Estimating the Uniaxial Compressive Strength of Argillites Using Brazilian Tensile Strength, Ultrasonic Wave Velocities, and Elastic Properties

Excerpt

Argillites are indurated mudstones and have relatively high strength and low permeability. These rocks are: often used for aggregates in the construction industry, used as armour rock for sea walls, good sites for the waste repository (e.g. Cuisinier et al. 2009; Jia et al. 2009; Zhang et al. 2014), and unconventional petroleum reservoirs provided that the organic content is high (e.g. Rodnikova et al. 1968). In the mining of most rocks including argillites, several engineering issues are encountered, such as rock fracturing around mining pits and the support and control of the fractured rock masses, during drilling, blasting, and tunnelling (e.g. Aladejare 2020). The Uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and tensile strength are important prerequisite parameters in the engineering design to minimize these issues (e.g. Ng et al. 2015). The lack of these data will result in poor engineering design that can lead to the collapse of the mining and tunnelling sites. Therefore them is imperative to quantify the UCS and tensile strength by direct measurement or estimating it from other available data such as velocity, and elastic properties. …