Hydraulic and Mechanical Apertures - Hydro-Mechanical Behaviour of Rock Joint under Low to High Confining Pressure(3/3)

The stress-dependent permeability of rock mass is a key issue of scientific or industrial study of geosciences. Hydro-mechanical behaviour of single rock joint will be studied using the YOKO 2 system under high confining pressure. To understand the normal stress effect on fluid flow through a single facture, the joint closure model will be proposed based on the measured (mechanical) closure of fracture resulting from the decreased void spaces when the confining stress increased. In addition, when the effect of fracture roughness and contact area is taken into account, the modified cubic law can be used to predict the fluid flow through rock fracture. As a result, the correlation between hydraulic and mechanical apertures can be identified under a confining stress up to 120 MPa. The results of this fundamental study will highly relevant to the understandings of fluid flow through the crust from shallow to a great depth.