Government Of India,Ministry Of Water Resources Central Soil And Materials Research Station

Rock Mechanics-Lab

Shri Mahabir Dixit, Scientist ‘E’ 

 

Rock Mechanics -Lab group comprises of Rock Mechanics Laboratory division and Workshop and Instrumentation division. The main activities are:

  • For detailed and controlled testing of responses of rock under different loading conditions, the Rock Engineering Laboratory is well-equipped to undertake the holistic assessment of the detached rock. The properties determined are:

o    Physical Properties (Dry, saturated and grain densities; apparent Porosity

    and water content at saturation)

o    Slake Durability Index

o    Strength and Deformability Characteristics of Intact Rock in Uniaxial

    Compression (UCS, Tangent Modulus and Poisson Ratio)

o    Assessment of shear strength properties through triaxial compression

    (Apparent Cohesion and Angle of Internal Friction)

o    Direct shear test on rock discontinuties

o    Assessment of Hoek and Brown parameters of intact rock

    (m and s parameters)

o    Indirect Tensile Strengths of Rock

o    Compressive and Shear Wave velocities in rock

o    Point Load Strength Index

o    Schmidt Hammer Rebound Number

o    Dorry Abrasion Value 

  • Instrumentation division is involved in the Hydro-electric Projects at the pre-construction stage, construction stage, and remains active even during the post-commissioning stage. To gain confidence in the functioning/safety of the structures involved, and to check the assumptions involved in the design of the structures, crucial importance of instrumentation cannot be over-emphasised.

  • Monitoring the health of the existing structures.

  • Dissemination of expertise to in-service engineers of various State Government Departments by establishing regional testing laboratories and impart training in laboratory testing on rock.

  • Impart training to engineers from within the country and from overseas for investigation and testing in the fields of Geotechnical Engineering.

 

Testing for UCS and deformation characteristics

Slake Durability Test