Effects of gravel size and content on the mechanical properties of conglomerate

Stress-strain curves and fracture distribution characteristics indicate that gravel content influences the mechanical properties of rocks. In this study, uniaxial compression tests were conducted on the conglomerate containing gravels having diameters between 2–26 mm. In these tests, we found that many micro fractures were generated around evenly distributed gravels. Additionally, we found that as the gravel content increased, the uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus of conglomerate decreased; however, the plasticity characteristics of conglomerate increased. The results of our analysis imply that when the gravel content is less than  (14.61–31.72 %), the macro mechanical properties are mainly influenced by the cementing material, and between  and  (78.50 %), failure is determined by the local Orowan additional stress, which is related to the mechanical properties of the cement and the cementing strength,and higher than fch, failure is determined by the mutual Hertz stress ...