Generating fracture networks using iterated function systems

Abstract

In order to model flow and transport in fractured rocks it is important to know the geometry of the fracture network. A stochastic approach is commonly used to generate a synthetic fracture network from the statistics measured at a natural fracture network. The approach presented herein is able to incorporate the structures found in a natural fracture network into the synthetic fracture network. These synthetic fracture networks are the images generated by Iterated Function Systems (IFS) as introduced by Barnsley (1988). The conditions these IFS have to fulfil to determine images resembling fracture networks and the effects of their parameters on the images are discussed. It is possible to define the parameters of the IFS in order to generate some properties of a fracture network. The image of an IFS consists of many single points and has to be suitably processed for further use.