Abstract
A structural domain represents a volume of a rock mass with similar mechanical and hydrological properties. To demarcate structural domains (or statistically homogeneous regions) in fractured rock masses, this study proposes a three-parameter simultaneous analysis method (3PSAM) that simultaneously considers rock fracture orientation, trace length, and aperture to evaluate statistical homogeneity between two regions. First, a 102-patch three-dimensional Schmidt net, which represents a new comprehensive classification system, is established to characterize rock fractures based on their orientation and aperture. Two populations of rock fractures can then be projected to the corresponding patches. Second, the Wald–Wolfowitz runs test is used to measure the similarity between the two populations by considering the fracture trace lengths. The results obtained by applying the 3PSAM to seven simulated fracture populations show that the homogeneity is influenced by both the distributions of the fracture parameters and the sequences of the fracture parameters. The influence of a specific combination sequence makes it impractical to analyze the rock fracture parameters individually. Combined with previous methods, the 3PSAM provides reasonable and accurate results when it is applied to a fractured rock slope engineering case study in Dalian, China. The results show that each fracture population should be identified as an independent structural domain when using the 3PSAM. Only the 3PSAM identifies the west exploratory trench 2 and the east exploratory trench as being nonhomogeneous because the difference in the aperture of the two fracture populations is considered. The benefit of the 3PSAM is that it simultaneously considers three parameters in the demarcation of structural domains.
Highlights
A structural domain represents a volume of a rock mass with similar mechanical and hydrological properties. e demarcation of structural domains in fractured rock masses is a basic step in fractured rock modeling and rock engineering design
Because of their formation process, rock fractures always have some regularities. ese regularities are important to rock engineering because they have a significant influence on the mechanical and hydraulic behaviors of rock masses. erefore, the demarcation of structural domains usually includes two steps: e first step is to select rock fracture parameters to build a comprehensive classification system
Using the Wald–Wolfowitz runs test, the dip angle, dip direction, trace length, and aperture of fractures can be treated simultaneously, which allows the interactions between fracture parameters to be taken into account. e simultaneous analysis of the three parameters is the new consideration in the 3PSAM. e procedures of this approach are as follows: (1) A 102-patch three-dimensional (3D) Schmidt net (Section 2.1), which represents a new comprehensive classification system, is established to characterize rock fractures based on their orientation and aperture
Summary
A structural domain represents a volume of a rock mass with similar mechanical and hydrological properties. e demarcation of structural domains in fractured rock masses is a basic step in fractured rock modeling and rock engineering design. Song et al [15, 16] introduced the Wald–Wolfowitz runs test for determining structural domain boundaries within a rock mass by considering fracture orientation and trace length. Song et al [19] adopted the correlation coefficient and the Wald–Wolfowitz runs test to evaluate the homogeneity of structural domains by considering fracture orientation, trace length, and trace type. Ese studies used multivariate methods to demarcate structural domains by considering multiple fracture parameters. (1) A 102-patch three-dimensional (3D) Schmidt net (Section 2.1), which represents a new comprehensive classification system, is established to characterize rock fractures based on their orientation and aperture (2) e fractures projected in each patch are ranked by their trace length, and the structural domains can be demarcated according to the Wald– Wolfowitz runs test (Section 2.2)
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