A3 - 3

As rocks are composed of an aggregate of several types of minerals with different properties,
arrangement and "welding", there are many factors which determine their strength properties. In
addition, possible weathering and alteration can highly influence on the final strength properties of a
rock. The effect of this is outlined in Section 1.6.4
Some minerals have a stronger influence on the properties of a rock than other. In rock construction
the mica and similar minerals have an important contribution where they occur as parallel oriented
continuous layers (Selmer-Olsen, 1964). Mica schists and phyllites with a high amount of mica
show, therefore, strongly anisotropic properties which often influence in rock construction works as
shown in Section 1.6.3.
1.1 The uniaxial compressive strength (V
Vc )
In rock mechanics and engineering geology the boundary between rock and soil is defined in terms
of the uniaxial compressive strength and not in terms of structure, texture or weathering. Several
classifications of the compressive strength of rocks have been presented, as seen in Fig. A3-1. In
this work a material with the strength d 0,25 MPa is considered as soil, refer to ISRM (1978) and
Table A3-1.
0.5

0.7

6 7 8

10

20

30

40 50

Low
strength

Very low strength

Soil

Extremely
low
strength

Moderately
weak

Weak

Low
strength

Very low
strength

Very soft
rock

Strong

300

400

700

Coates
1964

Very strong

High
strength

Very high
strength

Deere and Miller

1966

Very
strong

Extremely
strong

Geological Society
1970

Very high
strength

Extremely
high
strength

Broch and Franklin

1972

Medium
strength

Strong

High
strength

Medium
strength

Very hard
rock

Hard
rock

Soft rock

Very low strength

Soil

Very low

0.7

Moderately
streng

200

Rock

Soil

0.5

100

Weak

Very weak

Very weak

70

Low strength

6 7 8

10

20

Low
strength

Medium
strength

High
strength

Moderate

Medium

High

30

40 50

Jennings
1973

Extremely hard rock

70

100

Very high
strength

Bieniawski
1973

ISRM
1979

Very
high

200

300

400

700

Uniaxial compressive strength, MPa

Fig. A3-1

Various strength classifications for intact rock (from Bieniawski, 1984)

The uniaxial compressive strength can be determined directly by uniaxial compressive strength tests
in the laboratory, or indirectly from point-load strength test (see Section 1.4.2). The tests should be
carried out according to the methods recommended by the ISRM (1972).
The classification of the uniaxial compressive strength suggested by ISRM is shown in Tables A31a and A3-7.