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@article{Lang:2014:10.1002/2014JB011027,
author = {Lang, PS and Paluszny, A and Zimmerman, RW},
doi = {10.1002/2014JB011027},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth},
pages = {6288--6307},
title = {Permeability tensor of three-dimensional fractured porous rock and a comparison to trace map predictions},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014JB011027},
volume = {119},
year = {2014}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - The reduction from three to twodimensional analysis of the permeability of a fractured rock mass introduces errors in both the magnitude and direction of principal permeabilities. This error is numerically quantified for porous rock by comparing the equivalent permeability of threedimensional fracture networks with the values computed on arbitrarily extracted planar trace maps. A method to compute the full permeability tensor of threedimensional discrete fracture and matrix models is described. The method is based on the elementwise averaging of pressure and flux, obtained from a finite element solution to the Laplace problem, and is validated against analytical expressions for periodic anisotropic porous media. For isotropic networks of power law sizedistributed fractures with lengthcorrelated aperture, twodimensional cut planes are shown to underestimate the magnitude of permeability by up to 3 orders of magnitude near the percolation threshold, approaching an average factor of deviation of 3 with increasing fracture density. At lowfracture densities, percolation may occur in three dimensions but not in any of the twodimensional cut planes. Anisotropy of the equivalent permeability tensor varies accordingly and is more pronounced in twodimensional extractions. These results confirm that twodimensional analysis cannot be directly used as an approximation of threedimensional equivalent permeability. However, an alternative expression of the excluded area relates trace map fracture density to an equivalent threedimensional fracture density, yielding comparable minimum and maximum permeability. This formulation can be used to approximate threedimensional flow properties in cases where only twodimensional analysis is available.
AU - Lang,PS
AU - Paluszny,A
AU - Zimmerman,RW
DO - 10.1002/2014JB011027
EP - 6307
PY - 2014///
SN - 2169-9356
SP - 6288
TI - Permeability tensor of three-dimensional fractured porous rock and a comparison to trace map predictions
T2 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2014JB011027
VL - 119
ER -
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