Stress–strain behaviour of weathered weak rock in middle-sized triaxial tests

Abstract

A middle-sized triaxial test apparatus for a specimen 20 cm in height and 10 cm in diameter was developed to measure the deformation and strength of weak rock or gravel. High-quality undisturbed samples of a weathered weak rock were taken from a dam site by a core drilling method. To avoid damage to the structure of the weak rock due to saturation of specimens as a result of measuring volume change through the water change in a burette, the lateral deformation of specimens was directly measured in the unsaturated condition using three rings mounted on the specimen. Using the developed triaxial test apparatus, isotropic compression tests and consolidated–drained triaxial compression tests were performed on unsaturated or saturated undisturbed samples under confining pressures of 49, 98, 196, 392, 539, and 683 kPa. The test results show that the stress–strain relationship of the weathered weak rock under both unsaturated and saturated conditions is strongly influenced by the confining pressure when the confining pressure is less than 392 kPa, and the stress–strain behaviour becomes similar to that of normally consolidated clay when the confining pressure is greater than 392 kPa. Comparison of results of triaxial tests on unsaturated and saturated specimens shows that the saturated samples become somewhat weak. The test results also show that the bonding and stress history largely influence the stress–strain relationship at small strain levels.Key words: weathered weak rock, microstructure, undisturbed sample, deformation, strength, triaxial test, unsaturated sample.