Geotechnical and Geological Engineering 17: 267289, 1999. 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

267

An approach to large-scale eld stress determination

A.N. GALYBIN*, A.V. DYSKIN, B.G. TARASOV and R.J. JEWELL
The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA, 6907, Australia (Received 15 February 1999; revised and accepted 28 September 1999) Abstract. The construction of stable structures in rock masses requires knowledge of the in situ stresses at the scale of excavations. However, the measurements obtained by the conventional overcoring technique are related to a small scale (centimetres). To extrapolate them to the scales of interest to rock mechanics (from meters to kilometres) requires a large number of individual stress measurements, followed by statistical analysis to avoid a considerable scatter of the measured values. In this paper, a method is proposed based on (a) large-scale surface stress and modulus measurements using the cylindrical jack method complemented by a special measuring scheme and then (b) back analysis for a given excavation shape. The method allows the simultaneous reconstruction of the stress components at the scale of excavation. A numerical simulation for a cylindrical excavation in an isotropic rock mass demonstrates the high accuracy and robustness of the method. The presence of a fractured zone surrounding the excavation can hamper the stress reconstruction, hence special measures should be taken to conduct the measurements in competent rock. Key words: in situ stress, in situ moduli, cylindrical jack, cylindrical excavation, back analysis

Introduction Knowledge of the stress elds acting in the rock mass corresponding to both the original (pre-mined) regional stress state and the local stress concentrations caused by mining is necessary for the control of the fracture processes in existing excavations and for the design of new ones. A number of direct and indirect methods of stress determination exist; however, currently the most popular method of in situ stress measurements is the overcoring method. The method is well established and (in its best variant) allows the determination of the complete 3-D stress tensor at a single point remote from an excavation. However, any one particular stress measurement is unlikely to be representative due to a considerable scatter obtained from different measuring locations (e.g., Cuisiat and Haimson, 1992). Thus a major drawback in the existing overcoring technique can be identied as follows: the irrelevance of the results obtained by a small measuring device (tens of centimetres) to the scales of interest for mining operations (from meters to kilometres).
* To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Tel. e-mail: galybin@cyllene.uwa.edu.au 61 8 9380 2631; fax: 61 8 9380 1044;

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There are two ways to overcome this problem. The rst is to undertake a number of measurements spread over the area in question from which the mean value of the stress components can be determined. However the number of measurements required can be rather large. Indeed, if is the range of the stress variation within the area and N measurements are conducted at random and at independently chosen points, then the standard error of the stress reconstruction will be N 1/2. In particular, if the local stresses vary by 100% (which is not unusual given that, at a contour of a circular hole under uniaxial compression p, the stress concentration may vary from p to 3p, i.e., by 400%), measurements at N 100 points are required to reach an accuracy of 10%. Thus, reaching the proper scale requires a large number of point measurements and becomes a very expensive exercise. The second way is to use larger measuring devices. Cuisiat and Haimson (1992) presented an illustration of how the scatter reduces when the diameter of the drilling holes in the overcoring method increases. However the possibility of enlarging the overcoring diameter is restricted. Measurements at the larger scale can, in principle, be obtained by the at-jack (slot) method in which the scale of the measurements is determined by the slot dimensions; the volume of rock involved in the measurement is of the order of 12 m3 (e.g. Goodman, 1989). However the method is laborious since in its conventional form each single slot allows the determination of only one stress component. A potentially attractive method for obtaining a representative value for stresses at a larger scale is the under-excavation technique (Wiles and Kaiser 1994), in which the driven excavation itself is used as a measuring device. In this situation the scale of stress determination corresponds to the dimensions of the excavation. The method is based on displacement monitoring as the excavation advances and then the recalculation of the actual in situ stresses by back analysis based on a 3-D elastic solution. However, the under-excavation method also has some shortcomings. First, it requires the knowledge of the rock mass deformation characteristics which are obviously different from the ones obtained in the laboratory. Thus, the determination of the deformation moduli at the relevant scale remains a problem. This could be overcome by complementing the displacement monitoring with stress measurements around the excavation. However, if they were to be obtained by the overcoring technique, the stresses determined would be at a scale much less than the one involved in the elastic solution. This would still necessitate a considerable number of measurements. In addition, the displacement measurements themselves would require drilling of measuring boreholes ahead of the excavation face which may interfere with the mining operations. A method of large-scale near surface stress measurements has been proposed by Galybin et al. (1997). The method is based on the cylindrical jack method (Dean and Beatty, 1968) complemented with a special measuring scheme ensuring the relevant size of the measurements. In the original variant employed by Dean and Beatty only

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radial displacements were measured and the measuring pins were located relatively close to the borehole. Shortcomings with the chosen system of measurement have been identied and include: 1. The relatively close positioning of the measuring pins to each other and to the hole restricted the scale of stress measurements and affected accuracy. 2. The measurement system interfered with the drilling operations and therefore had to be performed by removable deformometers. 3. Poissons ratio could not be determined and had to be obtained from separate laboratory tests. The scheme proposed by Galybin et al. (1997) eliminates these shortcomings and allows the reconstruction of the deformation characteristics of rock at the scale of excavation. This method is still restricted by the scale of measurement (possibly 12 m) and also because only near surface measurements may be undertaken. The latter shortcoming is common for all types of near-surface measurements which can recover the 2-D stress tensor related to the surface of measurements. Hence, several measurements from differently oriented surfaces with further calculations are required to determine all stress components from the back analysis. This will allow a true largescale stress reconstruction. In general, a consistent approach to the determination of the stress state at the large scale should contain the following stages: The development of more informative and less expensive methods of stress measurements in excavations. The performance of numerical (statistical) and laboratory testing of the proposed methods of single measurements for determining their accuracy. The development of the back analysis methods for the determination of the 3-D stress state at an appropriate scale. The present study attempts to address all these stages and to outline the problems that have yet to be solved. It is proposed to use the modied cylindrical jack method (Galybin et al., 1997) as a basic method for the determination of in situ stresses and deformation characteristics of rocks. This method enables the reconstruction of 2-D stress tensors at the surface of an excavation simultaneously with elastic moduli at the corresponding scale. The next two sections are devoted to careful analysis of this method from statistical and instrumental points of view. The theory of stress and moduli recovery is developed for isotropic and anisotropic rocks. A test on an aluminium sample modelling a solid isotropic rock is performed and analysed. Feasibility and accuracy of the stress state reconstruction at the scale of a mine is then investigated on the basis of back analysis. The necessary corrections due to the presence of a fracturing zone around the excavations are also discussed.

270 Measuring scheme for the cylindrical jack method Surface stress and modulus measurements

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Three characteristics of an in situ stress eld can be determined by measurements near a free excavation surface. They are two principal stresses, 1, 2 ( 3 0 on the free surface) and their orientation at the surface. There are also deformation characteristics of the rock which generally need to be determined. For isotropic elastic rock there are only two of them: Youngs modulus, E, and Poissons ratio, . The problem of orthotropic rocks will also be considered in this paper for a particular case when the surface of measurement is parallel to a plane of symmetry. In this case one has a 2-D problem in which the number of independent moduli is four (Lekhnitskii, 1968). Therefore, in the case of isotropy, ve parameters characterizing the stress-strain state have to be determined: three dimensional parameters ( 1, 2 and E) and two dimensionless parameters and . This means, that in an ideal situation ve independent measurements should be performed. The minimum number of independent measurements in the case of orthotropic rocks should obviously be equal to seven. In both cases at least one of them must have the units of stress, which provides reconstruction of stress magnitudes and Youngs moduli. The cylindrical jack method indeed provides an independent measurement of stress: the jack pressure. However, the variant employed in the 1960s by Dean and Beatty (1968) had some shortcomings. These mainly arose from the measuring scheme adopted which was (1) based on monitoring only radial displacements, and not sufcient to recover Poissons ratio (this would require at least a measurement in a perpendicular direction); and (2) the measuring pins were located close to the borehole contour, hence the scale of measurement was only of the order of the borehole diameter. A new measurement system proposed by Galybin et al. (1997) has been developed to overcome these shortcomings and thus enables in situ stress and full moduli determination over a larger scale. The key innovation is the proposed arrangement of measuring points. It will be described in the next section. Since a single installation can recover only a 2-D stress tensor related to the surface of measurements, a number of near surface measurements should be performed for reconstruction of the complete 3-D stress tensor around an excavation. For elastic rocks at least two installations on differently oriented surfaces are required to compute all stress components. Locations of these measurements have to be chosen to ensure applicability of the correspondent mathematical model to the stresses recovered. For instance, in rocks consisting of thin horizontal layers it might be necessary to use both the isotropic and orthotropic models of rocks depending on the location of the measuring device. On all planes perpendicular to the layers, the relationships for an orthotropic medium should be applied for calculation of the 2-D

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stress tensor, while on the planes parallel to the layers it is sufcient to employ an isotropic model. Existing scheme Dean and Beatty (1968) used the following scheme: 1. Holes were drilled for pins at the vertices of an octagon. 2. Pins were inserted and deformometers located to measure distances in four radial directions. 3. The deformometers were removed and a central hole drilled. 4. The cylindrical jack was inserted into the hole and the deformometers reinstalled. 5. Contractions between the radially-situated pins were measured. 6. Changes in radial distances were monitored during pressurizing of the hole. 7. The values of stresses and the shear modulus were obtained from a least squares analysis of the measurements. Mathematically the method was based on the Kirsch solution for a circular hole in an elastic isotropic plane under plane-strain conditions. The changes in displacement due rst to drilling the hole of radius R and then pressurizing it to a pressure Q can be presented in the following combined form using complex representation: ur (r, ) iu (r, ) R2 2Gr
1 2

2i(

R2 r2

e 2i(

(1)

where (r, are the polar coordinates with the origin situated at the hole centre, ur iu is the complex expression for the components of the vector of displacements in polar coordinates, G is the shear modulus, 34 , is Poissons ratio, 1 and 2 are the remote principal stresses, is the angle between the rst principal direction and the x-axis of the reference coordinate frame, (x, y) as shown in Figure 1. Equation (1) contains ve unknown parameters: moduli of deformability (G, ) and the characteristics of the in situ stress, ( 1, 2, ). In order to recover these parameters it is sufcient, in principle, to perform four independent displacement measurements in different directions after drilling the hole (Q 0) and at least one measurement (one displacement component) after pressurizing the hole. It should also be noted that the difference in the displacements before and after the pressurizing has the form [ur (r, ) iu (r, )]before [ur (r, ) iu (r, )]after R 2Q 2 r (2)

Therefore by knowing the pressure magnitude, p, and the difference of the radial component of displacement, it is possible to determine the shear modulus directly (see also Dean and Beatty, 1968), while the tangential component should remain unchanged which could be used for controlling the quality of measurements.

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Figure 1. Proposed measuring scheme.

Proposed measuring scheme As one can see from equation (1), if other displacements in addition to radial displacements were measured then it would be possible to determine the second deformation modulus in isotropic rocks. It will be seen further that this gives a possibility to determine all elastic moduli in the case of orthotropic rock as well. However, the measurement of both radial and tangential components of displacement at the excavation surface requires special equipment and is therefore not practical in the current mining environment. A more realistic operation is to measure the displacement (elongation/contraction) along a line. The sensitivity and resolution of these measurements should provide sufcient accuracy. At the moment there are few devices for conducting such measurements in eld experiments: optical measurements, vibrating wire strain gauges or LVDT transducers. In laboratory tests (described later) gauges in the form of pre-bent steel strips were used. Applicability of all these or other methods to the eld conditions should be carefully investigated. The minimum number of measurements performed depends upon rock characteristics. For isotropic rock at least four extensometers oriented in different directions are required. This will provide four independent measurements of the deformation change after the hole is drilled and another four after pressurizing (to provide a fourfold redundancy to determine the shear modulus). For the determination of the shear modulus the best orientation of the extensometers would be in radial directions according to equation (2). However, as may be seen from equation (1), the radial displacement

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measurements ( const) alone are not sufcient to separate 1 from their 2 and product. Therefore some measurements are required in directions other than radial. Equation (1) also shows that if the 2-D in situ stress eld is isotropic ( 1 2) then the parameter and, hence, the Poissons ratio will not affect the displacements and therefore these parameters will not be determinable. This also means that for all stress elds close to isotropic stress states, the accuracy of the determination of Poissons ratio will be low. Nevertheless, this does not pose a considerable problem, since in this case the inuence of Poissons ratio on the stress eld is minor. A similar situation can be observed for anisotropic rock as well. The only difference is that the number of measurements should correspond to the number of elastic moduli. For orthotropic rock it should be not less than six (performed in different directions after drilling the hole) plus an extra measurement after pressurizing. For this reason and because of natural errors, the number of measurements should be greater than the required minimum in order to provide some redundancy. The measurement system should also not interfere with the drilling and pressurising operations. To satisfy these constraints, the symmetrical arrangement shown in Figure 1 has been suggested. In this arrangement N measurements are obtained in radial directions (lines A1C1, A2C2, . . ., ANCN in Figure 1(a)) and N measurements in the circumferential directions (lines B1B2, B2B3, . . ., BNB1 in the gure). The number of measuring pairs, N, is chosen to satisfy the redundancy requirement and to provide the desirable accuracy of the stress and moduli determination. The choice of the extensometer base length is a compromise between the necessity to ensure an appreciable scale of measurements and the sensitivity of the extensometers. The lengths of radial and circumferential gauges may be different. It is anticipated that the best accuracy can be achieved if the radial gauges are located closer to the hole and hence have their lengths less than the radial gauges. However the difference in length should not be great to ensure the same scale level of measured data. The proposed measuring procedure mainly follows the Dean and Beatty scheme described above but with the essential difference that extensometers do not have to be removed during the drilling operations and pressurizing of the hole. This obviously increases the accuracy. To avoid the inuence of the fractured zone around the excavation, pins should be inserted deep enough to be located in competent rock, Figure 1(b), otherwise the results of measurements will reect properties of the fractured zone only and, thus, cannot be used directly for recovering the complete 3-D stress tensor. Procedure of the stress and moduli reconstruction Variation of the distance between the pins Let Pm(xm, ym) be coordinates of pins inserted into the rock before drilling the hole and lmn Pm Pn be a vector connecting any two pins. Let the displacement vector

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V(x, y) {u(x, y), v(x, y)} after drilling the hole be known at any point (x, y). Then small length variations, mn, of the vectors lmn can be expressed through the scalar product
mn

Vmnlmn

(3)

Here lmn {cos

mn,

sin

mn},

Vmn

V(Pm)

V(Pn)

(4)

where ij is the angle between the vector lmn and the positive direction of the x-axis. For the arrangement shown in Figure 1(a), the relative elongation (contractions) between pins can be expressed by a single index, k 1 . . . N. Complex coordinates of the pins are Ak r1 exp 2i k N , Bk r2 exp 2i k N , Ck r3 exp 2i k N (5)

Hence, for circumferential extensometers, Equation (4) takes the form lk i exp i 2k N 1 , Vk V(Bk 1) V(Bk) (6)

Similarly for radial extensometers one has lk

N

exp i

2k N

Vk

V(Ck)

V(Ak)

(7)

The elongations/contractions between the pins can now be expressed by only one formula containing conjugated displacement vectors Vk u(xk, yk) iv(xk, yk)
k

Re(lkVk),

1 . . . 2N

(8)

The next step is to express the displacement vectors Vk through stress components and deformation characteristics of rocks. This requires some assumptions about rock behaviour under loading. It will be assumed further that rocks are linear elastic and homogeneous and may be either isotropic or orthotropic. This assumption essentially simplies the problem of stress reconstruction. In these cases the displacement vector linearly depends on stress components, hence the deformation properties can be determined by a certain number of elastic moduli only, but not by a stress-strain curve. The applicability of these assumptions to a real situation can be justied from the data obtained during pressurizing the hole. Equation (2) demonstrates this for an isotropic rock. If the dependence of measured elongations upon the jack pressure is linear then the shear modulus is obviously constant, otherwise it is a function of the load and, hence, the assumption of the linear rock behaviour should be discarded.

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Isotropic rocks For isotropic rock the stress-displacement dependence is given by equation (1). When new parameters given below are introduced P
2 1

cos2 ,

sin2

(8)

the displacement vector in Cartesian coordinates can be expressed as follows u(x, y) iv(x, y) R2 2Gr ei P Q e
2i

i )

R 2r

e 2i (

i )

(9)

Reconstruction of the shear modulus First, the shear modulus G can be recovered on the basis of equation (2). If pressure Q has been applied to the hole the difference in the extensometers readings would be in accordance with the displacement eld ur Q R , 2G r u 0 (10)

where R is the hole radius. Radial displacements create elongations of radial extensometers (vector r) and contractions of the circumferential extensometers (vector c). Then the shear modulus can be expressed separately for radial and circumferential data by the following equation Gr Q 2 r3 R r1 D
r

Gc

Q R2 2 2 r2

d
c

(11)

Here D and d are the lengths of the radial and circumferential extensometers correspondingly, r and c are the mean values of the vectors r and c correspondingly. Equation (11) can be generalized if displacements are continuously monitored during pressurizing the hole up to the pressure Q. This can be done by the standard method of linear regression. In this case, due to a large volume of data involved the shear modulus is obtained with the greatest accuracy. Reconstruction of in situ stresses and the Poissons ratio It is assumed that shear modulus has already been found. In this case the jack pressure can be assumed to be zero, Q 0. Then the problem contains four unknown parameters: P, , , . The number of readings available is equal to 2N. If the number of independent readings is much greater than four then the readings are known with sufcient redundancy, and the problem of simultaneous determination of the moduli and stresses can be reduced to the problem of minimization of a proper functional in the space of four variables.

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Let be a vector of readings and W(P, , , ) be the vector of displacements given by the right-hand side of equation (9) then the problem becomes F(P, , , ) Here . . . stands for a norm. Orthotropic rocks Orthotropic rocks (foliated rocks or rocks with orthogonal sets of fractures) will now be considered. In this 2-D consideration, it is assumed that the surface of measurement is parallel to a plane of symmetry (i.e. a fracture or foliation plane). The reference coordinate system can be introduced such that the x-axis is directed along the foliation. Displacements in an orthotropic plane with a circular hole or radius r0 can be expressed through complex potentials 1, 2 as follows (Lekhnitskii, 1968) u(x, y) v(x, y) pk
k

W(P, , , ) min

(12)

2 Re[p1 2 Re[q1
2 k 1)E1 1

1(x, 1(x,

y) y) qk

p2 q2

2(x, 2(x,

y)] y)]
1 k 2

(13)

The following combination of the elastic moduli are introduced in equation (13) ( ,
k 1E1

E2 1 (14) E1 E2

E1
1

2G

( 1)k

E1
1

2G

where E1, E2 are Youngs moduli along the principal directions of elasticity, 1 is the Poissons ratio in the x-direction, and G is the shear modulus which characterizes changes of angles between principal directions. If the plane is subjected to biaxial compression at innity ( 1, 2) and internal pressure Q inside the hole, the potentials have the following form
k(x,

y)

Ak k(x, y) 1, Q)(i
2) 1

k (
2

1, 2 i )(i
2)

(15)

Here A1, A2 are constants as follows A1 R (P 2 R (P 2 and x

(16) A2 Q)(i
1) 1

(
2

i )(i

1)

Parameters P, following form

k(x,

are determined in equation (9). Functions

ky

have the

y)

(x r0(1

2 k y)

2 r0 (1

k)

k)

(17)

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Parameters P, , and any four independent moduli in Hookes law (or their combinations), form the full set of unknown parameters in the orthotropic case. The 1 will be used as independent following moduli 1, 2, a11 E1 1, a12 1E1 parameters in the example later. Similar to the isotropic case one can minimize the following functional
2

F( 1,

2, a11, a12, P,

, t)

2 Re
k 1

(pk cos

qk sin j)Ak

k,j

(18)

where j is the angle between j-extensometer and the positive direction of the x-axis of the reference coordinate system, functions k,j are dened as follows
k,j k(xj 1,

y j 1)

1 k

(xj, yj)

(19)

It should be noted that for orthotropic rocks, in contrast to the isotropic case, none of the deformation moduli can be found from a separate test. Examples of the reconstruction stresses and moduli Numerical analysis General In order to illustrate the proposed technique the following examples are considered for both types of rocks (isotropic and orthotropic). In these examples the moduli and the stress states have been specied, the ideal readings of the extensometers computed and then distorted by introducing random errors to check how well the original stress state and the Poissons ratio can be reconstructed using the proposed method. In both cases the same 2-D stress tensor has been used for calculation of ideal 32 MPa, 2 18 readings. The principal compressive stresses at innity, 1 MPa, are inclined to the x-axis at an angle 20. The following geometrical parameters were used in both cases as independent ones: hole radius, R 0.04 m, length of circumferential exensometers (i.e. B1B2, B2B3 etc), d 0.2 m. The length r2 is to be determined in accordance with the number of extensometers and their length. For the proposed scheme (Figure 1) r2 is given by a simple formulae d 2r2sin( /N). Other distances shown in the gure are r1 r2 d/2, r3 r2 d/2. The reconstruction was performed with the number of measuring pairs N 5, 6, 7, 8. Isotropic rocks The accuracy of the determination of the shear modulus is not analysed here, as it will obviously be the best one since it uses all 2N measurements for determination of this single parameter.

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Table 1. Average reconstructed stresses and modulus Variation coefcients (%) are given in brackets Number of measurement pairs, N N P (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) 5 25.0 5.28 4.39 2.15 (2.0) (8.9) (11.5) (6.9) 6 25.0 5.39 4.54 2.09 (2.4) (8.0) (6.7) (5.7) 7 25.0 5.34 4.57 2.09 (1.6) (5.1) (6.9) (5.0) 8 25.0 5.41 4.54 2.07 (1.5) (4.5) (4.5) (4.7)

GALYBIN ET AL.

compared to the original ones.

Original values 25.0 5.36 4.50 2.11

Consider now modelling of the readings. The following moduli are chosen: E 81.9 GPa, 33.5 GPa which yields 2.11 ( 0.222). These data correspond to granite and were taken from Lama and Vituruki (1978). The readings are modelled as the ideal ones computed for the above stress states using equations (6) and (9) and then distorted by adding to each of them an independently generated random error uniformly distributed within the range of ( 10%, 10%). That is if the ideal readings form the vector Y with the components Yj, then the readings used for the reconstruction will have the components Yj(1 0.1 j) where j, j 1, ..., 2N are independent random variables uniformly distributed over the interval ( 1, 1). For each number of the measuring pairs, 50 sets of readings were independently generated, and the values of P, , and were reconstructed for every set of readings. The averages over 100 sets of readings and the variation coefcients (the standard deviation over the average) were then computed. The comparison of principal stresses and the principal direction computed from the average values of the reconstructed P, , with the original ones are shown in Table 1. Variation coefcients representing the relative errors of the reconstruction versus the number of the measuring pairs N are also shown in Table 1. For this isotropic case the relative errors in the reconstruction of and , which are proportional to the differences between the principal stresses, can be high, but reduce with an increase in the number of measurement pairs. On the other hand, the hydrostatic component of the stress state is reconstructed with high accuracy in all cases. An examination of the relative errors shows that a reasonable compromise between the accuracy of reconstruction and the minimization of the number of measurements can be achieved with N 6. Orthotropic rock Similar to the isotropic case, a numerical experiment has been undertaken to estimate the accuracy of the stress and modulus reconstruction. The assumed moduli correspond to a schist (Lama and Vituruki, 1978): E1 63.4 GPa, E2 20 GPa, G 7.9 GPa; the Poissons ratio is 1 0.067. In contrast to the isotropic case the data for pressurizing the hole has also been modelled. Two values of the cylindrical jack pressure were used: Q 0 and 10 MPa.

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Table 2. Average reconstructed stresses and moduli for orthotropic rock compared to the original ones. Variation coefcients (%) are given in brackets Number of measurement pairs, N N i
1

5 10i 2.78 (2.2) 0.65 (2.9) 1.52 (3.1) 1.4 (122) 25.0 (3.1) 5.5 (7.5) 4.7 (8.9)

6 2.75 (1.3) 0.64 (1.9) 1.60 (3.9) 0.85 (186) 24.8 (2.3) 5.13 (5.3) 4.47 (6.5)

7 2.70 (1.8) 0.65 (2.9) 1.63 (3.1) 0.87 (143) 24.8 (2.4) 5.24 (7.2) 4.45 (5.3)

8 2.74 (1.9) 0.65 (2.6) 1.58 (3.0) 0.93 (133) 25.1 (2.0) 5.36 (5.4) 4.47 (5.7)

Original values 2.73 0.65 1.58 1.08 25.0 5.36 4.50

E1 1 104 (MPa) 1 105 (MPa) 1E1 P (MPa) (MPa) (MPa)

The function (equation 12) written for the Euclidean norm was minimized using a procedure built into MATHCAD 6 PLUS with the initial value obtained from the exact values of the parameters randomly disturbed within 30%. It should be emphasized that the minimization procedure used is very sensitive to the initial value, which suggests that a search for a more robust minimization method is necessary. For each number of measuring pairs, 50 sets of readings were independently 1 generated, the values of P, , and 1, 2, a11 E1 1, a12 1E1 were reconstructed for every set of readings. The averages over 50 sets of readings and the variation coefcients (the standard deviation over the average) were then computed. The principal stresses and the principal direction computed from the average values of the reconstructed parameters may be compared with the original ones from the results presented in Table 2 for different numbers of measuring pairs N. The variation coefcients representing the relative errors of the reconstruction are shown in Table 2 in brackets. It can be seen that the errors do not vary much when N changes from 5 to 8, which suggests that the minimum number of 2*2*5 20 measurements already gives sufcient redundancy to determine the 7 unknown parameters. It should be noted that reconstruction of the parameter a12( , E1 1) is subjected to large errors, although the average values are close to the exact ones. Laboratory test Aluminium sample The main aim of laboratory testing was to check the reliability and stability of the gauges and the cylindrical jack during the test. Aluminium was chosen to manufacture the sample because its Youngs modulus is close to the moduli of strong solid rocks. Thus, something similar to hard eld conditions were modelled in the experiment. An aluminium sample having dimensions 0.2 0.2 0.085 m was tested. The sample had a hole in its centre of radius R 0.0125 m.

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Figure 2. Aluminum sample with cylindrical jack, pins and gauges.

The measuring pins were 2 mm steel bolts screwed into the sample at a depth of approximately 0.01 m. Twelve pins were inserted in the manner shown in Figure 2. Six of them were located at a distance r1 r2 0.03 m (inner pins) from the centre of the hole, another six (outer pins) at the distance r3 0.08 m. Six circumferential gauges were installed between the inner pins, they had the length d 0.03 m. Six gauges of length D 0.05 m were installed in the radial direction between the inner and outer pins. Each gauge consisted of a bent strip made of spring steel with four tensometers glued on the opposite surfaces (two on each side). One of the strip edges was sharpened and another had an adjustable screw xed to it. Each gauge was calibrated to allow for measurement of strain with an accuracy of 10 6. The cylindrical jack was represented by a steel tube with outer diameter of 2 cm covered by a rubber tube, Figure 2. One end of the steel tube was closed, while machine oil was pumped through the other end. The steel tube had a number of small holes through which the oil escaped into the space between the steel and the rubber tubes. After securing the jack into the hole followed by pumping of oil into the jack, the rubber expanded which created the pressure inside the hole. The pressure used during the test was up to Q 40 MPa. The readings of gauges are shown in Figure 3. All circumferential gauges show negative (compressive) strains with the mean value of 1.13*10 4. Radial gauges were under tension with the average strain of 0.34*10 4.

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Figure 3. Deformations of circumferential (d 0.03 m) and radial (D 0.05 m) extensometers after pressurizing the hole into the aluminum sample to the pressure of 40 MPa. Numbers refer to microstrains.

Determination of the shear modulus and Poissons ratio An attempt to obtain the shear modulus on the basis of equation (11) leads to the following values: Gc 3.06*104 MPa and Gr 3.87*104 MPa. As one can see, the difference between the values obtained is 26%. Since the gauges demonstrated quite stable behaviour during the test, this difference cannot be related to experimental errors. Rather, it reects the inuence of external boundaries of the sample. Thus a corresponding correction should be introduced for analysing the response of the aluminium sample. For simplicity, instead of the real geometry, a circular ring has been considered. Its internal radius corresponds to the radius of the hole (0.0125 m). The external radius has been calculated from the condition that the volumes of the real sample and the circular ring coincide. Thus, the ratio of the external radius to the radius of the hole has been found to be equal to 9. This value was used for the further calculation described below. For the case of a circular ring with the internal surface subjected to a pressure Q the displacement eld is determined as follows (Muskhelishvili, 1953) ur Q E
2

1 1

R2 r

R2 r

(20)

It should be noted that in contrast to the displacement eld given in equation 10, equation (20) depends upon Poissons ratio. This fact enables its reconstruction directly from the pressurization test alone. The corresponding formulae for the shear modulus and Poissons ratio assume the form

282 Q 2 G G
2 2

GALYBIN ET AL.

(r3 1 H

r1)R 2
2 r3r1 r

Dd d
c

D1 (21)

H , H

Q 2

1
2

D 2d r3d

r1D

For 9 equation (21) give the following moduli of the sample: G 3.3*104 MPa, 0.3, E 2(1 )G 8.5*104 MPa. It should be noted that the shear modulus obtained by equation (21) weakly depends upon the ratio . With respect to Poissons ratio this dependence becomes more pronounced. For instance all possible values of : 0 0.5 can be obtained if varies in the range 6.6 11.4.

Full in situ stress reconstruction The technique proposed for measurements of surface stress and moduli values can form the basis for complete, large scale in situ stress reconstruction. Since a single installation can recover only a 2-D stress tensor related to the surface of measurements, measurements from at least three installations on differently oriented surfaces are required to compute all stress components. In order to extend these data and recover the original stress state in the rock mass itself, further computations are required. This can be achieved by combining the results of the stress measurements at different locations on the excavation walls by means of back analysis of the solution for the excavation. In order to do this, in the case of an elastic rock mass, the deformation characteristics of the rock mass are required (for an elastic isotropic rock mass, only the Poissons ratio is needed) and they are obtained simultaneously with the stress measurements when the proposed method is used. In the case of a nonelastic rock mass a number of additional moduli measurements might be necessary. The method will be demonstrated for an isotropic rockmass with a cylindrical tunnel arbitrarily oriented with respect to the principal directions of the original (natural) stress. In this case the existence of an analytic solution simplies the analysis. More general cases of excavation geometry or/and anisotropic rocks will obviously require numerical calculations. This will make the problem more laborious because the number of elastic moduli to be determined increases (e.g., for orthotropic rocks nine elastic moduli characterizing spatial deformations should be determined). The approach to the analysis will nevertheless stay the same. More severe implications result from the presence of a damaged zone at the excavation surfaces. The inuence of this zone will be discussed in the next section. It is convenient to introduce a Cartesian coordinate frame Ox1x2x3 with the x3-axis directed along the generatrix of the tunnel and axes x1 and x2 coinciding with the

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283

secondary principal directions. Then the original stress tensor has the following form 0 11 13 0 (22) 22 23
13 23 33

In this case the stress eld around the excavation can be presented as a superposition of the stress elds obtained in plane strain (the response to compressions 11 and 22), anti-plane (out-of-plane) strain (the response to shear loads 13 and 23) and the compression along the excavation axis, 33. It is also convenient to introduce cylindrical coordinates, (r, , z) such that x1 rcos , x2 rsin , x3 z. Stress components on the excavation wall can then be expressed as
11 22 22 11

2
z z r r 33

2
13

cos(2 ) (23)

2(

cos 0 zr

13

sin )

The components r, , and, z, as well as Poissons ratio of the rock mass, can be measured in different points on the excavation wall by the method described in the previous sections. The components of the stress tensor, equation (22) as well as the (this will serve as a refercoordinate angle of, say, the rst measuring point, 1 ence point; the coordinate angles of other measuring points can then be determined with respect to the rst one) are then to be determined from equation (23). Let non-zero stress components be determined at M different locations given by k, k 1, . . . M.
k k z k z 33 11 22 22 11

2
k

2
13 cos k k

cos(2 k) (24)

2(

13 sin k)

The coordinate angles denoted

k k 1.

are unknown, but their differences are known and can be (25)

The reference angle 1 remains unknown. It is now convenient to introduce new parameters characterizing the plane strain part of the original stress tensor P
22 11

22

11

(26)

System (24) then assumes the form

284
k k z k z

GALYBIN ET AL.

D cos(2 k 2 ) P D cos(2 k 33 2( 13 cos( k )

13

2 ) sin(

(27)
k

))

Let the surface stresses be determined with sufcient redundancy, i.e. M 3. The problem of stress determination can then be reduced to the problem of minimization of a proper functional in the space of 6 variables F(P, D,
13, 23, 33,

) min

(28)

In particular, one can use the following functional

N

F(P, D,

33,

13,

23, ) k 1 N

( (
k 1 N

D cos(2 P cos(

2 ))2 2 ))2 sin( )))2 (29)

k z 33

D cos(2 )

(
k 1

k z

2(

13

23

A numerical experiment has been undertaken to estimate the accuracy of the stress reconstruction. The following values for stresses were used: 11 2 MPa, 22 3 MPa, (corresponds to P 2.5 MPa and D 0.5 MPa), 33 1 MPa, 0.5 MPa, 23 0.2 MPa and the reference angle chosen was 22. 13 The surface stresses at points k are modelled as the ideal ones computed for the above stress state using the equations (24)(27) and then distorted by adding to each of them an independently generated random error uniformly distributed within the range of 20%. Poissons ratio was 0.3 and was supposed to be known in this simulation. In real situations Poissons ratio can be determined as an average of the values reconstructed simultaneously with the stresses at the measuring points. Functional (29) was minimized using a procedure built into the package MATHCAD 6 PLUS. The initial guess necessary for the numerical minimization has been computed by using the rst three sets of measurements (k 1, 2, 3) to nd parameters P, D, , and then the value obtained for the angle was used to nd parameters 33, 13 and 23 from the rst two sets of stress measurements. For each number of surface measurements, M 3 . . . 16, 200 combinations of readings were independently generated, and the values of P were reconstructed. The averages over 200 sets of readings and the variation coefcients, , (the standard deviation over the absolute value of the mean, e.g., for a parameter X, X Var(X)/ E(X) ) were then computed. Figure 4 shows the mean values and variation coefcients representing the relative errors (%) of the reconstruction for all 6 unknown parameters for different numbers of measuring points. It can be seen from the plots that the accuracy of reconstruction is quite high given that the error specied in the stress measurements was very large, 20%. Thus, 7

LARGE-SCALE FIELD STRESS DETERMINATION

285

Figure 4. Reconstruction of the initial stress state vs. the number of measurements. Each broken line is the average value of the reconstructed parameter, while horizontal dashed line shows the exact value. Solid lines show the coefcients of variation which represent the relative error of reconstruction: (a) the hydrostatic pressure, P; (b) the deviatoric component, D; (c) normal component, 33; (d) shear component, 13; (e) shear component, 23; (f); the reference angle, .

286

GALYBIN ET AL.

points of measurement are normally enough to bring the error of the stress reconstruction below 20%, while some components are restored with even higher accuracy. Further increase in the number of measuring points can improve the accuracy even beyond the accuracy of the original measurements. Thus, the proposed combined method allows the accurate reconstruction of the full stress state at the level of the excavation without the shortcomings characteristic of the under-excavation technique, viz. the necessity to conduct displacement measurements in front of the advancing excavation face.

Effect of the presence of a fractured zone around the excavation The method has been tested under the assumption that the rock mass is homogeneous. However, in some cases the excavation is surrounded by a heavily fractured zone created either due to the excavation process, or due to deterioration of the rock adjacent to the excavation walls. In this case the non-homogeneity of the rock mass can no longer be neglected and its effect should be investigated. In the simplest case the fractured zone can be modelled by an elastic ring possessing moduli lower than those of the rock mass. In order to analyse the possibility of using the method for stress reconstruction in this case, a simple example will be considered in which the ambient stress eld satises the plane strain conditions and is purely isotropic (i.e., 11 P, 12 0). The 22 13 23 excavation radius is taken as equal to unity and the external radius of the fracture zone is taken to be Rd 1 as illustrated in Figure 5. Then by taking the axial symmetry into account and introducing the unknown contact pressure, pd on the boundary between the fractured zone and the rock mass, the corresponding complex potentials can be expressed in the form (e.g., Muskhelishvili, 1953): (z) P 2 P 2 , (z) (P pd) Rd2 z2 pd) Rd2 z2 C2 (30)

(z)

C1,

(z)

(P

(31)

outside the fractured zone, and (z) pd Rd2

2

2 Rd pd

(z)

pd

Rd2 Rd
2

1 1 z2 Rd2 1 1 z C4

(32)

(z)

Rd2
2

2 Rd

C3,

(z)

pd

Rd

(33)

inside the fractured zone.

LARGE-SCALE FIELD STRESS DETERMINATION

287

Figure 5. An example: the elastic model of the fractured zone.

The displacements outside the fractured zone can be obtained from equation (31) by acknowledging that the constants C1 and C2 vanish after neglecting the rigid body movements; i.e. ur iu 1 z (1 2 r ) P 2 z (P pd)
2 Rd

(34)

The displacements inside the fractured zone are obtained from equation (33) by taking into account that the terms containing constants C3 and C4 should be zero due to the axial symmetry; i.e. ur iu 1 2
d 2 Rd 2 Rd

z (1 1 r

d)

P 2

(P

pd)

2 Rd

(35)

Here d 34 d, d and d are the shear modulus and Poissons ratio of the fractured zone respectively. Continuity of the displacements allows the determination of the dimensionless interface pressure qd pd/P qd where m / (1
2 2Rd d 2 )(Rd 1) 2 2 mRd d 2m

(36)

1.

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GALYBIN ET AL.

By substituting equation (36) into equation (32) and equation (35) and using the Kolosov formulae, one can determine the non-zero stress and displacement components at the excavation wall:
contour

1 2 m
d

2(m

1)Rd

urcontour

1 4
d

contour

(37)

It can be seen that the proposed method based on the surface stress and modulus measurements can only recover a certain combination of the unknown ambient stress P, the fractured zone radius, Rd and the moduli of the rock mass (the surface measurements can only provide the moduli of the fractured zone). The surface displacement is proportional to the stress, hence measuring it will not contribute to the separation of the unknown parameters. Therefore, in the case considered the under-excavation method will not permit stress reconstruction, so using it in combination with the proposed method can only increase the accuracy of the determination of the fractured zone moduli. This example demonstrates that the fractured zone becomes a serious obstacle for stress reconstruction, which is why it is essential to install the measuring pins and the cylindrical jack at a depth sufcient to reach the competent rock (Figure 1b).

Conclusions A method is proposed which is based on (a) large-scale surface stress and modulus measurements at a number of points in the excavation; and (b) the back analysis for a given excavation shape. It allows the simultaneous reconstruction of the stress components at the scale of excavation. The proposed measuring scheme for near surface reconstruction of 2-D stress tensor allows the simultaneous determination of the stress components and the elastic moduli of the rock mass at a scale considerably larger than conventional methods. The accuracy of the reconstruction is not uniform and depends on the number of pairs of deformation measurement. The analysis suggests that six measuring pairs are sufcient for reasonable accuracy. Laboratory test on an aluminium sample demonstrates that resolution of the gauges used is sufcient for accurate recovery of the small deformations expected in eld conditions, even for the case of strong solid rocks. However, due to the relatively small dimensions of the laboratory samples the inuence of their boundaries becomes considerable and has to be taken into account. The numerical simulation of the under-excavation method for the case of a cylindrical excavation in an isotropic rock mass has shown the high accuracy and robustness of the method. The presence of a fractured zone surrounding the excavation can hamper the stress reconstruction, hence special measures should be taken to conduct the measurements in competent rock.

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Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the support of the Large Australian Research Council Grant A89701124. The authors thank Mr Frederic Verheyde for his help in conducting the laboratory test. The third author acknowledges the support of the Gledden Trust.

References
Cuisiat, F.D. and Haimson, B.C. (1992) Scale effects in rock mass stress measurements. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr., 29, 99117. Dean, A.H. and Beatty, R.A. (1968) Rock stress measurements using cylindrical jacks and at jacks at North Broken Hill Limited. Broken Hill Mines Monograph No 3, 18. Australian Inst. Min. Metal, Melbourne. Galybin, A.N., Dyskin, A.V. and Jewell, R.J. (1997) A measuring scheme for determining in situ stresses and moduli at large scale. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr., 34, 157162. Goodman, R.E. (1989) Introduction to Rock Mechanics. John Wiley & Sons, New York. Lama, R.D and Vutukuri, V.S. (1978) Handbook of Mechanical Properties of Rocks, vol. II. Trans Tech Publ., Switzerland. Lekhnitskii, S.G. (1968) Anisotropic plates. Gordon and Breach, Science Publishers, Inc., New York. Muskhelishvili, N.I. (1953) Some Basic Problems of the Mathematical Theory of Elasticity. P. Noordhoff Ltd, Groningen-Holland. Wiles, T.D. and Kaiser, P.K. (1994) In situ stress determination using the Under-excavation Technique. Parts I, II. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. & Geomech. Abstr., 31, 439446, 447456.