PULL-OUT TEST FOR

ROCI(BOLTS
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PULL-OUT TEST FOR ROCI( BOLTS
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1. INTRODUCTION
This technical document provides the method for conducting the pull-out test for rock
bolts and rock anchors. The objective of this test method is to measure the working and
ultimate capacities of a rock bolt anchor. This test method is applicable to rock bolts end
anchored with cement grout or resin, (epoxy, polyester, and the like).
2. ROCK BOLTS
A rock bolt is a short, low capacity reinforcement comprising a bar (or tube) fixed into
rock and tensioned to a predetennined load. Some of the components of a rock bolt are
defined in Fig 1. Rock bolts are usually less than 6m long and rarely longer than 10m.
Their working load is typically between 150 and 200kN and they would normally be
formed from high yield steel bars with diameters up to 32mm. However, sometimes,
working loads of up to 300kN may be specified; typically these would be formed from
high yield steel bars or special steels having diameters up to 40mm.
2.1 TYPES OFROCK BOL rs
The types of rock bolt commonly used for civil engineering works include:
(i) Mechanical bolts - typically these have a wedge shaped shell assembly which, when
expanded, anchors them into the drill hole.
(ii) Cement grouted bolts - typically these are fonned by inserting the bar into a drill hole
filled with grout.
(iii) Two-speed resin bonded bolts - with these the bar is fixed (and then stressed) within
a fast setting resin at the distant end and subsequently bonded along the remainder of its
length by a slower setting resin/cement grout. This type of rock bolt is used in our
project.
Bar, tendon CH n,
(hIlly bondoo ofter It
0,,11 hole
Fig. I Typical Rock Bolt
Rock bolts are used widely to improve the stability and load bearing characteristics of a
rock mass. Often they are used to stabiljze relatively small blocks of rocks in cuttings,
slopes and underground excavations such as tunnels, caverns and mines. They can be
used on their own or in conjunction with other SUpP0l1 systems such as shotcrete etc
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The proximal end of the bar may be threaded so that a nut and faceplate can be attached;
the plate may provide local support to the rock surface and allow the attachment of mesh
reinforcement which may be required for a shotcrete finish.
3. DEFINITION OF PULL OUT TEST
A rock bolt is installed in the same manner and in the same material as its intended
construction use. The bolt is pulied hydraul ically and the displacement of the bolt head is
measured concurrently. The bolt is pulled until the rock bolt system or rock fails. The
ultimate and working capacities of the bolt are calculated from the plot of load versus
displacement.
3. 1 TYPES OFPULL OUT TESTS
Two types of pullout tests should be conducted in the field
1. Basic verification pull-out test
2. Performance pull-out test
The main difference between the two pullout tests are in the test loads. In the basic
verification test, the test load is taken as 80 % of the yield load of the bolt. In the
performance test, the test load taken as 133% of working load of the rock bolt.
Basic verification tests involve incremental loading and un loading of 'test rock bolts '.
These tests are conducted to find out the capacity of the rock bolt and to find out the
grout length. This test is conducted in the test rock bolts and it will be conducted away
from the original supporting structure. The tested bolts should not be used for production.
The resin grout should be applied as per the design and the details are given in the
drawings. The main objective of this test is to veri fy the length of the resin grout.
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Pelformance Jests involve incremental loading of a 'production rock bolt'. The
performance test is used to verify rock bolt capacity, establish load-deformation behavior,
identify causes of rock bolt movement, and to verify that the actual un-bonded length is
equal to or greater than that assumed in the rock bolt design. The resuIts of a performance
test may also be used to assist in the interpretation of the simpler proof test.
4. PROCEDURE FOR BASIC VERIFICATION TEST
The objective of the test is to find out the failure mode and to calculate the bond length.
In the ideal conditions, the rock bolt fails in rock grout interface or bolt grout interface
but many times the bolt may fail in tension also. Generally the rock/grout strengths are
very high for most of the rocks. The roughness of the bore hole, rock bolt and the
interaction between them with grout are the dominant factors in the strength of the whole
rock mass system. Finding this in-situ strength is very difficult or not possible; hence the
pull out test may be used to find this property. In order to understand the field conditions
and to assess the failure mechanism, the following verification test is required.
The test load taken as the 80 % of the yield load orthe rock bolt. The load applied in fOUf
cycles. After the each cycles of incremental loading, the load is held for 5 minutes then
unloaded to the alignment load before start the next cycle. The detailed procedure for the
test is given below. Table } shows the values of verification test load for various
diameters of rock bolts.
Table 1 Values of Verification Test loads for Various Diameters ofRock BoILS
Characteristic yield load ,Veri I1cation test load'

.fi", = n/4 *d
1
" 4J51JOOOO 80 % of , ~ ' , "
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mm tonnes tonnes
20 13.0 10.4
25 20.4 16.2
32 33.3 26.7
40 52.1 41.7
The first step in the verification test comprises applying a nominal load to the rock bolt.
This load, termed as alignment toad, is typically not more than five percent 'of the test
load of the bolt and its purpose is to ensure that the stressing and testing equipment are
properly aligned. Generally the alignment load is taken as 5kN (500 kgf) as per the
recommendation of ISRM. The displacement measuring equipment is zeroed upon
stabilization of the alignment load (AL).
During the firslload cycle, the load is raised to 25 percent of the test load and the
incremental movement is recorded. The load should be applied in 10 equal increments
and hold the load for 5 minutes. The load is then reduced back to the alignment load in
tile same 10 equal decrements.
In the second load cycle, again the load is raised to 50 percent of the test load and
the incremental movement is recorded. The load should be applied in 20 equal increments
and hold the load for 5 minutes. The load is then reduced back to alignment load in the
same 20 equal decrements.
In the third load cycle, again the load is raised to 75 percent of the test load and
the incremental movement is recorded. The load should be applied in 30 equal increments
and hold the load for 5 minutes. The load is then reduced back to alignment load in the
same 30equal decrements.
After the third cycle, pull the bolt in the same increments as lIsed during the last
cycle or in 500 lbf (2.2 kN) increments, whichever is less, until the rock bolt system fails
or the limit of the loading system (80% of yield load of bolt) is reached.
Finally, pull the bolt 0.5 in. (12.5 mOl) beyond the fai lure displacement. Record
the load at every 0.05 in. (1 0101). This is the reverse process, the displacement is
measured and the loads should be noted for the each I mm displacement.
5. PROCEDURES FOR PERFORMANCE TEST
The first step in a perfonnance test comprises applying a nominal load to the rock bolt
tendon. This load, termed the alignment load, is typically not more than five percent of
the design load and its purpose is to ensure that the stTessing and testing equipment are
properly aligned. The displacement measuring equipment is zeroed upon stabilization of
the alignment load (AL).
The test load is taken as 133 % of the working load of the rock bolt. The working
loads can be taken as 50% of y ield load of the steel rock boIt as per the BS 8081 ~ 1989.
The following table shows the values of characteristic yield load, working load and test
load for pelformance test for various diameters of rock bolts are given.
Table 2 Values ofPerformance Test loadsfor Various Diameters ofRock Bolts
Characteristic yield load Working load Performance test load

J;", = 11:/4 "'d
2
*415/JOO()() Tw=50% of.f,}/1 133% ofT"
\
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mm tonnes tonnes tonnes
20 13.0 6.5 8.7
25 20.4 10.2 13.5
32 33.3 16.6 22.2
40 52.l 26.1 34.7
During the first load cycle, the load is raised to 25 percent of the test load and the
incremental movement is recorded. The load should be applied in 5 equal increments.
In the. second load cycle, again the load is raised to 50 percent of the design load
and the incremental movement is recorded. The load should be applied in 10 equal
increments.
In the third load cycle, again the load is raised to 75 percent of the design load and
the incremental movement is recorded. The load should be applied in 15 equal
increments.
In the fourth load cycle, again the load is raised to 100 percent of the design load
and the incremental movement is recorded. The load should be applied in 20 equal
increments.
In the fifth load cycle, again the load is raised to 120 percent of the design load
and the incremental movement is recorded. The load should be applied in same
increments as used for the last cycle or 500 lbf (2.2kN) increments.
After the fifth cycle, pull the bolt in the same increments as used during the last
cycle or in 500 lbf(2.2 kN) increments, whichever is less, until the rock bolt system fails
or the limit of the loading system (133 % of working load) is reached. Refer table 2 for
tl1e various loads and the values for different diameters of rock bolts.
At the test load, the load is held for ten minutes prior to reducing the load to the
l o c k ~ o f f load or alignment load. During this ten minute load hold period, movements are
measured and recorded at 1,2,3,4,5,6, and 10 minutes. The purpose of this load hold is
to measure time-dependent (i.e., creep) movements of the rock bolt. This portion of the
performance test is referred to as a creep test. During the creep test, the movement is
more than 1 mm, and then follows the procedures given in the note 1.
5.1 Recording ofPerformance Test Data
The magnitude of each load is determined from the jack pressure gauge. During creep
testing, a load cell is used to ensure that the jack load remains constant.
The load-deformation data obtained for each load increment in a perfonnance test are
plotted as shown in figure 2. Movement is recorded at each load increment, decrement
and for the alignment load.
The total movement is measured consists of elastic movement and residual
movement for verification test.
Elastic movements result from elongation of the tendon and elastic movements of
the ground anchor through the ground. Residual movement includes elongation of the
anchor grout and movement of the entire anchor through the ground.
The residual movement for a gIven increment of load is the movement that
corresponds to the net "irrecoverable" movement that occurs upon application of a load
increment and the subsequent relaxation of the load to the alignment load.
The elastic movement is therefore the arithmetic difference between the total
movement measured at the maximum load for a cycle and the movement measured at the
alignment load. Although not used for anchor acceptance, residual movement is an
indicator of the stress-strain behav ior of tht: g r o u n d ~ g r o u t bond in the anchor bond zone.
The elastic deformation should not be more than elastic deformation free (un-grollted)
length of rock bolt at working load
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For perfonnance and proof tests, the measured total movement for the requ ired load hold
at the test load should not exceed I mm between I and 10 minutes. If the movement is
less than 1 mm for this period then the rock bolt is considered acceptable with respect to
creep. If the movement is more than 1 mm for the above specified period, the test load
should be held for another 50 min and records the movements. This movement must be
less than 2 mm, and then the rock bolt is considered acceptable with respect to creep.
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lJLTIMAH. _1--_.. _ -.1' _
CAPACiTY :
,
I
WORKING
CI\PACITY
,
,
,
I
- - - - - ~ ~ - - - - - - . _ - - - - - - - - - -
DEFlCTlfJN ..
Fig.2 Plotting Performance Test Data
Ful'ther clarifieatioDs and discussions:
Dr, R. VenugopalRao
+91 991368088
11 I j' :) ;) ~ '
The residual movement for a given increment of load is the movement that
corresponds to the net "irrecoverable" movement that occurs upon application of a load
increment and the subsequent relaxation of the load to the alignment load.
The elastic movement is therefore the arithmetic difference between the total
movement measured at the maximum load for a cycle and the movement measured at the
alignment load. Although not used for anchor acceptance, residual movement is an
indicator of the stress-strain behavior of the ground-grout bond in the anchor bond zone.
The elastic deformation should not be more than elastic deformation free (un-grouted)
length of rock bolt at working load
For performance and proof tests, the measured total movement for the required load hold
at the test load should not exceed 1 mm between I and 10 minutes. If the movement is
less than I mm for this period then the rock bolt is considered acceptable with respect to
creep. If the movement is more than I mm for the above specified period, the test load
should be held for another 50 min and records the movements. This movement must be
less than 2 mm, and then the rock bolt is considered acceptable with respect to creep.
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