The effect of volumetric block proportion and grain size on BIMRock strength [Hacimsel dane oraninin ve dane boyutunun hamurda kayalarin (BIMRock) dayanimi üzerindeki etkisi]

Heterogeneous rock mass consisting of rock blocks that is surrounded by a weak matrix is regarded as block-in-matrix-rocks (bimrock). obtaining samples from this type of rock mass according to the standards and preparing them to be used in laboratory studies are often difficult. for this reason,it is quite difficult to determine the shear strength parameters and the mechanical properties such as uniaxial compressive strength in these sorts of rocks. there are just a few laboratory studies over bimrocks,and there isn’t a widely accepted empirical approach in the field of rock mechanics available due to the limitations of the existing empirical methods. in scope of this work,synthetic bimrocks samples were prepared with different grain sizes and different volumetric grain ratio. uniaxial compressive strength tests were conducted on prepared samples. as a result of the experiments,the effect of grain size and volumetric grain proportion on the strength of artificial bimrock samples were investigated. artificial bimrock samples with 20%,30% and 40% volumetric grain proportions were prepared in the laboratory using gravel shaving diameters 0.6 to 9.5 mm. plaster and water were used to form matrix. the uniaxial compressive strengths of the test samples decrease from 0.68 mpa to 0.45 mpa as the grain size decreases; and increase from 0.51 mpa to 0.66 mpa as the volumetric grain proportion increase. the results indicate that the uniaxial compressive strength of bimrocks increases with increasing grain size and volumetric grain proportion. © 2016,tmmob - jeoloji muhendisleri odasi. all rights reserved.