Sa. Wilson et al., A CELLULAR-AUTOMATON FRACTURE MODEL - THE INFLUENCE OF HETEROGENEITY IN THE FAILURE PROCESS, Journal of structural geology, 18(2-3), 1996, pp. 343
The modelling of a complex process such as rock fracture is fraught wi
th problems including: (i) the number and complexity of the processes
in operation during fracture; and (ii) the heterogeneity of the materi
al under consideration. These considerations force modellers to adopt
a 'notional' approach. In this paper we describe a model of fracture w
hich attempts to mimic the processes that govern seismogenesis by usin
g a rule-based algorithm. This allows us to capture the essential phys
ical aspects of the system while allowing a realistic heterogeneity in
the form of a large number of lattice elements. We describe the model
and present the preliminary results from such a rule-based algorithm,
or cellular automaton. These results illustrate that initial strength
distributions have a crucial influence on the fracture pattern that i
s produced.