Measurement 218 (2023) 113217

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Measurement
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/measurement

Determination of geo-stress in deep strata incorporating borehole diametral

deformation measurement and overcoring
Zengqiang Han a, b, Chao Wang a, b, Chuanying Wang a, Yuyong Jiao c, Yiteng Wang a,
Jinchao Wang a, Xiaohua Huang d, *
a
State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430071,
China
b
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
c
Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China
d
Guangxi Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Engineering Safety, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi 530004, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In deep energy engineering such as coal mining, oil & gas extraction, underground hydropower projects and deep
Geo-stress measurement buried water tunnels, rock failure and large deformation hazards often occur due to the complicated geological
Borehole diametral deformation conditions and high geo-stress. Knowledge of the geo-stress state is an essential content in deep rock engineering.
Overcoring
The complex environment of high temperature and high hydraulic pressure in deep rock mass makes geo-stress
Stress relief
Wireline coring
measurement more difficult than shallow strata. In this study, a novel method for geo-stress measurement based
Micro-optical imaging on the cross-sectional borehole diametral deformation is proposed. A borehole diametral deformation gage (BDD
gage) is developed based on the measurement method. The scheme design of multi-contacts and micro-optical
imaging avoid the influence of the high temperature and high hydraulic pressure environment. The results of
the calibration experiment show that the measurement accuracy of BDD gage reaches 3 μm. Incorporating with
the wireline coring tool for rapid overcoring, geo-stress measurement in deep vertical borehole via stress relief is
realized. Field test procedure is summarized and application is carried out in a deep borehole of limestone
stratum in Guizhou Province, China. Measurement process is verified to be rapid and simple. Measurement re­
sults including magnitude and direction of principal stresses are consistent with the results from hydraulic
fracturing method. Special discussions were conducted on the measurement error of BDD gage and the
improvement design of wireline coring tools. This article provides new ideas for geo-stress measurement in deep
borehole.

1. Introduction since, in fact, it is a fictitious quantity. It is only possible to deduce the

With the increase of human demand and mining intensity for energy
and mineral resources, the amount of shallow mineral resources is
decreasing, and mines have successively entered the state of deep min­
ing. During deep mining, the geological conditions of deep strata are
much more complex than those of shallow strata. Rock failure and large
deformation hazards often occur during deep mining due to these
complicated geological conditions and high geo-stress. Activities
requiring knowledge of geo-stress include borehole stability, borehole
deformation, design of support systems, prediction of rock bursts, slope
stability, energy extraction & storage, at al. Compared with other rock
mass properties, rock stress is a difficult quantity to measure. As pointed
out by Leeman (1959) [1], ’It is impossible to measure stress directly
stresses in a solid body from the results of measurements using some
indirect method’. Over the past 50 years, various techniques for
measuring in situ stresses have been developed and improved. These
techniques can be divided into six main groups: hydraulic methods,
relief methods, jacking methods, strain recovery methods, borehole
breakout methods and others. The most commonly used methods in rock
engineering are hydraulic fracturing and stress relief. Hydraulic frac­
turing method is a common method for deep geo-stress measurement. It
can be used in boreholes up to several kilometers deep, but there are still
some problems, such as long test cycle, high cost, difficult to determine
the direction of principal stresses and so on. Borehole overcoring relief
method is also a common geo-stress measurement method in under­
ground cavern engineering, which can synchronously obtain the

* Corresponding author.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.measurement.2023.113217
Received 2 November 2022; Received in revised form 1 June 2023; Accepted 11 June 2023
Available online 15 June 2023
0263-2241/© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Z. Han et al. Measurement 218 (2023) 113217

magnitude and direction of the principal stress, but the complex mea­
surement process and the temperature sensitivity limit the test depth.
Considering the problems existing in the current two common mea­
surement methods, this paper is committed to improving borehole
overcoring relief technique, promoting this method can be applied to
geo-stress measurement in deep strata, and simultaneously obtain the
magnitude and direction of the principal stress [1–7].
The main idea behind relief methods is to isolate a rock sample from
the stress field in the surrounding rock mass and monitor its response.
This can usually be achieved by overcoring. The stresses are not related
to applied pressures such as in hydraulic methods. Instead, the stresses
are inferred from strains or displacements created by the relief process
and measured in boreholes associated with the relief process. Scholars
have carried out a lot of research in theoretical derivation and mea­
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram showing stress condition of rock mass with borehole
surement technology on the borehole deformation under the action of
(displacement of any point on borehole wall includes radial displacement ur
geo-stress [8,9]. Jaeger [10] deduced the analytical solution of the
and tangential displacement uθ ).
borehole wall displacement under the far-field stress. Obert [11]
developed USBM borehole diameter deformation measurement gauge,
which is the most representative borehole deformation measuring de­ Consider a rock mass forced by maximum stress SH and minimum
vice with the structure design of round head piston, cantilever beam, stress Sh as shown in Fig. 1. From the book “Fundaments of rock me­
resistance strain gauge, etc. Obara [12] established a cross-sectional chanics” wrote by Jaeger, Cook and Zimmerman, we can get the change
borehole deformation method (CBDM) and developed an apparatus in the radius of the borehole is found as below:
)
using laser displacement sensor to measure the borehole diameter a(1 − μ2
deformation. Then he estimated the stress change of rock mass based on ur |r=a =
E
[(SH + Sh ) + 2(SH − Sh )cos2θ ]
the borehole deformation data. Funato. A [13–15] proposed a new ) (1)
2a(1 − μ2
method of diametrical core deformation analysis for in-situ stress mea­ uθ |r=a = − [(SH − Sh )sin2θ ]
E
surements and has been successfully applied to geo-stress measurement
of deep rock mass. Wang [16–18] developed a contact type micro- Where, ur and uθ are radial and tangential displacement of point P on
optical diameter deformation measurement device, which realized the borehole wall, and θ is the angle between the radial direction of point P
measurement of borehole deformation and borehole shape by using and the positive direction of x-axis, and a is borehole radius, E and μ are
rigid contact displacement sensing and micro-optical imaging. It can be the Young’s modulus and the Poisson’s ratio of the rock, respectively.
seen from the above research that in the aspect of theoretical derivation, As shown in Fig. 1, point P on borehole wall is changed to point P*
scholars mainly focus on the relationship between the displacement and under the geo-stresses SH and Sh . The coordinate of point P* can be
stress of the borehole wall, ignoring the geometric borehole shape after calculated from Equation (2) as below:
deformation. In measurement techniques, electronic strain gauge and
x = acosθ − ur cosθ + uθ sinθ
displacement sensor are widely used, which are greatly affected by the (2)
y = acosθ − ur sinθ − uθ cosθ
test environment (temperature, waterproof, etc.), especially in deep
boreholes [19–29]. Substituting Equation (1) into Equation (2), the following Equation
From the current research progress, most scholars ignored the (3) can be derived.
change of the borehole shape caused by geo-stress, which is the most [ ]
1 − μ2
intuitive response of borehole under the action of geo-stress. Similarly, x=a 1+ (3Sh − SH ) cosθ
E
borehole shape data can reflect geo-stress information, including the [ ] (3)
magnitude and direction. Considering the problems and limitations in y=a 1+
1 − μ2
(3SH − Sh ) sinθ
conventional overcoring stress relief method, a new method based on E
borehole diametral deformation measurement is proposed. Taking the The coefficients of Equation (3) are defined as Equation (4).
ellipse shape after borehole deformation as the starting point, a method
[ ]
for geo-stress calculation based on borehole diametral deformation is 1 − μ2
A=a 1+ (3Sh − SH )
proposed. A gage characterized by multi-contact & micro-optical im­ E
aging is developed. The gage adopts optical imaging measurement type [ ] (4)
1 − μ2
to avoid the influence of ambient temperature in deep borehole. The B=a 1+ (3SH − Sh )
E
results of laboratory tests show that the accuracy of the gage meets the
requirements of geo-stress measurement. With the cooperation of the Combining Equation (3) and Equation (4), we can get the following
wireline coring tool which saves tripping time, the rapid completion of relationship as shown in Equation (5):
the overcoring relief in deep borehole is realized. This method is verified
x2 y2
through field test in a 636 m borehole including overcoring, diametral + = cos2 θ + sin2 θ = 1 (5)
A2 B2
deformation measurement and geo-stress calculation.
This is a standard equation of ellipse indicating that cross-sectional
2. Concepts and methods borehole shape is an ellipse under the condition of plane two-
dimensional geo-stresses. A is the minor semi-axis of the ellipse and B
The problem of calculating the displacements and stresses outside a is the major semi-axis. Transforming Equation (4), we can get the
circular hole in an infinite elastic solid with a uniform state of stress was calculation formulas of the principal stresses based on the geometric
first solved by the German engineer Kirsch in 1898. The famous Kirsch parameters of ellipse after deformation as shown in Equation (6).
Equation is shown in Equation (1). In this study, we make assumptions
as below: (1) the rock mass is elastic homogeneous normal, (2) a bore­
hole in rock mass is vertical, (3) geo-stress along borehole σ z is equal to
the overburden stress at the depth of measurement.

2
Z. Han et al. Measurement 218 (2023) 113217

Using Equation (6), we can calculate principal geo-stress by

deformed borehole cross-sectional shape parameters. However, there
are two limiting factors under actual deep hole conditions including
unmeasurable initial radius of borehole and plastic deformation of
borehole. In order to avoid the above problems, we incorporate over­
coring method which considers only elastic deformation before and after
relief.
Before the stress is relieved, the two main stress values are calculated
using formula 6. After the stress is relieved, assume that the two prin­
cipal stresses change to SH0 and Sh0 as shown in Equation (7). According
to Equation (6) and Equation (7), we obtained the stress change value, as
shown in Equation (8). Due to the stress relief, the magnitudes of SH0 and
Sh0 become zero, so SH and Sh can be calculated by the variation of the
major and minor axes of the borehole ellipse, as shown in Equation (9).

1 − μ2 3B0 + A0 − 4a
SH0 = ×
E 8a
(7)
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of elliptical shape parameters measurement. 1 − μ2 B0 + 3A0 − 4a
Sh0 = ×
E 8a
1 − μ2 3B + A − 4a
SH = × 1 − μ2 3(B − B0 ) + A − A0 1 − μ2 3ΔB + ΔA
E 8a SH − SH0 = × = ×
(6) E 8a E 8a
1 − μ2 B + 3A − 4a (8)
Sh = × 1 − μ2 B − B0 + 3(A − A0 ) 1 − μ2 ΔB + 3ΔA
E 8a Sh − Sh0 = × = ×
E 8a E 8a
The above is the concept of geo-stress calculation based on borehole
If we measure the change of the major and minor axes of the ellipse
diametral parameters. From Equation (6), we need five parameters to
before and after relief, the magnitude of geo-stress can also be calculated
calculate principal geo-stress as follow:
by the following Equation (9).
(1) E - elastic modulus of rock;
(2) μ - Poisson’s ratio of rock; 1 − μ2 3ΔB + ΔA
SH = ×
(3) a - initial radius of borehole; E 8a
(9)
(4) A - deformed elliptical minor semi-axis; 1 − μ2 ΔB + 3ΔA
(5) B - deformed elliptical major semi-axis. Sh =
E
×
8a
Among these five parameters, (1) and (2) are petrophysical param­
eters of rock and we can value them by uniaxial compression test or ΔA and ΔB are the change of the minor and major semi-axis of the
empirical analysis. (3) is difficult to take value because we cannot ellipse after the overcoring relief, respectively.
measure it in-situ with sufficient accuracy, which is an uncertain vari­ To determine the shape parameters of an ellipse, we need the di­
able of this calculation formula. (4) and (5) can be measured in-situ ameters in three different directions in the coordinate system. In the
through the measurement technique we will introduce in the following chapters, we will introduce a gage to measure the cross-
following chapters. sectional borehole diametral change in different directions including

Fig. 3. Drawing of principle parts of Borehole Diametral Deformation gage (BDD gage).

3
Z. Han et al.
Fig. 4. Calibration experiment for the accuracy of BDD gage ((a) - Extensometer calibrator; (b) - The extensometer calibrator triggers the needle displacement
through standard displacement; (c) - Changes in stylus displacement reflected by micro-optical images).
the azimuth values. As shown in Fig. 2, this is the measurement principle
of borehole cross-sectional shape. It can also be seen from Fig. 2 that the
orientation of the major and minor axes of the deformed borehole cross-
section shape represents the direction of the principal stresses. There­
fore, while measuring borehole cross-sectional shape, we can easily
obtain the direction of the principal stress without combining the
borehole wall deformation or petrophysical parameter. This is the major
advantage of the method described in this article. [30–32].
3. BDD gage and field test procedure
3.1. BDD gage for borehole diametral deformation measurement
To measure the borehole diametral deformation and orientation, a
gage characterized by multi-contacts & micro-optical imaging is
designed, as shown in Fig. 3. Considering its main technical features, the
gage is named Borehole Diametral Deformation gage (hereinafter
referred to as BDD gage). BDD gage consists of five components: bore­
hole deformation sensing component, azimuth measuring component,
micro-optical imaging component, data recording component and
power supply component. It fits into boreholes (diameter 30–50 mm)
and is made from stainless steel. Provisions have been taken to protect
the gage from water and dust. The main structural design and technical
characteristics of BDD gage are as follows: (see Fig. 4).
(1) 16 symmetrically spaced stainless contact pins along the
circumference are designed to obtain borehole diametral deformation in
multiple orientations as shown in Fig. 3. One end of the contact pin is
arc-shaped design, and the other end is needle tip design. The arc-head
structure is used to sense borehole wall displacement and the needle tip
structure is used to reflect displacement changes synchronously. The
rigid measuring elements appear in pairs and are distributed symmet­
rically. They keep contact with the borehole wall and change synchro­
nously under the action of elastic parts (such as spring). The measuring
range of BDD gage is 4 mm in diameter direction.
(2) The deformation sensing component presents the displacement of
the borehole wall in the form of the displacement of the needle-tip,
which is gathered in a tiny viewing area. We record the change pro­
cess of the needle-tip by micro-optical imaging, and then the displace­
ment of needle-tip, that is, the displacement of borehole wall can be
identified and measured. This imaging measurement method does not
use electronic components such as strain gauges and displacement
sensors, which avoids the influence of temperature in the hole.
(3) An electronic compass is used to measure the orientation of
deformed cross-sectional borehole shape. The calibrated orientation
marked by the electronic compass points to one of the pins, i.e., the
reading of the electronic compass is the direction that the pin rotates
clockwise from the north direction, so that the true orientation of the pin
and other pins can be determined, to obtain the orientation of the major
4
Measurement 218 (2023) 113217
and minor axes of the ellipse, i.e., the principal stress orientation.
In order to verify the accuracy of BDD gage, we used the exten­
someter calibrator. The calibrator produces standard displacement, and
the standard displacement is sensed and measured by the gage. The
measurement results from BDD gage are compared with the standard
displacement.
Micro-optical images are a two-dimensional array composed of pixel
points, and the recorded needle positions in the image can be repre­
sented as pixel coordinates. The pixel size of the micro-optical image
obtained by the borehole deformation measurement system is 1920 *
1080, with the pixel coordinates in the upper left corner of the image
being (0, 0) and the pixel coordinates in the lower right corner of the
image being (1920, 1080). Assuming that the pixel coordinates of the
rigid needle tip at the initial moment are (x1, y1), and the pixel co­
ordinates after displacement are (x2, y2), then the pixel displacement Δp
of the stylus tip in the pixel coordinates can be expressed as:
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
Δp = (x2 − x1 )2 + (y2 − y1 )2 (10)
Physical resolution of micro-optical images is η. The ratio of pixel
displacement in micro-optical images to the actual displacement
measured by the extensometer calibrator can be expressed as:
Δdi
ηi = (11)
Δpi
By establishing the corresponding relationship between pixel
displacement and actual displacement, a study on the linear relationship
between pixel displacement and actual displacement is carried out, and
the degree of fitting of the regression line to the observed values is
evaluated using the linear regression determination coefficient. The
calibrating results are shown in Fig. 5.
The linear regression coefficient between the pixel displacement of
the radial rigid stylus in 8 directions and the actual displacement is very
close to 1, indicating that the pixel displacement in the radial direction is
very linear with the actual displacement. And the pixel displacement in
8 directions is very close to the actual displacement fitting coefficient,
with an average value of 0.3251 and an average resolution of 3.0766
μm/PIX. In the actual measurement process, after obtaining the video
image data of the radial rigid pins, the actual diametrical borehole
displacement in this direction can be calculated through the calibrating
resolution.
3.2. Field test procedure
In order to avoid the influence of rock creep on the measurement
results, we use borehole diametral deformation measuring gage to
obtain the elastic deformation of the borehole wall after overcoring.
However, overcoring is mainly used in horizontal drilling with low
depth, and it is inconvenient to use it in deep vertical drilling. These
Z. Han et al. Measurement 218 (2023) 113217

Fig. 5. Relationship between actual displacement and pixel displacement of diametrical rigid pins.

inconveniences are mainly reflected in wired transmission and long
time-consuming of drilling process. In this gage, we adopt the mode of
built-in power supply and built-in data recording and storage, which
avoids the influence of wired transmission on the drilling process. In
addition, we combine with rope core drilling tool which does not need to
trip the drill pipe many times in the test process, saving the test time. It is
especially suitable for the test in deep borehole. Therefore, incorpo­
rating self-designed gage and wireline coring drill tools, the measure­
ment of borehole deformation during overcoring stress relief in vertical
borehole is realized. The magnitude and direction of the principal stress
can be calculated according to the measurement results. The field test
procedure includes three main contents as below.

5
Z. Han et al.
Fig. 6. Schematic diagram of field test procedure incorporating borehole diametral deformation measurement and overcoring.
The first stage: When the normal PQ wireline coring tool reaches the
test depth, the leading end of drilling tool’s inner core barrel is replaced
with countersink bit. The countersink bit is dropped down along the drill
pipe through wireline and latches into latch assembly. By starting dril­
ling, the rock at the test position at the bottom is ground flat to prepare
for subsequent operations. Then the countersink bit is withdrawn by the
wireline winch.
The second stage: The countersink bit is replaced with a pilot-hole
drill bit. The pilot-hole drill bit is transferred to the bottom of hole by
the wireline and it is connected with the drill tube through the snap
spring component. A pilot hole with smaller diameter is created by
drilling machine. Then the pilot hole drill bit is withdrawn by the
wireline winch.
The third stage: The pilot-hole drill bit is replaced with BDD gage and
then put it into the pilot hole by the wireline. After putting the core
barrel into drilling tube, the drilling machine starts and drives the outer
tube to continue drilling to complete the overcoring. With the progress
of overcoring, the change in pilot hole diameter caused by overcoring is
recorded in the gage. At the end of overcoring, the core and BDD gage
are withdrawn to surface inside the core barrel. The data is then
downloaded and analyzed with specialized software.
To refine the test procedure, we divide the procedure into five steps,
and the schematic diagram is shown in Fig. 6.
Step 1: Replace inner core barrel with countersink bit, drill
Fig. 7. Photos of field test (a - measuring small hole drilling; b - lowering BDD gage; c - recovering BDD gage and overcore).
6
Measurement 218 (2023) 113217
countersink, pull countersink by the wireline.
Step 2: Replace countersink bit with pilot hole drill bit and drill pilot
hole, pull pilot hole drill bit by the wireline.
Step 3: Lower the BDD gage in pilot hole and lower the core barrel
into drilling pipe by the wireline.
Step 4: Overcoring to stress relief, measure pilot hole diametral
change during process.
Step 5: Pull core and gage back to surface in core barrel by wireline.
4. In-situ geo-stress measurement
4.1. Field test
To verify the feasibility of BDD gage and procedure, we conducted
in-situ geo-stress measurement in a limestone stratum in Guizhou
Province, China. The basic overview of the test project includes: (1) The
test point is located at the borehole depth of about 630 m, which is
limestone stratum; (2) The diameter of the borehole is 122 mm; (3) The
drilling tool is PQ122 series. (4) After the geo-stress measurement, hy­
draulic fracturing is carried out in the borehole. According to the pres­
sure change results in fracturing process, geo-stress can be estimate, to
compare and verify.
According to the field test procedure, recover the core tube and core
to the surface when drilling to the target position. Replace the front part
Z. Han et al. Measurement 218 (2023) 113217

Fig. 8. Withdrawn BDD gage and ring core. The ring core is integrated in well contact with the gage and the diameter meets requirement.

Fig. 9. Change process of contacts during the test reflected by the recorded video.

of the coring tube with countersink bit, lower it to the bottom of the hole
and drill the test point into a conical surface. Use the wireline to with­
draw countersink bit, replace the pilot hole drill bit, and lower it to the
bottom to complete the drilling of the pilot hole. During the drilling
process, the drilling depth of the measuring hole can be observed in real
time through the footage of the drill pipe. When the measuring hole is
drilled to the limit depth, the drilling fluid circulation channel at the
bottom of the hole is closed, and the obvious increase of pump pressure
can be observed from the well, and the drilling can be stopped. After
drilling the measuring hole, lift the bit to the ground and observe the

Fig. 10. Change process of borehole diameters in four different directions before and after overcoring.

7
Z. Han et al. Measurement 218 (2023) 113217

wear condition of the drilling bit of the measuring hole. The wear con­
dition is good, which verifies the rationality of the bit in the design of
matrix hardness and diamond content. Observe the pump pressure of the
drilling rig during the drilling process. The pump pressure fluctuates
within the range of 1 ~ 2 MPa during the drilling process, and the pump
pressure is not suppressed due to the smaller nozzle of the drill bit,
which verifies the rationality of the nozzle design of the drill bit for
measuring hole drilling.
After the pilot hole is drilled, the gage is lowered into the pilot hole
by wireline, and then put the inner core tube into the hole bottom and
connect it with the outer tube of the drilling tool. Then complete the
overcoring step, lift the core and gage to the ground. The photos of field
testing process are shown in Fig. 7. From the withdrawn core and gage,
as shown in Fig. 8, the ring core is integrated, which verifies the feasi­
bility of the drilling-relief-recovery step. The deformation sensing
component of gage is in close contact with the inner wall of the ring core.
After taking gage out of the ring core, the scratch of the contact on the
hole wall can be obviously observed, which verifies that BDD gage can
effectively sense the displacement change of the borehole wall. By
reading the internal recording data of the gage, results show that it re­
cords the whole data in all the test stage, which verifies the feasibility of
BDD gage in the field test.
4.2. Results
The recorded data stored in gage is continuous and clear. The whole
test process manifested in the change of contacts is recorded, including
the initial state of the contacts in gage, the state of the gage in the pilot
hole (before overcoring), and the state of the gage after overcoring. The
reflection of the whole test process in the video images is shown in
Fig. 9.
Recognize the needle tips in the image and get the whole process
data of the displacement change of each needle tip. Ideally, 16 contact
pins can get 8 groups of diametral deformation in different directions.
However, due to the complex downhole testing environment, some
contacts may not be able to sense the displacement of the hole wall. In
the results of this field test, we got a total of four groups of effective
diametral deformation data, as shown in Fig. 10. Every three groups of
data are combined to calculate the in-situ stress. According to the
calculation formula of the principal stress magnitude and the method of
determining the direction, the geo-stress solution results are as below:
SH = 23.14MPa
Sh = 16.59MPa
θSH = SW181.3◦
Using the data during hydraulic fracturing is one of the most direct
and reliable methods to determine geo-stress at present. Through hy­
draulic fracturing, the fracturing parameters can be recorded through
the pressure gauge on the ground. The parameters mainly include:
cracking pressure, closing pressure, reopening pressure. The interval of
hydraulic fracturing is 619 m ~ 642 m. According to the field feedback
results, the relationship between the measured oil pressure and the
pump unit displacement. According to the test results of hydraulic
fracturing, we can get:
(1) The maximum pressure is cracking pressure, Pb = 36.2 MPa;
(2) The closing pressure is Ps = 17.6 MPa;
(3) When the cracking pressure is reached, the pump displacement is
Q = 4.06 m3/min, that is, Q = 243.6 m3/h.
Since only one fracturing test was carried out, and no secondary
pressurization after fracturing, the reopening pressure was not obtained.
In order to complete the measurement parameters, the tensile strength
of the rock is obtained from the Brazilian Splitting Test. The average
value is taken as σt = 5.07Mpa. Through the hydraulic fracturing data,
the minimum horizontal principal stress is 17.6 MPa, and the maximum
horizontal principal stress is 23.09 MPa, which is almost consistent with
the maximum horizontal principal stress of 23.14 MPa and the minimum
horizontal principal stress of 16.59 MPa calculated through borehole
diametral deformation method.
5. Discussions
Combining the advantages of rigid contact hole wall displacement
sensing technique, micro-optical imaging measurement and overcoring,
a geo-stress measurement technology for deep vertical borehole is
developed, including measurement gage and method. Its main advan­
tages include the following aspects:
(1) The contact-type hole wall displacement sensing design has a
simple implementation mode, which avoids the conventional cumber­
some operation of bonding strain gauge, and only needs to insert the
gage into the pilot-hole.
(2) The method of micro-optical imaging measurement is not
affected by the ambient temperature. And the internal video data of gage
is recorded, this method is not affected by the water environment in the
hole.
(3) By overcoring, the change of borehole diameter before and after
stress relief is obtained, that is, the elastic deformation of the borehole,
which conforms to the principle of stress relief method.
(4) Wireline coring tool plays a key role in this method. Relying on its
rapid tripping advantage, it greatly improves the test efficiency and is
suitable for geo-stress measurement in deep borehole.
However, any current geo-stress measurement method has its limi­
tations. This method has the above advantages, but there are still some
unavoidable problems, including:
(1) The geo-stress calculation method proposed in this paper requires
a accurate value of the initial diameter of the pilot hole, which is closely
related to the quality of the pilot hole. So, it requires us to strictly control
the quality of pilot hole bit and the drilling process. We have carried out
a large number of indoor drilling tests to observe the hole quality by
measuring the diameter. The results show that there is a certain devia­
tion between the borehole diameter and the bit diameter. If we choose
the borehole diameter according to the bit diameter, it will bring great
errors to geo-stress solution results. Therefore, according to the borehole
diameter results obtained from a large number of drilling tests, taking
the average value of these results as the initial diameter will reduce the

Table 1
Error analysis of stress calculation results under the different conditions.
Drilling bit radius Deviation of drilling Ellipse semi-major Ellipse semi-minor Maximum principal stress σ1 Minimum principal stress σ2
/ mm radius axis /mm axis /mm
Calculated value Calculate Calculated value Calculate
/MPa deviation /MPa deviation

65 0.1 mm 64.89 64.62 − 67.29 13.73% − 38.02 22.01%

0.01 mm 64.85 64.57 − 76.93 4.98% − 47.68 6.44%
55 0.1 mm 54.92 54.69 − 65.34 16.22% − 36.07 26.02%
0.01 mm 54.87 54.64 − 76.73 5.22% − 47.48 6.83%
45.5 0.1 mm 45.44 45.25 − 62.70 19.61% − 33.42 31.45%
0.01 mm 45.39 45.20 − 76.47 5.55% − 47.22 7.35%
38 0.1 mm 37.96 37.80 − 59.68 23.49% − 30.39 37.66%
0.01 mm 37.91 37.75 − 76.17 5.92% − 46.91 7.94%

8
Z. Han et al.
Fig. 11. The design of three groups of spring clips improves the torsional
resistance of the inner tube.
error caused by value of initial borehole diameter.
In geo-stress calculation based on the borehole shape, the diameter of
borehole is one of the parameters that must be determined. In actual
geo-stress test, the diameter cannot be directly obtained, and can only be
determined according to the size of the drill bit and the usual borehole
forming data. Taking shale formations as an example, the shale density γ
is 26kN/m3 and the elastic modulus E is 35GPa, the vertical stress in the
shale formation at a depth of 2000 m is calculated based on the vertical
stress equal to the weight of the overlying rock layer σv is:
σ v = γh = − 26kN/m3 × 2000m = − 52MPa
According to the theory that the maximum horizontal principal stress
is generally greater than the vertical stress, the maximum horizontal
principal stress is:
σ h, max = 1.5σv = − 78MPa
Statistical data shows that the ratio of the minimum horizontal
principal stress to the maximum horizontal principal stress in the Chi­
nese region ranges from 0.5 to 0.75. In this calculation, 0.625 is taken as
the minimum horizontal principal stress. Assuming that drill bits with
diameters of 130, 110 mm, 91 mm and 76 mm are used for crustal stress
measurement, error analysis is conducted according to the hole diameter
deviation of 0.1 mm and 0.01 mm. According to Equation(6) and (9), the
borehole shape parameters and stress calculation deviation under the set
stress are shown in Table 1.
It can be seen from the calculation results in Table 1 that with the
improvement of drilling accuracy, the deviation of geo-stress measure­
ment results is smaller. Therefore, the key to the successful imple­
mentation of this measurement method is to ensure the drilling
accuracy.
(2) Wireline coring tool is designed to improve coring efficiency. The
main principle is that the outer tube drills the core, the core enters the
inner tube, and then the wireline is used to quickly lift the inner tube and
the core to the ground. In this way, the operation of lifting all drill tubes
every time for single-tube drilling tools is avoided. The inner tube and
the outer tube are connected by a spring clip structure. Usually, this kind
of spring clip has only one group and may not bear a lot of torque.
However, in the method proposed in this paper, the spring clip structure
needs to bear a certain torque to realize the drilling of the pilot hole. The
structural design of a single spring clip cannot meet the requirements.
Therefore, we adopt the structural design of three groups of spring clips
as shown in Fig. 11, and the torque that can be transmitted can reach
2000 N. m. From the results of field test, the structural design of three
groups can meet the needs of pilot hole drilling.
9
Measurement 218 (2023) 113217
6. Conclusions
Determination method of geo-stress in deep strata incorporating
borehole diametral deformation measurement and overcoring is dis­
cussed from concepts, measuring techniques, gage development and
field test. Different from other geo-stress measurement methods, we pay
more attention to the cross-sectional borehole shape under stress. A gage
for borehole diametral deformation measurement is developed with the
prominent features including rigid-contacts type displacement sensing,
micro-optical imaging measurement for deformation. With the cooper­
ation of wireline coring drill tool, borehole diametral deformation
measurement in deep borehole is realized rapidly. Thus, a set of geo-
stress measurement technology including principle, method and gage
has been established. This paper provides a new idea and method for
solving the problem of geo-stress measurement in deep strata. The main
conclusions are as follows:
(1) It is strictly proved that the cross-sectional borehole shape under
the action of two-dimensional geo-stress is ellipse. Thus, the relationship
between the geometric parameters of the cross-sectional borehole shape
and the magnitude of the principal stress is established. The relationship
between the orientation of principal stresses and the axis of borehole
ellipse is summarized.
(2) A borehole diametral deformation gage (BDD gage) has been
developed with the function of synchronously measuring diameter
deformation in multiple directions. The measurement accuracy of the
system is determined to be 7 μm by calibration experiments.
(3) The procedure of field test is summarized. In field test, the inte­
grated ring core was obtained, BDD gage was in good condition, and the
video data of the whole process of stress relief was recorded. Through
data processing, identification and calculation, the magnitude and di­
rection of geo-stress are obtained. The results are in good agreement
with those of hydraulic fracturing method.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Zengqiang Han: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – orig­
inal draft, Project administration. Chao Wang: Data curation, Writing –
original draft, Investigation. Chuanying Wang: Writing – review &
editing. Yuyong Jiao: Funding acquisition. Yiteng Wang: Validation,
Formal analysis. Jinchao Wang: Investigation, Data curation. Xiaohua
Huang: Supervision, Writing – review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Data availability
No data was used for the research described in the article.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant number 42227805), Key Research and Development Pro­
gram of Hubei Province (Grant number 2021BAA201) and Systematic
Project of Guangxi Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Engi­
neering Safety (Grant number 2020ZDK015).
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