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Section 2: Armourstone evaluation and shingle performance assessment |
Rock Products Consultants, 7229 Longfield Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45243-2209, USA
The process involved in assessing and selecting a potential source of armourstone of suitable quality is one of great complexity. The process involves the inspection and evaluation of the quarry and its production methods, testing of the processed stone, evaluation of the quality of both intact and processed stone, and consideration of both the transportation methods and placement techniques. The entire process, from quarry selection to placement at the project, may be viewed as a rock engineering system. The use of a rock engineering interaction matrix simplifies an understanding of how various factors affecting the quality of quarried armourstone are interrelated. Through this understanding of the various interrelationships a weighted rock engineering rating system may be developed for the assessment of the suitability of various armourstone sources. Such a rating system is designed to pull together all the factors related to both the field and laboratory investigations of a potential source, enabling geologists at all experience levels to arrive at a well-founded conclusion concerning the potential quality of stone produced from a particular armourstone source.
