PREDICTING INTACT ROCK PROPERTIES OF SELECTED SANDSTONES USING PETROGRAPHIC THIN-SECTION DATA

摘要

The determination of strength and deformability of intact rock material is one of the major requirements and/or input parameters in rock engineering. However, preparation of high quality specimens for these determinations are not always possible particularly from fractured and weathered rocks. Due to this limitation, indirect tests and predictive models can be considered as alternative methods. In this study, an attempt was made to suggest practical and inexpensive predictive models based on statistical techniques for estimation of strength and some engineering properties of the five selected sandstones from their petrographic characteristics. The study revealed that the influence of the textural characteristics, such as angular grains, packing density and packing proximity appear to be more important than mineralogy for predicting engineering properties. The results of the study were presented in the form of correlation coefficient models and predictive models, and performance of the models with highest correlation coefficient were also checked by comparing predicting and measured values.