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Article
Macro- and micro-mechanical behavior of CSU-LRS-1 lunar soil simulant under true triaxial loading path
In this paper, a series of true triaxial tests with different intermediate principal stress ratios are conducted on both the lunar soil simulant and the sandy soils on earth using the discrete element method. ...
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Article
Coupled hydro-mechanical two-phase flow model in fractured porous medium with the combined finite-discrete element method
This paper presents a time-explicit, fully coupled, hydro-mechanical model to simulate the two-phase flow process in fractured porous media, considering the geomechanical effect. Two solvers are developed, and...
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Article
The Effect of Weathering on the Mineral Grains and Macroscale Young’s Modulus of Granites
Weathering process leads to changes in mineral composition, microdefects and mechanical properties of mineral grains, which has a significant impact on the macroscale mechanical properties of granitic rocks. I...
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Article
Open AccessAn efficient 3D cell-based discrete fracture-matrix flow model for digitally captured fracture networks
Complex hydraulic fracture networks are critical for enhancing permeability in unconventional reservoirs and mining industries. However, accurately simulating the fluid flow in realistic fracture networks (com...
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Article
Stability analysis of reservoir slopes under fluctuating water levels using the combined finite-discrete element method
Fluctuating water levels are responsible for many reservoir slope failures. This work develops a novel slope analysis model (Y-slopeW) to evaluate the reservoir slope stability under water–rock coupling effect...
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Article
The Influence of Natural Joints on the Evolution of Fracturing Curves: From a Numerical Perspective
With the development of fracture-cavity reservoirs, a better understanding of the natural joints is critical to optimizing the hydraulic fracturing operation. However, traditional methodologies, such as well-l...
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Article
Nanoindentation-based characterization of micromechanical properties of greenish mudstone from deep Fushun West open-pit mine (Fushun city, China)
The greenish mudstone in the Fushun West open-pit mine (Fushun city, China), the largest open-pit mine in Asia, is weak due to the presence of clay minerals and may induce the failure and collapse of rock slop...
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Article
Investigating the influence of collision property and fragmentation on rock fall with 3D ETM modelling
The natural hazard of rockfall might be caused by earthquake, freeze/thaw action, rainfall, weathering and the erosion of rocks. Due to the limitation by site conditions, field tests cannot be conducted adequa...
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Article
A numerical study of the influence of cyclic grouting and consolidation using TOUGH2
With the rapid development of deep underground engineering, grouting technology is widely used to enhance the stability of the surrounding rocks in tunnels, where ingress water, large site disturbance, and def...
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Article
Mechanism of Connecting Natural Caves and Wells Through Hydraulic Fracturing in Fracture-Cavity Reservoirs
In karst fracture-cavity reservoirs, the oil/gas is primarily distributed in natural fractures and caves. Therefore, hydraulic fracturing is frequently performed to connect the wells and natural karst caves to...
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Article
Thermal cracking simulation of functionally graded materials using the combined finite–discrete element method
The functionally graded materials (FGMs), characterized by spatially varying material properties, have been used in a wide range of engineering applications (i.e., aerospace, nuclear reactor and microelectroni...
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Article
Investigation of the Influence of Natural Cavities on Hydraulic Fracturing Using Phase Field Method
In this paper, the influence of natural cavities on the propagation of hydraulic fractures is investigated using the phase field method. The deflection behaviour of a fracture during its propagation is firstly...
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Article
Modelling Hydraulic Fracturing with a Point-Based Approximation for the Maximum Principal Stress Criterion
Accurate simulation of the propagation of hydraulic fractures under in situ stress conditions in three dimensions (3D) is critical for the enhanced design and optimization of hydraulic fracturing in various en...
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Article
Modeling Three-Dimensional Fluid-Driven Propagation of Multiple Fractures using TOUGH-FEMM
In this paper, a new numerical simulation tool named TOUGH-FEMM is presented and applied to model three-dimensional (3D) hydraulic fracturing in porous rock. The fluid flow in both fractures and porous rock is...
