Weathering degrades the mechanical properties of rocks causing failure or large settlements in many rock-engineering structures. Rock weathering commonly expected to develop on a geological time scale. Tropical climates where there is a dynamic weathering environment (thermal, hydrological, mechanical and chemical (TMHC)) can have a rapid weathering rates. As weathering process continues, specific minerals leached out, altered and newly formed minerals are deposited in fractures. In advanced stages of weathering, large deformations can be produced even under very low loading conditions because of weaker bonding and development of voids. In this study different degree of weathered basaltic volcanic rocks from Deccan Traps formations in India are studied under uniaxial and triaxial compression testing with confining pressure up to 10 MPa. The study introduces a weathering index i.e. Strength ratio (Rs) and rebound number value (Rn) related to the GSI Chart (along with Jcond89 and RQD) for rock mass classification. The estimated GSI values for each stage of weathered rock mass are presented in this paper.
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