Hydromechanical Normal Deformation Experiments and Coupling to Fracture Surface Geometry

Abstract:

Civil engineering structures founded in fractured crystalline rock, such as the Fennoscandian Shield (Norway-Sweden-Finland) requires allowance for both stability and/or deformations of the rock mass and groundwater ingress and groundwater pressure changes. Coupling these issues could be the key to solving the challenges that arise from construction of e.g. hydropower dams, road and railroad tunnels, and most certainly the construction of nuclear waste repositories within fractured crystalline rock, all of which are currently planned in Sweden.

Excavation related deformation in fractures may cause groundwater leakage even from the most elaborate pre-excavation grouting works. A better understanding on hydraulically (or grouting) induced deformations in the near-field of tunnels, where the stress field is re-distributed due to the opening may both provide a basis for more accurate numerical modelling and grouting or excavation procedures that minimize the damage on the completed grouting fans.

Subjects of this study were experiments conducted as measurement of deformations in boreholes close to tunnels due to stepwise injection tests, and laboratory hydromechanical experiments conducted as flow and normal deformation measurements in a permeameter during cycles of up to 2.5 MPa confining pressure, and subsequent surface scanning of the samples for coupling of HM-results to geometric appearance, aperture and contact geometry.

When expressed in terms of hydraulic aperture (b) and fracture normal stiffness (k_n) the results of both in situ and lab experiments support a previously suggested relationship based on field data where k_n is inversely proportional to roughly b². The relationship was assumed to be valid for low compressive stress across fractures with limited previous deformation. One important data set used to establish the relationship was transmissivity and storage coefficients from hydraulic interference tests previously performed at Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory.