BASICS OF ROCK MECHANICS

Prof. Islavath Sreenivasa Rao

Department of Mining Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
West Bengal - 721302
 Rock
• Rock is an aggregate of minerals which are naturally occurring
substances having a fixed composition and molecular structure.

• Mineral may be single element or may be compound having

number of elements.

• Due to the mineral contents in the rock, the rock may get
change as softer and harder.

• The rock may considered from 1 m to few thousands of meters.

• Rock is a DIANE (Discontinuous, In homogeneous, anisotropy,

and non-elastic) material and not a CHILE (continuous,
homogeneous, isotropic and linear elastic).
Physico-Mechanical Properties
• Color
• Streak
• Lustre
• Hardness
• Compressive strength
• Tensile strength
• Shear Strength
• Young’s modulus
• Poisson’s ratio
• Density
• Cohesion
• Angle of Internal friction
• Porosity
• Permeability
 Strain, Stress and Strength

Person

Rice Bags
 Strain, Stress and Strength
𝜺 = ΔL/L or ΔA/A or ΔV/V
𝜎 =P/A
• Strain: It is a ratio between change in
dimension to its original dimension.

• Stress: It is ratio of applied load to area.

• Strength: It is maximum capacity of the

material that it can sustain to external loading.
 UNI-AXIAL COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH
ISRM standard: L:D=2.5

𝜎 =P/A

Rock type Load, Dia, Strength,𝜎

P (kN) D (mm) (Mpa)

Chromite 259.069 54 ?
Serpentenite 349.20 54 ?
Quartzite 251.79 54 ?
Stress – Strain Curve

Stress =?

Strain =?

Strength =?
Different types of materials
MODULUS OF ELASTICITY
Stress strain relationship
200
180
160
140
120

Stress (MPa)
100
80
lateral strain
60
Longitudinal
40
20
0
-0.003 -20
-0.001 0.001 0.003 0.005 0.007 0.009
Strain (mm/mm)

Rock type E, GPa ν

Chromite 38.202 0.144

Serpentenite 27.634 0.138
Quartzite 35.21 0.1
 POISSON’S RATIO
P

 lat

 long
L

Rock type ν

D Chromite 0.144
Serpentenite 0.138
Quartzite 0.1
 TENSILE STRENGTH
2 Fc
T 
DL

ISRM standard L:D =0.5

Rock type Tensile

strength
(Mpa)
Chromite 10.33
Serpentenite 11.82
Weathered
Serpentenite 4.05
 SHEAR STRENGTH

SAMPLE SAMPLE

a) Single shear b) Double shear

𝜎 =P/A 𝜎 =P/2A
 DENSITY & UNIT WEIGHT
For Chromite deposit:
Rock type Density (Kg/m3) Unit weight (kN/m3)
Chromite 3538 35.38
Serpentenite 2745 27.45
Weathered Serpentenite 27.45
2745
Quartzite 2350 23.50

For coal deposit:

Rock/Material type Density (Kg/m3) Unit weight (kN/m3)
Top soil 1100 11
Fine grained sandstone 2100 21
Coarse grained sandstone 2400 24

Coal 1500 15
Overburden dump material 1900 19
TRI-AXIAL TEST
TRI-AXIAL TEST
 TRI-AXIAL TEST
Table 1. Results of the test

Minor Principal Stress (MPa) Major Principal Stress (MPa)

0 42

4 57

8 76

12 92
 70

60 TRI-AXIAL TEST
50
S3= 0 MPa
Shear stress (MPa)

40 S3=4 MPa
S3=8 MPa
S3=12 MPa
30

20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Normal stress (MPa)

 70

60
TRI-AXIAL TEST
50
tan   S3= 0 MPa
Shear stress (MPa)

40 S3=4 MPa
S3=8 MPa
S3=12 MPa
30

20

10
C
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Normal stress (MPa)

  c   n tan  
DIRECT SHEAR TEST
Normal Stress:
 DIRECT SHEAR TEST
Table 3. Results of direct shear test

Normal Stress Shear Stress

Test No.
(kPa) (kPa)

1. 50 56 Figure 5. Shear stress versus Normal stress

2. 100 90

3. 150 127

Comparison of y  0.72 x  0.19667 y  0.72 x  0.19667

(6)

   n tan   C (7)
 Porosity

Vv
Void ratio n
Vs

Vv
Porosity p
V
Permeability

 hA 
q k 
 L 
 State of stress in 3D and 2D

 xx  xy  xz 
   xx  xy 
  xy  yy  yz  
 xy  
yy 
  xz  yz  zz 

Normal Stress & Shear Stress
A

Fxx

 C
B

Fyy
 Principal Stresses

 xx   i  xy  xz   xx 0 0 
   0  0 
 xy  yy   i  yz   yy 
  xz       0 0  zz 
 yz zz i 

 xx 0 
For 2D  0  
 yy 
Stress Transformation
 x ' x '   c 2 s 2 2cs 0  xx 
   2  
 y' y'    s c 2
2cs 0  yy 
  x ' y '   cs cs c 2  s 2 0   xy 
    
 z ' z '   0 0 0 1   zz 
 Core Barrels

Diamond drill bit

Single tube Double tube

EXPLORATION DRILLING
CORE BOX
 CORE RECOVERY
• It is ratio between sum of length of core recovered and
the total length of bore hole drilled.
Length of the core drilling (m) Core recovered (cm) Total

1 to 2 5, 10, 7, 3, 15 , 20 60
2 to 3 15, 20, 5, 9, 25, 20 94
3 to 4 5, 8, 10, 25, 15, 25, 8 96
4 to 5 10, 12, 15, 17, 20 74
5 to 6 7, 9, 10, 15, 25, 17, 10 93

6 to 7 8, 10, 13, 15, 20, 5 71

7 to 8 6, 7, 10, 11, 15, 8, 20 77

8 to 9 2, 5, 7, 50, 5, 25 94
9 to 10 37, 20, 15, 20 92
 RQD
• It is a ratio of sum of length of core recovered more than 10
cm to length of bore hole drilled or total drill run.

Length of the core drilling (m) Core recovered (cm) Total

1 to 2 5, 10, 7, 3, 15 , 20 60 : 35
2 to 3 15, 20, 5, 9, 25, 20 94 : 80
3 to 4 5, 8, 10, 25, 15, 25, 8 96 : 65
4 to 5 10, 12, 15, 17, 20 74 : 64
5 to 6 7, 9, 10, 15, 25, 17, 10 93 : 67
6 to 7 8, 10, 13, 15, 20, 5 71 : 48
7 to 8 6, 7, 10, 11, 15, 8, 20 77 : 46
8 to 9 2, 5, 7, 50, 5, 25 94 : 75
9 to 10 37, 20, 15, 20 92 : 92
 RQD and CORE RECOVERY
BH No. RQD (%) Core
Recovery (%)
BH-1 61.73 72.23
BH-2 65.02 72.16
BH-3 73.19 81.44
BH-4 39.44 51.96
BH-5 67.96 80.26
BH-6 68.19 78.25
Core recovery : 75. 1 %
RQD : 57. 2 %
RQD (%) Rock type
0 - 25 Poor
25 - 50 Average
50 - 75 Moderate strong
75 - 90 Strong
90 -100 Very strong
Rock mass and Intact Rock
 Table1 INTACT ROCK PROPERTIES
Rock strata Compressive Geological Modulus of Disturbance Hoek-Brown
strength Strength Elasticity Factor parameter
 ci ( MPa) Index Ei (GPa) D mi
GSI

Clay 17.5 50 4 0 7
Coal 28 50 5 0 7
Sandstone 35 60 9.87 0 10

  mb  
a 1

  mb  4s  a(mb  8s)    s   Eq.1  3max

 4    3n  (e)
 cm   ci  (a)  ci
 2 1  a  2  a  
 
 
 1 D 2 
Ecm  Ei  0.02   60 15 D GSI  11  (f)
 1 e 
 6amb  s  mb 3n  
a 1

m  sin 1  
 2 1  a  2  a   6amb  s  mb 3n 
a 1
 (b)
 GSI  100 
mb  mi exp   (g)
 28  14 D 
 3max  0.47 cm 0.06 insitu 0.94 (c)
 GSI  100  (h)
s  exp  
 ci 1  2a  s  1  a  mb 3n   s  mb 3n 
a 1
 9  3D 
Cm 
6amb  s  mb 3n 
a 1

1  a  2  a  1 (d)
 e 
1 1 GSI /15 20/3
1  a  2  a  a
2 6
e
(i)
 ROCK MASS PROPERTIES
Rock strata Compressive Modulus of Cohesion, C Angle of
strength Elasticity (Mpa) internal
 ( MPa) (GPa) friction, 
cm

Clay 2.582 1.278 0.811 27

Coal 4.13 1.535 1.00 31

Sandstone 7.643 5.132 1.461 38

 RMR
It’s basically depends on following factors
• Strength of intact Rock
• Rock Quality Designation (RQD)
• Spacing of discontinuities
• Condition of discontinuities
• Ground water condition
• Orientation of discontinuities
 RMR
Max. Weightage
• Strength of intact Rock :15
• Rock Quality Designation (RQD) :20
• Spacing of discontinuities :20
• Condition of discontinuities :30
• Ground water condition :15

RMR = Sum of classification parameters +

discontinuity orientation adjustment
RMR
RMR
GSI
GSI
GSI
GSI
GSI ROCK QUALITY CLASSIFICATION

GSI value Rock mass quality

<20 Very Poor

21 - 35 Poor

36 - 55 Fair

56 -75 Good

76 -95 Very Good

Rock Tunneling Quality Index (Q System)
Barton, et al., 1974 proposed
RQD J r Jw
Q  
Jn J a SRF

where,
RQD : Rock quality designation

Jn : Joint set number

Jr : Joint roughness number

Ja : Joint alteration number

SRF: Stress reduction factor

Q System
For Stress Reduction Factor
Rock quality classification for Q system
Q value Class Rock mass
400 – 1000 A Exceptionally Good
100 - 400 A Extremely good
40 - 100 A Very good
10 - 40 B Good
4 - 10 C Fair
1-4 D Poor
0.1 – 1.0 E Very Poor
0.01 – 0.1 F Extremely Poor
0.001 – 0.01 G Exceptionally Poor
THANK YOU