Homogeneous Embankment Dam Analysis (Part 3 of 3)

This FLAC 8.1 tutorial demonstrates how to update the soil densities and the effective stresses in the embankment.

MINEDW Tutorial (Part 4: Meshing)

In this tutorial we will go over meshing, from the creation of a 2D mesh and how to import it to MINEDW, to the inclusion of topography, layers, and pinch-outs to different areas of interest in the model.

Tutorial: Simple Slope Stability

Using UDEC 6 and the shear-reduction method to calculate the factor-of-safety, this tutorial will show you how to analyze the stability of a simple slope containing: (1) no discrete jointing (continuum), (2) fully-continuous jointing (discrete blocks), and (3) noncontinuous, en echelon jointing.

On the Density Variability of Poissonian Discrete Fracture Networks, with application to power-law fracture size distributions

This paper presents analytical solutions to estimate at any scale the fracture density variability associated to stochastic Discrete Fracture Networks. These analytical solutions are based upon the assumption that each fracture in the network is an independent event. Analytical solutions are developed for any kind of fracture density indicators.

GPR-inferred fracture aperture widening in response to a high-pressure tracer injection test at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory, Sweden

We assess the performance of the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) method in fractured rock formations of very low transmissivity (e.g. T ≈ 10−9–10−10 m2/s for sub-mm apertures) and, more specifically, to image fracture widening induced by high-pressure injections. A field-scale experiment was conducted at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (Sweden) in a tunnel situated at 410 m depth. The tracer test was performed within the most transmissive sections of two boreholes separated by 4.2 m. The electrically resistive tracer solution composed of deionized water and Uranine was expected to lead to decreasing GPR reflections with respect to the saline in situ formation water.

Connectivity, permeability, and channeling in randomly distributed and kinematically defined discrete fracture network models

A major use of DFN models for industrial applications is to evaluate permeability and flow structure in hardrock aquifers from geological observations of fracture networks. The relationship between the statistical fracture density distributions and permeability has been extensively studied, but there has been little interest in the spatial structure of DFN models, which is generally assumed to be spatially random (i.e., Poisson). In this paper, we compare the predictions of Poisson DFNs to new DFN models where fractures result from a growth process defined by simplified kinematic rules for nucleation, growth, and fracture arrest.