THE EFFECT OF CLIMATE CONDITIONS ON THE UNIAXIAL COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF NATURAL BUILDING STONES

10th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference - SGEM2010, www.sgem.org, SGEM2010 Conference Proceedings/ ISBN 10: 954-91818-1-2, June 20-26, 2010, Vol. 1, 313-320 pp

ABSTRACT

Turkey is located in a geographical region on a combination of different climatic
conditions. Climatic conditions are controlled by temperature and humidity. In this
study, the effect of climatic conditions on the uniaxial compressive strength of natural
building stones were investigated by using 7 different types of rocks such as granite,
limestone, travertine and tuff sampled from different parts of Turkey. First group of
experimental studies was conducted to find out the frost resistance of some of the
studied rocks. It was determined that only the tuff is not suitable for using at outdoor
areas. Secondly, the tests for determining the effect of humidity on the strength of the
rocks were carried out. According to these tests; it was found out that the humidity is
only effective on the tuff samples having the highest porosity and the lowest strength
than those of the other rock types. Statistically significant relationship with other rock
types could not be obtained.

Keywords: natural building stone, influence of humidity, uniaxial compressive strength, tuff