STUDY OF NUMERICAL AND PHYSICAL FRACTURE WITH SPH METHOD

Two kinds of fractures can be observed in the SPH （smoothed particle hydrodynamics） simulations, which are the physical fracture and the numerical fracture. The physical one exists in reality, while the numerical one is fictitious. This paper presents the effects of both fractures and proposes a simple adding particle technique to avoid the numerical fracture. The real physical fracture is then figured out by using an applicable fracture criterion. Firstly, the effect of the numerical fracture on the computational accuracy is investigated by introducing the artificial fracture in a model of wave propagation. Secondly, a simple adding particle technique is proposed and validated by a three dimensional bending test. Finally, the experiments of penetration on the skin of aircrafts are simulated by both the initial SPH method and the improved method with the adding particle technique. The results show that the improved SPH method can describe the physical fracture very well with better accuracy.

Numerical simulation of hydraulic fracturing and associated microseismicity using finite-discrete element method

Hydraulic fracturing （HF） technique has been extensively used for the exploitation of unconventional oiland gas reservoirs. HF enhances the connectivity of less permeable oil and gas-bearing rock formationsby fluid injection, which creates an interconnected fracture network and increases the hydrocarbonproduction. Meanwhile, microseismic （MS） monitoring is one of the most effective approaches to evaluatesuch stimulation process. In this paper, the combined finite-discrete element method （FDEM） isadopted to numerically simulate HF and associated MS. Several post-processing tools, includingfrequency-magnitude distribution （b-value）, fractal dimension （D-value）, and seismic events clustering,are utilized to interpret numerical results. A non-parametric clustering algorithm designed specificallyfor FDEM is used to reduce the mesh dependency and extract more realistic seismic information.Simulation results indicated that at the local scale, the HF process tends to propagate following the rockmass discontinuities; while at the reservoir scale, it tends to develop in the direction parallel to themaximum in-situ stress. 2014 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting byElsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Modeling rock failure using the numerical manifold method followed bythe discontinuous deformation analysis

A complete rock failure process usually involves opening/sliding of preexisting discontinuities as well as frac- turing in intact rock bridges to form persistent failure sur- faces and subsequent motions of the generated rock blocks. The recently developed numerical manifold method （NMM） has potential for modelling such a complete failure process. However, the NMM suffers one limitation, i.e., unexpected material domain area change occurs in rotation modelling. This problem can not be easily solved because the rigid body rotation is not represented explicitly in the NMM. The discontinuous deformation analysis （DDA） is specially de- veloped for modelling discrete block systems. The rotation- induced material area change in the DDA modelling can be avoided conveniently because the rigid body rotation is represented in an explicit form. In this paper, a transition technique is proposed and implemented to convert a NMMmodelling to a DDA modelling so as to simulate a complete rock failure process entirely by means of the two methods, in which the NMM is adopted to model the early fracturing as well as the transition from continua to discontinua, while the DDA is adopted to model the subsequent motion of the generated rock blocks. Such a numerical approach also im- proves the simulation efficiency greatly as compared with a complete NMM modelling approach. The fracturing of a rock slab with pre-existing non-persistent joints located on a slope crest and the induced rockfall process are simulated. The validity of the modelling transition from the NMM to the DDA is verified and the applicability of the proposed nu- merical approach is investigated.

Anisotropy of strength and deformability of fractured rocks

Anisotropy of the strength and deformation behaviors of fractured rock masses is a crucial issue for design and stability assessments of rock engineering structures, due mainly to the non-uniform and non- regular geometries of the fracture systems. However, no adequate efforts have been made to study this issue due to the current practical impossibility of laboratory tests with samples of large volumes con- taining many fractures, and the difficulty for controlling reliable initial and boundary conditions for large-scale in situ tests. Therefore, a reliable numerical predicting approach for evaluating anisotropy of fractured rock masses is needed. The objective of this study is to systematically investigate anisotropy of strength and deformability of fractured rocks, which has not been conducted in the past, using a nu- merical modeling method. A series of realistic two-dimensional （2D） discrete fracture network （DFN） models were established based on site investigation data, which were then loaded in different directions, using the code UDEC of discrete element method （DEM）, with changing confining pressures. Numerical results show that strength envelopes and elastic deformability parameters of tested numerical models are significantly anisotropic, and vary with changing axial loading and confining pressures. The results indicate that for design and safety assessments of rock engineering projects, the directional variations of strength and deformability of the fractured rock mass concerned must be treated properly with respect to the directions of in situ stresses. Traditional practice for simply positioning axial orientation of tunnels in association with principal stress directions only may not be adequate for safety requirements. Outstanding issues of the present study and su^zestions for future study are also oresented.

A review of discrete modeling techniques for fracturing processes in discontinuous rock masses

The goal of this review paper is to provide a summary of selected discrete element and hybrid finitediscrete element modeling techniques that have emerged in the field of rock mechanics as simulation tools for fracturing processes in rocks and rock masses. The fundamental principles of each computer code are illustrated with particular emphasis on the approach specifically adopted to simulate fracture nucleation and propagation and to account for the presence of rock mass discontinuities. This description is accompanied by a brief review of application studies focusing on laboratory-scale models of rock failure processes and on the simulation of damage development around underground excavations.

Numerical evaluation of the effect of fracture network connectivity in naturally fractured shale based on FSD model

In this paper, the effect of pre-existing discrete fracture network(DFN) connectivity on hydraulic fracturing is numerically investigated in a rock mass subjected to in-situ stress. The simulation results show that DFN connectivity has a significant influence on the hydraulic fracture(HF) & DFN interaction and hydraulic fracturing effectiveness, which can be characterized by the total interaction area, stimulated DFN length, stimulated HF length, leak-off ratio, and stimulated total length. In addition, even at the same fluid injection rate, simulation models exhibit different responses that are strongly affected by the DFN connectivity. At a low injection rate, total interaction area decreases with increasing DFN connectivity; at a high injection rate, total interaction area increases with the increase of DFN connectivity. However, for any injection rate, the stimulated DFN length increases and stimulated HF length decreases with the increase of connectivity. Generally, this work shows that the DFN connectivity plays a crucial role in the interaction between hydraulic fractures, the pre-existing natural fractures and hydraulic fracturing effectiveness; in return, these three factors affect treating pressure, created microseismicity and corresponding stimulated volume. This work strongly relates to the production technology and the evaluation of hydraulic fracturing effectiveness. It is helpful for the optimization of hydraulic fracturing simulations in naturally fractured formations.