A Non-Local Model for Fracture Closure on Rough Fracture Faces and Asperities

Fractures are ubiquitous in the subsurface. The flow and mechanical properties of these fractures are controlled by its compliance or stiffness. Characterizing fracture compliance is crucial in applications such as fault zone studies, underground CO2 sequestration, nuclear waste repositories and geothermal energy exploitation. In this study, we present a method to determine fracture compliance by modeling fracture closure on asperities using integral transform.