Zhenxiang Su

Zhenxiang Su

• PhD Candidate
  Office: 413 Davis Hall
  Email: zhenxiang_su ‘at’ berkeley ‘dot’ edu

Zhenxiang Su obtained his B.Eng in Civil Engineering in 2017 from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and M.S. in Civil Engineering in 2018 from University of California, Berkeley. Currently he is a PhD student in Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of University of California, Berkeley.

In the scope of the PhD, Zhenxiang is focusing on simulating fracture behaviors and hydraulic fracturing in 3d geo-materials using Lattice Element Method (LEM). Besides hydraulic-mechanical coupling, He may also try to simulate thermal effect in this process. He is also interested in the microscopic interaction between fluid and geo-materials, and crack tip behavior.

Sample simulation results

Hydraulic fracturing simulation on cubic specimens with pre-existent penny shape crack. The roughness of pre-existing crack, tensile and shear strength of lattice elements affect the fracture pattern.

Hydraulic fracturing simulation on samples under different pre-existing stress field. The principal stress affects the direction of crack development.

Interaction (crossing, arrested) between hydraulic fracturing and pre-existing fracture is affected by various parameters.

LEM is also suitable for simulating dry crack. A series of four-point-bending tests on a cement paste beam with different pre-existing notch at the middle are conducted experimentally and numerically. The results are shown below.