Estimating the Effect of Fractal Dimension on Representative Elementary Volume of Randomly Distributed Rock Fracture Networks. (29th October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Jing; Yu, Liyuan; Jing, Hongwen; Liu, Richeng
• Other Names: Bai Baojun Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: Geofluids. Volume 2018(2018)
• Publication Date: 2018-10-29
• Subjects: Hydrogeology -- Periodicals; Sedimentary basins -- Periodicals; Fluids -- Migration -- Periodicals; Groundwater flow -- Periodicals; Geothermal resources -- Periodicals; Fluid dynamics -- Periodicals; Earth -- Crust -- Periodicals; 551.49
• DOI: 10.1155/2018/7206074
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1468-8115

Abstract

Abstract : The effect of fractal dimension (D f ) on the determination of representative elementary volume (REV) was investigated through numerical experimentations, in which a new method was adopted to extract submodels that have different length-width ratios from original discrete facture networks (DFNs). Fluid flow in 1610 DFNs with different geometric characteristics of fractures and length-width ratios was simulated, and the equivalent permeability was calculated. The results show that the average equivalent permeability (K R E V ) at the REV size for DFNs increases with the increase inD f . TheK R E V shows a downward trend with increasing length-width ratio of the submodel. A strong exponent functional relationship is found between the REV size andD f . The REV size decreases with increasingD f . With the increment of the length-width ratio of submodels, the REV size shows a decreasing trend. The effects of length-width ratio andD f on the REV size can be negligible whenD f ≥ 1.5, but are significant whenD f < 1.5 .