The fracture strength and frictional strength of Weber Sandstone

The fracture strength and frictional strength of Weber Sandstone have been measured as a function of confining pressure and pore pressure. Both the fracture strength and the frictional strength obey the law of effective stress, that is, the strength is determined not by the confining pressure alone but by the difference between the confining pressure and the pore pressure. The fracture strength of the rock varies by as much as 20 per cent depending on the cement between the grains, but the frictional strength is independent of lithology. Over the range 0 < σn< 2kb, the frictional strength follows the relationship τ=0·85 σnwhereτ is the shear stress and σn is the normal stress, and for σn>2kb, τ=0·5 + 0·6σn. This relationship also holds for other rocks such as gabbro, dunite, serpentinite, granite and limestone.