The relationships between permeability and geological entropy of fracture networks

Abstract

A systematic approach has been proposed to estimate the relationship between the permeability and geological entropy of two-dimensional fracture networks. The relative entropy index is developed as a measure of multiple properties of two-dimensional fracture networks, including fracture density, length, orientation and spatial distribution. In order to understand geological entropy dependence of the permeability, a computational method combining fracture network generation and steady-state flow simulation is employed. Based on the results of detailed numerical simulations, the relative entropy index and permeability increase simultaneously as the fracture density and length are independently increased. A simple closed-form empirical expression of the logarithmic dependence of the normalized permeability on the relative entropy index is proposed.