Intact rock near an injection well carries principal compressive stresses and

PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Earth, Climate & Energy Physics · Seismology, tectonics and geodynamics · Seismology, tectonics and geodynamics

The Solid Earth, Ch Stress, strain and elastic waves in the Earth

Problem

Intact rock near an injection well carries principal compressive stresses

S_1 = 280\,\mathrm{MPa}

and

S_3 = 120\,\mathrm{MPa}

, with coefficient of friction

\mu_f = 0.6

and no cohesion (

S_0 = 0

). Fluid injected into the well raises the pore pressure to

p_f = 50\,\mathrm{MPa}

. ((a)) Decide whether this pore pressure is enough to bring the rock to failure. ((b)) If it does, state the angle between the new fault plane and the direction of

S_1

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