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Software Tutorials

Working with Building Blocks in FLAC3D 6 (Part 1)

This video demonstrates using a library set of Building Blocks as a starting point for creating a new model. In this example, cylindrical blocks are snapped together to represent a tunnel and intersected with other blocks representing a nearby wall.

Plotting Borehole Core Data using Geometry and FISH

In this example, you will see how to create your own custom plot of drill core data containing location, orientation, depth, and geotechnical data (lithography. fracture count, rock strength, weathering, and RMR).

FLAC3D 6 Introductory Webinar

This video is a recording of a one hour webinar reviewing the latest features in Version 6 of FLAC3D (currently available as a pre-release). Presented by Dr. David Russell, FLAC3D Product Manager and Lead Developer.

Technical Papers

Input to Orepass Design — A Numerical Modeling Study

Orepass design guidelines required for potentially continued mining at depth. Rock strength and stress state were validated through comparison with observed fallouts in orepasses and shafts and the optimal orientation and location of orepasses for future mining were determined.

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.

GPR-inferred fracture aperture widening in response to a high-pressure tracer injection test at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory, Sweden

We assess the performance of the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) method in fractured rock formations of very low transmissivity (e.g. T ≈ 10−9–10−10 m2/s for sub-mm apertures) and, more specifically, to image fracture widening induced by high-pressure injections. A field-scale experiment was conducted at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (Sweden) in a tunnel situated at 410 m depth. The tracer test was performed within the most transmissive sections of two boreholes separated by 4.2 m. The electrically resistive tracer solution composed of deionized water and Uranine was expected to lead to decreasing GPR reflections with respect to the saline in situ formation water.