 3.9 billion 4.7 billion

Holocene - Recent Pleistocene Pliocene Miocene

Geolo gic Time Scale

Cenozoic Tertiary

Oligocene Eocene Paleocene

Cretaceous Mesozoic Jurassic Triassic Permian Carboniferous Paleozoic Devonian Silurian Ordovician Cambrian Precambrian Pennsylvanian Mississippian

Greenland

Earth Beginning

What are we calling a rock?

Grade Description Lithology VI V IV III II I
Soil Completely weathered Highly weathered Moderately weathered Slightly weathered Fresh rock Some organic content, no original structure Decomposed soil, some remnant structure Partly changed to soil, soil > rock Partly changes to soil, rock > soil Increased fractures and mineral staining Clean rock

Excavation

Foundations

May need to Unsuitable save and re-use Scrape Scrape NB corestones Rip Blast Assess by soil testing Variable and unreliable Good for most small structures Good for anything except large dams Sound

Blast

Engineering classification of weathered rock

Primary Rock Types by Geologic Origin

Sedimentary Types
Grain Clastic Aspects
Coarse
Conglomerate Breccia

Metaphorphic

Igneous Types
Extrusive

Carbonate

Foliated Massive Intrusive

Limestone Conglomerate

Gneiss

Marble

Pegmatite Granite

Volcanic Breccia

Medium

Sandstone Siltsone

Limestone Chalk

Schist Phyllite

Quartzite

Diorite Diabase

Tuff

Fine

Shale Mudstone

Calcareous Mudstone

Slate

Amphibolite

Rhyotite

Basalt Obsidian

Index Properties of Intact Rock

Specific Gravity of Solids, Gs Unit Weight, Porosity, n Ultrasonic Velocities (Vp and Vs) Compressive Strength, qu Tensile Strength, T0 Elastic Modulus, ER (at 50% of qu)

Specific Gravity of Rock Minerals

galena pyrite barite olivine dolomite calcite chlorite feldspar quartz serpentine gypsum halite 0
Reference Value (fresh water)

Common Minerals Average Gs = 2.70

Specific Gravity of Solids, Gs

Unit Weights of Rocks

28

Saturated Unit Weight, T (kN/m )

26

sat = water [ Gs(1-n) + n]

24

22

20

18

16

Dolostone Graywacke Mudstone Sandstone

Granite Limestone Siltstone Tuff

Gs = 2.80 2.65 2.50

0.4 0.5 0.6

14

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

Porosity, n

Geologic Mapping of Rock Mass Features

Quantitative Classification of Rock Mass

Description of Joints: Orientation, Persistence, Roughness, Wall Strength, Aperture, Filling, Seepage, Number of sets, Block size, spacing. ISRM commissions report Classification of Rock Material Based on Uniaxial Compressive Strength

Uniaxial Compressive Strength

Ranges for some Common Rock Material Schist, Silt stone Term Kg/cm2 VW-W, Sand Very Weak- VW < 70 Stone, Lime stone Weak- W 70-200 VW-M,Granite, Medium Strong-MS 200-700 Basalt, Gneiss, Strong- S 700-1400 Quartzite, Marble MS-VS Very Strong- VS > 1400 |

Classification for Rock Material Strength

Intact Rock Classification

Rock Type Geologic Formation and Age Indices:
Specific Gravity, Porosity, Unit Weight, Wave Velocities Strength (compressive, tensile, shear) Elastic Modulus

Site investigation boreholes

Percussion drilling
soils/soft clay rocks core recovery

Rotary coring
soil or rock >100m deep core recovery

Rock probing
rotary percussion rig soil or rock no core recovery

Cable (percussion) rig

Shell

Rotary rig

Core bit

Core drilling

Rock core

 How to correlate the properties of rock studied in the laboratory with in-situ properties? What in-situ test methods will provide actual insitu conditions and properties of rock? What design parameters are to be used for rock slope design? How to stabilize slopes and underground openings?