In-Situ Stress Measurement and Analysis in Geomechanics

In-situ stress—the stress naturally present in the Earth’s crust—is fundamental to the stability of rock masses and the design of underground structures. Accurate characterisation of this stress field underpins safe excavation, tunnel construction, hydrocarbon production, geothermal energy extraction and geological disposal of wastes. Measurement techniques range from direct methods such as hydraulic fracturing, overcoring and anelastic strain recovery to indirect approaches including borehole breakouts and geophysical inversions. Advances in sensor technology, laboratory testing and data analytics have enabled multi-scale integration of field observations, numerical models and machine-learning algorithms. Challenges persist in accounting for heterogeneous rock properties, thermal and pore-pressure effects, excavation damage zones and deep-borehole environments. Contemporary analysis emphasises robust inversion workflows, uncertainty quantification and real-time monitoring to inform design codes, risk assessments and sustainable resource management worldwide.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have introduced a machine-learning inversion framework using generative adversarial networks to estimate ancient lateral stress coefficients from limited present-day measurements. By training on simulated valley-evolution scenarios and depth-dependent stress data, this approach reconstructs palaeo-stress fields with improved agreement at monitored points, offering a novel route to refine stress estimates in structurally complex terrains. Another investigation applied anelastic strain recovery alongside wellbore failure analysis to core samples recovered from depths approaching 7 km in a major intracratonic basin. Results demonstrated consistency between the two methods in defining a normal-faulting stress regime, validated the use of strain-recovery measurements at extreme depths and yielded insights into regional tectonic forces for resource development planning.

In-Situ Stress Measurement and Analysis in Geomechanics publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in in-situ stress measurement and analysis in geomechanics across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

In-situ stress: Stress that exists naturally in geological formations due to overburden weight, tectonic forces and geological history.

Principal stresses: The orthogonal normal stresses (maximum, intermediate and minimum) that characterise the state of stress at a point without shear components.

Hydraulic fracturing (mini-frac) test: A method involving controlled pressurisation of a borehole interval to create fractures and derive in-situ stress magnitudes from pressure responses.

Generative adversarial network (GAN): A machine learning framework comprising generator and discriminator models trained in opposition to simulate complex distributions, applied here to estimate ancient lateral stress coefficients.

Anelastic strain recovery (ASR) method: A laboratory technique measuring time-dependent strain release in core samples to infer in-situ stress states.

Lateral stress coefficient: The ratio between horizontal and vertical in-situ stresses, indicating the degree of stress anisotropy in geological media.

References

1. GAN inversion method of an initial in situ stress field based on the lateral stress coefficient. Scientific Reports (2021).
2. Stress state measured at ~7 km depth in the Tarim Basin, NW China. Scientific Reports (2017).
3. Estimating the Least Principal Stress in a Granitic Rock Mass: Systematic Mini-Frac Tests and Elaborated Pressure Transient Analysis. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (2022).
4. Numerical Simulation of Large Compression Deformation Disaster and Supporting Behavior of Deep Buried Soft Rock Tunnel with High In Situ Stress Based on CDEM. Advances in Civil Engineering (2022).