Abstract
The property of water flow through a single rock fracture is the base of describing the seepage characteristics of jointed rock mass. Five artificial tensile fractures of coarse-grained cylinder marble samples were made at about the midpoint of the long axis by using a self-made splitting mold. The upper and lower surfaces of the tensile fractures were scanned by a 3D laser scanner (OKIO) to obtain their 3D coordinates. Then, the Geomagic Studio Software and rock surface topography scan test software were used to obtain peak density values of each single fracture surface. To study the seepage characteristics of open fracture, 4 rectangular plastic spacers with the size of about 3 mm × 2 mm × 0.2 mm were put into the fracture when water flowed through the single rough fracture tests were conducted under different normal stresses using the self-developed radial flow system. According to the testing data, the relationships between the seepage characteristics of single rough rock fracture and the peak density of fracture surface were studied. It is discovered that the 3D fracture morphology had great influences on the seepage characteristics of the single rock fracture. A modified cubic law was put forward to present the relationship between the seepage characteristics of a rough rock fracture and peak density of two fracture surfaces. Comparison between the modified cubic law and the experimental data showed a relatively good agreement.
Highlights
Groundwater flow through jointed rock mass affects the stability of many engineering structures in civil engineering, mining engineering, hydropower engineering, petroleum engineering, and environmental engineering [1]. e water flow through a single rock fracture is usually the base of describing the seepage characteristics of jointed rock mass, which is why the water flow through a single rock fracture has been tested extensively in laboratory by a number of researchers
In the early research on the seepage model for water flow through a single fracture, Lomize [2], De Marsily and Romm [1, 3], and Louis [4] firstly carried out the water flow test through two parallel plates and developed the so-called cubic law, which stated that the flow rate through the parallel plates had a cubic relation with the aperture of the plates
Singh et al [7] found that water flowing through a single rough fracture in granite still obeyed the well-known “cubic law” even if the fractures were under the combination conditions of high bp and σ3
Summary
Groundwater flow through jointed rock mass affects the stability of many engineering structures in civil engineering, mining engineering, hydropower engineering, petroleum engineering, and environmental engineering [1]. e water flow through a single rock fracture is usually the base of describing the seepage characteristics of jointed rock mass, which is why the water flow through a single rock fracture has been tested extensively in laboratory by a number of researchers.In the early research on the seepage model for water flow through a single fracture, Lomize [2], De Marsily and Romm [1, 3], and Louis [4] firstly carried out the water flow test through two parallel plates and developed the so-called cubic law, which stated that the flow rate through the parallel plates had a cubic relation with the aperture of the plates.us, tiny change of the aperture may lead to major variation of the seepage flow rate. E water flow through a single rock fracture is usually the base of describing the seepage characteristics of jointed rock mass, which is why the water flow through a single rock fracture has been tested extensively in laboratory by a number of researchers. In the early research on the seepage model for water flow through a single fracture, Lomize [2], De Marsily and Romm [1, 3], and Louis [4] firstly carried out the water flow test through two parallel plates and developed the so-called cubic law, which stated that the flow rate through the parallel plates had a cubic relation with the aperture of the plates. Konzuk and Kueper [8] summarized the research progress achieved on the seepage properties of rough rock joints and modified cubic law and suggested that the applicability of the local cubic law should be studied under the condition of different fracture surface three-dimensional morphology or/and abrupt aperture changes. Raven and Gale [9] found the deviation of the relationship between the joint flow rate and the joint deformation from behaviour predicted by the Advances in Civil Engineering parallel plate model increased with the sample size and the number of loading cycles increasing. erefore, the validity of the cubic law is suspicious [10, 11], and the cubic law has a certain limitation in practical application
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