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SIZE SCALING RELATIONSHIPS IN FRACTURE NETWORKS [electronic resource].

Published
Morgantown, W.Va. : West Virginia University, 2000.
Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy.
Physical Description
99 pages : digital, PDF file
Additional Creators
West Virginia University and United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information
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Summary
The research conducted under DOE grant DE-FG26-98FT40385 provides a detailed assessment of size scaling issues in natural fracture and active fault networks that extend over scales from several tens of kilometers to less than a tenth of a meter. This study incorporates analysis of data obtained from several sources, including: natural fracture patterns photographed in the Appalachian field area, natural fracture patterns presented by other workers in the published literature, patterns of active faulting in Japan mapping at a scale of 1:100,000, and lineament patterns interpreted from satellite-based radar imagery obtained over the Appalachian field area. The complexity of these patterns is always found to vary with scale. In general,but not always, patterns become less complex with scale. This tendency may reverse as can be inferred from the complexity of high-resolution radar images (8 meter pixel size) which are characterized by patterns that are less complex than those observed over smaller areas on the ground surface. Model studies reveal that changes in the complexity of a fracture pattern can be associated with dominant spacings between the fractures comprising the pattern or roughly to the rock areas bounded by fractures of a certain scale. While the results do not offer a magic number (the fractal dimension) to characterize fracture networks at all scales, the modeling and analysis provide results that can be interpreted directly in terms of the physical properties of the natural fracture or active fault complex. These breaks roughly define the size of fracture bounded regions at different scales. The larger more extensive sets of fractures will intersect and enclose regions of a certain size, whereas smaller less extensive sets will do the same--i.e. subdivide the rock into even smaller regions. The interpretation varies depending on the number of sets that are present, but the scale breaks in the logN/logr plots serve as a guide to interpreting the intensity of rock fragmentation as a function of scale.
Report Numbers
E 1.99:814684
Subject(s)
Other Subject(s)
Note
Published through SciTech Connect.
01/01/2000.
Thomas H. Wilson.
(US)
Type of Report and Period Covered Note
Final; 06/01/1998 - 12/31/1999
Final for Grant; 06/01/1998 - 12/31/1999
Funding Information
FG26-98FT40385
View MARC record | catkey: 14379728