The effect of moisture on the strength characteristics of rock materials has been neglected in the study of rock mechanics. This study was undertaken to determine if there was any effect on the compressive and the tensile strength of rock by varying the moisture content from an oven-dried to a saturated condition.It was found, by testing eight different rock materials that the compressive strength per unit area decreased with an increasing moisture content. The tensile strengths per unit area, with the exception of the quartzite and the porphyry samples, also decreased with an increase in moisture content. The tensile strength per unit area of the porphyry and quartzite increased with an increase in moisture content. It was also found that the graphs of strength versus moisture content generally followed a log-log relationship --Abstract, page ii
