Engineering properties of shales and soft rocks | |
| Author | Balgunan, Nadarajah |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no. GT-83-23 |
| Subject(s) | Shale--Testing Rocks--Testing |
| Note | A thesis submitted m partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | This thesis presents a review on the engineering properties of shales and soft rocks. This study is an extension or the work done by Duangdeun (1978) , who studied the role of water on the mechanical properties of Thailand mudstone. As the present topic covers all type of soft rocks and shales, an extensive review was done on these materials based on international publications. At the end of this study recommendations are suggested for future work. One of the objectives of this study is to distinguish 'soil-type' and 'rock-type' shales. A distinction between the two type of materials was made based on hydro-static compression, strength softening test, quantitative slaking test and slake durability index test. It was found that standard slake durability test of two cycles was the most suitable. A system of classification of shales was developed based on origin, fissility, particle size distribution, index properties and mineralogical composition to identify the problematic shales. The most important problem encountered in soft rocks was swelling. The density of the material, change in the water content and the in-situ stress conditions were the important factors that controlled the amount of swell in in-situ soft rocks. This phenomenon is critically examined and discussed. Much importance was given to the concept of residual strength and the factors controlling this property. Various test results on shales and soft rocks are tabulated, plotted on standard soil engineering charts and compared with 'known' properties of clays and rocks. Micro-computer programmes were used to check the correlations with various properties. |
| Year | 1984 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Geotechnical and Transportation Engineering (GT) |
| Chairperson(s) | Balasubramaniam, A.S. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Rantucci, Giovanni ; Bergado, Dennes T. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | The Royal Norwegian Government |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1984 |