A contribution to the explanation of the behaviour of swelling rock

The understanding of the swelling behaviour of rocks and soils is of critical importance for the optimum design of engineering structures in, as well as on, the two materials. The clay particles present in the rocks need not necessarily differ from those present in soil, but the swell characteristics of the two materials may differ due to the difference in their structure/fabric. In this paper, the determination of swelling pressure in rocks is compared with that oi soils and an alternative hypothesis to explain slaking in rock is also suggested.