Simulation of the rock meso-fracturing process adopting local multiscale high-resolution modeling

Abstract

The continuum mesoscopic model-based methods are popular in rock fracturing process simulation, because of their powerful trans-scale failure characterization capability. However, for high-resolution characterization of cracks, large-scale global uniform meso-scale elements may lead to serious computational time-space burden. This study is aimed at developing a local multiscale high-resolution modeling (LMHM) strategy, which adopts a high-resolution mesh only in the region of interest instead of a global uniform mesoscopic mesh. Then, based on the statistical meso-damage mechanical method (SMDMM), the meso-fracturing process simulation of rock is achieved. The simulation results of several numerical examples show that the advantages of LMHM are that it can save a lot of computational cost, and avoid calculation waste effectively in treating local fracturing of rock. The simulated failure patterns adopting LMHM are consistent with those of global uniform mesh modeling and physical tests. Meanwhile, the local high-precision stress field of the model can be obtained. It is shown that combination of the SMDMM and LMHM presented in this study is an efficient strategy for modeling the trans-scale progressive failure process of rock.