In Situ STRESS MEASUREMENTS FROM TILTS

INDUCED BY MINING OPERATIONS

by R. K. McConnell, Jr. and Ivan Simon

Anticipating the availability of tiltmeters suitable

for u s e in boreholes, this article p o p o s e s a method
of using one or more of these meters to determine
in s i t u s t r e s s distribution before a n d after mining
operations.

everal ways of using relief techniques to measure

in s i t u s t r e s s e s in rocks have been developed.
T h e s e techniques, summarized by erri ill,' involve
measuring deformations which take place when a
specimen of rock i s wholly or partially isolated from
the s t r e s s field i n the surrounding rock.
Measurements of rock deformation caused by s t r e s s
relief from mining operations can, in principle, a l s o
be used to estimate in s i t u s t r e s s distributions.
~ i i l l e r 'h a s mentioned experiments being carried on
in Austria with a "deformation indicator" to determine the tilting of holes drilled before a mine opening
i s made. Similar work using borehole extensometers
h a s been reported by P o t t s ? and ~ u v a 1 1h a~s called
attention to the possible u s e of tiltmeters in making
t h e s e measurements.

Considerable attention i s now being paid to the u s e

of tiltmeters i n detecting rock deformation associated
with fault movements, earthquakes, earth tides, etc.
T h e instruments used for t h e s e measurements have
usually been of the mercury tube, water tube, or
quartz fiber type, but because of their large s i z e ,
and/or fragile nature, such instruments would not be
suitable for u s e in mining s t r e s s measurements.
Recent instrumentation developments, however, give
promise that rugged, sensitive tiltmeters small
enough for u s e in boreholes may soon be available.'
In anticipation of t h e s e developments, t h i s article
presents a number of calculations of the possibility
of using one or more tiltmeters emplaced in a drill
hole prior to mining operations to determine the in
s i t u s t r e s s distribution both before and after a
mining operation.
Consider point p (x, z) near a tunnel of radius a
R . K . McCONNELL, J r . , Member AIME, and I. SIMON are
with Arthur D. L i t t l e , Inc., Cambridge, Mass. T P 68AM207.
Manuscript, February 27, 1968. Discussion o f this paper,
submitted i n duplicate prior to December 15, 1968, will
appear in SME Transactions, March 1969, and AIME
Transactions, 1969, v o l . 244.

TRANSACTIONS - V O L . 241

-'zz
Fig. 1 - Model for tilt calculations: o i s rotation o f
vertical line when long circular opening i s made in
homogeneous isotropic rock with principal a x e s o f applied
s t r e s s a s shown.

driven i n a homogeneous, isotropic rock acted upon

by horizontal principal s t r e s s e s r x x and vertical
principal s t r e s s e s r , , applied a long way from the
tunnel (Fig. 1). If

tan-' z/x

and

[ 11

then, from S ~ k o l n i k o f fthe

, ~ displacement in the 9
direction due to r x X and 7 , , i s easily shown to be
given by

ug

( r x x - 722)

4Pr

r2 + a' ( y

a41

- 1) +--

s i n 28

[2]

3-4 a
P o i s s o n ' s ratio
p = rigidity
Letting Aug b e the difference between the displacement before and after the tunnel i s driven, then

where y

Society o f Mining Engineers, AIME

SEPTEMBER 1968 - 311

Fig. 2 - Dimensionfor
l e s s tilt function
vertical hole near
cylindrical cavity with
T,,
= 0.

Similarly, t h e c h a n g e in displacement i n t h e r direction upon driving t h e tunnel c a n b e shown from

bur =4a ~2 '

(rI1

+ (r,,

+ rZ2)

- du,/dx
..

(3 - y) 2 -

[41

- rzz)

T h e x component of t h e displacement may be determined by substituting [31 and [41 into

12a2 + 16x2 + 24a2 X Z ]

r
r4
Choosing a = 0.25 and making t h e substitution
y = 3-40
w = x/a
2 = z/a
;z = 1 2 + 22

U,

cos 8

u0 s i n 8

[81

one arrives a t t h e expression

6f2
U,

3+4W2

[51

resulting in

U,

[ ( 3 - y)

):(

161

+ -r

r3

When t h i s i s differentiated with respect t o z and rearranged, t h e angular rotation o is given by

312

- SEPTEMBER

1968

which is now i n a s u i t a b l e form for e a s y computation.

F i g s . 2 and 3 show t h e dimensionless t i l t function
fi for r,, = 0 and rxx = r,,, respectively. It is c l e a r
from t h e s e two figures that t h e tilt distribution around
a cylindrical opening i s a strong function of the ratio
rx,/rzz. T h i s point is illustrated more clearly i n Fig.
4 which compares t h e t i l t distributions along the
length of t h e hole a t x = 2a, a s a function of t h e ratio
of the two principal s t r e s s e s . As the tilting pattern

Society of Mining Engineers, AIME

TRANSACTIONS

- VOL.

241

F i g . 3 - Dimensionl e s s t i l t function fl for

vertical h o l e near
cylindrical c a v i t y w i t h
Txx

= Tzz.

of each of the three s t r e s s distributions used,

rxx = 0 , r x x = 0 . 5 r,,,

4.

and r,,

=rzz

is'clearly different, i t should be possible to determine both the absolute magnitude and the distribution
of principal s t r e s s e s from a knowledge of the variation of the tilt in one or more vertical drill holes a s
a function of depth to the hole. In practice, two tiltmeters in a single hole might be enough to determine
both r,, and r,,, while one would suffice if t,, were
known.
Examination of Fig. 4 indicates that if one wanted
to determine s t r e s s e s in the range of 100 to 3000 psi
in a rock in which the rigidity p was 3 x lO"si,
one
would need a tiltmeter with an ultimate sensitivity of
3 x lo-' radians and a range of a t least 3 x
radians.

REFERENCES

TXx

'R.H.

Merrill: I n Situ Determination of S t r e s s by R e l i e f Techniques, S t a t e o f S t r e s s in t h e E a r t h ' s Crust, W.R. J u d d , e d . ,

E l s e v i e r , New York, 1964, pp. 343-378.

~ L Z

2 ~ ~. a l e r S
: t a t e o f S t r e s s in t h e E a r t h ' s CNSL, W.R. Judd, ed.,

Elsevier. New York, 1964, P. 566.

- .1

-.I

-.2

0(21.1

3 ~ . ~ . PJ o. t t s : T h e In Situ Measurement of Rock S t r e s s B a s e d o n

Deformation Measurements, State of S t r e s s i n t h e E a r t h ' s Crust,
W.R. Judd, e d . , E l s e v i e r . New York. 1964, pp. 397-407.
4
W.I. Duvall: P r i v a t e Communicetion, 1967.

'I. Simon, A.G. E m s i i e , P . F . Strong, a n d R.K. McConnell:

F i g . 4 - Comparison ot t i l t distributions along the length

of the h o l e a t z = 2 a a s a function o f the ratio o f the t w o
principal s t r e s s e s .

TRANSACTIONS

- VOL. 241

S e n s i t i v e T i l t m e t e r Utilizing a Diamagnetic Suspension, Rev.

Sci. Inatr., 1968 ( i n p r e s s ) .
6 ~ . Sokolnikoff
~ .
in Mathemetlcel Theory of E l a s t i c i t y , McCraw-

HU1, New York, 1956.

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SEPTEMBER 1968

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