Using the Point Load Test to Determine the Uniaxial Compressive Strength of marble and travertine rocks

Point load testing is used to determine rock strength indexes in geotechnical practice. The point load testapparatus and procedure enables economical testing of core or lump rock samples in either a field orlaboratory setting. In order to estimate uniaxial compressive strength, index-to-strength conversionfactors are used. These factors have been proposed by various researchers and are dependent upon rocktype. This study involved the uniaxial compressive testing and point load testing of marble and travertinerocks from ten different rock quarries in Iran. Around 300 individual test results, including 159 uniaxialstrength tests and 139 point load tests, were used in this study. Rock lithologies were classified into twogeneral categories and conversion factors were determined for these categories. This allows for intactrock strength data to be made available through point load testing for numerical geotechnical analysisand empirical rock mass classification systems such as the Rock Mass Rating (RMR).

Keywords:

point load test , uniaxial strength test , marble and travertine , correlation factor