Page 228 - Fundamentals of Computational Geoscience Numerical Methods and Algorithms

8.4 Test and Application Examples of the Particle Simulation Method 219

θ
( = 30 )
o

θ
( = 45 )
o

( =θ 60 )
o
Fig. 8.21 Effect of the dip angle of the underlying fault on crack generation within the computa-
tional model (Crack pattern with particles)

numerical method and the particle simulation method has been proposed in recent
years (Potyondy and Cundall 2004, Suiker and Fleck 2004, Fleck and Willis 2004).
Since the continuum-mechanics-based numerical method and particle simulation
method are used to simulate the elastic region and cracking region of a computa-
tional model respectively, the efficiency of the numerical simulation, as a whole,
can be greatly improved. Since the main purpose of this investigation is to extend
the application range of the particle simulation method from a laboratory scale into
a geological scale, the particular issue of combining the particle simulation method
with the continuum-mechanics-based numerical method is not discussed in detail
here, for the sake of saving space.
Keeping the initial geometry and material properties of the computational model
◦
◦
unchanged, three different dip angles, namely θ = 30 , θ = 45 and θ = 60 ,of
◦