The hydraulic efficiency of single fractures: correcting the cubic law parameterization for self-affine surface roughness and fracture closure

Kottwitz, Maximilian O.; Popov, Anton A.; Baumann, Tobias S.; Kaus, Boris J. P.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-947-2020

Articles | Volume 11, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-947-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Faults, fractures, and fluid flow in the shallow crust

https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-947-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 11, issue 3

Research article

|

29 May 2020

Research article |

| 29 May 2020

The hydraulic efficiency of single fractures: correcting the cubic law parameterization for self-affine surface roughness and fracture closure

Maximilian O. Kottwitz, Anton A. Popov, Tobias S. Baumann, and Boris J. P. Kaus

Model code and software

LaMEM – Lithosphere and Mantle Evolution Model B. Kaus https://bitbucket.org/bkaus/lamem/src/master/

Short summary

In this study, we conducted 3-D numerical simulations of fluid flow in synthetically generated fractures that statistically reflect geometries of naturally occurring fractures. We introduced a non-dimensional characterization scheme to relate fracture permeabilities estimated from the numerical simulations to their geometries in a unique manner. By that, we refined the scaling law for fracture permeability, which can be easily integrated into discrete-fracture-network (DFN) modeling approaches.