Student:	Melek Hanım BEŞER
Supervisor:	Doç. Dr. Kerim AYDINER
Department:	Maden Mühendisliği
Institution:	Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences
University:	Karadeniz Technical University Turkey

Title of the Thesis:	The Effect of Cyclic Loading on the Strength of Tephrite Rock
Level:	M.Sc.
Acceptance Date:	10/1/2017
Number of Pages:	51
Registration Number:	i3152

Summary:

In this thesis, the rock which is known as Trabzon stone in market was subjected to cyclic

loading experiments to investigate the deformation mechanism under fatigue loading

conditions. In this study, the effects of different variables used as load, frequency and

number of cycles on the strength of the rock were analyzed. Experiment groups were

developed for each variable and in each group; only one parameter was variable while

others kept fixed. Similar studies were carried out for the saturated rocks and the effect of

water on behavior of rock was investigated by comparing these two cases. In addition to

these studies, after cyclic loading experiments, sections were taken from the samples and

SEM analyzes were performed. In this way, fatigue mechanism of the rock tried to be

interpreted with images taken. In the result of this work, it has been founded that the

uniaxial compressive strength of the rock decreases with increasing load and decreasing

frequency. Also, it was determined that the increase in the number of cycles caused a

decrease in the strength. When cyclic loading tests are applied to the rocks in the saturated

condition, it is seen that the water reduces the strength of the rock but it is founded that

there is no significant relationship between the applied three parameters and the load.