A comparative study of stress influence on fracture apertures in fragmented rocks

Abstract

This study compares the calculated fracture apertures in a fragmented rock layer under different stress scenarios using two different approaches. Approach 1 is a simplified method using a two-dimensional (2D) mapping of the fracture network and projects the far-field stresses to individual fractures, and calculates the dilation, normal and shear displacements using experimental stiffnesses available in the literature. Approach 2 employs a three-dimensional (3D) finite element method (FEM) for the mechanical analysis of the fragmented rock layer considering the interaction with the neighbouring rock layers, frictional interfaces between the rock blocks, stress variations within the fragmented..