Reply to comment by Saffet Yagiz on "point load test on meta-sedimentary rocks and correlations to UCS and BTS" by Diyuan Li and Louis Ngai Yuen Wong, rock mechanics and rock engineering, doi:10.1007/s00603- 012-0299-x

Abstract

Uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) tests were conducted also at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) on rock blocks collected from the same site under oven-dried and water-saturated conditions. Brazilian tensile strength (BTS) tests were conducted by another researcher under the supervision of the second author at NTU. The results have not been published yet. Anisotropy due to bedding planes was apparent in the hand specimens. However, the trace of the failure crack trace was mostly independent of the bedding orientation. The influence of the beddings on the trajectory of the failure crack was not very significant in the present study, in which a zigzag failure crack traverses at an angle with the beddings. In addition, P-wave velocity measurement was performed in this project and presented in the first manuscript submission. After the review process, one of the reviewers suggested to remove the relevant section from the manuscript.