A Non-Local Model for Fracture Closure on Rough Fracture Faces and Asperities

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel integral transform-based method to model fracture closure on asperities, improving the understanding of fracture compliance crucial for subsurface applications like CO2 sequestration and geothermal energy.

Contribution

It presents a new modeling approach for fracture closure on rough faces, enhancing the accuracy of fracture compliance characterization in subsurface studies.

Findings

Effective modeling of fracture closure on asperities

Improved estimates of fracture compliance

Potential applications in subsurface engineering

Abstract

Fractures are ubiquitous in the subsurface. The flow and mechanical properties of these fractures are controlled by its compliance or stiffness. Characterizing fracture compliance is crucial in applications such as fault zone studies, underground CO2 sequestration, nuclear waste repositories and geothermal energy exploitation. In this study, we present a method to determine fracture compliance by modeling fracture closure on asperities using integral transform.