Learning

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Customized Engineering Training Courses

Software Tutorials

FLAC3D 7.0 Unstructured Mesh Tutorial

A tutorial showing how to create an unstructured mesh in FLAC3D 7.0 using the extruder pane.

Plotting 3D Isosurfaces

This tutorial demonstrates how you can add isosurfaces to your 3D Itasca model plots.

An Introduction to Python Scripting: Part 2

Introduction to Python scripting by reviewing key concepts and through demonstrations. Part 2 focuses on classes and objects plus lists and dictionaries.

Technical Papers

GPR-inferred fracture aperture widening in response to a high-pressure tracer injection test at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory, Sweden

We assess the performance of the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) method in fractured rock formations of very low transmissivity (e.g. T ≈ 10−9–10−10 m2/s for sub-mm apertures) and, more specifically, to image fracture widening induced by high-pressure injections. A field-scale experiment was conducted at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (Sweden) in a tunnel situated at 410 m depth. The tracer test was performed within the most transmissive sections of two boreholes separated by 4.2 m. The electrically resistive tracer solution composed of deionized water and Uranine was expected to lead to decreasing GPR reflections with respect to the saline in situ formation water.

Connectivity, permeability, and channeling in randomly distributed and kinematically defined discrete fracture network models

A major use of DFN models for industrial applications is to evaluate permeability and flow structure in hardrock aquifers from geological observations of fracture networks. The relationship between the statistical fracture density distributions and permeability has been extensively studied, but there has been little interest in the spatial structure of DFN models, which is generally assumed to be spatially random (i.e., Poisson). In this paper, we compare the predictions of Poisson DFNs to new DFN models where fractures result from a growth process defined by simplified kinematic rules for nucleation, growth, and fracture arrest.

Caving in the Fabian Orebody —from Mining Stope to Cave Crater in Malmberget

The Fabian orebody is a non-daylighting iron orebody in the LKAB Malmberget Mine in northern Sweden. During 2010, a prognosis of the cave development in the Fabian area was developed, based on compilation and analysis of all available material. In March 2012, a new cave crater formed on the ground surface above the Fabian orebody, similar to what was predicted. The prognosis is compared with observations of the caving and the differences and implications quantified. A program for continued monitoring of mining-induced deformation in Malmberget is also described and a criterion for allowable mining-induced surface deformations is proposed.