Damage in a rock core caused by induced tensile stress and its relation to differential strain curve analysis

A finite element analysis was carried out to analyze the distribution of tensile stress within and below a long HQ core stub for 77 in situ stress conditions. The maximum tensile stress experienced by the core along the axis during boring under in situ stress was accumulated in an equal-area stereonet for a central part of the cross-section. The maximum tensile stress accumulated for a central area of less than about 60% of the total cross-sectional area was concentrated in a certain direction, which was nearly the same direction as the minimum principal stress for all of the stress conditions, except those in which the minimum principal stress (σ₃) was equal to the intermediate principal stress (σ₂). When σ₂=σ₃, the direction of the cumulative maximum tensile stress lay approximately in the plane of σ₂=σ₃, which is perpendicular to the maximum principal stress. Based on the assumption that a penny-shaped crack is produced normal to the maximum tensile stress in proportion to the magnitude of such stress, the crack density in the core was analyzed by calculating strain under hydrostatic pressure as in differential strain curve analysis (DSCA). The maximum principal crack density in the central part of the core was much greater than the intermediate and minimum principal crack densities, excluding special cases in which σ₂=σ₃. The direction of the maximum crack density was similar to that of the accumulated maximum tensile stress. Thus, the direction of the maximum crack density obtained by DSCA predicts the direction of the minimum principal stress rather than that of the maximum principal stress, if the distribution of pre-existing microcracks before stress relief is isotropic and if additional microcracks are produced only by tensile stress during boring under in situ stress. To verify this, crack parameters were measured by DSCA for two cores of quartz-diorite, which were taken by overcoring when the hemispherical-ended borehole technique was used to measure in situ stress. The directions of the maximum crack parameters measured by DSCA were nearly the same as that of the minimum principal stress for one of the cores. For the other core, for which the magnitudes of the intermediate and minimum principal stresses were close to each other and, accordingly, the direction of the minimum principal stress was uncertain, the direction of the maximum crack density estimated by damage analysis under the assumption that σ₂=σ₃ coincided with the directions of the maximum crack parameters measured by DSCA.