The Numerical Simulation Of Hydraulic Property Of Swelling Material In Fractures

The frequent occurrences of landslide and debris flow have not only endangered the life and property of local residents, but also hindered the local economic development. Therefore, it is urgent to study the effective prediction and the prevention of these natural disasters. According to the investigation, the landslide rocks always contain swelling material in the fracture, which may result in the sliding. In this paper, the stress, strain and seepage properties of the swelling material will be explored based on its basic characteristics. The swelling material refers to the hydrophilic minerals, which can expand, soften, and even collapse with water and contract sharply with the loss of water. In the end of these cycles, the special clay is produced from periodic deformations. The volume of swelling material increases abruptly with long-duration precipitation, and decreased quickly with the losing water. During the periodic losing and gaining water in the swelling material, the produced expansion power will disturb the stresses of surrounding rocks. The strength of the stresses depends on the properties of swelling material. The more the swelling material is, the higher the expansion coefficient is.This study adopted ANSYS10.0 software and used 3-D finite element simulation to obtain the displacements, stresses and strains of 6,8, and 10 mm-wide-fractures. The ANSYS10.0 is popular software of finite element analysis, which is also the only CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) software with the ISO9001 certificate. Based on the similarity of seepage flow field and the distribution of temperature, this study applied Heat Analysis Module to simulate the seepage, and then, the results of hydraulic property of fractures in swelling material are obtained.The new findings of this study include:the mechanic impact of water on swelling material in the fracture, and the mechanical constitutive influences of swelling material in the fracture. The numerical simulation also indicates that the stresses on rock mass produced from the swelling with water could increased by ten times than before, and that the more the swelling material is, the greater the expansion pressure is. These findings are valuable for prediction and mitigation of future geologic disasters.