EVALUATION OF ANISOTROPY IN ROCKS USING NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING METHODS

Abstract

In engineering projects and rock mechanics studies, it is important to determine the physical strength properties of rocks. In these studies, the anisotropy property, which represents the expression of the change in the properties of the rocks according to the directions, is one of the main parameters that directly affects the preparation of project planning. A non-destructive, fast, and economical determination of this parameter in situ can be very useful. In this study, the anisotropic features of different types of rocks (sedimentary, magmatic and metamorphic) were researched using the non-destructive tests (NDT), commonly used in recent years, of surface hardness (Schmidt hammer rebound values and Leeb hardness) and P-wave velocity (Vp). According to the findings obtained, limitations of the surface hardness test devices (small device probe area) were determined to cause deviations in the measurement values. As P-wave measurements were less affected by the surface features of the samples and provided more reliable information about the structural-textural features of the samples, they have better useability for determining the anisotropic features of rocks.