Geologic Stochastic Modeling and Connectivity Assessment of Fracture Systems in the Boston Area

Summary The MIT stochastic model for representing fracture patterns has been applied to the Boston area. The model is a geometric-mechanical model, which means that underlying mechanisms are geometrically represented. In this paper the model is calibrated by comparing the fracture spacing and trace length simulated by the model with data collected by Billings (1976) in a number of tunnels in the Boston area. Following this, geometric fracture connectivity is investigated. This is done by recording in the model simulations, the number of interconnected fractures in so called sub-networks and by recording the geometric extents of these sub-networks. The results indicate limited horizontal but large vertical connectivity.