Effect of textural characteristics on engineering properties of some sedimentary rocks

Abstract

As it is commonly known, the estimation of physical and mechanical characteristics of rocks is very important issue in various geotechnical projects. The characteristics are mainly influenced by the microfabric-texture features of rocks. In this research, dry unit weight, effective porosity, point load index, Schmidt rebound hardness, uniaxial compressive strength, and texture coefficient were measured with the aim of correlating the physical and mechanical properties to the texture coefficient. For this purpose, a comprehensive laboratory testing program was conducted after collecting twenty sedimentary block samples including nine limestones and eleven mudstones, taken from Kalidromo (central Greece) in accordance with ASTM and ISRM standards. Also, mineralogical and petrographic properties, textural characteristics as well as X-ray diffractions were studied and the obtained results were statistically described and analysed. The maximum and minimum values of the texture coefficient were 0.13 and 0.50, respectively. The highest value was obtained for the rocks with a large amount of grains. Regression analyses were used to investigate the relationships between the texture coefficient and the engineering properties. Thus, empirical equations were developed and because of the good determination coefficients, they showed that all of the engineering properties were well correlated to the texture coefficient.