Authors: Yanyan Li Jianping Chen Yanjun Shang
Publish Date: 2016/07/28
Volume: 50, Issue: 1, Pages: 241-249
Abstract
The hydraulic properties of a jointed rock mass are significantly controlled by fractures within the rock mass Connectivity of a fracture network is a measure of the extent to which fractures in the network are connected to each other and form flow paths which can be measured by the average number of intersections per fracture λ Ozkaya and Mattner 2003 the number of intersections per unit volume C1 Dershowitz et al 1998 and the intersection length per unit volume L1 Einstein and Locsin 2012 Evaluation of connectivity characteristics of naturally jointed rock masses is of great significance for some rock engineering designs such as the underground storage of spent nuclear fuel and the construction of dams at hydropower stations Li and Zhang 2010 In these activities improper assessment of connectivity may lead to considerable financial loss or social riskThis work was financially supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences No XDB10030100 the National Natural Science Foundation of China NSFC No 41372324 and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project No 2015M580135 We are grateful to the editor and two anonymous reviewers for excellent reviews that helped to improve the manuscript
Keywords: