Development of a hydro-mechanical local degradation approach and its application to modelling fluid flow during progressive fracturing of heterogeneous rocks

A series of numerical experiments that replicate laboratory-scale rock specimens have been performed to simulate fracture development and the associated evolution of fluid flow. Two independent statistical distributions are used to represent mechanical and hydraulic heterogeneity, and an uncoupled hydro-mechanical algorithm is used to investigate local variations of permeability induced by mechanical damage, and how these influence macroscopic flow patterns. The model is shown to be capable of reproducing, and allowing visualisation of, a range of hydro-mechanical responses of rock that, until now, have only been monitored in the laboratory.