Journal
GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE
Volume 149, Issue 6, Pages 1065-1076Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0016756812000180
Keywords
joint spacing; statistics; saturation; stress analysis
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We show that spacing statistics can be obtained for all fracture densities by the same equation. Using the simple 'shear lag' theory, it is demonstrated that the results adequately fit experimental measurements. Theoretically, it is shown that two parameters are sufficient to characterize all spacing distributions. It is found that no real spacing saturation exists. Rather, a very low increase in joint densities occurs for a very high incremental stress increase. Moreover the transition to this kind of saturation is gradual and not abrupt. In this way the high density distributions with very small inter-joint distances, which pose a problem for saturation models, are directly explained. Correlation with creep experiments is also established. Comparison of our method with Weibull statistics is performed.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available