Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Correlations Developed for Estimation of Hydraulic Parameters of Rough Fractures Through the Simulation of JRC Flow Channels

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The hydro-mechanical response of fractured rock masses is complex, due partly to the presence of fractures at different scales. Surface morphology has a significant influence on fluid flow behaviour of a fracture. Different empirical correlations and statistical models have been proposed to estimate the equivalent hydraulic aperture and determine the pressure drop along a fracture. However, the existing models suffer from not being adequately generalised to be applicable to a wide range of real fracture surfaces. To incorporate the effect of profile roughness in the hydro-mechanical behaviour of fractured rock masses, the joint roughness coefficient (JRC) is the most widely used empirical approach. However, the average JRC of two fracture walls in fluid flow analysis, as is a common practice, appears to be inappropriate. It will be shown how different combinations of pairs of JRCs could lead to a similar JRC value. Also, changing the position of the top and bottom walls of a fracture can significantly change the hydraulic response of the fracture while the average JRC is identical in both cases. In this paper, correlations are developed which are based on the simulation of JRCs using estimated fluid flow parameters of 2D fractures can be estimated. In order to widen the application range of the correlations, JRC flow channels were generated: these are 2D channels with their top and bottom walls being made from two of the JRC profiles. To estimate the JRC of linear profiles, a correlation developed between JRC and a newly developed Riemannian roughness parameter, D R1, is proposed. Considering ten JRC profiles, a total of 100 JRC flow channels were generated. In order to only investigate the effect of surface roughness on fluid flow, the minimum closure between the top and bottom walls of JRC flow channels were considered to be constant. Three cases with minimum closures of 0.01, 0.05 and 0.10 cm were considered in this study. All JRC flow channels were subjected to fluid analysis using FLUENT software. Based on these results, correlations were developed between the geometrical and hydraulic properties of flow channels. Analysis of several real fractures demonstrated the applicability of these correlations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21
Fig. 22
Fig. 23
Fig. 24

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barton N (2007) Rock quality, seismic velocity, attenuation and anisotropy. Taylor & Francis Group, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton N, Choubey V (1977) The shear strength of rock joints in theory and practice. Rock Mech Rock Eng 10:1–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton N, de Quadros EF (1997) Joint aperture and roughness in the prediction of flow and groutability of rock masses. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 34:252.e1–252.e14

    Google Scholar 

  • Barton N, Bandis S, Bakhtar K (1985) Strength deformation and conductivity coupling of rock joints. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 22:121–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Crandall D, Ahmadi G, Smith D (2010a) Computational modeling of fluid flow through a fracture in permeable rock. Transp Porous Med 84:493–510

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crandall D, Bromhal G, Karpyn ZT (2010b) Numerical simulations examining the relationship between wall-roughness and fluid flow in rock fractures. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 47:784–796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fluent Inc. (2005) FLUENT 6.3 user’s guide, Chap 3. Text user interface (TUI). P.1–2

  • Ge S (1997) A governing equation for fluid flow in rough fractures. Water Resour Res 33:53–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giacomini A, Buzzi O, Ferrero AM, Migliazza M, Giani GP (2008) Numerical study of flow anisotropy within a single natural rock joint. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 45:47–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hosseinian A, Rasouli V, Utikar R (2010a) Fluid flow response of JRC exemplar profiles, European rock symposium (EUROCK 2010). Taylor & Francis Group, Lausanne

  • Hosseinian A, Rasouli V, Bahrami H (2010b) Analytical and numerical analysis of fluid flow through rough natural fracture profiles. In: 44th US rock mechanics symposium and 5th US–Canada rock mechanics symposium, Salt Lake City

  • Jaeger JC, Cook NGW, Zimmerman RW (2007) Fundamentals of rock mechanics, 4th edn. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Koldiz O (2001) Non-linear flow in fractured rock: Int. J Numer Meth Heat Fluid Flow 11:547–575

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koyama T, Li B, Jiang Y, Jing L (2009) Numerical modelling of fluid flow tests in a rock fracture with a special algorithm for contact areas. Comput Geotech 36:291–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kulatilake PHSW (2008) Quantification of aperture and relations between aperture normal stress and fluid flow for natural single rock fractures. Geotech Geol Eng 26:269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu E (2005) Effects of fracture aperture and roughness on hydraulic and mechanical properties of rocks: implication of seismic characterisation of fractured reservoir. J Geophys Eng 2:38–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu H, Sterling R (1990) Statistical description of the surface roughness of rock joints. The 31th US symposium. Rock Mechanics, pp 277–284

  • Nazridoust K, Ahmadi G, Smith DH (2006) A new friction factor correlation for laminar single-phase flows through rock fractures. J Hydrol 329:315–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olsson R, Barton N (2001) An improved model for hydromechanical coupling during shearing of rock joints. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 38:317–329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patir N, Cheng HS (1978) An average flow model for determining effects of three dimensional roughness on partial hydrodynamic lubrication. J Lubr Tech 100:12–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petchsingto T, Karpyn ZT (2009) Deterministic modeling of fluid flow through a CT-scanned fracture using computational fluid dynamics. Energy sources. Part A. Recovery Utilization Environ Effects 31:897

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasouli V (2002) Application of Riemannian multivariate statistics to the analysis of fracture surface roughness: PhD thesis. Imperial College, London

  • Rasouli V, Harrison JP (2001) Is the observational method of roughness determination trustworthy? In: Proceedings of ISRM international symposium. Eurock 2001, Espoo, pp 277–282

  • Rasouli V, Harrison JP (2010) Assessment of rock fracture surface roughness using Riemannian statistics of linear profiles. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 47:940–948

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renshaw CE (1995) On the relationship between mechanical and hydraulic apertures in rough-walled fractures. J Geophys Res 100:24629–24636

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarkar S (2002) Fluid flow simulation in fractured reservoirs. Earth Resources Laboratory, MIoT, Cambridge

  • Scesi L, Gattinoni P (2007) Roughness control on hydraulic conductivity in fractured rocks. Hydrogeol J 15:201–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tse R, Cruden DM (1979) Estimating joint roughness coefficients. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abs 16:303–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wayne NR, Schechter DS, Thompson LB (2006) Naturally fractured reservoir characterization. SPE, Richardson

    Google Scholar 

  • Yeo I, Ge S (2005) Applicable range of the Reynolds equation for fluid flow in a rock fracture. Geosci J 9:347–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman RW, Bodvarsson GS (1996) Hydraulic conductivity of rock fractures. Transp Porous Med 23:1–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman RW, Kumar S, Bodvarsson GS (1991) Lubrication theory analysis of the permeability of rough-walled fractures. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 28:325–331

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia

    V. Rasouli & A. Hosseinian

Authors
  1. V. Rasouli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. Hosseinian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to V. Rasouli.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rasouli, V., Hosseinian, A. Correlations Developed for Estimation of Hydraulic Parameters of Rough Fractures Through the Simulation of JRC Flow Channels. Rock Mech Rock Eng 44, 447–461 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-011-0148-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-011-0148-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation