In Situ Stress Determination by Acoustic Emission Techniques from McArthur River Mine Cores

In this study acoustic emission (AE) techniques were investigated to determine in situ rock stress from rock cores. The stresses were estimated from the AE behaviour and compared with the values calculated using conventional Hollow Inclusion (HI) cells. Stresses in three different directions such as normal to bedding and parallel to the strike and dip of bedding were determined from the rock cores. In almost all the tests the Kaiser effect was clearly observed, so the stress could be determined from the AE signature in the first loading. The deformation rate analysis (DRA) was also used to estimate the stresses. The results from DRA were consistent with those estimated from AE method. In general, the stresses calculated from core testing were within 10% of the values determined using the conventional HI cells.