This introductory manual is to introduce the civil engineering students to basic fundamentals of rocks testing, samples preparation, computation and presentation of results of only that portion which relates specifically to the properties and behavior of rocks as an engineering material, knowing that rock strength depends on many parameters including: rock type and composition, rock grain size, rock weathering, rock density and porosity, rate of loading, confining stresses, geometry, size and shape of the test specimens, rock anisotropy, water pore pressure and saturation, testing apparatus. Good design practice regardless how theoretically exact or intricate it might not be considered accurate unless it is based on experimentally verified design parameters.

Iqbal MarieM.Sc in Civil Engineering. Civil Engineering Department/ College of EngineeringHashemite University