• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.237-247
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• 2002

A total of 18 stress measurements were performed in the rock and rock-like blocks in the laboratory to estimate the influence of anisotropy in rock. Full scale overcoring equipment, which consists of a coring machine and a biaxial loading system by flat jacks, was developed to simulate the in-situ rock stress condition in the laboratory By comparing the isotropic analysis with the anisotropic analysis in measuring the stress, conclusions have been drawn as to the influence of anisotropy. The maximum difference between the isotropic and the anisotropic analysis was 34% and it was shown that the stress measurement considering the anisotropy was needed. To confirm the validity of the observed data, a diagnostic analysis of stress relief curve by overcoring was conducted using the three dimensional finite difference program, FLAC 3D.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.197-213
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• 2019

We simulated the fault reactivation experiment conducted at 'Main Fault' intersecting the low permeability clay formations of Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory in Switzerland using TOUGH-FLAC simulator. The fluid flow along a fault was modelled with solid elements and governed by Darcy's law with the cubic law in TOUGH2, whereas the mechanical behavior of a single fault was represented by creating interface elements between two separating rock blocks in FLAC3D. We formulate the hydro-mechanical coupling relation of hydraulic aperture to consider the elastic fracture opening and failure-induced dilation for reproducing the abrupt changes in injection flow rate and monitoring pressure at fracture opening pressure. A parametric study was conducted to examine the effects of in-situ stress condition and fault deformation and strength parameters and to find the optimal parameter set to reproduce the field observations. In the best matching simulation, the fracture opening pressure and variations of injection flow rate and monitoring pressure showed good agreement with field experiment results, which suggests the capability of the numerical model to reasonably capture the fracture opening and propagation process. The model overestimated the fault displacement in shear direction and the range of reactivated zone, which was attributed to the progressive shear failures along the fault at high injection pressure. In the field experiment results, however, fracture tensile opening seems the dominant mechanism affecting the hydraulic aperture increase.