Environ Earth Sci (2013) 68:77–86
DOI 10.1007/s12665-012-1717-9
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Three-dimensional in situ stress evaluation using a new
under-coring technique: the Tseng-Wen Reservoir Transbasin
water tunnel
Jian-Hong Wu • Yu-Wei Pan
Received: 21 March 2011 / Accepted: 10 May 2012 / Published online: 26 May 2012
Ó Springer-Verlag 2012
Abstract The Tseng-Wen Reservoir Transbasin water
tunnel has broken the historical record of the maximum
overburden of a tunnel within Taiwan. The three-dimen-
sional in situ stresses at the tunnel were evaluated using
acoustic emission (AE) and deformation rate analysis
(DRA) with an under-coring technique. This is the first
time that the AE and DRA have been used in evaluating an
in situ stress in Taiwan. As cores drilled in different
directions are required for the three-dimensional stress
evaluation, but the in situ borehole drilling is usually
limited to the vertical direction, small samples 2.28 cm in
diameter and 4.56 cm in length were under-cored from the
borehole cores in six directions to evaluate the in situ
stresses. Cyclic uniaxial compressive loadings were artifi-
cially applied to the Changchikeng sandstones under-cored
from the outcrops. The experimental results validate the
definitiveness of using under-cored samples at different
pre-stresses with AE and DRA. Then, cores taken from the
Tseng-Wen Reservoir Transbasin water tunnel site at a
great depth of 416–739 m underground were under-cored.
The experimental results indicate that the major principle
in situ stress is from 30.8 to 39 MPa and is in the directions
of SE–NW and SW–NE at different depths.
Keywords Tsen-Wen Reservoir Transbasin water tunnel 
Stress  Under-coring  Acoustic emission 
Deformation rate analysis
J.-H. Wu (&)  Y.-W. Pan
Department of Civil Engineering,
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
e-mail: jhwu@mail.ncku.edu.tw
Introduction
The Tseng-Wen Reservoir Transbasin water tunnel has
been constructed to connect the watersheds of the Laonong,
Chishan, and Caolan rivers with the Tseng-Wen Reservoir
in southwestern Taiwan (Fig. 1). The tunnel is located at
the geological zone of Western Foothills, which consists of
tertiary sedimentary rocks. The tunnel is divided into the
west and east tunnels connected by a waterway constructed
in the valley of the Chishan River. Yang (2006) applied
empirical formulae and three-dimensional numerical anal-
ysis methods (3D FLAC) to investigate groundwater
ingress during the tunnel construction. He found that sig-
nificant water inflows would be encountered when the
tunnel excavation met highly fractured zones, amounting to
approximately 1.5 % of the total volume of local recharged
groundwater.
In addition to the problem of groundwater inflow, the
tunnel has a maximum overburden of 1,300 m in the east
tunnel, higher than anything recorded in previous tunnel
excavations in Taiwan. Chang and Lee (2005) emphasized
that the in situ stresses in such deep tunnels must be
carefully checked before the tunnels are constructed.
In view of the limited experience of constructing a tunnel
with an overburden more than 1,000 m and of applying
core-based in situ stress evaluation techniques to a tunnel
construction in Taiwan, the in situ stress evaluation was
considered particularly important.
The stress orientations in southwestern Taiwan have
been studied in tectonics; Chang et al. (2003) investigated
the stress field in Taiwan using tectonic data (Fig. 2). The
bars in Fig. 2a indicate the trends of the maximum com-
pressive stress in the horizontal plane, rmax, as revealed by
borehole breakout experiments in Taiwan. Chang et al.
(2003) found that one of the principal stress axes, r2 or r3,
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78
Fig. 1 Location of the Tseng-
Wen Reservoir water transbasin
tunnel N
Taiwan
0 80
km
Fig. 2 Stress axes from
various tectonic sources (Chang
et al. 2003)
must be assumed to be vertical or approximately vertical,
and the axis of major compressive stress (r1) is generally
near-horizontal because the deformation generally corre-
sponds to the strike-slip faulting or reverse faulting in
western Taiwan. As a consequence, the direction of rmax
derived from the borehole breakout data approximately
corresponds to the direction of r1 in this area. On average,
the compression tends to act along the NW direction in
southwestern Taiwan (Fig. 2a). In additional, Chang et al.
(2003) considered the distribution of the Quaternary
paleostresses in the western part of Taiwan based on the
fault slip data (Fig. 2b) in terms of the trends of compres-
sion (r1). Most of these studies concentrated on the western
part of Taiwan. Figure 2b confirmed the WNW–ESE and
NW–SE average trends of compression prevail in south-
western Taiwan, respectively. The value and orientation of
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Environ Earth Sci (2013) 68:77–86
N
Caolan River
0 1 2km
West Tunnel
Chishan River
Laonong River
East Tunnel
the in situ stress evaluation have also been investigated by
the in situ stress measurements in Taiwan. Lee (2005)
determined the ratios of horizontal stresses to vertical in situ
stresses based on hydraulic fracturing and over-coring
techniques in Taiwan (Fig. 3). In addition, Lin et al. (2007)
employed anelastic strain recovery (ASR) technique to
investigate the 3D in situ stresses of the Chelungpu fault at
depths of 592, 1,112, and 1,755 m as shown in Table 1 after
the Chi-Chi earthquake. Therefore, the in situ stress orien-
tation, excluding the values of the three-dimensional in situ
stresses, is known for the Tseng-Wen Reservoir Transbasin
water tunnel.
Martin (2007) mentioned that vertical stress is not
always a principle stress. The true three-dimensional (3D)
in situ stresses must be obtained without the assumption of
the vertical stress as a principle stress. The core-based
Environ Earth Sci (2013) 68:77–86 79

stress evaluation technologies of acoustic emission (AE)

and deformation rate analysis (DRA) are simple techniques
in estimating the 3D stress state at great depths (Ljunggren
et al. 2003). However, further research is required to
K1=1.0
K2=0.65 enhance the reliability of the assessed stress state. Lin et al.
(2007) mentioned that there is no foolproof method by
which magnitudes and orientations of 3D in situ stress can
K1=2.3 be reliably measured at great depths although various field
K2=1.1
and laboratory measurement techniques have been pro-
posed. Wu and Jan (2010) validated that the Changchikeng
sandstone, which is the same rock formation as the Tseng-
K1=2.4 Wen Reservoir Transbasin water tunnel passes at the
K2=1.0
K1=1.4 largest thickness, performs the Kaiser effect for AE and
K2=0.8 DRA investigations. However, obtaining in situ drilled
samples at a great depth is expensive and difficult, and the
in situ drilling direction of the cores is usually vertical. The
core samples in evaluating the 3D in situ stresses must be
under-cored from the in situ borehole cores at different
directions. In additional, a limited number of the borehole
K1=1.9 drilling cores is available at a great depth. AE and DRA
K2=0.9 must be conducted to the under-cored sample simulta-
neously to obtain as much data as possible.
Therefore, the study has two aims. First, technically
verify the correctness of using small under-cored samples
to evaluate various pre-stresses of the rock. The second aim
is to evaluate the 3D in situ stresses of the Tseng-Wen
Fig. 3 In situ stress measurements conducted in Taiwan (Lee 2005) Reservoir Transbasin water tunnel at large/great depth with
AE and DRA.

Table 1 Principal stresses predicted by ASR technique (Lin et al.

2007) Geologic outline
Depth Major principal Intermediate Minor principal
(m) stress (MPa) principal stress stress (MPa) Figure 4 illustrates the geologic outline of the east tunnel
(MPa) of the Tseng-Wen Reservoir Transbasin water tunnel. The
tunnel passes through the major geological structures of
592 15 13 12
Laojenhsi anticline, the Laojenhsi syncline, the Laonong
1112 28 24 19
fault and the Kaochung fault. The Changshan, Changc-
1755 54 46 34
hikeng, and Hunghuatzu formations as well as the Sanming

DB-93-05
Kaochung fault
Laojenhsi
East tunnel Laojenhsi anticline Tn
Altitude (m)

Altitude (m)

syncline Eastern portal

Chishan fault
1000 Laonong fault 1000
Western portal Cc
Cc
Cc t
Hh Cs
Sm Hh Cc Cc Cc Cc
0 0
8k+000 6k+000 4k+000 2k+000 0k+000

t Terrace deposits Tn Tangenshan sandstone Cc Changchikeng formation Hh Hunghuatzu formation

Sm Sanming shale Cs Changshan formation Ss Sandstone Fault zone

Fig. 4 Geologic profile of east tunnel

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80 Environ Earth Sci (2013) 68:77–86

shale are the Miocene rocks in the east tunnel. The maxi-
mum overburden in the east tunnel, and also in the Tseng-
Wen Reservoir Transbasin water tunnel, is located between
the Kaochung fault and the Laojenhsi anticline. The rock is
Changchikeng sandstone consisting of alternate layers of
fine grained sandstone and shale (Sung et al. 2000).
Pre-stress evaluations using under-coring technique
The core-based rock pre-stress evaluation methods,
acoustic emission (AE) and DRA, using under-coring
technique are introduced in this section.
The stress difference of the axial strain in cyclic loading
shows a clear curve (Fig. 6c). Again, tangents to the
maximum curvature are used to determine the pre-stress
value (Fig. 6c), similar to the method proposed by Lavrov
(2003) for AE. Lin et al. (2006) and Wu and Jan (2010)
proposed that not only the axial strain but also the lateral
stain can be used for DRA. In this study, the axial strain
and lateral strain of the rock specimen in cyclic loadings
are monitored simultaneously in assessing the pre-stress
(Fig. 6b).
Under-coring technique

Acoustic emission In physics, the stress, rij, at a point in 3D space acting on

any mutually perpendicular planes can be described by the
The pre-stress of a rock sample is evaluated by analyzing nine stress components (Eq. 2).
the acoustic emission signals of the uniaxial compressive
test. The Kaiser effect is defined as the significant AE
signals obtained when the loading of the test exceeds
previous stress parallel to the loading direction. Figure 5
shows the testing procedure in assessing the pre-stress of a Borehole well
rock using the Kaiser effect:
1. Cores are taken from the in situ rock mass using
borehole drillings (Fig. 5a). In-situ rock core
2. The rock sample is placed on a loading system, and
then the AE sensor (PAC PICO) is attached to the side (a)
of the sample to monitor AE signals under compres-
sive loading (Fig. 5b).
Compressive Loading
3. The figure of AE cumulative counts versus loading
stress is plotted, and the turning point with significant
increases of AE signal is determined to be the in situ
stress, rpre, parallel to the loading direction (Fig. 5c). Load Cell

Lavrov (2003) proposed a practical method in assessing

the turning point of pre-stress in an AE signal. The com- AE Sensor
mon curve of AE signals with stress is concave as shown in
Specimen
Fig. 5c. The tangent lines are drawn at the beginning and
near the end portion of the AE signals, respectively. The
two tangent lines intersect at a point, and the corresponding
stress of the intersected point is defined to be the turning (b)
point as well as the pre-stress of the rock sample.
AE Cumulative Counts

Deformation rate analysis

In DRA, at least two cyclic compressive loadings must be

applied to the in situ core specimens (Fig. 6). The corre- pre
sponding strains are monitored during loadings. Yamamoto
et al. (1990) proposed the following equation (Eq. 1) to
calculate the difference in axial strain (4eij) in DRA: Stress
Meij ¼ ei ðrÞ  ej ðrÞ; j[i ð1Þ (c)
where ei(r) is the strain at the stress r of the ith loading. Fig. 5 AE pre-stress evaluation technique. a In situ rock sampling,
ej(r) is the strain at the stress r of the jth loading. b laboratory test, c data analysis

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Environ Earth Sci (2013) 68:77–86 81

rn ¼ Tn  n
¼ ðrij nj Þ  nj
: ð4Þ
Borehole well
¼ r11 n21 þ r12 n1 n2 þ r13 n1 n3 þ r21 n1 n2 þ r22 n22
þ r23 n2 n3 þ r31 n1 n3 þ r32 n2 n3 þ r33 n23

Assume the stress matrix (Eq. 2) is symmetric as

In-situ rock core
rij = rji (i = j), the Eq. (4) can be re-written as:
rn ¼ r11 n21 þ r22 n22 þ r33 n23 þ 2ðr12 n1 n2 þ r13 n1 n3
(a) þ r23 n2 n3 Þ: ð5Þ

The shear stress on the plane n can be written as:

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Two cyclic loadings
Sn ¼ ðTn Þ2  ðrn Þ2 : ð6Þ

The stress tensor terms of (r11, r22, r33, r12, r13, r23) in
Eq. (2) are unknowns. The rn in Eq. (5) is the pre-stress
Load Cell parallel to the drilling direction (n1, n2, n3) determined
using AE and DRA. Therefore, the cores must at least be
drilled in six different directions to obtain the unknown 3D
stress tensor. The eigen-value and eigen-vector solutions of
the stress tensor, rij, result in the values and directions of
Core sample
the 3D principle stresses.
Strain gauge The under-coring technique can be divided into the two
following methods: the conventional under-coring method
and the new core-based under-coring method. The con-
ventional method consists of drilling several boreholes
(b)
around a future opening, such as a large diameter borehole
or a small cavern. Then, strain gauges are installed at the
bottom of these boreholes and are recorded in the obser-
vation boreholes before during, and after the excavation
work (Heitzmann and Tripet 2003). Heuze et al. (1981)
applied the under-coring method to assess the in situ stress
at Climax Granite, Nevada Test Site in USA and suggested
using this method to directly determine the mechanical
modulus of the rock at the site. Heitzmann and Tripet
(2003) found that the under-coring and hydraulic fracturing
methods provided comparable results whereas the borehole
(c) slot method resulted in unlikely stress values while inves-
Fig. 6 DRA pre-stress evaluation technique. a In situ rock sampling, tigating the stress field in the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory.
b laboratory test, c data analysis The new core-based under-coring method used the core
taken from the in situ borehole to evaluate the in situ stress
8 9 2 3 with AE and DRA. Six cores from different directions must
< T1 = r11 r12 r13
be used to obtain the 3D stress tensor. Villaescusa et al.
rij ¼ T2 ¼ 4 r21 r22 r23 5: ð2Þ
: ; (2002) investigated the in situ stress in Australia using
T3 r31 r32 r33
oriented cores with AE and DRA. The stress was deter-
Therefore, the stresses acting on the plane n can be mined using oriented cores and the experimental results
written as follows: were similar to the conventional over-coring techniques.
Tn ¼ rij  nj ð3Þ Therefore, the new cored-based under-coring method is
applied to investigate the in situ 3D stresses using the rock
where nj = n1 ? n2 ? n3 is the unit vector of the plane n. cores taken from 400 to 700 m underground at the Tseng-
The normal stress of the plane n, rn, is calculated by: Wen Reservoir Tranbasin water tunnel site.

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82
The Changchikeng sandstone
The cores were taken from the vertical borehole of DB-93-
05 with depths of 417, 560, 632, and 739 m at the east
tunnel near the Kaochung fault (Fig. 4). The cores were
classified to be Changchihkeng sandstone. Wu and Jan
(2010) drilled the cores 5 cm in diameter from the outcrop
and validated the accuracy of AE and DRA to assess dif-
ferent pre-stresses of the Changchihkeng sandstone.
However, DB-93-05 is a vertical borehole. Only vertical
stress can be obtained from the vertical drilling cores and
cannot solve the 3D unknowns in Eq. (2). Drilling bore-
holes at different orientations at a great depth is difficult.
An alternative approach is under-coring the in situ 5-cm-
diameter cores to have the under-cored samples 2.28 cm in
diameter and 4.56 cm in length from six different
orientations.
Experimental results of the pre-stress evaluations
Goodman (1989) mentioned that size impacts the strength
of the sample because fewer cracks and fissures are
included in a small sample, which results in a higher
compressive strength. Small cores that are 2.28 cm in
diameter and 4.56 cm in length were used in this study.
Because a limited number of cores can be taken from a
great depth to conduct AE and DRA, the impact of the
sample size on the accuracy of using AE and DRA to
evaluate the different pre-stresses of under-cored Chang-
chihkeng sandstone samples must be discussed before
(a)
(d)
Fig. 7 Experimental process of the under-cored samples from rocks.
a Drill the core with 5 cm in diameter from rock. b Under-cored the
rock sample from the core. c Cut the samples to the length of 4.56 cm.
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Environ Earth Sci (2013) 68:77–86
conducting the same techniques to assess the 3D in situ
stresses.
Pre-stress evaluations of the under-cored samples
from the outcrop rock
Block samples taken from outcrops near the eastern portal
of the Tseng-Wen Reservior Transbasin water tunnel were
used to evaluate under-coring. The under-coring process of
the Changchihkeng sandstone block is illustrated in Fig. 7.
The 5-cm-diameter core is drilled from the rocks (Fig. 7a);
then, the under-cored samples are drilled from these cores
(Fig. 7b). The under-cored samples are cut to a specified
length (Fig. 7c), and the ends of the samples are polished
(Fig. 7d). The 7-day air-dried samples (Fig. 7e) are ready
for the AE and DRA tests after setting axial and lateral
strain gauges to each sample (Fig. 7f).
Figure 8 shows the six drilling directions of the under-
cored samples drilled from the rocks. Table 2 shows the
physical properties and the uniaxial compressive strength
of the under-cored sample. Assume that the inclination
angle between the discontinuities and the loading direction
is b. The anisotropy ratio, Rc, proposed by Ramamurthy
et al. (1993), is defined to be the ratio of the uniaxial
compressive strength of the rock with b = 90° to the
lowest uniaxial compressive strength with inclined angle b.
Therefore, the Rc of the Changchikeng sandstone is cal-
culated by 228.7/175.2 = 1.3 and is classified to be low
anisotropic rock.
Figure 9a shows the time history of pre-stress memori-
zation to the under-cored samples taken from the outcrop
(b) (c)
(e) (f)
d Polish the ends of the sample. e Air-dried the under- cored samples
with 7 days. f Set the axial and lateral strain gauges for DRA
Environ Earth Sci (2013) 68:77–86 83

Fig. 8 Drill directions of the Drill direction Drill direction Drill direction
under-cored samples
x y
y x
z
y x

Direction 1 Direction 2 Direction 3

y (1, 0, 0) (0, 1, 0) (1, 1, 0)
Drill direction Drill direction Drill direction
z x z y
x
Sample orientation

Direction 4 Direction 5 Direction 6

(1, 0, 1) (0, 1, 1) (0, 0, 1)

Table 2 Physical and mechanical properties of the Changchikeng and Wang (2004) indicated that the ratio of the maximum
sandstone horizontal stress to vertical stress usually ranged from 1.4
Water content of the air-dried sample (%) 0.37 to 2.2 in compression regime, this work sets the pre-
Specific gravity of the grain 2.68 stresses, PU, at rv, 1.4rv, and 2.2rv, respectively. Table 3
Void ratio 0.004 shows the stresses of PL, PU and PA in each case. Figure 9b
Unit weight of the dried sample (kN/m3) 26.7 shows the permanent deformation indicating the successful
Uni-axial compressive strength (MPa)
Drill direction 1 198.3
Drill direction 2 203.1 Load
First stage Second stage
Drill direction 3 218.1
PA
Drill direction 4 228.7 500 times of
Drill direction 5 175.2 cyclic loading
Drill direction 6 223.3 PU

rocks in this study. The loading time history can be briefly

divided into the following two parts: the first stage of cyclic PL
loading and the second stage of cyclic loading. In the first
stage of 2 Hz cyclic loading, 500 uniaxial cyclic loadings
are applied to each sample to memorize the artificial pre- Time
stress. The PL and PU in Fig. 9a are lower and upper bound (a)
of the cyclic loading stresses, respectively. The PU is also
defined to be the pre-stress of the sample in this study.
Additionally, in the second stage of cyclic loading, two
cyclic loadings must be carried out for the DRA analysis.
The PA must be higher than the PU to produce the Kaiser
effect but must be lower than the uniaxial compressive
strength to avoid rock sample failure at the first loading.
The under-cored samples are originally prepared to vali-
date the accuracy of applying AE and DRA techniques to
the Changchikeng sandstone with the maximum overbur-
den of 1,300 m at the Tseng-Wen Reservoir Transbasin
water tunnel. Assume that the unit weight of the Changc- (b)
hikeng sandstone is 25.48 kN/m3. The vertical stress, rv,
Fig. 9 Artificial pre-stress memorization to the outcrop samples.
with 1,300 m overburden is 33.1 MPa. As Fig. 2 illustrates a Loading–unloading time history, b permanent deformation after 500
that the horizontal stress is the maximum principle stress, cyclic loadings

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84 Environ Earth Sci (2013) 68:77–86

Table 3 Artificial pre-stresses on each outcrop sandstone sample can be evaluated by the AE signals of the first and second
Memorized pre-stress (MPa) PL (MPa) PU (MPa) PA (MPa)
loadings in the second stage.

rv (33.1) 6.2 33.1 71.4 In situ stress measurements

1.4rv (46.3) 10.7 46.3 71.4
2.2rv (72.8) 38 72.8 106.9 The vertical borehole of DB-93-05 (Fig. 4) was drilled and
the cores were taken at the depths of 417, 560, 632, and
739 m at the east tunnel for in situ stress measurements.
pre-stress memorization to the rock core after 500 cyclic The ground surface geologic investigations show that the
loadings in the first stage. strike of the rock mass is N37°E and the dip angle is 39°S.
In AE pre-stress estimations, the signals of the first and The strike and dip direction of the rock mass at the great
second loadings in the second stage (Fig. 9a) are used. depth are assumed to be the same as those of the rocks at
Simultaneously, in DRA, the horizontal and vertical strain the outcrop. Therefore, the X and Y axis of the core are
differences of the first and second loadings are evaluated assumed to coincide with the directions of north and east,
respectively. The pre-stress estimations are shown in respectively; while the Z axis indicates the vertical direc-
Table 4 and the error is calculated by Eq. (7): tion. The pre-stresses evaluated from the under-cored
sample taken at the six directions shown in Fig. 8 are put
Error ð%Þ ¼ ½ðevaluated pre-stressÞ  PU =PU  100 %: ð7Þ into Eq. (5) to result in the following simultaneous
The experimental results validate that both AE and DRA equation:
can be used for the pre-stress estimation with under-cored 2 3 8 9 8 9
1 0 0 0 0 0 >
> r11 >
> >
> r1 >
>
samples. The evaluation error is -24.2 to 0.4 % in AE and 6 0 7 >> >
> >
> >
>
6 1 0 0 0 0 7 >> r22 >
> >
> r2>>
is 6.6–19.9 % in DRA. The AE error in this study is less 6 0:5 0:5 0 1 0 0 7 < = < =
6 7  r33 ¼ r3 ð8Þ
than the extensive investigations conducted by Tuncay and 6 0:5 0 0:5 0 1 0 7 > r12 > > r4 >
6 7 >> > >
> > > >
Ulusay (2008) in the range of -30 to 20 %. The DRA error 4 0 0:5 0:5 0 0 1 5 > > r > > > > r5 >>
: 13 >
> ; > : > ;
is similar to the investigations of Jan (2008) on the pre- 0 0 1 0 0 0 r23 r6
stressed Changchihkeng sandstone. In addition, the pre-
stress applied to the under-cored Changchikeng sandstone where rn (n=1–6) indicates the in situ stress evaluated from
the under-cored sample taken from the direction n.
The eigen-value and eigen-vector solutions of the stress
tensor result in the values and directions of the 3D principle
Table 4 Artificial pre-stress evaluations using AE and DRA stresses after obtaining the unknown (r11, r22, r33, r12, r13
Pre-stress rv 1.4rv 2.2rv and r23).
33.1 (MPa) 46.3 (MPa) 72.8 (MPa) Due to the limited number of cores in the in situ stress
tests the AE signal, horizontal strain and vertical strain of
Rock block no. Y Z Y Z Y Z
each under-cored sample are monitored simultaneously in
AE two uniaxial cyclic loadings. The experimental results of
1st loading some under-cored samples show insignificant turning
Evaluation stress 35.1 37.6 46.7 46.5 55.2 74.9 points of the AE signals measured in the first loading
(MPa) (Fig. 10) and the vertical strain difference (Fig. 11) in
Error (%) DRA. More studies are required to clarify the absence of
2nd loading the turning point in AE and DRA. Fortunately, simulta-
Evaluation stress 6.0 13.6 0.9 0.4 -24.2 2.9 neously conducting AE and DRA on the rock cores
(MPa)
obtained enough data for the 3D in situ stress evaluations.
Error (%) 37 37.1 47.9 47.7 57.0 76.1 Table 5 shows the combinations of the in situ stresses
DRA measured by the AE signals and the DRA with horizontal
Horizontal strain strain differences of the under-cored samples drilled from
Evaluation stress 39.7 37.2 50.9 50.1 78.2 80.0 different directions of the cores.
(MPa)
Table 6 listed the evaluated 3D in situ stress tensors
Error (%) 19.9 12.4 9.9 8.2 7.4 9.9
under different depths at the Tseng-Wen Reservoir Tran-
Vertical strain
basin water tunnel site. The direction of the principle stress,
Evaluation stress 37.3 38.2 50.5 51.2 77.8 77.6
r1, is SE–NW at the depth between 416.3 and 417 m, and
(MPa)
is SW–NE at the depths of 560–560.65 m, 632–632.8 m,
Error (%) 12.7 15.4 9.1 10.6 6.9 6.6
and 739–739.65 m. The experimental results correlate well

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Environ Earth Sci (2013) 68:77–86 85

Table 6 Evaluated three-dimensional in situ stresses

Depth (m) r1 r2 r3

416.3–417
Stress (MPa) 30.8 17.5 12.0
Bearing (°) 119.9 17.8 249.1
Plunge (°) 22.4 23.0 56.9
560–560.65
Stress (MPa) 26.9 21.5 10.3
Bearing (°) 249.9 130.1 20.3
Plunge (°) 44.2 27.0 33.6
632–632.8
Stress (MPa) 32.4 25.4 5.2
Bearing (°) 7.9 238.1 118.8
Fig. 10 Unavailable turning point of the Kaiser effect (direction 4 at
the depth of 739–739.65 m) Plunge (°) 34.4 43.1 27.6
739–739.65
Stress (MPa) 39.0 26.0 -5.1
Bearing (°) 221.3 340.2 117.7
Plunge (°) 21.5 50.9 30.9

compressive stress (r1) is not generally near-horizontal at

Fig. 11 Unavailable turning point of the vertical strain differences
using DRA
with the in situ investigations in Fig. 2. However, varying
from the study conducted by Chang et al. (2003), the
principal stress axes, r2 or r3, calculated in this study are
not vertical or nearly vertical, and the axis of major
the great depth in the east tunnel with maximum thickness.
The different plunges of in situ principle stresses between
the study of Chang et al. (2003) and that evaluated by AE
and DRA are resulted from the following reasons for the
further studies:
1. The assumption of a vertical and two horizontal
principle stresses is required in the study of Chang
et al. (2003) but is not required when analyzing the 3D
in situ stresses using AE and DRA.
2. The study of Chang et al. (2003) shows the charac-
teristic of tectonic stress. However, the folds, Kao-
chung Fault and complex topography (Fig. 4) near the
borehole DB-93-05 control the in situ stresses of the
core evaluated by AE and DRA.
3. The error of pre-stress evaluations using AE and DRA
may affect the orientations of in situ principle stresses.

Table 5 In situ stress

Drill direction Estimated stress (MPa)
measurements by AE and DRA
Depth 416.3–417 m Depth 560–560.65 m Depth 632–632.8 m Depth 739–739.65 m

1 24.6a 23.0a 13.3a 12.9a

a a a
a
The AE signal obtained from 2 20.1 15.0 26.4 27.2a
a b a
the first loading 3 16.9 17.4 27.2 35.1c
b a c c
The AE signal obtained from 4 13.7 26.2 25.1 31.0c
the seconding loading 5 19.3a
23.6 a
17.6 a
20.4a
c
The DRA technique using 6 15.9a
20.7 c
23.3 a
19.2a
horizontal strain

123
86
Conclusions
This paper successfully uses AE and DRA to assess the
rock cores drilled at the great depth of the Tseng-Wen
Reservoir Tranbasin water tunnel site to evaluate the 3D in
situ stresses at different depths. The under-coring technique
is used to obtain small samples with different directions
from the borehole cores because rock samples drilled at six
different directions are required to obtain 3D stresses.
The experimental results of the artificially pre-stressed
samples under-cored from the outcrop validate that both
AE and DRA are useful methods for the pre-stress evalu-
ation even if the size of the rock sample is small. Using AE
and DRA simultaneously is a practical technique for the 3D
in situ stress evaluations with very rare in situ cores drilled
at a great depth.
The experimental results indicate that the major princi-
pal stress is in the direction of SE–NW and SW–NE at
different depths and correlate well with the available local
major stress direction assessed using borehole breakouts
and quaternary fault slip data.
However, more studies are required to further reduce the
error of using AE and DRA to evaluate the pre-stress of the
rocks. Additionally, it is necessary to clarify the mecha-
nism of the absence of a turning point when conducting AE
and DRA on the rock cores.
Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the financial
support from the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC95-2221-
E-006-111-MY3) and the technical support from PAC and MTS. In
addition, special thanks are given to the officers in the Southern
Region Water Resources Office, WRA, MOEA, Taiwan and the
engineers in United Geotech., Inc., Taiwan for their help to get the
core. Appreciation is also given to the reviewers for their valuable
suggestions.
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