Abstract
Systematic analysis of the complexity of fracture systems, especially for three-dimensional (3D) fracture networks, is largely insufficient. In this work, we generate different fracture networks with various geometries with a stochastic discrete fracture network method. The fractal dimension (D) and the singularity variation in a multifractal spectrum (Δα) are utilized to quantify the complexity of fracture networks in different aspects (spatial filling and heterogeneity). Influential factors of complexity, including geometrical fracture properties and system size, are then systematically studied. We generalize the analysis by considering two critical (percolative and over-percolative) stages of fracture networks. At the first stage, κ (fracture orientation) is the most significant parameter for D, following a (fracture length) and L (system size). FD (fracture positions) has a weak correlation with D but a strong correlation with Δα. At the second stage, the sensitivity results of each geometrical parameter and the system size are the same as in stage one for D. For Δα, κ and FD become more significant. For both stages, there is a weak finite-size effect for D and no finite-size effect for Δα. Therefore, a large fracture system is more suitable for a stable fractal dimension estimation, but no requirement for the estimation of Δα. D and Δα are almost independent. Therefore, they can separately quantify different aspects of complexity.
•Complex fracture networks are generated in 3D by SDFN.•Fractal and multifractal descriptors characterize the complexities of 3D fracture networks.•Impacts of fracture geometries on the complexity of fracture networks are systematically evaluated.