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Rock Mechanics Letters

Open Access Research Article

Predicting horizontal principal stress through borehole deformation

by Yunhong Wang 1,*
1
Xi'an Research Institute of China Coal Technology&Engineering Group Corp, 710077, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
RML  2025 2(3):19; https://doi.org/10.70425/rml.202503.19
Received: 4 July 2025 / Accepted: 8 July 2025 / Published Online: 9 July 2025
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Abstract

In this paper, the geometry of borehole forced by two-dimensional stress was studied based on classical rock mechanics. The relation between horizontal principal stress and geometrical parameters of deformed circular borehole was established. The new prediction model of horizontal stress was deduced based on the above quantitative relation. Additionally, the stress computation was realized based on elliptical parameters of borehole. Subsequently, the feasibility and scientificity of the calculation method of horizontal principal stress were further confirmed via an experiment of borehole deformation based on borehole deformation. The feasibility and applicability of the method were verified based on actual drilling data in Xinjiang Province. The results demonstrated that the geometric shape of circular borehole after deformation was elliptical under the action of planar two-dimensional stress, and the horizontal principal stress could be expressed by the elliptic geometric parameters after deformation. The shape structure of the circular borehole under the action of non-uniform horizontal principal stress was elliptical, and the horizontal principal stress calculated using the parameters of the elliptical shape structure was directly proportional to the loading load. Larger the borehole diameter, smaller was the error of the method. The results provide new insights for in-situ measurement and inversion of deep horizontal in-situ stress.

Keywords: In-situ stress; borehole deformation; prediction; rock test; shape structure;
Copyright: © 2025 by Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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Funding

Research on multi-field and multi-attribute dynamic analysis technology of geological hazards (2023YFC3008903-05) , General research project of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education (Y202456528)

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ACS Style
Wang, Y. Predicting horizontal principal stress through borehole deformation. Rock Mechanics Letters, 2025, 2, 19. doi:10.70425/rml.202503.19
AMA Style
Wang Y. Predicting horizontal principal stress through borehole deformation. Rock Mechanics Letters; 2025, 2(3):19. doi:10.70425/rml.202503.19
Chicago/Turabian Style
Wang, Yunhong 2025. "Predicting horizontal principal stress through borehole deformation" Rock Mechanics Letters 2, no.3:19. doi:10.70425/rml.202503.19
APA Style
Wang, Y. (2025). Predicting horizontal principal stress through borehole deformation. Rock Mechanics Letters, 2(3), 19. doi:10.70425/rml.202503.19

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