• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.149-161
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• 2008

It is nearly impossible to estimate the exact state of the current rock stress of interest site by the theoretical and physical approaches except some specific geological situations. This means that in-situ stress measurement is a unique way to obtain reliable information on rock stress especially for civil and mining engineering related problems. Since late in the 90's, in-situ rock stress tests have been widely conducted to provide the quantitative information on the stress state of engineering site at the design stage of an underground rock structure in the Kyungsang Basin, Korea. The study area is the near surface regions at the depth less than 300 m in the Kyungsang Basin. It includes Yeosoo to the west and Busan to the east. Totally, 270 in-situ stress measurements were conducted in the surface test boreholes at the depth from 14 m to 300 m by hydraulic fracturing method. In this paper, based on the measurement data set, the overall characteristics of the current in-situ rock stress fields in the study area are briefly described. And also the investigation results on the difference between the stress distributions for the granitoid and the andesitic rock region are also introduced. Finally, the distributions of the regional horizontal stress directions in Busan and the Yangsan faults area are shown.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.57-70
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• 2002

Since early in the 90's, the need for construction of underground rock structures such as long and large section traffic tunnel, energy storage cavern, industrial facility, etc. has been largely increased because the Korean territory is not wide and about 65 % of the land consists of mountainous region. The initial rock stress measurement has been widely conducted to provide the quantitative information on the stress state of engineering site at the design stage of underground rock structures. Among the diverse methods developed for measuring rock stress, hydraulic fracturing test is most popularly used because it is applicable at pre-construction stage and has no limit in testing depth. In this paper, the characteristics of initial rock stress state in mountainous region were studied on the basis of the in-situ hydraulic fracturing stress measurement results from the 60 test boreholes in various parts of Korea.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.164-176
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• 1992

The conical-ended borehole technique and hemispherical-ended borehole technique are proposed, for the accurate stress measurement within a rock mass. Theory of stress tensor determination and in situ measurement system are presented with successful case examples, and the characteristics of stress distribution within rock masses are examined by the multiple times measurement in a single borehole. Subsequently, the problem in relation to the numerical approach for cavern designing is discussed on the basis of the dependency of the stress discontinuity on the geological discontinuities and so on.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.237-247
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• 2002

A total of 18 stress measurements were performed in the rock and rock-like blocks in the laboratory to estimate the influence of anisotropy in rock. Full scale overcoring equipment, which consists of a coring machine and a biaxial loading system by flat jacks, was developed to simulate the in-situ rock stress condition in the laboratory By comparing the isotropic analysis with the anisotropic analysis in measuring the stress, conclusions have been drawn as to the influence of anisotropy. The maximum difference between the isotropic and the anisotropic analysis was 34% and it was shown that the stress measurement considering the anisotropy was needed. To confirm the validity of the observed data, a diagnostic analysis of stress relief curve by overcoring was conducted using the three dimensional finite difference program, FLAC 3D.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.304-315
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• 2016

In this study, the current horizontal stress characteristics of the Tertiary rock formations in the Pohang Basin are investigated on the basis of the in-situ rock stress measurements at depths from 75 m to 716 m of the 3 test boreholes in the Doumsan area, Pohang. The deep hydraulic fracturing stress measurement results indicated that the horizontal stress components in the test site appear far lower than the average ones by the linear fit for the data set measured from the other domestic sites. But, borehole scanning revealed clearly that lots of small and large scale borehole failures occurred due to the low strength characteristics of the existing rocks. To obtain more accurate and overall information on the horizontal stress direction, the integrated analysis combining the hydraulic fracturing stress measurement and borehole scanning data set were additionally carried out. The analysis results showed that in the upper sedimentary and the lower volcanic rock formation, the dominant orientations of the current maximum horizontal stress components were appeared in the range of $80^{\circ}{\sim}100^{\circ}$ (N80E~N80W) and $120^{\circ}{\sim}140^{\circ}$ (N60W~N40W), respectively. From this study result it was found that the maximum horizontal stress directions have a tendency to rotate in a clockwise direction as the rock formation changes with depth in the test site.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.80-89
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• 2008

The influence of in-situ rock stress on the stability of an underground rock structure increases as the construction depth become deeper and the scale of a rock structure become larger. In general, hydraulic fracturing stress measurement has been performed in the surface boreholes of the target area at the design stage of an underground structure. However, for some areas where the high horizontal stresses were observed or where the overstressed conditions caused by topographical and geological factors are expected, it is desirable to conduct additional in-situ stress measurement in the underground construction site to obtain more detailed stress information for ensuring the stability of a rock structure and the propriety of current design. The study area was a construction site for the additional underground oil storage facility located in the south-east part of OO city, Jeollanam-do. Previous detailed site investigation prior to the design of underground structures revealed that the excessive horizontal stress field with the horizontal stress ratio(K) greater than 3.0 was observed in the construction area. In this study, a total of 13 hydraulic fracturing stress measurements was conducted in two boreholes drill from the two water tunnel sites in the study area. The investigation zone was from 180 m to 300 m in depth from the surface and all of the fracture tracing works were carried out by acoustic televiewer scanning. For some testing intervals at more than 200 m ind depth from surface, the high horizontal stress components the horizontal stress ratio(K) greater than 2.50 were observed. And the overall investigation results showed a good agreement with the previously performed test.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.295-303
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• 2004

For the deep underground excavation site with the geological complexity of soft seam and hard rock, the numerical analysis and in-situ measurement on the behaviors of roadway and surrounding rock according to stepwise excavation of the steep soft seam are carried out. The strata behavior is modeled using elasto-plastic FEM considering the empirical failure criteria of Hoek ＆ Brown and the strain-softening model. Hydraulic pressure capsule, MPBX and tape extensometer are installed around the roadway for the in-situ measurement of rock stress and deformation. Despite the complexity of geology and excavation procedure, the elasto-plastic analysis considering the empirical failure criteria of Hoek ＆ Brown and the strain-softening model shows good agreement with the in-situ measurement. Comparison of numerical modeling with in-situ measurement enables to predict the behaviors of the roadway and to obtain design parameters for the excavation and support at depth.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.16 no.1 s.47
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• pp.1-14
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• 2006

Various measurements were carried out to estimate the modulus of deformation in two dominant rock types in Korea: granite and gneiss. Four most commonly used methods were utilized: Goodman jack tests, PS well logging, laboratory ultrasonic tests and laboratory uniaxial loading tests. Laboratory static and dynamic Young's moduli depend on the magnitude of the applied axial stress, range of Sequency used for measurement and the loading/unloading condition. As the laboratory measurement condition approaches to that in situ, the resultant moduli also appear to be comparable to that in situ. This suggests that the simulation of in situ stress condition is important when the modulus of rock is determined in the laboratory Dynamic Young's modulus is generally higher than static Young's modulus because of (micro)crack behavior in response to the stress, different range of frequency used for measurements, and the effect of the amplitude of deformation. Understanding of the relations in moduli from different measurement methods will help estimate appropriate in situ values.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.147-159
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• 2003

Since early in the 90's, as the need for construction of underground rock structures has been largely increased, the in-situ rock stress measurement has been widely carried out to provide the quantitative information on the initial stress state of test site at the design stage of underground rock structures. Among the diverse method developed for measuring rock stress, hydraulic fracturing method is most popularly used because it is applicable at pre-construction stage and has no limit in testing depth. In this paper a study on initial rock stress state at shallow depth of the plain gneiss region in the central part of Seoul was performed on the basis of the in-situ hydraulic fracturing stress measurement results from the 11 test boreholes. And overall characteristics of the initial stress field of the study area are discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.79-88
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• 2008

Since the hydraulic fracturing field testing method was introduced first to Korean geotechnical engineers in 1994, there have been lots of progresses in a hardware system as well as an interpretation tool. The hydrofracturing system of first generation was the pipe-line type, so it was not easy to handle. It had been modified to a wire-line system at their second generation. It was more compact one but it also needed an additional air-compressor. Our current system is much more compact and operated by all-in-one system, so it doesn't need an additional air-compressor. With a progress in a hardware system, the software for analyzing the in-situ stress regime has also been progressed. For example, the shut-in pressure, which is the most ambiguous parameter to be obtained from hydrofracturing pressure curves, can now be acquired automatically from the various methods. While the hardware and software for hydrofracturing tests are being developed during the last decade, the author could accumulate the field test results which can cover the almost whole area of South Korea. Currently these field data are used widely in a feasibility study or a preliminary design step for tunnel construction in Korea. Regarding the difficulties in a site selection and a test performance for the in-situ stress measurement at an off-shore area, the in-situ stress regime obtained from the field experiences in the land area can be used indirectly for the design of a sub-sea tunnel. From the hydrofracturing stress measurements, the trend of magnitude and direction of in-situ stress field was shown identically with the geological information in Korea.