TY - JOUR

T1 - Multiscale modelling of hydro-mechanical couplings in quasi-brittle materials

AU - Zhuang, Xiaoying

AU - Wang, Qing

AU - Zhu, Hehua

N1 - Funding information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the supports from the NSFC Program (51474157, 41130751), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program: 2011CB013800), Shanghai Qimingxing Program (16QA1404000), State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology Key (SKLGDUEK1526), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. SLDRCE14-B-31).

PY - 2017/3

Y1 - 2017/3

N2 - A multiscale computational homogenization method for the modeling of hydro-mechanical coupling problem for quasi-brittle materials is developed. The present method is based on an asymptotic expansion homogenization combined with the semi-concurrent finite element modelling approach. Modified periodic boundary conditions and a molecular dynamics (MD) based inclusion or filler generation procedure are devised for the hydro-mechanical coupling problem. A modified elastic damage constitutive model and a damage induced permeability law have been developed for the hydraulic fracturing. The statistical convergence of the microscale representative volume element (RVE) model regarding the RVE characteristic size is studied. It was found that the RVE characteristic size is determined by both the mechanical and hydraulic properties of the RVE simultaneously. The present method is validated by the experimental results for brittle material. The damage zone and crack propagation path captured by the present method is compared with the experimental results (Chitrala et al. in J Pet Sci Eng 108:151–161, 2013). The results show that the present method is an effective for the modelling of hydro-mechanical coupling for brittle materials.

AB - A multiscale computational homogenization method for the modeling of hydro-mechanical coupling problem for quasi-brittle materials is developed. The present method is based on an asymptotic expansion homogenization combined with the semi-concurrent finite element modelling approach. Modified periodic boundary conditions and a molecular dynamics (MD) based inclusion or filler generation procedure are devised for the hydro-mechanical coupling problem. A modified elastic damage constitutive model and a damage induced permeability law have been developed for the hydraulic fracturing. The statistical convergence of the microscale representative volume element (RVE) model regarding the RVE characteristic size is studied. It was found that the RVE characteristic size is determined by both the mechanical and hydraulic properties of the RVE simultaneously. The present method is validated by the experimental results for brittle material. The damage zone and crack propagation path captured by the present method is compared with the experimental results (Chitrala et al. in J Pet Sci Eng 108:151–161, 2013). The results show that the present method is an effective for the modelling of hydro-mechanical coupling for brittle materials.

KW - Damage induced permeability

KW - Hydraulic fracture

KW - Hydro-mechanical couplings

KW - Multiscale modelling

KW - Statistical material properties

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85000402229&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10704-016-0139-1

DO - 10.1007/s10704-016-0139-1

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85000402229

VL - 204

SP - 1

EP - 27

JO - International Journal of Fracture

JF - International Journal of Fracture

SN - 0376-9429

IS - 1

ER -