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How To Calculate Core Recovery and RQD of Rock

Rock Quality Designation (RQD) is a measure of rock quality based on the percentage of core recovered in pieces over 100mm in length. Only solid, unaltered pieces are included in the calculation. RQD values correlate to rock quality descriptions, from very poor (0-25%) to excellent (90-100%). The RQD is best measured on NX or NQ core sizes, with drilling breaks refitted and counted as single pieces.

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748 views

How To Calculate Core Recovery and RQD of Rock

Rock Quality Designation (RQD) is a measure of rock quality based on the percentage of core recovered in pieces over 100mm in length. Only solid, unaltered pieces are included in the calculation. RQD values correlate to rock quality descriptions, from very poor (0-25%) to excellent (90-100%). The RQD is best measured on NX or NQ core sizes, with drilling breaks refitted and counted as single pieces.

Uploaded by

Sam Gani
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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RQD (ROCK QUALITY

DESIGNATION)
Rock Quality Designation (RQD) is a modified core recovery percentage
in which the lengths of all sound rock core pieces over 100 mm in length
are summed and divided by the length of the core run. Pieces of core that
are not hard and sound should not be included in the RQD evaluation even
if they are at least 100 mm in length. The purpose of the soundness
requirement is to downgrade rock quality where the rock has been altered
and/or weakened by weathering. For the RQD evaluation, lengths must be

measured along the centerline of the core.


The following table presents the correlation of RQD to rock quality.
ROCK QUALITY DESCRIPTION BASED ON RQD.

RQD Value Description of Rock Quality

0-25 % Very poor

25-50 % Poor

50-75 % Fair

75-90 % Good

90-100 % Excellent

Important Notes:

The RQD is appropriate for use with all core sizes except for BQ and
BX core with NX and NQ core size being optimal.
Core breaks caused by the drilling process should be fitted together
and counted as a single piece of sound core.
Drilling breaks are usually evidenced by rough fresh surfaces, however
for laminated rocks (i.e., rocks containing horizontally oriented fracture
surfaces), it may be difficult to identify core breaks caused by drilling. In
this case, the RQD should be estimated conservatively; for shear
strength characterization it is conservative to not count the length near
horizontal breaks whereas for estimates of rock blasting requirements,
it is conservative to count the length near horizontal breaks.

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