Experimental Investigation of Nonlinear Flow Characteristics of Real Rock Joints under Different Contact Conditions
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 3
Abstract
Laboratory experiments were conducted on three artificial rock joints with natural characteristics to study the nonlinear fluid flow characteristics in a single joint under different contact conditions. A noncontact, three-dimensional stereotopometric measurement instrument was used to measure the three-dimensional surface morphology of rock joints before they were tested. Subsequently, the composite morphology parameters of rock joints under different contact conditions were calculated by using self-programmed software. The experimental results showed that both the Forchheimer’s equation (emphatically discussed) and Izbash’s equation could provide an excellent description for the nonlinear fluid flow in a single joint. The linear coefficient and nonlinear coefficient of the Forchheimer’s law both generally decreased, and such rate of decrease was gradually reduced along with increasing offset distance. The value of linear coefficient approached zero and the value of coefficient was close to 2 with increment of offset distance to a certain extent. A factor was used for quantitatively estimating the nonlinear characteristics of fluid flow in single rock joint. In this work, a critical value was defined to classify the regime of fluid flow, which indicated that the inertial terms were more important than the viscous terms. These findings indicated that a non-Darcian turbulent flow in the single joint occurred with the Reynolds number ranging between 1,408.2 and 5,674.4 under high water pressure. For the first time, an empirical mathematical equation was proposed to describe the apparent transmissivity by a single joint by using the Reynolds number, the root-mean square height of the joint composite morphology, and the mean aperture under different contact conditions based on laboratory observations. These findings may be useful for the computational studies of coupled shear-flow properties flow in jointed rocks.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41327001 and No. 41472248), Open fund of State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University (sklhse-2015-D-03), the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program, No. 2011CB013800), and the program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (PCSIRT, IRT1029).
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Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 3 • March 2017
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©2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 22, 2016
Accepted: Jul 5, 2016
Published online: Oct 20, 2016
Published in print: Mar 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Mar 20, 2017
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