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Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 946 – 953

Symposium of the International Society for Rock Mechanics

Experiments to Determine Static and Dynamic Tensile Strength

of Deccan Trap Rocks, India
Akx Malika, Tanusree Chakrabortyb,*, K.S. Raob, D. Kumarc
a
Dept. of Civil Engineering, The NorthCap University, Gurugram 122017, India
b
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi 110016, India
c
Scientist, Terminal Ballistic Research Laboratory, Chandigarh 166030, India

Abstract

Tensile strength of rocks is an important parameter in the design of underground structures and for various engineering
applications. Lack of literature and rapid development of infrastructure in central region of India calls for a need to characterize
the mechanical behaviour of rocks in Deccan trap region which is mainly composed of Basalt. In this paper, characterization of
tensile behaviour of Basalt rocks from Deccan trap is done at different loading conditions. Indirect test method namely Brazilian
test is used to calculate the static indirect tensile strength at a loading rate of 0.2 kN/s. Tests are performed on different diameters
samples and desirable failure modes are recorded. Tensile strength values recorded at slow loading are obtained to be different
for specimen having different diameters. However, strength of rock in engineering problems like blasting, mining, rock bursting
and breakage are affected by high loading rates. To consider the dynamic loading effect, a modified split Hopkinson pressure bar
technique is used. For dynamic tensile experimentation, Brazilian disc specimen are used which are slightly flattened before
testing. The flat ended Brazilian discs (FEBD) are placed diametrically in SHPB setup. Dynamic force equilibrium is
successfully achieved for the initial stages of fracture propagation till complete failure of sample. The factor for increase in
dynamic tensile strength of Deccan Basalt has been evaluated in this work. Scope of further research has been identified for
experimentations on soft rocks to determine their dynamic tensile strength characteristics.
© 2017
© 2017TheTheAuthors.
Authors. Published
Published by Elsevier
by Elsevier Ltd. Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EUROCK 2017.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EUROCK 2017
Keywords: tensile strength; brazilian test; SHPB, dynamic factor; Deccan trap Basalt; flat ended Brazilian disc

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-11-2659-1268; fax: +91-11-2658-1117.

E-mail address: tanusree@civil.iitd.ac.in

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of EUROCK 2017
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.05.265
 Akx Malik et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 946 – 953 947

1. Introduction

Strength characteristics of rocks are one of the most important parameters required for mechanical analysis
related to various applications in rock engineering field. This work has been progressed on the idea of extension of
various experimental methods available in Rock engineering field. The Deccan trap region in central India, which is
mainly composed of Basalt [1], is a type of igneous rock formed from volcanic lava flow. This region is becoming
an attractive site for large construction projects like dedicated freight corridor project (DFC), multistoried buildings,
large hydropower projects like Koyna Dam, underground tunnels (nearly 20 tunnels exist on the newly built
Mumbai-Pune expressway as observed during site visits for this work). It becomes imperative to design such
important structures with good understanding of behavior of the rocks under low as well as high loading conditions,
as mechanical behavior of rocks is dependent on the loading rate [2, 3, 4, and 5]. Determination of tensile strength of
rocks using direct methods like pull test is a difficult task. From various indirect test methods, Brazilian test is
widely used and the mechanism behind it has been considered in this work. Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB)
which is widely used for determination of compressive strength of rocks and other materials [6, 8, and 9], has been
extended for tensile testing at high loading.
In some previous works, Gupta and Rao [20] have characterized the static tensile strength behavior of fresh
Nagpur Basalt from Deccan Trap. Rodriques et al. [10] conducted dynamic splitting test on ceramic materials using
SHPB, and highlighted various aspects to be taken care of by future researchers. His observations showed broken
pieces of specimen near the point of loading which indicated the presence of stress concentration. Wang et al.
[11, 12] modified the SHPB setup to reduce the errors in dynamic testing and presented special mechanical test
procedures to determine tensile behavior of brittle rocks by making flattened Brazilian specimens. Some other
researchers have also reported dynamic tensile test methods for different types of ceramic materials and rocks
[13, 14, and 17]. Awazi et al. [15] adopted the use of anvils between the discs. Ogawa et al. [16] gave a modified
design of Kolsky tension bar. Dai et al. [18, 19] numerically simulated the fracturing of Brazilian Discs in SHPB and
reported that fracturing and fracture length development is dependent on high loading rates.
In this work, tensile strength of two varieties of rock namely Deccan Basalt and Volcanic breccia is evaluated.
Testing is performed on different sized specimens at low and high loading rates. For testing at high loading rates
Brazilian disc specimens with parallel flat ends are used under SHPB. The flat ends have proven to be helpful in
minimizing the stress concentration problem at the loading ends highlighted by Rodriques [10]. Copper pulse shaper
is used to ensure force equilibrium between sample surfaces touching the incident and transmission bar [7]. In
Deccan Basalt, desirable splitting is observed and dynamic tensile strength is evaluated for the first time in this
paper.

2. Results and discussion on static tensile testing

Static tensile testing is done at IIT Delhi Rock-Mechanics laboratory. For this work, block samples are obtained
from the west and central region of Deccan Trap, India. The two varieties of rocks chosen are fresh grade of Deccan
Basalt and Volcanic Breccia. Both Deccan Basalt and Volcanic Breccia are extrusive rocks of aphanitic origin. To
gain better understanding of the texture (size and arrangement), and composition of major minerals present in
the rock, optical image microscopic test is done. Optical image microscopic analysis shows Deccan Basalt to have
fine grained minerals, black to grey in color, and Volcanic Breccia to have a porphyritic texture in which two distinct
mineral sizes are present. Tests are performed to determine the physical properties like density, porosity and specific
gravity whose values are given in Table 1. Volcanic Breccia is found to be highly porous as compared to Deccan
Basalt.

Table 1. Properties of Deccan Basalt and Volcanic Breccia.

Properties Deccan Basalt Volcanic Breccia

Density (g/cm3) 2.98 2.01
Porosity (%) 0.2 12.2
Specific Gravity (g/cm3) 3.04 2.72
948 Akx Malik et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 946 – 953

Brazilian tensile strength test is conducted as per the IS: 10082-1981 [20]. 6 specimen each having a diameter of
54 mm (NX size) and 18 mm, and length/diameter (L/D) ratio 0.5/1 are prepared and tested for both type of rocks.
To conduct Brazilian indirect tensile strength test on 18 mm diameter specimen, a small apparatus is designed as
shown in Fig. 2(a). The apparatus is designed in accordance to the IS: 10082-1981 [20]. The material used to carve
the apparatus is aluminum, having an elastic modulus of 68.5 GPa, tensile strength of 324 MPa, and compressive
bearing strength of 607 MPa. The loading jaws are designed so as to contact the disc shaped specimen at
diametrically opposed surfaces over an arc of contact of nearly 10o at failure Radius of jaws is taken as 29 mm in
diameter, which is 1.6 times of 18 mm diameter specimen. The results of 2 specimen having NX size and 1 specimen
of 18 mm diameter are shown in this paper in Table 2 and 3 respectively for Deccan Basalt and Volcanic Breccia.

a b

Fig. 1. Failure of NX size specimen under Brazilian test (a) Deccan Basalt; (b) Volcanic Breccia.

Failure of NX size under a loading rate of 0.2 kN/s is shown in Fig. 1(a) and 1(b) for Deccan Basalt and Volcanic
Breccia respectively. The test is performed by placing disc shaped specimen in the middle of jaws and compressive
was applied and desirable failure mode is obtained as shown in Fig. 2(b). Tensile strength of Deccan Basalt is higher
as compared to that of Volcanic Breccia, which illustrates the weak behavior of Volcanic Breccia due to high
porosity and high percentage of voids. For NX size samples the average tensile strength for Deccan Basalt obtained
is 13.13 MPa, whereas the average tensile strength of same sized samples of Volcanic Breccia is 3.10 MPa. Tensile
strength is found to be 20 to 25 percent higher for 18 mm diameter samples as compared to NX size samples.

Table 2. Tensile Strength results for Deccan Basalt at loading rate of 0.2 kN/s.

S. No. Length (mm) Diameter (mm) Dial Gauge Deflections Load (N) Tensile Strength (MPa)
B 26 28.62 53.36 780 29510 12.308
B 30 27.7 53.38 820 31022 13.363
B 13 9 17.5 105 40002.2 15.8

Table 3. Tensile Strength results for Volcanic Breccia at a loading rates 0.2 kN/s.

S. No. Length (mm) Diameter (mm) Dial Gauge Deflections Load (N) Tensile Strength (MPa)
VB 3 27.2 52 165 6269.61 2.8233
VB 5 27.4 51.2 190 7214.36 3.2755
VB 23 9 17.5 26 1018 4.01
 Akx Malik et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 946 – 953 949

a b

Fig. 2: (a) Apparatus designed for 18 mm diameter specimen; (b) 18 mm diameter failed specimen of Deccan Basalt.

3. SHPB test model and procedures

For the present work, SHPB setup available at Terminal Ballistic Research Laboratory (TBRL) of Defense
Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Ministry of Defense, Government of India.
A conventional SHPB consists of a striker, an incident bar, a transmission bar and a pressure gun. The sample is
placed between the incident bar and transmission bar using an epoxy glue. Pressure is setup in the pressure gun and
it hits the incident bar, which generates an elastic compressive wave called incident wave, which travels through
the incident bar. The wave further travels through the sample and a part of the wave gets reflected back into
the incident bar from the interface of sample and incident bar, and the remaining part gets transmitted to
the transmission bar.

Wave Shaper Strain gauge I (Ch A) Specimen Strain gauge II (Ch B)

Striker bar Incidentt Bar Transmitted Bar

Loading angle < (2α)

Fig. 3: Schematic diagram of SHPB setup used showing method of placement of specimen.

The readings of the waves are recorded with the help of an oscilloscope attached to the strain gages which are
pasted at the center of the incident bar and transmission bar. In total three strain signals are recorded by
the oscilloscope, as can be seen from Fig. 3 and 5(a), in which Ch A represents channel reading from Strain gauge I
attached to the incident bar. Ch B represents channel readings from strain gauge II which is attached to
the transmission bar. Incident wave and reflected wave are recorded at Strain Gauge I on Ch A, and the transmitted
wave is recorded at Strain gauge II on Ch B. These measured strains provide data for the required stress-strain
950 Akx Malik et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 946 – 953

relation of the sample material. Specifications of the setup used are as follows: The setup consists of steel bars.
The steel used in the bars is high strength maraging steel having yield strength of 1750 MPa. The length of incident
and transmitted bars used is of 2000 mm each. The length of striker bar used is 300 mm. The diameter of all the bars
is 20 mm. A schematic diagram is shown in Fig. 3.
For this research, the specimens are modified by flattening their loading ends and making them parallel to each
other. Specimen of two different sizes of 18 mm diameter and 38 mm diameter (BX size) are prepared. 3 samples
each of 18 mm diameter and BX size are tested for both type of rocks. For testing, the specimen is sandwiched
diametrically between the incident and transmission bar along the flat ends. The ends of the specimen are flattened
to an angle 2α also called loading angle to reduce the stress concentration. As per the IS Code [20], while preparing
the specimen, care is taken to limit the loading angle 2α between 10o to 20o as shown in Fig. 3. For the purpose of
reducing dispersion a copper pulse shaper of 10 mm diameter and 1 mm thickness is used.

4. Results and Discussions on dynamic testing

There are cases of pre-mature failure observed during trial testing when specimen breaks while the stress wave
is still rising inside the specimen and the specimen being not fully loaded and stress equilibrium not being developed
in the specimen. To achieve that, copper pulse shaper is used. The wave reverberates inside the specimen and
a uniform stress distribution is achieved after a period of time. The strain histories on input and output bars are
recorded by strain gauges (120 Ω, 90 o tee rosette precision strain gages designated as EA-06-125TM-120) mounted
at the mid-point positions along the length of two bars, which is at 1000 mm from the sample – bar interface. Stress,
strain and strain rate in the specimen is calculated using 1-Dimensional wave propagation theory equations.
Results on BX size specimen of Deccan Basalt, having length/diameter ratio 0.5:1 are successfully obtained.
For sample sizes of 18 mm diameter poor transmission is observed in the oscilloscope as shown in Fig. 4. The wave
needs to reverberate inside the specimen minimum four times along the length of specimen, before which
the transmission could not be considered valid and stress concentration could not be achieved.
Volcanic Breccia having a comparatively low tensile strength of 3.1 MPa could not sustain high pressure during
testing on both size of specimen. High loading generates higher strain rate and the samples failed in a much shorter
duration of time. Several tests are conducted on Volcanic Breccia but all samples behave in similar manner and no
transmission is obtained. In this paper, only the result obtained for 1 specimen of Deccan Basalt is presented. For
dynamic tensile test on Volcanic Breccia which is a soft rock of highly porous nature, further modifications in
the SHPB setup are required.

Fig 4. Incident, reflected and transmitted waves for Deccan Basalt sample of 18 mm diameter and L/D 0.5:1.

The result obtained on a BX size flattened Brazilian disc specimen is shown in Table 4. Force equilibrium is
obtained up to the failure point for the BX size Deccan Basalt specimen as shown in Fig. 5(c), which also signifies
that only results obtained up to the peak tensile strength value can be considered valid. The strain rate generated is
281/s and corresponding tensile strength obtained is 22.9 MPa. The result shows a considerable increase in tensile
 Akx Malik et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 946 – 953 951

strength as compared to the static tensile strength which has an average value of 13.13 MPa. The factor of increase
in tensile strength comes out to be 1.75. The experimental results show strain rate sensitivity of Deccan Basalt.
Between the time duration in which sample failed, the rate of strain generation is fairly constant. Fig. 5(b)
explains the strain generation in the sample with time. Along with development of force equilibrium, constant strain
rate generation shows that the testing results can be considered valid.
The peak stress observed is 22.9 MPa, and the strain at failure is 1.31 percent. Fig. 5(d) shows the tensile
strength behavior at a strain rate of 281/s. As observed from Fig. 5(c), the post peak behavior is questionable
because the force equilibrium is not maintained after the failure of sample has taken place.
The splitting of the sample is observed from the center. Crushing is not observed in the sample during
diametrical loading as it is usually observed in case of axial loading in compression testing. No multiple cracks are
observed in the specimen recovered. The recovered specimen is shown in Fig 6. Very negligible crushing is
observed at the point of loading. Therefore, the failure of sample observed is as desired for a Brazilian test done at
low loading rates.

Table 4. Peak Stress observed at varying strain rates for Deccan Basalt.

Sample number L/D ratio Pressure used (bar) Strain rate (/s) Peak stress (MPa)
21 0.5 1 281 23

1500 8
Ch A (Strain Gauge I)
1000 Ch B (Strain Gauge II) 7

6
500
Strain (microdef)

5
Strain (%)

0
4
-500
3

-1000 2

-1500 1

500 750 1000 1250 1500 0

0 50 100 150 200 250
Time (Microseconds) Time(microseconds)

Force Equillibrium for Deccan Basalt Dynamic Tensile Strength

(Dynamic Tensile Test) (Deccan Basalt)
30
30 Incident Force, F1(kN) Strain rate = 281/sec
Transmitted Force, F2(kN) 25
25
Tensile Strength (MPa)

20
20
Force (kN)

15
15

10
10

5 5

0 0
0 40 80 120 160 200 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Time (microseconds) Strain (%)

Fig. 5. (a) Incident, transmitted and reflected waves during under NX size flattened Brazilian discs of Deccan Basalt; (b) Strain generation in
the sample with time; (c) Force equilibrium on sample-bar interfaces during the testing; (d) Tensile strength behavior at a strain rate of 281/s.
952 Akx Malik et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 946 – 953

Fig. 6. BX size Deccan Basalt Specimen (a) before failure; (b) after failure at high loading rate.

5. Conclusions

There is a great scope of development and advancement in experimentations related to geotechnical and rock
engineering field, and techniques which can determine the strength of rocks at different loading rates needs to be
developed, extended and validated.
From this work, it is concluded that SHPB test which was conventionally used for determining compressive
strength characteristics of various materials, can also be used to determine the tensile behavior of rocks with some
modification in the testing procedure. It is found that in Brazilian test at low loading rates, specimen size affects
the tensile strength of rocks. Therefore, a standard size should be defined for rocks. Further research is required to
understand the relationship between the size and the intrinsic properties of rocks like rock texture and structure,
grain size distribution, and anisotropic characteristics to determine the actual tensile strength from Brazilian test.
Comparison is made between tensile strength obtained for two different size of specimen at loading rates
of 0.2 kN/s. and it is found that the tensile strength value obtained for small sized specimen of 18 mm diameter is
20–25% higher as compared to the tensile strength value obtained for NX sized specimen. The tensile strength for
NX sized specimen is considered to be more representative of the actual tensile strength, and the comparison
becomes important as the dynamic tensile tests have been tried on similar sized specimen of 18 mm diameter, which
turns out to give poor transmission due to small size of specimen and due to difficulty in flattening the ends of
18 mm diameter specimen. Several tests are conducted on Volcanic Breccia but all samples behave in similar
manner without giving any transmission. For Volcanic Breccia, poor transmission is observed for both BX size and
18 mm diameter specimen. This is possibly due to the factors like heterogeneity, low strength and high porosity of
Volcanic Breccia, which renders it an inability to sustain high pressure as high pressure generates high strain rate
and the specimen fails in a much shorter duration of time. Also, the transmission waves cannot pass through
the specimen due to high porosity of Volcanic Breccia. For Deccan Basalt specimen of 18 mm diameter,
transmission is again not obtained. The reason can be the small length of the 18 mm diameter specimen, as the wave
needs some time to transmit to the other end of sample to maintain force equilibrium. For Deccan Basalt specimen of
BX size, transmission through the specimen is successfully obtained with force equilibrium being maintained
between specimen and bar interfaces, and constant strain rate generation is observed during the experiment. Failure
mode is observed to be desirable with splitting from the center and negligible crushing at the loading ends.
The factor for dynamic increase in tensile strength is 1.75 for Deccan Basalt. This shows that Deccan Basalt is
sensitive to the loading rate. Therefore, SHPB can be extended to determine the dynamic tensile strength of rocks
like Deccan Basalt which are hard, durable, non-porous and possess low heterogeneity. Size of specimen plays an
important role in obtaining satisfactory results for dynamic tensile testing using SHPB. Further research and
modification in this testing method is required to obtain dynamic tensile strength for soft and porous rocks like
Volcanic Breccia.
 Akx Malik et al. / Procedia Engineering 191 (2017) 946 – 953 953

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Defense Research and Development Organization (D.R.D.O.), Ministry of Defense, Govt. of
India for providing their laboratory (Terminal Ballistic Research Laboratory) in Chandigarh for experimentations.
We are very thankful to Mr. Pradeep Chandel, Mr. Prince Sharma, scientists from TBRL, Chandigarh for their
suggestions and support during SHPB testing.

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