Stress measurements from oriented core in Australia

Ernesto Villaescusa
Western Australian School of Mines, Kalgoorlie Western Australia.

Jianping Li
Western Australian School of Mines, Kalgoorlie Western Australia.

Masahiro Seto
AIST Research Centre for Deep Geological Environment, Japan

ABSTRACT: Reliable evaluation of in situ stress is an important phase in the analysis and
design of underground excavations, particularly for evaluating the stability of underground
structures to prevent failure or collapse. A technique for the estimation of the full stress tensor
based on acoustic emission (the Kaiser effect) has been developed and tested at the WA
School of Mines. The result obtained compare well with the hollow inclusion over-coring
method. The advantages of the technique are that it is relatively cheap, non-time consuming
and is applicable to in situ stress measurements at depth in remote regions.

available (such as below current open pits).

1. INTRODUCTION
In Western Australia a large number of
mines are experiencing relatively high
horizontal in situ stress fields, even at
relatively shallow depths [1]. Early signs
of high stresses have been observed in
several of the newly developed
underground mines and this has stimulated
a general interest in stress measurements
techniques. Currently, the attention is
focused on active extraction areas as well
as the characterization of in-situ stresses at
depth in remote regions that are difficult to
access from current mine workings, but
where extensive geotechnical data from
diamond drill coring is widely available. In
particular, a low cost methodology to carry
out stress measurements at a number of
locations over a short period of time has
been investigated at the Western Australian
School of Mines (WASM) over the last
four years.
The stress measurement technique allows
the determination of a representative and
detailed knowledge of the in-situ stress
field during the early stages of a project
(such as mine feasibility studies), even in
areas where development access is not yet
Furthermore, in cases where access is
available, the technique can be used to
measure stress concentration in isolated
pillars, and within stope crowns. The
information can be used as an input and
calibration of numerical models and can
lead to an optimization of scheduled
extraction sequences. As a result, safer and
more economical mine design strategies
are likely to be achieved.
2. ACOUSTIC EMISSION & KAISER
EFFECT
The Acoustic Emission (AE) method is
based on the principle of the Kaiser effect
[2]. The analysis of this phenomenon
supposes that a previously applied
maximum stress may be detected by
loading a rock specimen to a point where a
substantial increase in acoustic emission
(AE) activity is experienced (See Figure
1). The Kaiser effect is the recollection of
the immediate maximum previous stress
which a particular rock mass has been
subjected to by its environment. The
principle behind the technique is that
changes in the rate of AE with stress occur
at the maximum stress level (along the axis
of the sample) to which a sample had
previously been subjected. The
methodology has been developed over the
last 15 years by several researchers with
GF1-5B24 - Cumulative Counts
1200
1000
Cumulative AE Counts
800
600
400
200
0
0 10
Figure 1. Typical AE cumulative count of core sample versus stress
The basis of proposed the AE stress
measuring technique is the identification of
the stress at which the AE increases
markedly, thus exceeding the maximum
previous stress along the loading axis to
which the core had been subject by its in
situ environment. The stress at which the
acoustic emission increases markedly is
referred to as the “take off point” (See
Figure 1). It is often said colloquially that
the rock remembers the stress level
previously applied to it and that the
remembered stress level can be recovered
by the Kaiser effect.
The stress tensor is six a dimensional entity
(three normal stresses and three shear
stresses) and so six independent normal
stress measurements therefore suffice to
determine the full stress tensor. The
principal stresses can then be obtained by a
standard eigenvalue analysis. The
underlying philosophy of the stress
measuring technique is now apparent. Six
small cylindrical samples of rock are
under-cored from conventional oriented
the aim of providing a practical technique
for retrieving the Kaiser effect
[3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12].
Previous maximum
stress
20 30 40 50
Stress (MPa)
drill core recovered from the site for which
stress data is sought. Each sample is
instrumented with pair of acoustic
emission (AE) transducers. The samples
are then loaded uniaxially with the AE
transducers providing a record of the
number of AE ‘events’ with increasing
load and hence stress. Finally, the AE
information from the six samples is
analysed to give six independent normal
stresses from which the full stress tensors
can be obtained.
The signal noise associated with crack
closure or compaction during loading can
obscure the Kaiser effect. It has been
observed that this noise is substantially
suppressed when the acoustic emission
information is recovered from a second
subsequent loading of the sample [13].
Clearly, this is impossible if the first
loading takes the sample to failure. In the
present work three unloading-reloading
cycles are performed on each under-cored
sample. The AE activity in the second
loading cycle is usually used to determine
the in situ stress.
3. SAMPLE DRILLING
The methodology developed at WASM
consists of loading small cylindrical
samples of rock, 18 to 20mm in diameter.
These samples are undercored (or sub-
cored) from sections of oriented diamond
drilled core recovered at depth from the
place of interest. Undercoring means re-
drilling in the laboratory the original
Figure 2. Lower hemisphere projection showing the specimen undercoring orientations with respect to a main
oriented core drill axis.
4. SAMPLE PREPARATION
The sample lengths are trimmed to about
45-50 mm in length and ground square at
each end. The method requires that
parallelism between the top and bottom
faces of each undercored sample is
accomplished to within 1/100mm in all
cases. Figure 3 shows a three-dimensional
model of a typical oriented core showing
the different undercoring directions. The
actual mine grid bearing and plunge of the
undercored samples is obtained by rotating
the nominal orientation of each sample into
oriented core obtained from the field in
order to obtain the specimens for testing.
Figure 2 shows a stereographic projection
for a typical site, in which the undercoring
laboratory drilling orientations axis with
respect to an actual mine grid are
indicated. Six undercoring directions are
shown in the figure, as at least six
independent undercoring orientations are
required in order to determine the six
independent components of a stress tensor.
Undercoring
Orientations
Bearing/Plunge
158/06
338/84
248/00
062/45
158/51
203/04
Core Orientation
Bearing/Plunge
158/06
the direction of the oriented core from
which the undercores were drilled.
Figure 3. Undercoring orientations with respect to
an oriented core axis.
5. SAMPLE LOADING
The specimens were instrumented with a
pair of AE transducers (See Figure 4). The
AE transducers provide a record of the
number of internal Acoustic Emission with
increasing load (and hence stress). The
rock core specimens are repeatedly loaded
three times up to a certain stress level
under a constant loading rate (7.5
MPa/min) by means of an INSTRON
servo-controlled testing machine.
The specimens were usually loaded up to a
stress level that is determined by taking
into account the depth of the core and the
uniaxial compressive strength of the rock
tested. The AE monitoring system used at
WASM is a Physical Acoustic MISTRAS -
2001 S/W enhanced graphics software.
The AE sensors used are of differential
type (5mm diameter, NF-AE-904DM
model) and have a resonance frequency of
500kHz. The AE sensor had high gains
between 200 and 550 kHz. The response
frequency band of this system is between
50 kHz and 1 MHz.
Figure 4. Sample instrumentation and loading
6. STRESS TENSOR CALCULATION
A stress tensor is six dimensional (three
normal stresses and three shear stresses)
and therefore six independent normal stress
measurements are required to determine
the stress tensor:
⎛ σxx τxy τxz ⎞
⎜ ⎟
σxyz = ⎜ τyx σyy τyz ⎟ (1)
⎜ τzx τzy σzz ⎟
⎝ ⎠
with respect to a mine north (X), east (Y),
vertical (Z) right-handed co-ordinate
system. Six independent instances of the
equation (2.14) of Brady and Brown
(1985):
σ n = l x2σ xx + l y2σ yy + l z2σ zz + 2l x l yτ xy
2l y l zτ yz + 2l z l xτ yz (2)
where σ n is stress obtained from the
Acoustic Emission of an undercore sample,
whose orientation is given by the unit
r r r
vector l x i + l y j + l z k are used to form a
system of equations which can be solved
for the stress tensor σ xyz . The principal
stresses are then determined by a standard
eigenvalue analysis of the tensor σ xyz and
the under-cores must have orientations that
lead to stable and indeed non-singular
mathematical analysis.
7. TYPICAL RESULTS
The project to date has undertaken stress
measurements from single oriented cores at
depth and from places near excavations,
where conventional HI cell measurements
have been undertaken. Figure 5 shows the
results from a core obtained from the same
hole where a conventional HI cell
measurement has been undertaken. The
calculated principal stress magnitudes and
orientations for both AE and HI methods
for the 363m depth are indicated with
respect to the local mine coordinate
system. The results from both methods are
compatible with a more recent AE
measurement carried at a 493m depth on
the same orebody (see Table 1). The
results from the three measurements have
been used to calculate an average
orientation for each of the three principal
stress components. The main principal
stress is parallel to the strike (E-W) of the
orebody. In addition, the results have been
also confirmed with mine site observation
of raisebore wall breakout as shown in
Figure 6 where stress related cracking can
be seen parallel to the north and south
walls of the raise.

Depth = 363m HI
Magnitude
Bearing/plunge
σ2 001/05 σ 1 = 43 Mpa
074/04
σ 2 = 33 Mpa
164/01
σ 3 = 16 Mpa
266/86
Depth = 363m AE
σ 1 = 45 Mpa
123/08
σ3 259/80
σ 2 = 22 Mpa
029/28
σ1 093/05 σ 3 = 8 Mpa
229/61
Depth = 493m AE
σ 1 = 52 Mpa
085/02
σ 2 = 38 Mpa
176/13
σ 3 = 21 Mpa
345/77

Figure 5. Stress measurements adjacent to an HI cell site and at depth at the South Kal Mines’ Mount Marion
Gold Mine, Western Australia.

No
rth

E- Ore
W bo
s t r dy
ik
in
g

Figure 6. Stress related cracking within North and south walls in vertical raisebores at South Kal Mines’ Mount Marion Gold
Mine, Western Australia.
 Table 1. Full stress tensor determination at 493m, Mount Marion Gold Mine.

Sample ID Amplitude Load (MPa) Cum Counts Mt Marion Underground - South Kal Pty Ltd
GF1-1A21 45dB 55 38.6 Drilling completed on 12-03-2002
GF1-1A26 52dB 55 37.6 Collar : 9905.694N, 8436.938E, 1889.394mRL
GF1-1B26 51dB 55 37.6 Depth from surface = 2382 - 1998 = 493m
Average 37.9
Undercore Directions
GF1-2A23 44dB 30 21.6 Axis Bearing Plunge
GF1-2A24 52dB 30 21.9 1 183 -0.6
GF1-2B23 44dB 30 22.1 2 183 89.4
GF1-2B22 48dB 30 21.8 3 93 0
Average 21.9 4 272.4 45
5 183 44.4
GF1-3A23 45dB 65 50.9 7 318 0.4
GF1-3A24 51dB 65 50.2
GF1-3B25 48dB 65 52.6 Undercore Average
Average 51.4 axis Cum Counts
Axis 1 37.9
GF1-4A25 48dB 45 34.0 Axis 2 21.9
GF1-4B23 47dB 45 35.1 Axis 3 51.4
GF1-4B26 56dB 45 35.8 Axis 4 35.0
Average 35.0 Axis 5 33.6
Axis 7 42.6
GF1-5A23 46dB 45 33.3
GF1-5B23 47dB 45 32.3 Stress Tensor
GF1-5B24 57dB 45 35.2 37.7997 1.3227 -3.6142
Average 33.6 1.3227 51.5760 1.4827
-3.6142 1.4827 21.8243
GF1-7A23 46dB 55 42.7
GF1-7A22 54dB 55 41.7 In situ principal stresses
GF1-7B21 46dB 55 42.9 Component Value (MPa) Bearing Plunge
GF1-7B24 56dB 55 42.9 Sigma1 51.7 85.2 2.2
Average 42.6 Sigma2 38.5 175.7 12.6
Sigma3 20.9 345.2 77.2

as well as the following mining companies;

8. CONCLUSIONS
A new methodology to undertake stress
measurements using Acoustic Emission
(AE) techniques has been developed and
implemented on a number of geotechnical
environments in Australia. The stress is
determined using oriented core and the
results are similar to those established by
conventional overcoring techniques. The
advantage of the new methodology is that
the stress is obtained at very low cost and
underground access is not required.
9. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge the sponsorship
of the Minerals and Energy Research
Institute of Western Australia (MERIWA),
BHP Billiton Cannington, WMC St Yves
Gold, Central Norseman Gold Corporation,
Sons of Gwalia, Kundana and Kanowna
Belle Gold all sponsors of the MERIWA
M329 Research Project in Stress
Measurements from Core. The
management of the South Kal Mines’
Mount Marion mine is acknowledged for
their permission to publish.
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