A Study on the Soundness of Parent Rocks in Sri Lanka
Journal Title: Trends in Civil Engineering and its Architecture - Year 2018, Vol 1, Issue 5
Abstract
Studies on the engineering properties of different rock types provide a prior knowledge on the quality of such rock types as well as potential locations of suitable sources for the industry. The property "soundness" of a material measures the tendency to split into pieces similar to physical weathering during expansion and contraction processes within it. This soundness varies according to the type of minerals in a rock and its' origin. If rocks are using for aggregates for concrete or other applications the estimation of their soundness is necessary. With the aim of that, fresh rock samples of different rock types were collected from quarries and exposed rocks in different locali-ties in Sri Lanka to study the variation of soundness property in different rock aggregates. Samples were tested in the geotechnical engineering laboratory using sodium sulfate solution according to the Standard Method ASTM C88-99a. The rock types were Chranockite/charnockitic gneiss, garnet/hornblende/biotite gneiss, Microcline/Granitic gneiss, Garnet/biotite gneiss, Marble, Hornblende biotite gneiss, Quartzite, pegmatite, pink granite and Miocene limestone. Accordingly charnockite/ charnockitic gneiss shows the lowest loss of weight percentage as the highly sound rock for aggregates. Miocene limestone is the highly unfavorable rock. The rocks have been classified as igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic according to their origin, texture and mineralogy. This classification is not valid for engineering science because rock is another material. Under the civil engineering category "a rock is a hard, consolidated and load bearing material and it cannot be excavated by manual methods". Hence rocks have been classified according to their properties for engineering purposes such as tunnels, underground openings, dam foundations etc. As far as Sri Lankan rocks are concerned, there are no (or very limited) published data to use as literature reviews. A classification of the various engineering properties of Sri Lankan rocks is therefore a necessity because it gives prior knowledge of these properties by identifying the type of rocks in any site. In order to prepare such a classification and provide more detailed literature of Sri Lankan rocks the author carried out a program of research to determine the engineering properties of those. The results of a part of this research have been published and now it is available for reference [1,2]. It highlights the values of different engineering properties of Sri Lankan rocks and inter-relationships among them. The quality of construction works in Civil Engineering largely depends on the properties of materials. The properties of rock aggregates depend upon the natural condition of different rock types. Therefore studies on the engineering properties of different rock types provide a prior knowledge on the quality of such rock types as well as potential locations of suitable sources for the industry. The property "soundness" of a material measures the tendency to split into pieces similar to physical weathering during expansion and contraction processes within it. This soundness varies according to the type of minerals in a rock and its' origin. The soundness of rocks should be found before use those as aggregates for concrete, as rip rap materials and as materials for protection the coastal zones, or as foundation rock especially for dam sites, harbors and marine structures.
Authors and Affiliations
Ude S Jayawardena
Keywords
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- EP ID EP606853
- DOI 10.32474/TCEIA.2018.01.000125
- Views 33
- Downloads 0
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