| Abstract: | A computational procedure for simulating heat conduction in fractured rock masses is proposed and illustrated within the context of the finite element method. The procedure makes use of simple local models for conduction in the vicinity of a single open fracture. The local models allow effective thermal properties for fractured rock to be expressed in terms of fracture characteristics such as spacing, orientation and aperture. The distributions of fractures and fracture properties within the finiteelement model are derived from a statistical representation of geological field data. The procedure is demonstrated to satisfactorily reproduce heat transfer results across single fractures and provide an efficient means of representing conduction in formations with multiple fractures. |
