Paper contribution

Laboratory evaluation of long-term behaviour of different natural and cementitious materials

Goran Baloević; Goran Vlastelica; Nikola Grgić; Mario Filipović; Saltanat Yesselbayeva; Gábor Somodi; Gyula Bögöly; Péter Görög

Proceedings
EUROCK 2026
Pages
503-510
Submitted
28 January 2026
Accepted
15 June 2026
Published
12 August 2026

Summary

Abstract

The long-term behaviour of brittle materials plays a critical role in understanding time-dependent deformation and failure. For example, it is nowadays essential in the design of a nuclear waste disposal system expected to function for a very long period. It is also crucial when the land above underground quarries that are more than a hundred years old is used as a construction zone. Although brittle materials, such as limestones, dolomites, marls, and concrete, also typically have high stiffness and strength under normal loading conditions, their long-term behaviour, including creep processes, reduces their strength properties over engineering time scales. Creep tests under constant load were performed to investigate this behaviour and to compare the properties of different materials. In brittle rocks, the creep response is commonly divided into three stages: primary (decelerating strain rate), secondary (quasi-steady strain rate), and tertiary (accelerating strain rate). The transition from secondary to tertiary creep is particularly important, as it reflects the onset of unstable crack propagation and provides a basis for predicting long-term failure. Time-dependent deformation is strongly influenced by environmental factors, including moisture, rock composition, and stress level. For example, the behaviour of water-sensitive rocks such as porous limestone, which is the host rock of the cellar system in Budapest, and marls is influenced by the water content. However, in the initial phase of the research, dry samples are tested without applying confining pressure. Samples of drilled rock cores obtained from different locations were examined under long-term uniaxial loading conditions. The normal and long-term behaviour of these materials is evaluated and compared. The results will be used in the second phase of the research to calculate the long-term stability of underground structures and determine the differences between the short-term and long-term behaviour of the cellars, taking into account the effect of surface loads.

Contributors

Authors

  1. Goran Baloević University of Split, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy, Croatia
  2. Goran Vlastelica University of Split, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy, Croatia
  3. Nikola Grgić University of Split, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy, Croatia
  4. Mario Filipović University of Split, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy, Croatia
  5. Saltanat Yesselbayeva Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Engineering Geology and Geotechnics, Hungary
  6. Gábor Somodi Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Engineering Geology and Geotechnics, Hungary
  7. Gyula Bögöly Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Engineering Geology and Geotechnics, Hungary
  8. Péter Görög Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Engineering Geology and Geotechnics, Hungary ORCID 0000-0002-0360-1966

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References

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