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Rock Laboratory Tests

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

  • 67 Accesses

Definition

Tests performed in the laboratory to determine physical or mechanical properties of intact rocks and rock discontinuities.

Introduction

Rock Laboratory tests are carried out to determine rock properties. Since rock properties are a key input for rock mechanics design in civil, mining, and petroleum engineering, this entry is mainly based on documents by the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM). The ISRM Commission on Testing Methods, since 1974, has published the ISRM Suggested Methods (SMs) covering different aspects of rock mechanics. The SMs are collected in books (“yellow” book, Brown 1981; “blue” book, Ulusay and Hudson 2007; and “orange” book, Ulusay 2015). A complete list of ISRM SMs is included in the “orange” book.

The scope of the SMs is to achieve some degree of standardization of testing procedures and to consider the result of tests, wherever obtained, as reliable as possible. Currently, the ISRM SMs are considered the fundamental documents on which...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy

    Tatiana Rotonda

  2. Institute for Environmental Geology and Geo-Engineering, National Research Council, Rome, Italy

    Paolo Tommasi

Authors
  1. Tatiana Rotonda
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  2. Paolo Tommasi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tatiana Rotonda .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sidney, BC, Canada

    Peter T. Bobrowsky

  2. London, UK

    Brian Marker

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Rotonda, T., Tommasi, P. (2018). Rock Laboratory Tests. In: Bobrowsky, P.T., Marker, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73568-9_243

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