Influence of Rock Properties on Sound Level

Abstract

Rocks used as building materials or for some other purposes are tested for their physico-mechanical properties to assess their suitability. For this, rock boulders excavated from the quarries are cut, shaped and crushed in the laboratory. While carrying out these processes, it generates sound. In this study, rock boulders received from the industries were cut in the form of cylindrical shape to determine its compressive strength, density and Young’s modulus.For the testing of reflectivity (glossy), the rock blocks were sawed into a number of slices. All these activities generated noise. Therefore, an attempt was made to measure the sound level during cutting of cylindrical rock core sample, sawing of rock boulders into number of slices and crushing of cylindrical core samples at the time of determining the compressive strength. The influence of rock properties on sound level were assessed. Studies revealed variation in equivalent continuous sound level and maximum sound level depending upon the types of rock. Rock properties like compressive strength, density and Young modulus influenced the sound level.

Keywords: Equivalent sound level, maximum sound level, rock properties, compressive strength, density, Young’s modulus