Learning

Software Tutorials

FLAC3D 7 0 Cutting Tool Tutorial

This tutorial will show how to use the Plot Item Cutting Tool in FLAC3D 7. Creating cut plans is useful for seeing inside 3D model plots. FLAC3D cutting planes include a single-surface plane, a double-surface wedge, and a three-surface octant.

MINEDW Tutorial (Part 1: Menu Options)

In this tutorial we will briefly cover the MINEDW user interface, its components, and the MINEDW Menu with the different options and tools it provides to build numerical models.

FLAC3D 6 0 Model Generation using the Building Blocks Handle

Technical Papers

Three-dimensional Modeling and Stress Calibration for a Complex Mining Geometry

Study stress situation for potential continued mining towards greater depths; stress calibration against stress measurements using numerical modeling; and use of calibrated model to study stresses at existing infrastructure, study stresses at potential future haulage level locations, and as input to local models.

Elastic Properties of Fractured Rock Masses With Frictional Properties and Power Law Fracture Size Distributions

We derive the relationships that link the general elastic properties of rock masses to the geometrical properties of fracture networks, with a special emphasis to the case of frictional crack surfaces.

We extend the well-known elastic solutions for free-slipping cracks to fractures whose plane resistance is defined by an elastic fracture (shear) stiffness ks and a stick-slip Coulomb threshold.

Flowback Test Analyses at the Utah Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy (FORGE) Site

Injection testing conducted in 2017 and 2019 at the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy site in Utah evaluated flowback as an alternative to prolonged shut-in periods to infer closure stress, formation compressibility, and formation permeability. Flowback analyses yielded lower inferred closure stresses than traditional shut-in methods and indicated high formation compressibility, suggesting an extensive fractured system. Numerical simulations showed rebound pressure is not necessarily the lower bound of minimum principal stress. Stiffness changes can be identified as depletion transitions from hydraulic to natural fractures. The advantage if flowback is reduced time to closure.