Abstract
Roof-coal recovery rate and the performance of gas extraction are essentially controlled by the fractures within coal-rock mass. Thus, it is important to generate the accurate fracture network ahead of mining face. In this study, ten boreholes located differently from the 8212 working face of Tashan Mine in Datong coal mining group, China, were drilled. With the help of borehole video instruments, the location, orientation of each fracture and the fracture number of different intersection type on each borehole wall were mapped with the advancing of mining face. These data were analyzed using the Matlab Toolbox RJNS3D and Dips to determine structural homogeneity zone, to find the number of fracture sets that exist in the coal-rock mass, volume density frequency for each set and the probability distributions of orientation, fracture size in 3-D. Sampling biases associated with orientation, spacing were corrected during the process. The constructed fracture networks were validated by comparing the observed mean spacing along normal vector of mean orientation for each set and the predict value on similar scanlines.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andersson J, Shapiro AM, Bear J (1984) A stochastic model of a fractured rock conditioned by measured information. Water Resour Res 20:79–88
Barthélémy J-F, Guiton ML, Daniel J-M (2009) Estimates of fracture density and uncertainties from well data. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 46:590–603
Cherubini Y, Cacace M, Blöcher G, Scheck-Wenderoth M (2013) Impact of single inclined faults on the fluid flow and heat transport: results from 3-D finite element simulations. Environ Earth Sci 70(8):3603–3618
Decker JB (2007) Building, updating and verifying fracture models in real time for hard rock tunneling. Dissertation, Virginia State University
Decker J, Mauldon M (2006) Determining size and shape of fractures from trace data using a differential evolution algorithm. Golden Rocks 2006, The 41st US Symposium on Rock Mechanics (USRMS), American Rock Mechanics Association
Ehlen J (2000) Fractal analysis of joint patterns in grantie[J]. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 37:909–922
Einstein HH, Baecher GB (1983) Probabilistic and statistical methods in engineering geology specific methods and examples part I: exploration [J]. J Rock Mech Rock Eng 16:39–72
Fisher N (1982) Robust estimation of the concentration parameter of Fisher's distribution on the sphere. Appl Stat 31(2):152–154
Fouché O, Diebolt J (2004) Describing the geometry of 3D fracture systems by correcting for linear sampling bias. Math Geol 36:33–63
Gao M, Jin W, Zhang R, Xie J, Yu B, H Duan (2014) Estimate the mean characteristic size of elliptical fracture from borehole intersections. Acta Geotechnica, submitted
Gillespie PA, Howard CB, Walsh JJ, Watterson J (1993) Measurement and characterisation of spatial distributions of fractures. Tectonophysics 226:113–141
Grenon M, Hadjigeorgiou J (2003) Open stope stability using 3D joint networks. Rock Mech Rock Eng 36:183–208
Huang Y, Zhou Z, Wang J, Dou Z (2014) Simulation of groundwater flow in fractured rocks using a coupled model based on the method of domain decomposition. Environ Earth Sci 72(8):2765–2777
Hwang JY, Sato M, Ohnishi Y (2005) Coupling key block analysis using stochastic deterministic method in discontinuous rock masses. J Appl Mech 8:609–616
Jin W, Gao M, Zhang R, Zhang G (2014) Analytical expressions for the size distribution function of elliptical joints. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 70:201–211
Kulatilake PHSW (1986) Bivariate normal distribution fitting on discontinuity orientation clusters. Math Geol 18:181–195
Kulatilake PHSW, Wu TH (1984a) Sampling bias on orientation of discontinuities. Rock Mech Rock Eng 17:243–253
Kulatilake PHSW, Wu BQ (1984b) Estimation of mean trace length of discontinuities. Rock Mech Rock Eng 17:215–232
Kulatilake PHSW, Wathugala DN, Stephansson O (1993) Joint network modelling with a validation exercise in Stripa mine, Sweden. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 30:503–526
Kulatilake PHSW, Chen J, Teng J, Shufang X, Pan G (1996) Discontinuity geometry characterization in a tunnel close to the proposed permanent shiplock area of the three gorges dam site in China. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 33:255–277
Kulatilake PHSW, Um J, Pan G (1997) Requirements for accurate estimation of fractal parameters for self-affine roughness profiles using the line scaling method. Rock Mech Rock Engng 30(4):181–206
Kulatilake PHSW, Um J-g, Wang M, Escandon RF, Narvaiz J (2003) Stochastic fracture geometry modeling in 3-D including validations for a part of Arrowhead East Tunnel, California, USA. Eng Geol 70:131–155
Lee CC, Lee CH, Yeh HF, Lin HI (2011) Modeling spatial fracture intensity as a control on flow in fractured rock. Environ Earth Sci 63(6):1199–1211
Lyman GJ (2003) Stereological and other methods applied to rock joint size estimation—Does Crofton’s theorem apply? Math Geol 35:9–23
Mahtab MA, Yegulalp TM (1982) A rejection criterion for definition of clusters in orientation data[C].The 23rd US Symposium. pp 96–102
Mauldon M (1998) Estimating mean fracture trace length and density from observations in convex windows. Rock Mech Rock Eng 31:201–216
Miller SM (1983) A statistical method to evaluate homogeneity of structural populations. Math Geol 15:317–328
Müller C, Siegesmund S, Blum P (2010) Evaluation of the representative elementary volume (REV) of a fractured geothermal sandstone reservoir. Environ Earth Sci 61(8):1713–1724
Oda M (1982) Fabric tensor for discontinuous geological materials. Soils Found 22:849–853
Park BY, Kim KS, Kwon S, Kim C, Bae DS, Hartley LJ et al (2002) Determination of the hydraulic conductivity components using a three-dimensional fracture network model in volcanic rock. Eng Geol 66:127–141
Priest SD (2004) Determination of discontinuity size distributions from scanline data. Rock Mech Rock Eng 37:347–368
Priest SD, Hudson JA (1981) Estimation of discontinuity spacing and trace length using scanline surveys. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 18(3):183–197
Rafiee A, Vinches M (2008) Application of geostatistical characteristics of rock mass fracture systems in3D model generation. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 45:644–652
Sen Z, Kazi A (1984) Discontinuity spacing and RQD estimates from finite length scanlines. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 21:203–212
Shanley RJ, Mahtab MA (1976) Delineation and analysis of clusters in orientation data. Math Geol 8:9–23
Song J-J (2006) Estimation of a joint diameter distribution by an implicit scheme and interpolation technique. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 43:512–519
Song JJ, Lee CI (2001) Estimation of joint length distribution using window sampling. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 38:519–528
Starkey J (1977) The contouring of orientation data represented in spherical projection. Can J Earth Sci 14:268–277
Terzaghi RD (1965) Sources of error in joint surveys. Geotechnique 15(3):287–304
Tonon F, Chen S (2007) Closed-form and numerical solutions for the probability distribution function of fracture diameters. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 44:332–350
Villaescusa E, Brown E (1992) Maximum likelihood estimation of joint size from trace length measurements. Rock Mech Rock Eng 25:67–87
Wang X, Mauldon M, Dunn W, Heiny C (2004) Using borehole data to estimate size and aspect ratio of subsurface fractures. Gulf Rocks 2004, the 6th North America Rock Mechanics Symposium (NARMS)
Wang X, Dunne W, Mauldon M, Heiny C (2005) Extracting fracture characteristics from piercing-type intersections on borehole walls. Alaska Rocks 2005, The 40th US Symposium on Rock Mechanics (USRMS)
Warburton PM (1980a) A stereological interpretation of joint trace data. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 17:181–190
Warburton PM (1980b) Stereological interpretation of joint trace data: influence of joint shape and implications for geological surveys. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 17:305–316
Zhang L, Einstein HH (1998) Estimating the mean trace length of rock discontinuities. Rock Mech Rock Eng 31:217–235
Zhang L, Einstein HH (2000) Estimating the intensity of rock discontinuities. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 37:819–837
Zhang L, Einstein HH (2010) The planar shape of rock joints. Rock Mech Rock Eng 43(1):55–68
Zhang L, Einstein HH, Dershowitz WS (2002) Stereological relationship between trace length and size distribution of elliptical discontinuities. Geotechnique 52:419–433
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the State Key Basic Research Program of China (No. 2011CB201201), Sanjin Scholars Program of China (No. 2050205) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51204112). The authors would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions which helped a lot in making this paper better.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jin, W., Gao, M., Yu, B. et al. Elliptical fracture network modeling with validation in Datong Mine, China. Environ Earth Sci 73, 7089–7101 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4158-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4158-4