Combined Scaling of Fluid Flow and Seismic Stiffness in Single Fractures

• Published in: Rock mechanics and rock engineering Vol. 47; no. 5; pp. 1613 - 1623
• Main Authors: Petrovitch, C. L., Pyrak-Nolte, L. J., Nolte, D. D.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01-09-2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Boundary conditions; Buildings. Public works; Civil Engineering; Computation methods. Tables. Charts; Computational fluid dynamics; Computer simulation; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Fluid dynamics; Fluid flow; Fluids; Fracture mechanics; Fracture zones; Geophysics/Geodesy; Geotechnics; Mathematical models; Original Paper; Rock; Rock mechanics; Rocks; Seismology; Soil mechanics. Rocks mechanics; Spatial distribution; Stiffness; Structural analysis. Stresses; Water effect, drainage, ground water lowering, filtration; Scaling; Fracture deformation; Fracture; Rock fractures; Hydromechanical scaling; Finite size effect; Deformation; Rock mechanics; Fracture mechanics; Mechanical properties; Modeling; Flow(fluid); Hydromechanics; Jointed rock; Stiffness; Coupling; Hydraulic properties
• ISSN: 0723-2632; 1434-453X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00603-014-0591-z

The connection between fluid flow and seismic stiffness in single fractures is governed by the geometry of the fracture through the size and spatial distributions of the void and contact areas. Flow and stiffness each exhibit scaling behavior as the scale of observation shifts from local to global sample sizes. The purpose of this study was to explore the joint scaling of both properties using numerical models. Finite-size scaling methods are used to extract critical thresholds and power laws for fluid flow through weakly correlated fractures under increasing load. An important element in the numerical fracture deformation is the use of extended boundary conditions that simulate differences between laboratory cores relative to in situ field studies. The simulated field conditions enable joint scaling of flow and stiffness to emerge with the potential to extrapolate from small laboratory samples to behavior on the field scale.