Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Videos

Modeling fracture porosity development using simple growth laws.

John P Bloomfield¹, John A Barker, Nicola Robinson

¹Groundwater Systems and Water Quality Programme, British Geological Survey, Wallingford OX10 8BB, UK. jpb@bgs.ac.uk

|May 11, 2005

Summary

This study models fracture aperture growth in aquifers, revealing how flow rate and initial distribution affect porosity. Complex channel networks emerge, impacting fluid flow predictability.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Time to HIV rebound after infusion of long-acting broadly neutralising antibodies 3BNC117-LS and 10-1074-LS and analytical treatment interruption (the RIO trial): a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial.

The lancet. HIV·2026

Same author

International standards and good practice guidelines in traditional, complementary and integrative medicine: a scoping review.

Frontiers in pharmacology·2026

Same author

<i>Asparagus</i> <i>officinalis</i> potentially supports cancer care: a systematic review of randomized and non-randomized clinical studies.

Frontiers in nutrition·2026

Same author

Is Baduanjin beneficial and safe for the rehabilitation of patients with acute myocardial infarction undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Complementary therapies in medicine·2026

Same author

Time to HIV rebound after antiretroviral therapy interruption: a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trial of long-acting broadly neutralising antibodies; The RIO Trial.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences·2026

Same author

T cell immunity predicts clinical outcomes on stopping antiretroviral treatment after HIV-specific broadly neutralising antibody therapy.

medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences·2026

Area of Science:

Hydrogeology
Geophysics
Computational modeling

Background:

Fracture networks are crucial for fluid flow in aquifers.
Understanding fracture aperture evolution is key to predicting aquifer behavior.
Existing models often simplify the complex geometries of evolved fracture arrays.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a model investigating fracture aperture growth laws and their relation to fracture porosity.
To explore how initial aperture distribution and growth rate influence fracture array geometry.
To analyze the development of channel-like structures and their impact on flow paths.

Main Methods:

Simulated two-dimensional orthogonal fracture arrays with lognormal aperture distributions.
Modeled aperture growth rate proportional to flow rate, controlled by an exponent (e).

Related Experiment Videos

Analyzed geometrical phase changes based on growth exponent (e) and initial aperture standard deviation (sigma(z)).

Main Results:

Low e and sigma(z) result in bimodal distributions with preferential enlargement of flow-parallel apertures.
Moderate values lead to complex networks of channel-like structures.
High e values create array-spanning channels with tortuosity linearly dependent on sigma(z).

Conclusions:

Fracture array geometry evolves significantly with varying growth exponents and initial aperture distributions.
The development of complex, channelized flow paths complicates prediction of aquifer evolution.
Predicting fracture array evolution requires detailed consideration of initial conditions and growth dynamics.