DEPARTMENT OF MINING ENGINEERING

(NITK)

LAB SUBMISSION ON
UNIAXIAL COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH TEST

Submitted By
Ankesh Pandey
(181MN002)

Submitted To
Dr Sandi Kumar Reddy
SCOPE
This method of test is intended to measure the uniaxial compressive strength of rock
samples in the form of specimens of regular geometry. The test is mainly intended for
strength classification and characterization of intact rock.

APPARATUS
1. A suitable machine shall be used for applying and measuring axial load to the
specimen. It shall be of sufficient capacity and capable of applying load at a rate
conforming to the requirements set. It shall be verified at suitable time intervals
and shall comply with accepted national requirements such as prescribed in either
ASTM Methods E4 : Verification of Testing Machines or British Standard 1610,
Grade A or Deutsche Normen DIN 51 220, DIN 51 223, Klasse 1 and DIN 51 300.

2. A spherical seat if any of the testing machine, if not complying with the
specifications shall be removed or placed in a locked position the two loading faces
of the machine being parallel to each other.

3. Steel Platens in the form of discs and having a Rockwell hardness of not less than
HRC58 shall be placed at the specimen ends. The diameter of the platens shall be
between D and D + 2 mm where D is the diameter of the specimen. The thickness
of the platens shall be at least 15 mm or D/3. Surfaces of the discs should be ground
and their flatness should be better than 0.005 mm.

4. One of the two plates shall incorporate a spherical seat should be placed on the
upper end of the specimen. It should be lightly lubricated with mineral oil so that
it locks after the deadweight of the cross-head has been picked up. The specimen,
the platens and spherical seat shall be accurately centred with respect to one
another and to the loading machine. The curvature centre of the seat surface
should coincide with the centre of the top end of the specimen.

PROCEDURE
1. Test specimens shall be right circular cylinders having a height to diameter ratio
of 2.5-3.0 and a diameter preferably of not less than NX core size, approximately
 54 mm. The diameter of the specimen should be related to the size of the largest
grain in the rock by the ratio of at least 10:1.

2. The ends of the specimen shall be fiat to 0.02 mm and shall not depart from
perpendicularity to the axis of the specimen by more than 0.001 radian (about 3.5
min) or 0.05 mm in 50 mm.

3. The sides of the specimen shall be smooth and free of abrupt irregularities and
straight to within 0.3 mm over the full length of the specimen

4. The use of capping materials or end surface treatments other than machining is
not permitted.

5. The diameter of the test specimen shall be measured to the nearest 0.1 mm by
averaging two diameters measured at right angles to each other at about the upper-
height, the mid-height and the lower height of the specimen. The average diameter
shall be used for calculating the cross-sectional area. The height of the specimen
shall be determined to the nearest 1.0 mm.

6. Samples shall be stored, for no longer than 30 days, in such a way as to preserve
the natural water content, as far as possible, and tested in that condition.* This
moisture condition shall be reported in accordance with "Suggested method for
determination of the water content of a rock sample", Method 1, ISRM Committee
on Laboratory Tests, Document No. 2, First Revision, December 1977.

7. Load on the specimen shall be applied continuously at a constant stress rate such
that failure will occur within 5-10min of loading, alternatively the stress rate shall
be within the limits of 0.5-1.0 MPa/s.

8. The maximum load on the specimen shall be recorded in newtons (or kilonewtons
and meganewtons where appropriate) to within l %.

9. The number of specimens tested should be determined from practical

CALCULATIONS
The uniaxial compressive strength of the specimen shall be calculated by dividing the
maximum load carried by the specimen during the test, by the original cross-sectional
area.
Corrected UCS Calculations

Where,
D = Diameter of Specimen in inches
L = Length of Specimen in inches
Ca = Measured Compressive Strength lb/in
Co = Corrected Compressive Strength lb/in

OBSERVATIONS & TABULATIONS

Table 1 : Observation Table

Sample No Length (cm) Mean Length Diameter Mean

25 10.4

1 25 25 10.3 10.3

25 10.3

25 10.4

2 25 25 10.3 10.4

24 10.4

24 10.2

3 25 25 10.3 10.3

26 10.4
 Table 2 : Observation Table - Loading Parameters

S. Length Dia L/D Area Rt of Load at UCS

1 250 103 2.42 8332.28 500 196 0.023

2 250 104 2.40 8494.86 500 197 0.023

3 250 103 2.42 8332.28 500 194 0.023

Mean = =

Where,
X = Arithmetic Mean
Σx = Sum of All the Compressive Strength
n = The total number of samples

Table 3 : Statistical Analysis

Sample No x x-X (x-X)^2

1 0.023 0.0 0.0

2 0.023 0.0 0.0

3 0.023 0.0 0.0

RESULT
The Uniaxial Compressive Strength of the given rock sample is 0.023 kN/mm2