Fractured Rock Hydraulics

ISBN-13: 9780415874182 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 188 str.

Fernando Olavo Franciss

Opis

Rock masses near the Earth surface, up to tens or hundreds meters depth, are not massive, but consist of distinct groups of almost planar discontinuities. Classified as ‘hard rock’ or, simply, ‘fractured rock’, the porosity of a collection of rock masses may range from 5 to 15% in consolidated clastic rock, to up to 25% in unconsolidated sands and gravels. Following this porosity, significant quantities of groundwater may saturate the rock masses fractures and other open discontinuities. This so-called free water (also known as gravity-driven water) drains and percolates under its own weight and is the core focus of this book.

With the growing need for water, knowledge of the hydraulics of saturated, porous rock , and the ability to translate this into hydraulic models, has proven to be essential to meet the growing need for groundwater supply in ‘hard rock’ areas, to enhance structural and environmental safety of engineering works supported by or excavated in hard rock and to optimize exploration performance in oil reservoir engineering .

Uniquely devoted to hard and fractured rock hydraulics, this book gives a thorough introduction to the subject and provides tools to solve practical engineering problems. The first part presents the fundamentals of fractured rock hydraulics under a tensor approach, including hydraulic tests for fractured rock masses. Secondly, key concepts about numerical methods and solutions are demonstrated. Subsequently, data analysis techniques are discussed for application in groundwater and hydrogeological modeling and the final part presents 3D finite difference techniques, including matrix-algorithms, to simulate the hydraulics of heterogeneous and anisotropic fractured rock masses.

Supported by multiple examples, historical case studies, illustrations and extensive references, this book provides an advanced-level introduction to fractured rock hydraulics. It is intended for professionals and researchers in hydrogeology, engineering geology, geophysics, and in petroleum reservoir, rock and hydraulic engineering. Given its explanatory nature, it is moreover recommended as an educational tool to teach advanced students in these areas.

Recenzje

“This book is a joy to read because of its extreme clarity, which is further enhanced by the clear layout and the frequent addition of explanatory examples.”
“I strongly recommend this book to everyone who is involved with fractured rock hydraulics — whether as student, teacher, researcher or engineer.”
John A Hudson
Emeritus Professor, Imperial College, UK
President, International Society for Rock Mechanics

Spis treści

Introduction; I. Fundamentals: Basic Concepts; Governing Equations; Addenda to Chapter I; II. Approximate Solutions: Overview; Differential Operators; Uniqueness of Solutions; Approximate Solution Errors; Approximation Methods; Addendum to Chapter II; III. Data analysis: Analyzing Geological Features; Handling of Hydraulic Head Data; Handling of Flow Rate Data; Handling of Hydraulic Conductivity Data; Hydraulic Transmissivity and Connectivity; Modeling Hydrogeological Systems; IV. Finite Differences: Finite Difference Basics; Finite Differences Algorithms for Fractured Rock Masses; subject index.