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On the technique for estimating the maximum horizontal principal stress based on the borehole failure observations

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Abstract

Good understanding of the in-situ stress and rock mass strength or their relative magnitudes is essential to underground geomechanical practices. A prevailing technique for estimating the maximum horizontal stress is the integrated method combining stress polygon, borehole breakout, and drilling-induced tensile fracture. This research embraced all these elements into a nondimensionalized chart to interpret the triangle relation among the in-situ stress, rock mass strength, and failure observation for an underground cylindrical opening at any depth. One of the potential applications of the nondimensionalized chart was shown via the filed observations from a testing tunnel in the Canadian underground research laboratory. An approaching method of untangling two correlated stress components was also proposed to constrain the in-situ stress ratio under the framework of Coulomb frictional failure theory. It is proved to be highly efficient and considerably accurate by implementing the approaching method using the failure observations from the KTB borehole in German.

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Acknowledgements

The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Contract Nos. 42002278 and 41941018), the Innovation Fund Research Project of State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, Beijing (Contract No. SKLGDUEK202207), and the Special Fund of Basic Research and Operating of China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing (Contract No. 2021JCCXSB03).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

    Peng-fei He, Man-chao He, Xin Li, Dong-qiao Liu & Zhi-gang Tao

  2. Institute for Deep Underground Science and Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

    Peng-fei He

  3. School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

    Xin Li

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  1. Peng-fei He
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He, Pf., He, Mc., Li, X. et al. On the technique for estimating the maximum horizontal principal stress based on the borehole failure observations. Acta Geotech. 19, 2337–2348 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-023-02020-1

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