pySimFrac is a Python library for generating and analyzing 3D synthetic rough fracture surfaces. It supports stochastic generation using multiple methods and provides built-in tools for geostatistical analysis and integration with pore-scale and discrete fracture network (DFN) simulators.
🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/lanl/pySimFrac
📖 Paper: Guiltinan et al., Computers & Geosciences (2024) – DOI: 10.1016/j.cageo.2024.105665
📚 Docs: https://lanl.github.io/pySimFrac
Pysimfrac documentation can be found here
https://lanl.github.io/pySimFrac/
Or in the pysimfrac.pdf document in the main directory
- Three generation methods: Spectral, Gaussian, Box
- Generate realistic 3D fracture geometries with periodic boundary conditions
- Geostatistical analysis tools: moments, autocorrelation, PDFs, variograms
- Import real surface profilometry data
- Seamless integration with:
- Visualize surface topographies, aperture fields, and more
- Python ≥ 3.8
pip,setuptools ≥ 64, andwheel
Install required libraries:
pip install numpy scipy matplotlib seaborn scikit-gstat vedogit clone https://github.com/lanl/pySimFrac.git
cd pySimFrac
# Install build tool
pip install build
# Build and install
python -m build
pip install dist/pysimfrac-1.1-py3-none-any.whlfrom pysimfrac.general.simFrac import SimFrac
# Create a fracture using the spectral method
fracture = SimFrac(h=0.01, lx=3, ly=1, method="spectral", units="mm")
# Set generation parameters
fracture.params["H"]["value"] = 0.5
fracture.params["mean-aperture"]["value"] = 0.5
fracture.params["roughness"]["value"] = 0.5
# Generate and visualize
fracture.create_fracture()
fracture.plot_surfaces()
fracture.plot_aperture_field()pySimFrac enables generation of synthetic fractures using:
- Spectral methods: self-affine fractal surfaces with tunable Hurst exponent, anisotropy, and mismatch
- Convolution methods: Gaussian and box kernel smoothing for smooth, anisotropic surfaces
It includes statistical tools to analyze surfaces and apertures:
- Autocorrelation functions
- Probability density functions
- Variograms using SciKit-GStat
pySimFrac supports integration with:
- MP-LBM for single-phase flow
- dfnWorks for embedding variable aperture surfaces into DFNs
See full details in the Computers & Geosciences paper.
- 📚 Full documentation: https://lanl.github.io/pySimFrac
- 📓 Example notebooks: GitHub/examples
If you use pySimFrac in your research, please cite:
Guiltinan, E., Santos, J.E., Purswani, P., Hyman, J.D. (2024).
pySimFrac: A Python library for synthetic fracture generation and analysis.
Computers & Geosciences, 191, 105665.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cageo.2024.105665
BibTeX:
@article{guiltinan2024pysimfrac,
title={pySimFrac: A Python library for synthetic fracture generation and analysis},
author={Guiltinan, Eric and Santos, Javier E. and Purswani, Prakash and Hyman, Jeffrey D.},
journal={Computers \& Geosciences},
volume={191},
pages={105665},
year={2024},
publisher={Elsevier},
doi={10.1016/j.cageo.2024.105665}
}- Jeffrey Hyman – jhyman@lanl.gov
- Prakash Purswani – ppurswani@lanl.gov
- Eric Guiltinan – eric.guiltinan@lanl.gov
- Javier Santos – jesantos@lanl.gov
This project is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License. See the LICENSE file for details.
This program is Open-Source under the BSD-3 License.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
For questions or technical issues, contact:
- Eric Guiltinan – eric.guiltinan@lanl.gov
- Jeffrey Hyman – jhyman@lanl.gov
This program is Open-Source under the BSD-3 License.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.