The control-volume discrete-fracture (CVDF) model is extended to incorporate heterogeneity in rock and in rock-fluid properties. A novel algorithm is proposed to model strong water-wetting with zero capillary pressure in the fractures. The extended method is used to simulate: (1) oil production in a layered faulted reservoir, (2) laboratory displacement tests in a stack of matrix blocks with a ...

Water uptake in rock fractures caused by rainfall plays a significant role slope stability analysis. Since the fracture network system has complicated structures and multiple scales, models based on averaged cannot account for these properties. On other hand, model describing single with fractal characteristics surface roughness fails to deal case of at spatial scales. In this study, fracture-ne...

rock slope stability depends very much on the strength features of the rock and the geometrical and strength characteristics of the discontinuities (e.g., roughness, wall strength and persistence). since a rock mass is not a continuum, its behavior is dominated by such discontinuities as faults, joints and bedding planes. also, rock slope instability is a major hazard for human activities and o...

The clear understanding of hydraulic fracture network complexity and the optimization of fracture network configuration are important to the hydraulic fracturing treatment of shale gas reservoirs. For the prediction of hydraulic fracture network configuration, one of the problems is the accurate representation of natural fractures. In this work, a real natural fracture network is reconstructed ...

In this work, the mechanism for fracture of brittle substances such as rocks under a uniform normal tension is considered. The oriented straight micro-cracks are mostly created in all the polycrystalline materials resulting from the stress concentrations. The present work focuses on the interactions of the pre-existing micro-cracks, which can grow and propagate within a rock-like specimen. The ...

The roughness of crack interfaces is reported in quasistatic fracture, using an elastic network of beams with random breaking thresholds. For strong disorders we obtain zeta = 0.86(3) for the roughness exponent, a result which is very different from the minimum energy surface exponent, i.e., zeta = 2 / 3. A crossover to lower values is observed as the disorder is reduced, the exponent in this r...

The creation of new fractures during an earthquake produces rock damage and contributes to the dissipation strain energy. During dynamic rupture propagation, tensile microfractures can form in process zone domains around a fault that host large transient stress. These produce fragments with wide range sizes. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we model propagation ?-quartz under conditions st...

A typical Iranian carbonate matrix block surrounded by an open fracture was modeled in order to understand the fracture-matrix interaction and realize how to model the interaction best. The modeling was carried out by using a fine-scaled Eclipse model in the single porosity mode (the fractures were explicitly modeled). The model was extended to a stack of 6 matrix blocks to understand block-to-...

A major concern in development of fractured reservoirs in Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) is to achieve and maintain adequate injectivity, while avoiding short-circuiting flow paths. The injection performance and flow paths are dominated by fracture rock permeability. The evolution of fracture permeability can be made by change in temperature or pressure induced rock deformation and geochemic...