JOURNAL OF ROCK MECHANICS

JOURNAL OF ROCK MECHANICS

Studying the effect of microparameters of the PFC numerical model on hydraulic crack propagation

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Department of Mining Engineering, Hamedan University of Technology, Hamedan, Iran.
2 Director of Research, Development and Quality Control at Road Construction and Urban Development Company, Tehran, Iran.
3 Department of Mining Engineering, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran.
Abstract
In this paper, using PFC2D software, the effect of the model's normal and shear stiffness as well as the model's normal and shear strength on the hydraulic crack growth pattern has been studied. For this purpose, a numerical model with dimensions of 1000mm * 1000mm was first created. Floating particles were removed from the model so that each disk is connected to three adjacent disks. The model is enclosed by two clamp bars from above and below. These clamps prevent the model's disks from moving in the vertical direction. After removing the floating disks from the model, a hole with a diameter of 100mm was created in the center of the hole. A number of loading disks are placed inside the hole, which are responsible for applying hydraulic pressure to the hole wall. Then, by changing microproperties such as normal and shear stiffness and normal and shear strength of the model, their effect on the hydraulic crack growth pattern is revealed. In general, 6 different failure patterns were identified. The model's normal and shear stiffness and model's normal and shear strength have a significant effect on the well failure pattern. Below, a relationship is presented to estimate the hydraulic stress of failure based on the uniaxial compressive strength of the model.
Keywords