Fracture permeability normal to bedding in layered rock masses

Citation
Dm. Doolin et M. Mauldon, Fracture permeability normal to bedding in layered rock masses, INT J ROCK, 38(2), 2001, pp. 199-210
Citations number
32
Categorie Soggetti
Geological Petroleum & Minig Engineering
Journal title
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROCK MECHANICS AND MINING SCIENCES
ISSN journal
13651609 → ACNP
Volume
38
Issue
2
Year of publication
2001
Pages
199 - 210
Database
ISI
SICI code
1365-1609(200102)38:2<199:FPNTBI>2.0.ZU;2-H
Abstract
A two-dimensional model of fracture permeability normal to bedding in layer ed rock with orthogonal, bed-delimited fractures is investigated. Steady-st ate, saturated laminar flow is assumed. Permeability is assumed to be a fun ction of apertures and flow path lengths in an otherwise impermeable matrix . Bedding planes or other separations between layers are modeled as fictiti ous interlayers to render a layered fractured rock mass equivalent to a lay ered porous medium. Layer, or bed-normal permeability is quantified in term s of readily available field data, using a probability model to represent f racture connectivity between layers. The bed-normal permeability is shown t o depend on fracture spacing and aperture, layer spacing and bedding plane aperture, and to be scale-dependent. Numerical investigation and comparison with field data indicates that the derived expression is useful for estima ting layer-normal permeability. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.