A fractal model for estimating the permeability of tortuous fracture networks with correlated fracture length and aperture

Abstract

Many fractures are present in the crust and dominate fluid flow and mass transport. This study proposes a fractal model of permeability for fractured rock masses that includes fractal properties of both fracture networks and fracture surface tortuosity. Using this model, a mathematical expression is derived based on the traditional parallel-plate cubic law and fractal theory. This expression functions as the equivalent permeability of the tortuous fracture network in terms of the maximum fracture length lmax, the fractal dimension of the length distribution Df, porosity ϕ, fracture orientation θ, and the proportionality coefficient between fracture length and aperture β. The fractal scaling law of the fracture length distribution and fractal permeability model is verified by comparison with published studies and fluid dynamic computation, respectively. The results indicate that the deviation of permeability values predicted by the models that do or do not consider the fracture surface tortuosity are as large as three orders of magnitude, which emphasizes that the role of tortuosity should be considered to avoid the overestimation of permeability due to the smooth fracture surface assumption. Further analyses show that the permeability increases with increasing fractal dimension Df, proportionality coefficient β, maximum fracture length lmax, and effective porosity ϕ but decreases with increasing tortuosity dimension Dtf and orientation θ. The fractal dimension of the fracture length distribution Df has the most significant influence on the permeability of the fracture network, followed by Dtf, β, lmax, θ, and ϕ, sequentially.