Correlation between uniaxial strength and point load index of rocks

Abstract

Determination of rock engineering properties is important in civil, mining and geotechnical engineering. Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) is one of the most important properties of rocks. Point Load Test (PLT) is practically used in geotechnical engineering to determine rock strength index. Despite that the PLT is fast, economical and simple in either field or laboratory, Uniaxial Compressive Test (UCT) is time-consuming and expensive. UCS can be estimated using Point Load Index (PLI). So, implementation of correlation between results of PLT and UCT is of interest. In this research correlation between the results of point load test and uniaxial compressive test are presented for rock samples from three sites in Iran. Two rock types including Shale and Marlstone have been utilized in this research. Correlations between UCS and PLI in this study are verified with proposed equation by pervious researchers.