Predicting the uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus of a fault breccia from texture coefficient

The uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and elastic modulus (E) of a fault breccia from texture coefficient (TC) were studied. Twenty five core samples having different diameters, ranging from 7.6 to 101.3 mm, were used for the compressive strength tests. The UCS values of the samples having a height to diameter ratio of less than 2, were corrected using the formula UCS = 8UCS1/7+2d/h, where UCS is the standard uniaxial compressive strength (MPa), UCS1 is the measured uniaxial compressive strength (MPa), d is the core diameter (mm), and h is the core height (mm). After trimming the end surfaces of the cores, uniaxial compression tests were performed using an electro-hydraulic servo-controlled stiff testing machine (MTS). Deformation measurements were carried out using high resolution LVDTs and stress-strain curves were plotted during the uniaxial compressive strength tests. An inverse logarithmic relation between UCS and TC was found.