Journal Published Online: 03 December 2025
Volume , Issue

Laboratory Devices and Methods for the Study of Processes in Rock Fractures: Fracture Generation, Characterization, and Process Monitoring

CODEN: GTJODJ

Abstract

Fractures govern all rock mass properties and the evolution of hydro-thermo-chemo-bio-mechanical processes. The study of fractured rock masses requires impractically large devices; therefore, an alternative hybrid approach combines fracture-scale experimental studies with numerical upscaling to integrate fracture-bound processes into digital rock mass models. A geotechnical laboratory for fracture studies should include devices and protocols for fracture generation, surface characterization, and process monitoring. Fracture generation methods, such as three-dimensional (3D) printing and 3D milling, are versatile and produce repeatable specimens with approximately 30-μm resolution for laboratory-scale specimens. Notably, milling can incorporate the desired rock mineralogy for bio-chemo–coupled processes. Data analyses must account for inherent biases in fracture generation and characterization methods. Material selection for rock surfaces, fluids, and gouge enables a wide range of monitoring strategies to study complex fracture-bound processes. The examples presented in this manuscript demonstrate various monitoring strategies and reveal important fracture-scale processes, including the impact of aperture variability on nucleating instabilities; the interplay between fingered convection, mixing, and diffusion; the strong spatial correlation between preferred flow channels in single-phase fluid flow and the percolation invasion pathways for an immiscible fluid; the emergence of anisotropic aperture fields during shear and their effects on particle migration and entrapment; the potential for fracture sealing through the sequential injection of reactive fluids; and the interplay between advection along fractures and heat diffusion in the matrix.

Author Information

Han, Gyeol
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
Santamarina, Juan Carlos
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
Pages: 17
Price: $25.00
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Details
Stock #: GTJ20240219
ISSN: 0149-6115
DOI: 10.1520/GTJ20240219