Mechanism and Internal Stability of Supportive Stone Constructions

Natural stone constructions for the protection of slopes, banks and riverbeds are widely used in infrastructure engineering. These structures are made of stacked natural stones, which can be placed loosely on top of each other. Additionally, their bond behavior can be improved by using concrete mortar to fill the joints between the stones. Although such structures are now widely used, there is still a need for research concerning their inner stability and the structural design of such protective stone structures. In this study, experimentally, investigations were made to determine the force transmission and the interaction between rock and concrete mortar by deriving characteristic values of the adhesion strength and friction angle at different scales. A method for the determination of shear parameters from direct shear testing is used, considering the interaction between vertical and horizontal forces in the joint. In the course of these investigations, the roughness of the rock surface was recorded using conventional visual methods using the joint roughness coefficient (JRC) as well as via laser imaging. By applying laser scanning, a theoretical roughness factor could be derived. Furthermore, the properties of the rocks of the concrete mortar (fresh and hardened concrete mortar properties as well as a durability characteristic) were investigated in detail. It could be shown that different types of concrete mortar result in different bond strengths—expressed as tensile and shear strengths—when applied to a stone surface. The roughness of the stone surface has a positive influence on the tensile and shear strength between the stone and the mortar. Based on the test results, a failure description based on the Mohr–Coulomb fracture criterion could be determined, which can be used to calculate characteristic parameters for the design of stone support bodies. It was also shown that the stone’s compressive strength is being exceeded through load due to very punctual contact areas. Moreover, concrete mortar differs significantly from conventional concrete in terms of its mechanical properties due to the on-site installation conditions, which allow no dynamic compaction.