A hierarchical-fractal approach for the rock reconstruction and numerical analysis

A novel reconstruction method is proposed to reconstruct porous rock model based on limited morphological information from experiments. X-ray Micro-CT observations and triaxial compressive tests are initially conducted to obtain the raw CT images and necessary mechanical parameters. Then, a hierarchical annealing algorithm is proposed to gain large profits in computational efficiency. Moreover, the fractal system control function with time variables and local histogram system control function are introduced to characterize the irregular and multi-scale features in rocks. Finally, the comparisons between the numerical results and experimental data show that the proposed novel reconstruction method has a powerful capacity to predict the properties of rocks for engineering purposes.