DefinePK

Abstract

The use of marble as a building or dimension stone is one of the most growing commodities throughoutthe world. Due to the rapid increase in urbanization, dimension stones are commonly used in buildinginteriors as well as exteriors. Marble, being a metamorphic rock is very desirable to be utilized in structural aswell as decorative purposes. The study presented herein evaluates the geotechnical characteristics of theGahirat marble in the Chitral area, Pakistan. For this purpose, 40 representative samples of the Gahirat marblefrom ten different vicinities of the Chitral area were collected and tested to determine the correlation amongstthe different geotechnical properties of the studied rock. The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), Braziliantensile strength (BTS), water absorption, specific gravity, point load strength (PLS), Schmidt reboundhammer, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), and soundness, tests were performed to evaluate the strength of theGahirat marble for its possible use as a dimension and building stone. An average of 12 measurements foreach of the ten rock sample collection vicinities were performed. The statistical analysis shows that a fairlystrong linear positive correlation (R2 = 0.80, 0.81, 0.84, 0.92) exists between UCS along with BTS, specificgravity, water absorption PLS and UPV. The maximum values obtained for the 12 measurements regardingthe mechanical properties such as UCS, BTS, PLS and Schmidt hammer rebound number were 97.25 MPa,11.34 MPa, 6.75 MPa and 51, respectively. The maximum values of the physical properties such as waterabsorption, soundness, specific gravity and UPV tests were calculated to be 0.08%, 0.38, 2.68 and 5.04 km/s,respectively. The results of the uniaxial compressive strength, Brazilian tensile strength, point load strengthand Schmidt hammer rebound tests indicate that the Gahirat marble shows high resistance to crushing andbending effects while the specific gravity values indicate its ability to bear the impact of the degree ofpolishing and grinding. The water absorption and soundness test values indicated that the Gahirat marble isappropriate to be utilized for floor tiles and outdoor cladding due to its resistance against weathering and lowrate of the water absorption.