Physical and mechanical properties of travertines utilized for constructions: an example from Denizli

Geomechanical properties of natural stones have a crucial as the stones were utilized for constructions. Due to that, field and laboratory studies are essential to investigate the natural stone quality. The city of Denizli and surroundings in Turkey have a great amount of travertine reserves and about 100 travertine quarries were operated in present and also they export various types of travertine to all around the world. In this study, laboratory tests and field studies were conducted to examine the quality of travertine. Four type of travertines used as a construction material were collected from the quarries, and then, laboratory tests including effective porosity, both dry and saturated unit weight, water absorption by weight, uniaxial compressive strength, P-wave velocity, slake durability index together with thin section analysis were performed according to the international testing standards (such as, European Norms and American Society for Testing Materials) to explore the quality of travertines. It is found that physical and mechanical properties of travertines accomplish the related code of practice with some deviation.