Engineering Commons^™

Relative Durability Of Shale -- A Suggested Rating System, David Newton Richardson

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The inability to predict the degradation tendencies of shale has resulted in numerous failures of projects where shale was used as a construction material. Because shale does not fit neatly into either a soil category or a rock category, the tests that are commonly used to classify soil or rock are in many instances not totally suitable for classifying shale as to its long-term behavior properties. Thus, special classification tests of shale types has become necessary. The durability or shale relates to how well it can withstand its changing environment and still retain its initial properties. Strength, expansion characteristics, and …