• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.783-799
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• 2015

In this study, effect of horizontal in situ stress on failure mechanism around underground openings excavated in isotropic, elastic rock zones is investigated. For estimating the plastic zone occurrence, an induced stress influence area approach (Bray Equations) was modified to define critical stress ratio according to the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. Results obtained from modified calculations were compared with results of some other analytical solutions for plastic zone thickness estimation and the numerical modelling (finite difference method software, FLAC2D) study. Plastic zone and its geometry around tunnels were analyzed for different in situ stress conditions. The modified equations gave similar results with those obtained from the other approaches. However, safer results were calculated using the modified equations for high in situ stress conditions and excessive ratio of horizontal to vertical in situ stresses. As the outcome of this study, the modified equations are suggested to use for estimating the plastic zone occurrence and its thickness around the tunnels with circular cross-section.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.81-88
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• 1998

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.431-438
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• 2005

In this paper, the characteristics of excessive horizontal stress components in Korea were studied using the in-situ hydraulic fracturing stress measurement data over five hundred in 110 individual test boreholes. Based on the in-situ testing data, the magnitude and orientation of the horizontal stress component and variation of stress ratio (K) with depth were investigated. And also horizontal stress magnitude versus depth relationships and distribution limits of stress ratio components were suggested. For the subsurface space above 310 m depth in the entire territory, the stress ratio has a tendency to diminish and be stabilized with depth, but for some areas, it was revealed that the excessive horizontal stress fields with stress ratio close to 3.0 below 200 m in depth have formed. The result of investigation for excessive horizontal stress regions indicates that there exist several regions above 300 m in depth where localized excessive horizontal stresses enough to induce potentially brittle failure around future openings have formed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.403-430
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• 2014

Shale gas formations exhibit strong mechanical and strength anisotropies. Thus, it is necessary to study the effect of anisotropy on the hydraulic fracture initiation pressure. The calculation model for the in-situ stress of the bedding formation is improved according to the effective stress theory. An analytical model of the stresses around wellbore in shale gas reservoirs, in consideration of stratum dip direction, dip angle, and in-situ stress azimuth, has been built. Besides, this work established a calculation model for the stress around the perforation holes. In combination with the tensile failure criterion, a prediction model for the hydraulic fracture initiation pressure in the shale gas reservoirs is put forward. The error between the prediction result and the measured value for the shale gas reservoir in the southern Sichuan Province is only 3.5%. Specifically, effects of factors including elasticity modulus, Poisson's ratio, in-situ stress ratio, tensile strength, perforation angle (the angle between perforation direction and the maximum principal stress) of anisotropic formations on hydraulic fracture initiation pressure have been investigated. The perforation angle has the largest effect on the fracture initiation pressure, followed by the in-situ stress ratio, ratio of tensile strength to pore pressure, and the anisotropy ratio of elasticity moduli as the last. The effect of the anisotropy ratio of the Poisson's ratio on the fracture initiation pressure can be ignored. This study provides a reference for the hydraulic fracturing design in shale gas wells.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.65-74
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• 2002

The measurement of in-situ stress is essential to estimate the ground displacement and the stress distribution of a tunnel and an underground structure. In this study, the in-situ stress distribution of the Southern Korean peninsula was re-evaluated by the new 380 in-situ data which were determined by overcoring and hydrofracturing methods, and the three-din erosional numerical analysis of tunnelling was performed. The results of in-situ stress distribution show that the distribution of horizontal stress tends to be more irregular in metamorphosed(gneiss) and granite areas than in sedimentary and volcanic areas. The ratio of horizontal to vertical stresses(K-value) in volcanic area is less than 1 below the depth of 150m. The direction and magnitude of three dimensional in-situ stresses were shown simultaneously in a figure for the first time in Korea. The three-dimensional numerical analysis of tunnelling indicates that the orientation and magnitude of displacement around a tunnel are controlled mainly by the difference between the maximum and minimum horizontal stresses.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.213-222
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• 2024

Determination of jointed rock mass properties plays a significant role in the design and construction of underground structures such as tunneling and mining. Rock mass classification systems such as Rock Mass Rating (RMR), Rock Mass Index (RMi), Rock Mass Quality (Q), and deformation modulus (Em) are determined from the jointed rock masses. However, parameters of jointed rock masses can be affected by the tunnel depth below the surface due to the effect of the in situ stresses. In addition, the geomechanical properties of rocks change due to the effect of metamorphism. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to apply correlation analysis to investigate the relationships between rock mass properties and some parameters related to the depth of the tunnel studied. For this purpose, the field work consisted of determining rock mass parameters in a tunnel alignment (~7.1 km) at varying depths from 21 m to 431 m below ground surface. At the same excavation depths, thirty-seven rock types were also sampled and tested in the laboratory. Correlations were made between vertical stress and depth, horizontal/vertical stress ratio (k) and depth, k and Em, k and RMi, k and point load index (PLI), k and Brazilian tensile strength (BTS), Em and uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), UCS and PLI, UCS and BTS. Relationships were significant (significance level=0.000) at the confidence interval of 95% (r = 0.77-0.88) between the data pairs for the rocks taken from depths greater than 166 m where the ratio of horizontal to vertical stress is between 0.6 and 1.2. The in-situ stress parameters affected rock mass properties as well as metamorphism which affected the geomechanical properties of rock materials by affecting the behavior of minerals and textures within rocks. This study revealed that in-situ stress parameters and metamorphism should be reviewed when tunnel studies are carried out.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.457-469
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• 2013

We have analyzed the regional in-situ stress pattern using 460 stress measurement data at about 100 test sites in Korea, and suggested correlation equations of stress-depth and stress ratio-depth. We made Korea Stress Map(KSM) as in-situ stress fields of the Korean peninsula, combining with a paleo-stress analysis according to the geological period and a stress estimation from focal mechanism. We confirmed the reliability and applicability of correlation equations derived in this study, comparing with worldwide stress-depth patterns, and also estimated the pattern of in-situ stress fields of north-eastern Asia including Korea, China and Japan, comparing with World Stress Map.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.103-110
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• 2005

In this paper, the characteristics of excessive horizontal stress components in Korea were studied using more than five hundred measured data set of in-situ hydraulic fracturing test. Based on the in-situ testing data, the magnitude and orientation of the horizontal stress component and variation of stress ratio (K) with depth were investigated. And also horizontal stress magnitude versus depth relationships and distribution limits of stress ratio components were suggested. For the depth less than 310 m in the entire territory, the stress ratio has a tendency to diminish and stabilize with depth, but fur some areas, it was revealed that the excessive horizontal stress fields with stress ratio close to 3.0 below 200 m in depth have formed. The results from the investigation of excessive horizontal stress regions showed that there existed several regions where the localized excessive horizontal stress was big enough to potentially induce brittle failure around the openings at less than 300 m in depth.

• 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.