Numerical simulations of vein evolution contribute to a better understandingof processes involved in their formation and possess the potential to provideinvaluable insights into the rock deformation history and fluid flow pathways.The primary aim of the present article is to investigate the influence of arealistic boundary condition, i.e. an algorithmically generated fractalsurface, on the vein evolution in 3-D using a thermodynamically consistentapproach, while explaining the benefits of accounting for an extradimensionality. The 3-D simulation results are supplemented by innovativenumerical post-processing and advanced visualization techniques. The newmethodologies to measure the tracking efficiency demonstrate the importance ofaccounting the temporal evolution; no such information is usually accessible infield studies and notoriously difficult to obtain from laboratory experimentsas well. The grain growth statistics obtained by numerically post-processingthe 3-D computational microstructures explain the pinning mechanism which leadsto arrest of grain boundaries/multi-junctions by crack peaks, thereby,enhancing the tracking behavior.
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