Fluid flow through a large vertical crack in the earth's crust

The crack profile and stress intensity factors for a two dimensional crack with fluid flowing through it were determined. The entrance and exit portals for the fluid were placed away from the tips of the crack. For cracks of half heights greater than fifty meters with fluid flowing through them of viscosity and density of that of water, it was found that the crack profile and stress intensity factors were essentially the same as that of fluid filled crack in which the fluid was stationary. The extension of the theory of fluid flow through vertical cracks was developed by taking into account a source and a sink positioned on the crack axis. Both kinematical and dynamical aspects of the flow field were utilized to establish the fundamental equations and boundary conditions of the flow system. The functional equation was then reduced to an integral equation and a general solution was found.