Through this research, embedded synthetic fracture networks in rock masses are studied. To analysis the fluid flow complexity in fracture networks with respect to the variation of connectivity patterns, two different approaches are employed, namely, the Lattice Boltzmann method and graph theory. The Lattice Boltzmann method is used to show the sensitivity of the permeability and fluid velocity ...

Fractures, such as joints, faults and veins, strongly influence the transport of fluids through rocks by either enhancing or inhibiting flow. Techniques used for the automatic detection of lineaments from satellite images and aerial photographs, LIDAR technologies and borehole televiewers significantly enhanced data acquisition. The analysis of such data is often performed manually or with diff...

[1] In order to improve discrete fracture network (DFN) models, which are increasingly required into groundwater and rock mechanics applications, we propose a new DFN modeling based on the evolution of fracture network formation—nucleation, growth, and arrest—with simplified mechanical rules. The central idea of the model relies on the mechanical role played by large fractures in stopping the g...

The discovery of tough hydrogels of many chemical compositions, and their emerging applications in medicine, clothing, and engineering, has raised a fundamental question: How do hydrogels behave under many cycles of stretch? This paper initiates the study of the fatigue behavior of the classic PAMPS/PAAM double network hydrogels discovered by Gong and her co-workers (Advanced Materials 15, 1155...

We develop a pore-scale model of wetting in a single fracture. A variable fracture aperture distribution is represented as a square lattice of conceptual pores connected by throats. We borrow concepts from network modeling of ̄ow in porous media to generate a fracture model that includes the e€ects of ̄ow in wetting layers, snap-o€, and cooperative piston-like advance. Cooperative ®lling accoun...

Observations of natural fractures in core or image logs typically give limited information on orientation, aperture and intensity. Because of the sparseness of wellbore intersections of fractures, data analysis results in incomplete statistical characterization of the fracture population, leaving interwell characterization almost impossible. Using basic fracture mechanics models and a novel cor...

BACKGROUND We investigated the underlying molecular mechanisms of bone overgrowth after femoral fracture by using high-throughput bioinformatics approaches. METHODS The gene expression profile of GSE3298 (accession number) was obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Sixteen femoral growth plate samples, including nine samples without fracture and seven fracture samples for seven t...