Investigation of the slaking behavior of weak geological units in terms of undercutting rate

English (OpenAlex)

It is aimed in this study to measure the undercutting rate of weak geological units under field conditions and to determine the relationship between this parameter and other indexes and physical properties of related rocks. Thus, 11 different locations in which weak materials were found and undercutting problems were observed in the road slopes were selected. In these road cuts, the undercutting depths in many locations were obtained by measurements taken at different dates from the pins installed in the fresh surface of weak units. In addition, undercutting depth was directly taken by using the amount of erosion between durable and weak rock units in the road slopes with a known date of the excavation. Samples having suitable amounts and sizes were collected at the measured locations to be used in physical and durability tests. In the analyses, the applicability of the results of slake index and durability tests, as well as the disintegration ratio in the determination of the disintegration behavior of these geological units, was investigated, and statistically significant empirical equations were obtained. Considering the results obtained from different weak geological units, it was determined that the depth of undercutting values change approximately between 10.1 and 45.8 mm.