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Fracture/Stress Testing
Fracturing or Stress Testing is a method employed in
geotechnical investigations to  assist
in determination of in-situ rock strength.
The basic method is to use inflatable packers to isolate the section
of interest, then generate a fracture in this section by water pressurisation
and measure the orientation of this fracture using an impression
packer. (An impression packer has a cover made of a semi-cured rubber
that retains an impression of the borehole wall when deflated.
On removal of the packer this impression can be examined to determine
its orientation.) This information allows determination of the principal
in-situ stress of the rock mass. AGE Developments manufactures packer
systems and associated hardware to suit such testing in all hole
sizes from 30 mm to 150 mm diameter.
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