CHARACTERIZATION OF PHYSICAL AND STRENGTH PROPERTIES OF SELECTED ROCKS OF SWABI AND SURROUNDING AREAS, KP PAKISTAN

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate physical, strength and petrographic features of rocks of District Swabi and surrounding areas. Moreover this study was aimed to find out how physical and strength properties and petrographic features change with one another and to find out if a meaningful correlation was present between direct and direct strength tests of the rocks. Two bulk rock samples for each formation/lithology were collected. The rocks included Nikani Ghar Marble, Ambela Granite, ShewaShahbazgari Granite and Utla Granite and marble, limestone and dolomite of Nowshera Formation. Bulk rock samples were cut into different test specimens. Cube samples were prepared for UCS, UPV and physical tests while block rock samples were prepared for PLT according to ASTM specifications. Similarly two thin sections were made for each rock type. Physical and strength tests and petrographic studies were performed at NCEG Peshawar. Results of physical and strength properties showed that the rocks can be confidently recommended for use in engineering projects. UCS of the rocks ranged between 51.1 and 294 MPa, PLT ranged between 2.86 and 10.03MPa, Hr ranged between 36.9 and 64.3, OD-UPV ranged between 1869.5 and 4765.8m/s , while SSD-UPV ranged between 4185.7 and 6059.3 m/s. Similarly water absorption of the rocks ranged between 0.37 and 0.86%, specific gravity ranged between 2.6453 and 2.8960, and porosity ranged between 0.142% and 0.32%. Strong correlation was find between UCS and Hr (Rsquared=0.95), UCS and PLT (R=0.914), PLT and Hr (R= 0.867) while weaker correlation was present between OD-UPV and Hr (R=0.694, SSD-UPV and Hr (R=0.707), OD-UPV and UCS (R=0.74) and SSD-UPV and UCS (R=0.714). While no meaningful correlation was present between UPV (OD or SSD) and Porosity.