Abstract:

The FractureToKarst software which is a main analysis tool in this paper and developed by the listed authors, is a DFN (Discrete Fracture Network) software. According to the Standard of Rock Fracture Classification established by ISRM in 1978, this paper discussed the existence and sizes of representative elementary volume (REV) of low-ductility fractured rock masses using the FractureToKarst and proposed a general method to determine the existence of REV. Combined with the existing study of the fractured-rock flow, the major results are concluded as follows: (1)in the rock masses when their average spacing is less than 0.6 m, the REV exists; (2)when their average spacing is more than 0.6 m, the REV does not exist.

Key words: fractured rock mass, percolation flow, representative elementary volume(REV), discrete element