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Quantification of Aperture and Relations Between Aperture, Normal Stress and Fluid Flow for Natural Single Rock Fractures

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Abstract

Accurate quantification of rock fracture aperture is important in investigating hydro-mechanical properties of rock fractures. Liquefied wood’s metal was used successfully to determine the spatial distribution of aperture with normal stress for natural single rock fractures. A modified 3D box counting method is developed and applied to quantify the spatial variation of rock fracture aperture with normal stress. New functional relations are developed for the following list: (a) Aperture fractal dimension versus effective normal stress; (b) Aperture fractal dimension versus mean aperture; (c) Fluid flow rate per unit hydraulic gradient per unit width versus mean aperture; (d) Fluid flow rate per unit hydraulic gradient per unit width versus aperture fractal dimension. The aperture fractal dimension was found to be a better parameter than mean aperture to correlate to fluid flow rate of natural single rock fractures. A highly refined variogram technique is used to investigate possible existence of aperture anisotropy. It was observed that the scale dependent fractal parameter, K v, plays a more prominent role than the fractal dimension, D a1d, on determining the anisotropy pattern of aperture data. A combined factor that represents both D a1d and K v, D a1d × K v, is suggested to capture the aperture anisotropy.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement is made to the Donors of the Petroleum Research Fund, administered by the American Chemical Society, and the U.S. National Science Foundation Grant Number CMS-0085059 for supporting this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Engineering Program, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Arizona, 1235 E. James E. Rogers Way, Mines Bldg. Rm. 131, P.O. Box 210012, Tucson, AZ, 85721-0012, USA

    Pinnaduwa H. S. W. Kulatilake, Jinyong Park, Pirahas Balasingam & Robert Morgan

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  1. Pinnaduwa H. S. W. Kulatilake
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  2. Jinyong Park
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  3. Pirahas Balasingam
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  4. Robert Morgan
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Correspondence to Pinnaduwa H. S. W. Kulatilake.

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Kulatilake, P.H.S.W., Park, J., Balasingam, P. et al. Quantification of Aperture and Relations Between Aperture, Normal Stress and Fluid Flow for Natural Single Rock Fractures. Geotech Geol Eng 26, 269–281 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-007-9163-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-007-9163-2

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