Influence of Artifical Discontinuities in Rocks on the Propagation of Ultrasonic P-Waves

In this work, experiments were conducted on rectangular prismatic samples with dimensions of 60×60×360 mm^{3}, which were cut from the rock blocks with no joint or anisotropy. Rock samples were obtained from different quarries in Turkey, known by the rock type as Afyon Çay marble, Burdur red limestone, Afyon gray, Lymra limestone, Muğla dolomite, Denizli travertine, and Isparta andesite. Experimental results indicated an increase in seismic wave attenuation as the number of artificial joints increased. However, seismic wave attenuation rate was found to be higher on the samples with parallel joint pattern than the samples which consisted of various directional joint pattern. This feature has explained the importance of seismic velocity anisotropy in rocks. The relationship between the number of joints in seven different rock samples and ultrasonic P-wave velocity was examined statistically and the results were evaluated together with similar studies in the literature.