Engineering Commons^™

Mechanical Properties Of Michigan Basin's Gypsum Before And After Saturation, Mohammadhossein Sadeghiamirshahidi, Stanley Vitton

Michigan Tech Publications

The stability analysis of an abandoned underground gypsum mine requires the determination of the mine pillar's strength. This is especially important for flooded abandoned mines where the gypsum pillars become saturated and are subjected to dissolution after flooding. Further, mine pillars are subjected to blast vibrations that generate some level of macro- and micro-fracturing. Testing samples of gypsum must, therefore, simulate these conditions as close as possible. In this research, the strength of gypsum is investigated in an as-received saturated condition using uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), Brazilian tensile strength (BTS) and point load index (PLI) tests. The scale effect was …