Evaluation of the Loss of Uniaxial Compressive Strength of Sandstones Due to Moisture

Figures & data

Table 1. Relative methods for measuring moisture content (BS EN 16,682:2017).

Clause	Method	Physical principle
B.2	electrical resistance	Ohm’s law
B.3	capacitance	dielectric capacity of water
B.4	equilibrium RH	equilibrium between RH and MC
C.2	microwave	interference of the water molecule with the electromagnetic radiation (microwave frequency)
C.3	evanescent-field dielectrometry (EFD)	interference of the water molecule with the electromagnetic radiation (microwave frequency)
C.4	time-domain reflectometry (TDR)	interference of the water molecule with the electromagnetic radiation (radio frequency)
C.5	nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)	magnetic moment and resonant frequency of the water molecule
C.6	near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)	reflection of the near infrared radiation
C.7	ultrasound pulses	speed of ultrasound pulses
C.8	thermography	thermal emission of bodies

Figure 1. Test results by Hawkins and McConnell (1992) (Reproduced).

Figure 2. Relationship between the dry and saturated UCS (Vasarhelyi 2003).

Figure 3. a) UCS vs moisture content and b) relative UCS vs. water content (Vasarhelyi and Ván 2006).

Figure 4. Saturated UCS vs. water absorption (Fahimifar and Soroush 2007).

Figure 5. UCS_sat vs. UCS_dry.

Figure 6. Review of literature and test data (Rabat, Cano, and Tomas 2020).

Figure 7. a) Stone appearance and b) micrographic details using cross-polarized light.

Figure 8. Testing process.

Table 2. Test results.

Set	Sample No.	Moisture (%)	Dry density (g/cm^3)	UCS (N/mm^2)		Moisture (%)	UCS (N/mm^2)	UCS of oven dry (N/mm^2)
1 Oven dry	1	0.05	2.1	69.5	Mean CoV (%)	0.05 27	71.7 3.4	100%
	2	0.04	2.2	73.1
	3	0.05	2.1	69.9
	4	0.05	2.1	71.6
	5	0.05	2.2	69.1
	6	0.04	2.2	74.9
	7	0.04	2.2	74.4
	8	0.09	2.2	72.7
	9	0.04	2.2	74.3
	10	0.05	2.2	67.6
2 Air dry	11	0.18	2.2	60.5	Mean CoV (%)	0.16 21.86	61.4 1.4	86%
	12	0.13	2.1	62.8
	13	0.14	2.1	61.4
	14	0.14	2.1	61.9
	15	0.22	2.1	60.7
3 Wet (24 hrs oven dry)	16	0.45	2.2	57.9	Mean CoV (%)	0.45 11.45	60.9 3.3	85%
	17	0.54	2.1	60.4
	18	0.40	2.2	61.4
	19	0.40	2.2	60.8
	20	0.45	2.1	64.1
4 Wet (19 hrs oven dry)	21	0.45	2.2	60.4	Mean CoV (%)	0.60 33.8	59.9 2.3	83%
	22	0.95	2.2
	23	0.62	2.2	61.9
	24	0.36	2.1	58.7
	25	0.59	2.1	58.5
5 Wet (5 hrs oven dry)	26	4.33	2.2	57.9	Mean CoV (%)	4.43 2.48	59.4 1.4	83%
	27	4.33	2.1	59.6
	28	4.36	2.2	59.3
	29	4.59	2.1	59.7
	30	4.53	2.2	60.3
6 Saturated	31	6.03	2.2	57.4	Mean CoV (%)	6.07 3.15	57.9 1	81%
	32	6.44	2.1	57.2
	33	5.96	2.1	58.0
	34	5.89	2.1	58.2
	35	6.03	2.1	58.8

Figure 9. UCS vs. moisture for test data.

Figure 10. Summary for all data.

Table 3. Average relationship between UCS_sat and UCS_dry from literature.

Source	Stone type	Model
Current study	Sandstones	UCSsat = 0.8017 UCSdry − 8.6108 (R2 = 0.9138)
Vasarhelyi (2003) for Hawkins and McConnell (1992)	Sandstones	UCSsat = 0.759 UCSdry (R2 = 0.906)
Majeed and Abu Bakarb (2018)	Various	UCSsat = 0.57 UCSdry + 5.63 (R2 = 0.72)
Rabat, Cano, and Tomas (2020)	Various	UCSsat = 0.5416 UCSdry (R2 = 0.939)

Figure 11. Saturation vs. soaking time.

Figure 12. UCS vs. soaking time.

Figure 13. UCS vs. saturation.

Hawkins, A., and B. McConnell. 1992. Sensitivity of sandstone strength and deformability to changes in moisture content. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology 25 (2):115–30. doi:10.1144/GSL.QJEG.1992.025.02.05.

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