Assessment of digital image correlation method in determining large scale cemented rockfill strains

A conventional contact method(using linear transducers)and a non-contact method are deployed to measure the axial and lateral deformations of large scale cylindrical cemented rockfill specimens.Experimental works incorporating two pinhole cameras to create one stereovision by digital image correlation shows that the non-contact method is as reliable for testing large cylindrical specimens as measurements done by using linear variable displacement transformer and string potentiometer.Considering this particular large specimen,the experiment resulted in the acceptable mean difference between lateral strain using both methods is 5.1 percent,and 14.5 percent for the axial strain.This occurrence is inevitable due to the heterogeneity of the concrete system and the placement of the monitoring point in digital image correlation method,although the comparison of stress-strain relationship in both methods still indicates a conformity.Based on the results of the present experiments,the authors recommend the noncontact method for a detailed investigation of the material behavior during the uniaxial compressive strength tests.Full field strain measurement enables this digital method to examine local strains near cracks at any point,a very useful tool for studying material deformation behavior.

Shear properties of cemented rockfills

Application of cemented rockfilling to underground mining could not be separated from the corresponding backfill’s shear strength properties. The shear of cemented rockfill(CRF)-rock wall and the shear interaction occurring within CRFs both have some disadvantageous failure chances. In this study,we tried to investigate the complete shear properties of CRFs using direct shear and triaxial tests of cemented granite rockfill. Large-scale triaxial testing was held to accommodate the large CRF sample.Direct shear testing on the prepared flat and smooth surfaces was assessed with brief conversions and their corrections were used to approximate the shear strength envelopes of CRF joint interfaces. Two types of CRFs with the same aggregate size and distribution but different unconfined compressive strengths(UCSs) due to different mixture designs indicated insignificant differences between their basic friction angles, and also their asperity inclination angles. Nevertheless, investigation between direct shear test and triaxial test showed that the specimen with higher UCS tended to have a slightly lower friction angle but a higher cohesion than the other one.