Effects of Quantification of Complex Flow Patterns from Experiments of Rock Analogue and Rock Analogue Mixed with Chemical Impurities (Graphite)

Abstract

This is a work-piece of quantifying fractures in complex flow patterns. I carried out experiments of rock analogue and also a rock analogue mixed with chemical substance like graphite. Rock analogue is a structure that is similar in function to a rock but the origin or chemical composition is different. The rock analogue used in this experiment was fine-grained starch. The experiment reveals the fractal and fracture nature in flow patterns as different forms of weight % and different acts of viscosities and densities exhibit different forms and sizes of fractures. To quantify this flow experiment, two different methods of fractal geometry could be applied, namely the MORFA and Box-counting. It could be observed that the higher and better the linear correlation, the lower the value of the fractal dimension and vice-versa. The average fractal dimension (D_f) values for the fractures or cracks with graphite (1.61) corresponds better to the D_f values of Takayasu, NASA, Hirata, Barton and that of the general D_f data for geophysics, than the D_f values without graphite (1.62). These values on earthquakes, joints and faults give revelation of the partings of weaknesses through which the magma flows to produce magmatic rocks. During intensive earthquake the crust undergoes deformation in the form of faulting or jointing. These places of weaknesses act as channel ways for the transmission of heat from the lower layers to the upper layers of the earth crust.