On the implementation of a hydro-mechanical coupling model in the numerical manifold method

By using the MC system (mathematical cover system) and the PC system (physical cover system), the NMM (numerical manifold method) is able to cope with continuum and discontinuum problems in the same framework. In this study, a HM (hydro-mechanical) coupling model which is based on the cubic law is incorporated into the NNM for the purpose of modeling multiple crack propagation problems driven by water flow. A series of numerical examples have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed numerical model. The results show that the proposed numerical model can not only simulate the processes of multiple crack propagation driven by fluid flow, but also can carry out hydraulic analysis of fissured rock networks with high accuracy.