Rock & Materials Testing
RESPEC provides clients with advanced and specialized rock testing and research to support the complete characterization of a rock’s physical composition. Our testing also evaluates the mechanical, hydrological, and thermal behavior of the rock to offer clients and engineering analysts with the properties data they need to support mining engineering studies.
Our state-of-the-art Materials Testing Laboratory and facilities have more than 10,000 square feet of monitored, secure, and environmentally controlled floor space to ensure accurate data when preparing samples and testing rock. We conduct standardized testing according to the methods recommended by ASTM International, the International Society for Rock Mechanics, the International Organization for Standardization, and the American Petroleum Institute.
Our laboratory team uses sophisticated equipment that accurately simulates complex in situ stress and temperature conditions. Since 1969, our Materials Testing Laboratory has customized its testing capabilities and services to meet the unique needs of our diverse national and international clients that include government agencies, national laboratories, architectural and engineering firms, mining companies, and the oil-and-gas industries.
The laboratory also houses an environmentally controlled core-logging laboratory and a core storage facility. This space allows our geology team to clean, prepare, package, photograph, describe, and gamma-log the core in a controlled environment.
- Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) – ASTM D7012
- Triaxial compressive strength (TCS) – ASTM D7012
- Staged triaxial compressive strength – ASTM D7012 with deviations per ISRM suggested triaxial type II procedure
- Constant strain rate measurement of elastic constants (CSR) – ASTM D7012
- Brazilian indirect tensile strength (BRZ) – ASTM D3967
- Direct tensile strength (DTS) – ASTM D2936
- Constant mean stress dilation (CMS) – ASTM STP 1350
- Confined creep deformation (Creep) – ASTM D7070
- Direct shear strength – ASTM D5607
- Point Load – ASTM D5731-16
- Borehole compressive strength (BCS) – Procedure developed in-house
- Uniaxial unconfined thermal expansion – ASTM D4535 Method A
- Triaxial thermal expansion – ASTM D4535 Method B
- Thermal conductivity, heat capacity, thermal diffusivity (hot disk test)– ISO 22007-:2015
- Porosity, grain density, bulk volume, bulk density using a helium porosimeter – MetaRock procedure
- Permeability using super-critical CO2, Nitrogen, or Helium – Procedure developed in-house
- P- and S- wave ultrasonic velocity – ASTM D2845
- X-Ray diffraction (XRD) – USGS method Report 01-041
- X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) – ASTM E1621
- Rock sample preparation and bulk density determination – ASTM D4543
- Moisture content – ASTM D2216
- Insoluble content for evaporite rock – RESPEC TP-30 modified from ASTM E534
- Spectral gamma core logging – Procedure and calibration developed in-house
Where Rock Data Meets Real-World Performance
Reliable Data
RESPEC conducts standardized testing in accordance with ASTM, ISRM, and API standards to provide clients with the best-quality data. We develop customized test programs to simulate project-specific conditions.
Client Testimonials
“Personnel performing the work are knowledgeable and experienced. Training records were also provided. Workshop prior to start of the work to discuss procedures, special requirements and expectations demonstrated the quality of the contractor’s team. The project followed Canadian Nuclear regulations. The contractor is well acquainted with nuclear industry requirements and has QA/QC protocols to comply with nuclear regs.”
Joe Carvalho, Senior Principal,
Mining & Rock Engineering, WSP
“The ultimate client for this project was extremely demanding, asking for a large amount of detailed information, customization of experimental protocols, extensive documentation, and resampling and retesting. RESPEC was responsive, easy to communicate with, flexible, and delivered on all contractual requirements.”
Robert Walsh, Technical Expert,
Geomechanical Testing, Geofirma
“By all the standard measures of cost, schedule, and quality, RESPEC met every one on this contract. Actions that set them apart included their excellent adherence to the quality assurance procedures required for this project, and the excellence of the documentation of their work in scientific notebooks, photographic records, and technical paper contributions. Furthermore, when we realized that the initial direct shear tests on intact core samples with interfaces were not simulating the physical behavior we were hoping to understand, we collaboratively developed a new method of creating artificial clay seams with bentonite that gave us much better insight into the phenomena we were trying to understand.”
Steve Sobolik, Retired Salt Mechanics Engineer
See Our Work in Action
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