Evaluation of Specimen Size-Effect in Sedimentary Rocks and Grain Size Effect in Concrete Specimens on Uniaxial Compressive Strength

Abstract

Summary: In rock engineering, the effect of scale on the strength and deformation properties of the rock mass is one of the most important issues. Prediction of uniaxial compressive strength in different diameters using the specimen size-effect models is valuable. To specify the application scope of the specimen size-effect models in the rock and concrete specimens, a few significant study have so far been carried out. This paper proposes a model of appropriate size-effect in sedimentary rocks and concrete specimens. Another object of this paper is discussion on the effect of specimen size and grain size on uniaxial compressive strength of rock and concrete specimens using statistical and experimental methods. The results of this study can be used for engineering designs in or on rocks and are more useful for determining of the elastic constants and compressive strength of rock. Introduction: Dependence of compressive strength on the specimen size has a fundamental role in the designing of rock structures. In the rock mechanics, many experimental and analytical methods have been used to determine the specimen size-effect on the mechanical behavior of intact rock. In the area of rock mechanics and solid mechanics, the most notable proposed analytical models to predict the specimen size-effect on the uniaxial compressive strength are including the Weibull statistical theory (1951), the Hoek and Brown empirical theory (1980), the specimen size-effect model using fracture energy theory (Bazant, 1983 and 1984), the multi-fractal scaling model (Carpinteri et al., 1995), the fractal fracture size-effect model (Bazant, 1997) and the unified size-effect model for intact rock (Masoumi et al., 2015). To specify the application scope of these models in the rock and concrete specimens, few significant study have so far been carried out. Methodology and Approaches: Statistical analysis of this study, were conducted in each size-effect model by means of a non-linear least-squares fitting algorithm and Levenberg-Marquardt method using SPSS software. In the experimental study, three concrete blocks of approximately 500mm×500mm×500mm in size with three different grain sizes (0-12, 0-20 and 0-25) were manufactured. After the curing time, using a laboratory drilling machine, cylindrical specimens were obtained from blocks with diameters of 56, 68, 72 and 94 mm and with a length-to-diameter ratio of 2.0 (L/D=2.0) according to the recommendation of International Society of Rock Mechanics (ISRM, 2007). ACI-211 standard and ASTM C33 standard were utilized for mixture design of samples and required grain sizes respectively. Results and Conclusions: In the sedimentary rocks and concrete specimens, respectively, there was a good agreement between outputs of laboratory tests with the specimen size-effect model using fracture energy and the multifractal scaling model. In experimental study, results of uniaxial compressive strength tests for grain sizes 0-20 and 0-25 mm indicated that increase of the specimens' diameter resulted in first increase and then decrease of uniaxial compressive strength. The results of this study confirmed grain size effect on the predictions of specimen size-effect models (i.e. increase of the grain size, leads to reduction of the value of correlation coefficient for different models. These results can be used for engineering designs in rocks and concrete mixtures.