An investigation into the effects of block size distribution function on the strength of bimrocks based on large-scale laboratory tests

Considering the geomechanical characteristics of rocks which are a mixture of rock blocks embedded in fine grain matrix can be challenging due to their complex structure and difficulty in preparing representative in situ or laboratory samples. In the literature, this group of rocks is called block in matrix Rocks (bimrocks). In this paper, the effects of volumetric block proportion (VBP), maximum block size, and distribution function on the compressive strength and failure patterns of these rocks were considered by executing the unconfined compressive test on large-scale synthetic samples. The compressive strength of bimrocks was found to have a direct relation with VBP and maximum block size and an indirect one with fractal dimension in accordance with multivariable regression analysis. The fracture patterns of remolded samples were changed from an inter-granular facture to a matrix and between-granular one by the reducing the VBP and increasing the fractal dimension. In addition, the failure mechanism was spalling for the low values of VBP and the high values of fractal dimension and it was changed to shear failure by increasing VBP and decreasing fractal dimension.