The Relation Between the Area and the Intensity of a Joint Set

Abstract

The statistical distributions used for the description of the area of a joint set are presented, as well as a study on the contribution of the different joint areas to the total fracturing induced by the joint set. The relation between the area and the intensity of a joint set is analysed, and it is shown that, if the joints with an area smaller than the mean area of the joint set are disregarded, the spacing of the remaining joints is nearly the same as the spacing of the complete joint set, but the mean area of the remaining joints is about the triple of the mean area of the complete joint set.