The Use Of The DRA Technique And Porosimetry For Estimating The Maximum In-situ Stress In Rock From Core

Deformation Rate Analysis (DRA) and porosimetry have been used to demonstrate the “stress memory” effect in rock and to estimate the vertical in-situ stress in rock. The results of this study indicate that the stresses predicted using both methods are similar to those determined from depth and density of the overburden rocks even when the core had been sampled 18 months prior to testing. The results confirm that any laboratory having standard test equipment could apply the DRA method. Further work is required to validate the use of porosimetry for determining in-situ stress however if the method should prove to be valid, this parameter could be estimated using this routine test.