Fracture Intersections And Interface Waves

Laboratory experiments were performed on synthetic orthogonal fractures to determine the effect of intersections on fracture interface waves. Compressional and shear waves were propagated along fractures as well as along an intersection for a range of normal stresses (1.4 MPa to 14). At an intersection, the bulk shear was quenched and the existence of interface waves was independent of the polarization of the shear wave source. These intersection waves were observed to be highly sensitive to stress concentrations along the intersection including the orientation of the applied stress.