It is well known that rock materials have different mechanical behaviors under the compressive and tensile loading. Correspondingly

there are two types of elastic modulus; they are compressive elastic modulus Ec

and tensile elastic modulus Et

respectively. In order to distinguish which indirect test methodologies

including three-points bending test and Brazilian disc test

is more suitable to measure the tensile elastic modulus Et of rock materials

a series of experimental tests

including uniaxial compressive test (UCT)

direct tensile test (DTT)

three-points bending test

as well as the Brazilian disc test is performed for three typical types of rock: white marble

granite and sandstone. Based on these experimental results

comprehensive comparative investigation on the reliability of these measurement methods for tensile elastic modulus Et of rock materials is systematically conducted. Finally

it is found that the Brazilian disc test could be a suitable and reliable method to measure the tensile elastic method of rock materials

due to the excellent agreement with that measured by direct tension tests

and due to the simplicity of sample preparation

as well as test operation.