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 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 20 30 40 50 70 100 200 300 400 700

Very weak Weak Strong Very strong Coates

1964

Low Medium High Very high Deere and Miller

Very low strength
strength strength strength strength 1966

Weak Moderately Moderately Strong Very Extremely Geological Society

Very weak
weak streng strong strong 1970

Soil Rock

Extremely Low Very high Extremely

Very low Medium High Broch and Franklin
low strength strength high
strength strength strength 1972
strength strength

Very soft Hard Very hard Jennings

Soil Soft rock Extremely hard rock
rock rock rock 1973

Low Medium High Very high Bieniawski

Soil Very low strength
strength strength strength strength 1973

Very low Medium High Very ISRM

Low strength Moderate
high 1979

0.5 0.7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 20 30 40 50 70 100 200 300 400 700

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 A3-
1a and A3-7.