Experimental Study on the Strength Difference of Two Types of Sandstones With Different Composition of Minerals Under the Conditions of Dry and Wet Cycles

Abstract

Some rock slides have taken place in Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China. Many Researches on the causes of the slides shows that the more sensitive of rock strength to the reservoir water level fluctuation, the easier to fail of the rock slopes. In order to study the strength difference of different sandstones in reservoir water fluctuation zone of Three Gorges Reservoir, the authors taken two types of sandstones with different composition of minerals as a typical case to study in detail. One type of the two sandstones (called Type I) is composed of quartz, feldspar, muscovite and calcite, argillaceous cement. The other (called Type II) is composed of quartz, feldspar, sericite, argillaceous cement. Uniaxial compression tests indicate that the compressive strength of type I sandstone decreased significantly as they underwent first wet and dry cycle, and then nearly kept constant when they underwent the following wet and dry cycles, and that the compressive strength of Type II sandstones nearly kept constant when they underwent many times of wet and dry cycles.