Geophysical rock fracture imaging and earthquake process micromechnics

岩石断裂的研究对于理解地震以及微裂缝如何降低岩石和关键工程结构（如隧道、矿山、岩坡、水坝和油藏）的强度和改变其行为非常重要。这也与理解和预测裂缝如何输送地下水、石油、天然气和包括有毒和放射性废物在内的废物有关。目前，岩石破裂的数值计算机模型非常复杂，我们有许多模拟行为的替代方法，但我们严重缺乏受控的实验室数据，无法证明哪种方法以及在什么情况下，计算机预测是有效的。当我们考虑裂隙岩石的水文-热-力学行为是三维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，但使用地震和电层析成像和声发射（听岩石破裂），为监测破裂过程的发展和测试数值模拟提供了强大的技术。加拿大创新基础设施基金会（Young lead PI）为“岩石断裂动力学设施”提供了补充资助，该设施独特地集成了该技术，为地球物理岩石变形实验和岩石断裂的3D数值模拟提供了最先进的实验室。该设备位于多伦多大学Lassonde工程地球科学研究所，将用于本研究中进行从未在实验室中尝试过的岩石断裂创新实验。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绝佳的机会，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.