Abstract This paper reports on the results of a fundamental investigation of the behavior of rock under impact of a chisel-shaped bit. Drop-tester studies were conducted with strain gauges attached to the rock and striking bit-edge. It was established that rock be haves viscoelastically. Little correlation was found to exist between the strain wave forms detected on the rock surface and in the bit; thus, strain-time curves obtained with transducers mounted on the bit cannot be used to explain the sequence of events in rock breakage. It is estimated that nearly 1 per cent of the total energy of the blow is expended in permanent de formation of the rock. The strain-energy distribution on a rock surface as a result of chisel impact, which follows a simple law, is presented graphically. Experiments also were conducted with gauges embedded in the rock vertically below the line of impact and at an angle of approximately 43 degrees to the vertical. No essential difference was observed in the type of wave obtained with embedded gauges and with gauges on the surface, as may have been anticipated from theory. Introduction Through the ages great strides have been taken towards improvement of the various techniques applied in the breakage of rock. Indeed, numerous applications of the rock-failure process are an integral part of present-day industry, including oil well drilling. Yet, astonishingly, little is known regarding the behavior of rock under dynamic loading or the mechanism of rock failure. The value of impact loading studies from the point of view of drilling is evident, however, and requires little elaboration because impact of a chisel edge on rock forms the basic action constituting most common methods of drilling. RELATED STUDIES Impact studies of communition and fragmentation conducted by Fahrenwald, et al, Poncelet, Axelson, et al, Piret, Hartman and Pfleider, Charles and deBruyn, and others have been of considerable help in understanding rock-breakage phenomena. Further insight into the basic action of drilling and penetration has been obtained by the work of Irving, Cherkasov and Shlyapin, Borcherdt, Shepherd, Shreiner and Pavlova, Drilling Research Inc., Hartman, Appl and Gatley and several other investigators. However, knowledge concerning the stresses and strains induced in the rock and bit during impact remains scant. Recent photoelastic studies by Tandanand and Hartman (1961, 1962) have shed light on stress distributions and fracturing produced in plastics by chisel-shaped bits. In the field of transient strain pulses and their role in rock drilling, the only extensive work has been performed by Drilling Research Inc. (DRI). They attached strain gauges to the shank of a bit and conducted drop-tester studies, using a die-shaped bit to obtain force-time diagrams. Their work led to the conclusion that, for a given rock type, the first peak of force occurs at a fixed level regardless of the total energy in the system, provided it exceeds a certain minimum threshold level. Further, on this basis an explanation was offered for the sequence of events in crater formation as the result of a single blow on rock. PURPOSE OF PRESENT STUDY The investigations reported in this paper were conducted in a manner similar to the DRI approach, but with the objective of determining the strain distribution in the rock around the area of bit impact and, to a limited extent, the strain in the chisel-shaped bit itself. SPEJ P. 283^