Heterogeneity and implicated surface effects: Statistical, fractal formulation and relevant analytical solution (Q1913031)

Displacement gradients of a rock considered as a heteregeneous medium are treated as stationary fields. They are characterized by exponential or Gaussian auto-covariance functions and by the relevant scales of fluctuations. The statistical approach is compared with other selected micro-structural theories of quasi-homogeneous media, and an analogy between the fractal concepts and gradient theories is presented. The authors discuss the applicability of power scaling law, the influence of boundary conditions, and surface instability effects. Analytical solutions and numerical implementations help to understand the problems.