Numerical study on the evolution characteristics of contact and fluid flow in shear-induced rough joint

In order to investigate the influence of shear on contact characteristics and fluid flow evolution of rough rock fractures, a series of shear-flow tests were carried out by numerical experiments. Firstly, a sandstone specimen with a rough fracture was made in the laboratory, and the numerical model of the fracture was reconstructed in FLAC3D software. Experiments were conducted to investigate the depth of penetration of the fracture under different normal stress (1, 3, and 5 MPa) and shear displacement (2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 mm). By establishing the relationship between the shear direction and the apparent inclination of the fracture asperity, the effects on the asperity contact characteristics and seepage properties are explored. The results of the study indicated that the larger the normal stress the larger the surface contact section and the smaller the aperture, showing the opposite trend with increasing shear displacement. Positive apparent inclination distribution can effectively predict the location of shear damage during the shear process. Negative apparent dip implies that those regions increase permeability after shear, and decrease with increasing crack opening. Fracture seepage shows obvious nonlinear characteristics, where the nonlinear coefficients are 5-6 orders of magnitude larger than the linear coefficients. The critical Reynolds number Rec is used to distinguish the linear and nonlinear categories of fluid flow, and the calculated results show that the range of Rec is between 0.0081 and 0.11.3, and the Rec increases with shear displacement and decreases with normal stress.