Fracture aperture, length and pattern geometry development under biaxial: A numerical study with applications to natural, cross-jointed systems

Geological Society Special Publication

Volumn 289, Issue , 2007, Pages 123-142

  Olson, Jolson ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BIAXIAL TEST; CRACK PROPAGATION; FRACTURE APERTURE; FRACTURE GEOMETRY; FRACTURE MECHANICS; FRACTURE PROPAGATION; POWER LAW; SEDIMENTARY ROCK;

EID: 38549128665     PISSN: 03058719     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: 10.1144/SP289.8     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (57)

1. ACKERMANN, R. V., SCHLISCHE, R. W. & WITHJACK, M. O. 2001. The geometric and statistical evolution of normal fault systems: an experimental study of the effects of mechanical layer thickness on scaling laws. Journal of Structural Geology, 23, 1803-1819.
2. ANDERSON, O. L. & GREW, P. C. 1977. Stress corrosion theory of crack propagation with applications to geophysics. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics, 15, 77-104.
3. ATKINSON, B. K. 1984. Subcritical crack growth in geological materials. Journal of Geophysical Research, 89, 4077-4114.
4. ATKINSON, B. K. & MEREDITH, P. G. 1987. The theory of subcrifical crack growth with applications to minerals and rocks. In: ATKINSON, B. K. (ed.) Fracture Mechanics of Rock. Academic Press, London, 111-166.
5. BAI, T. & GROSS, M. R. 1999. Theoretical analysis of cross-joint geometries and their classification. Journal of Geophysical Research, 104, 1163-1177.
6. BAI, T. & POLLARD, D. D. 2000. Fracture spacing in layered rocks: a new explanation based on the stress transition. Journal of Structural Geology, 22, 43-57.
7. BAI, T., MARTIN, L., GROSS, M. R. & AYDIN, A. 2002. Orthogonal cross joints; do they imply a regional stress rotation? Journal of Structural Geology, 24, 77-88.
8. BLANTON, T. L. & OLSON, J. E. 1999. Stress magnitudes from logs: effects of tectonic strains and temperature. SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering, 2, 62-68.
9. CLARK, M. B., BRANTLEY, S. L. & FISHER, D. M. 1995. Power-law vein-thickness distributions and positive feedback in vein growth. Geology, 23, 975-978.
10. CROUCH, S. L. 1976. Solution of plane elasticity problems by the displacement discontinuity method. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 10, 301-343.
11. DEGRAFF, J. M. & AYDIN, A. 1993. Effect of thermal regime on growth increment and spacing of contraction joints in basaltic lava. Journal of Geophysical Research, 98, 6411-6430.
12. DELANEY, P. T., POLLARD, D. D., ZIONY, J. L. & MCKEE, E. H. 1986. Field relations between dikes and joints: emplacement processes and paleostress analysis. Journal of Geophysical Research, 91, 4920-4938.
13. ENGELDER, T. 1987. Joints and shear fractures in rock. In: ATKINSON, B. K. (ed.) Fracture Mechanics of Rock. Academic Press, London, 27-69.
14. ENGELDER, T. & LACAZETTE, A. 1990. Natural hydraulic fracturing. In: BARTON, N. & STEPHANSSON, O. (eds) Proceedings of International Symposium on Rock Joints. Balkema, Rotterdam, 35-43.
15. ERDOGAN, F. & SIH, G. C. 1963. On the crack extension in plates under plane loading and transverse shear. Journal of Basic Engineering, 85, 519-527.
16. FISCHER, M. P., GROSS, M. R. & ENGELDER, T. 1995. Finite-element analysis of the stress distribution around a pressurized crack in a layered elastic medium; implications for the spacing of fluid-driven joints in bedded sedimentary rock. Tectonophysics, 247, 49-64.
17. GILLESPIE, P. A., JOHNSTON, J. D., LORIGA, M. A., MCCAFFREY, K. J. W., WALSH, J. J. & WATTERSON, J. 1999. Influence of layering on vein systematics in line samples. In: McCAFFREY, K. J. W., LONERGAN, L. & WILKINSON, J. (eds) Fractures, Fluid Flow and Mineralization. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 155, 35-56.
18. GILLESPIE, P. A., WALSH, J. J., WATTERSON, J., BONSON, C. G. & MANZOCCHI, T. 2001. Scaling relationships of joint and vein arrays from The Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland. Journal of Structural Geology, 23, 183-201.
19. GROSS, M. R. 1993. The origin and spacing of cross joints: examples from the Monterey Formation, Santa Barbara Coastline, California. Journal of Structural Geology, 15, 737-751.
20. HOLDER, J., OLSON, J. E. & PHILIP, Z. 2001. Experimental determination of subcritical crack growth parameters in sedimentary rock. Geophysical Research Letters, 28, 599-602.
21. HELGESON, D. E. & AYDIN, A. 1991. Characteristics of joint propagation across layer interfaces in sedimentary rocks. Journal of Structural Geology, 13, 897-911.
22. KANNINEN, M. F. & POPELAR, C. H. 1985. Advanced Fracture Mechanics. Oxford University Press, New York.
23. KRANZ, R. L. 1983. Microcracks in rocks: a review. Tectonophysics, 100, 449-480.
24. KREEMER, C. & HOLT, W. E. 2001. A no-net-rotation model of present-day surface motions, Geophysical Research Letters, 28, 4407-4410.
25. KREEMER, C., HOLT, W. E. & HAINES, A. J. 2002. The global moment rate distribution within plate boundary zones, In: STEIN, S. & FREYMUELLER, J. T. (eds), Plate Boundary Zones, Geodynamics Series, American Geophysical Union, 30, article number 10/1029/030GD10.
26. LACHENBRUCH, A. H. 1962. Mechanics of Thermal Contraction Cracks and Ice-Wedge Polygons in Permafrost. Geological Society of America, Special Papers, 70.
27. LADEIRA, F. L. & PRICE, N. J. 1981. Relationship between fracture spacing and bed thickness. Journal of Structural Geology, 3, 179-183.
28. LAUBACH, S. E. 1997. A method to detect natural fracture strike in sandstones. AAPG Bulletin, 81, 604-623.
29. LAWN, B. R. & WILSHAW, T. R. 1975. Fracture of Brittle Solids. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
30. MARRETT, R., ORTEGA, O. J. & KELSEY, C. M. 1999. Extent of power-law scaling for natural fractures in rock. Geology, 27, 799-802.
31. MCGARR, A. 1988. On the state of lithospheric stress in the absence of applied tectonic forces. Journal of Geophysical Research, 93, 13609-13617.
32. NARR, W. & SUPPE, J. 1991. Joint spacing in sedimentary rocks. Journal of Structural Geology, 13, 1037-1048.
33. OLSON, J. & POLLARD, D. D. 1989. Inferring paleostresses from natural fracture patterns: a new method. Geology, 17, 345-348.
34. OLSON, J. E. 1991. Fracture mechanics analysis of joints and veins. PhD thesis, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
35. OLSON, J. E. 1993. Joint pattern development: effects of subcritical crack-growth and mechanical crack interaction. Journal of Geophysical Research, 98, 12251-12265.
36. OLSON, J. E. 1997. Natural fracture pattern characterization using a mechanically-based model constrained by geologic data - moving closer to a predictive tool. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science, 34, Paper no. 237.
37. OLSON, J. E. 2003. Sublinear scaling of fracture aperture versus length: an exception or the rule? Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, 2413.
38. OLSON, J. E. 2004. Predicting fracture swarms - the influence of subcritical crack growth and the crack-tip process zone on joint spacing in rock. In: ENGELDER, T. & GOSGROVE, J. W. (eds) The Initiation, Propagation, and Arrest of Joints and Other Fractures. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 231, 73-87.
39. OLSON, J. E., LAUBACH, S. E. & LANDER, R. H. 2007. Combining diagenesis and mechanics to quantify fracture aperture distributions and fracture pattern permeability. In: LONERGAN, L., JOLLY, R. J. H., SANDERSON, D. J. & RAWNSLEY, K. (eds) Fractured Reservoirs. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 270, 97-112.
40. ORTEGA, O. & MARRETT, R. 2000. Prediction of macrofracture properties using microfracture information, Mesaverde Group sandstones, San Juan Basin, New Mexico. Journal of Structural Geology, 22, 571-588.
41. POLLARD, D. D. & SEGALL, P. 1987. Theoretical displacements and stresses near fractures in rock: with applications to faults, joints, veins, dikes and solution surfaces. In: ATKINSON, B. K. (ed.) Fracture Mechanics of Rock. Academic Press, London, 277-350.
42. POLLARD, D. D., SEGALL, P. & DELANEY, P. T. 1982. Formation and interpretation of dilatant echelon cracks. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 93, 1291-1303.
43. POLLARD, D. D. & AYDIN, A. 1988. Progress in understanding jointing over the past century. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 100, 1181-1204.
44. PRATS, M. 1981. Effect of burial history on the subsurface horizontal stresses of formations having different material properties. SPE Journal, 21, 658-662.
45. RAWNSLEY, K. D., RIVES, T. & PETIT, J. P. 1992. Joint development in perturbed stress fields near faults. Journal of Structural Geology, 14, 939-951.
46. RIJKEN, P. 2005. Modeling naturally fractured reservoirs from the core to reservoir scale. PhD thesis, University of Texas at Austin.
47. RIJKEN, P., HOLDER, J., OLSON, J. E. & LAUBACH, S. 2002. Predicting fracture attributes in the Travis Peak Formation using quantitative mechanical modeling and structural diagenesis. Transactions of the Gulf Coast Association of Geologic Societies, 52, 837-847.
48. RIVES, T., RAZACK, M., PETIT, J. P. & RAWNSLEY, K. D. 1992. Joint spacing: analogue and numerical simulations. Journal of Structural Geology, 14, 925-937.
49. RIVES, T., RAWNSLEY, K. D. & PETIT, J. P. 1994. Analogue simulation of natural orthogonal joint set formation in brittle varnish. Journal of Structural Geology, 16, 419-429.
50. SANDERSON, D. J., ROBERTS, S. & GUMIEL, P. 1994. A fractal relationship between vein thickness and gold grade in drill core from La Codosera, Spain. Economic Geology and the Bulletin of the Society of Economic Geologists, 89, 168-173.
51. SEGALL, P. 1984. Formation and growth of extensional fracture sets. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 95, 454-462.
52. SEGALL, P. & POLLARD, D. D. 1983. Joint formation in granitic rock of the Sierra Nevada. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 94, 563-575.
53. SWANSON, P. L. 1984, Subcritical crack growth and other time- and environment-dependent behavior in crustal rocks. Journal of Geophysical Research, 89, 4137-4152.
54. TUCKWELL, G, W., LONERGAN, L. & JOLLY, R. J. H. 2003. The control of stress history and flaw distribution on the evolution of polygonal fracture networks. Journal of Structural Geology, 25, 1241-1250.
55. VERMILYE, J. M. & SCHOLZ, C. H. 1995. Relation between vein length and aperture. Journal of Structural Geology, 17, 423-434.
56. WU, H. & POLLARD, D. D. 1995. An experimental study of the relationship between joint spacing and layer thickness. Journal of Structural Geology, 17, 887-905.
57. ZOBACK, M. D. & HEALY, J. H. 1984. Friction, faulting, and in situ stress. Annales Geophysicae, 2, 689-698.