Mechanical behavior of a rock fracture and mechanisms for the scale effect

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In this study, we experimentally and theoretically investigated mechanisms for scale effect on the mechanical behaviors of a rock fracture, and showed that the scale effect on the closure and shear behavior of a fracture under normal and shear stresses primarily depends on that on the standard deviation (SD) of the aperture. Furthermore, we proposed a method for estimating the hydraulic conductivity of a fracture with an arbitrary direction in the axes of principal stresses, and illustrated the variation in the hydraulic transmissivity with the direction of the fracture.