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纹如何有助于降低强度和改变岩石和关键工程结构（如隧道，矿山，岩石边坡，大坝和石油储层）的行为非常重要。它也与理解和预测裂缝如何运输地下水，石油，天然气和废物，包括有毒和放射性废物有关。目前，岩石破裂的数值计算机模型是如此复杂，以至于我们有许多替代方法来模拟行为，但我们受到严重缺乏受控实验室数据的限制，无法证明哪些方法以及在哪些情况下，计算机预测是有效的。这是特别正确的，当我们考虑的水文，热，力学行为的断裂岩石耦合过程在延长的时间尺度在3D。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（听岩石断裂），提供了强大的技术来监测断裂过程的发展和测试数值模拟。加拿大创新基础设施基金会为“岩石断裂动力学设施”提供的补充赠款（Young牵头PI）独特地整合了这一技术，为地球物理岩石变形实验和岩石断裂三维数值建模提供了最先进的实验室。该设施位于多伦多大学Lassonde工程地球科学研究所，将用于本研究，进行实验室从未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学和计算地质力学领域的研究生和博士后研究人员提供了绝佳的机会，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.