Geophysical rock fracture imaging and earthquake process micromechnics

岩石破裂的研究对于理解地震，以及微裂缝如何有助于降低岩石和关键工程结构(如隧道、矿山、岩坡、大坝和石油储藏库)的强度和改变其行为具有重要意义。它还与了解和预测裂缝如何输送地下水、石油、天然气和废物，包括有毒和放射性废物有关。目前，岩石破裂的数字计算机模型是如此复杂，以至于我们有许多替代的方法来模拟行为，但我们受到严重缺乏受控实验室数据的限制，无法证明哪些方法和在什么情况下，计算机预测是有效的。当我们将裂隙岩石的水-热-力学行为视为3D中扩展时间尺度上的耦合过程时，这一点尤其正确。地球物理成像类似于医学成像，但使用地震、电层析成像和声发射(监听岩石破裂)，为监测裂缝过程的发展和检验数值模拟提供了强大的技术。加拿大创新基础设施基金(Young Lead PI)为“岩石破裂动力学设施”提供了一项补充拨款，该基金独一无二地集成了这项技术，为岩石物理变形实验和岩石破裂的3D数值建模提供了最先进的实验室。该设施位于多伦多大学拉松德工程地球科学研究所，将在这项研究中用于进行前所未有的实验室中尝试的岩石破裂创新实验。拟议的研究和基础设施为岩石物理和计算地质力学的研究生和博士后研究人员提供了一个难得的机会，并将有助于加拿大HQP的发展和培训。

The study of rock fracture is important in understanding earthquakes and also how microcracks contribute to reducing the strength and changing the behaviour of rock and critical engineering structures such as tunnels, mines, rock slopes, dams and petroleum reservoirs. It is also relevant to understanding and predicting how fractures transport groundwater, oil, gas and waste including toxic and radioactive waste. Currently numerical computer models of rock fracture are so sophisticated that we have numerous alternative methods of simulating behaviour, but we are limited by a critical lack of controlled laboratory data to prove which methods, and in what situations, the computer predictions are valid. This is especially true when we consider hydrological-thermal-mechanical behaviour of fractured rock as coupled processes over extended timescales in 3D. Geophysical imaging, analogous to medical imaging, but using seismic and electrical tomography and acoustic emission (listening to rock fracture), provide powerful techniques to monitor the development of fracture processes and test the numerical simulations. A complementary Canadian Foundation for Innovation Infrastructure grant (Young lead PI) for a "Rock Fracture Dynamics Facility" uniquely integrates this technology to provide a state-of-the-art laboratory for geophysical rock deformation experiments and 3D numerical modelling of rock fracture. This facility, housed at the Lassonde Institute for Engineering Geoscience, University of Toronto, will be used in this research to undertake innovative experiments on rock fracture never before attempted in the laboratory. The proposed research and infrastructure provide an exceptional opportunity for graduate students and post doctoral researchers in rock physics and computational geomechanics and will contribute to the development and training of HQP in Canada.