Using Discrete Fracture Network to Assess Hydraulic Properties of Fractured Rock Mass at Different Depths
摘要
The hydraulic properties of fractured rock mass vary with different investigation scales and depths. At a sufficiently large investigation scale, the hydraulic properties of rock mass generally exhibit low variability. Afterward, the representative element volume (REV) and corresponding characterized parameter can be identified. This study proposes a discrete fracture network (DFN) model to analyze the hydraulic behavior of fractured rock mass at an engineering scale, considering field parameters of fractures. Hydraulic conductivity is evaluated with overburden pressure at various depths. The value and direction of hydraulic conductivity with multiple overburden pressure loadings are investigated. In the comparison of the curves of hydraulic conductivity variation with depth between DFN models results and packer tests data, the trends are similar. Besides, the principal direction of hydraulic conductivity could be changed because of the various impact on different fracture sets by stress.