| Abstract: | We present a new method by which the maximum previous stress in rocks can be estimated. The Kaiser effect in acoustic emission is often used for an estimation of the stress to which rocks have been subjected. However, there are cases in which the Kaiser effect is not clear. In such cases, estimation of the previous stress is difficult by the conventional method which is based on the acoustic emission activity during one stress cycle. Using a new method of cyclic loading, we can estimate the stress in cases where the conventional method does not work. In the new method, the difference of the acoustic emission activity between the first and second reloading begins to increase markedly at the previous maximum stress. Even if the Kaiser effect is not clear, we can estimate the previous stress by observation of this difference.Our new method may be applicable for estimating the crustal stress. In this paper, we study the influence of water and temperature under uniaxial compression, because rocks in the earth's crust are saturated and subjected to high temperatures and they are disturbed by water and temperature in the sampling process. The present experiment shows that the Kaiser effect is often masked by changes in water content and temperature. However, we can estimate the previous stress by the new method even after the rock has been disturbed by water and temperature. The accuracy in the stress estimation by this method is satisfactory for the ratio of the previously applied stress to the fracture strength of the rock less than 40%. |
