In geosciences 3D geomechanical-numerical models are used to estimate the in-situ stress state. In such a model each geological unit is populated with the rock properties Young’s module, Poisson ratio, and density. Usually, each unit is assigned a single set of homogene-ous properties. However, variable rock properties are observed and expected within the same geological unit. Even within small volumes large variabilities may occur.
The Python script HIPSTER (Homogeneous to Inhomogeneous rock Properties for Stress TEnsor Research) provides an algorithm to include inhomogeneities in geomechanical-numerical models that use the solver Abaqus® or the MOOSE Framework. The user specifies the mean values for the rock properties Young's module, Poisson ratio and density, and their variability for each geological unit. The variability of the material properties is indi-vidually defined for each of the three rock properties in each geological layer. For each unit or unit subset HIPSTER generates a normal or uniform distribution for each rock property. From these distributions for each single element or subset of elements HIPSTER draws indi-vidual rock properties and writes them to a separate material file. This file defines differ-ent material properties for each element. The file is included in the geomechanical-numerical analysis solver deck and the numerical model is solved as usual.
HIPSTER is fully documented in the associated data report (Ziegler, 2021, https://doi.org/10.48440/wsm.2021.001) and can also be accessed at Github (http://github.com/MorZieg/hipster).
28 January 2021: Release of Version 1.3
Changelog v1.3
The following changes have been implemented compared to Version 1.01:
• Due to the end of the support for Python 2.x HIPSTER has been updated to run with Python 3.x.
• In addition to the assignment of material properties to individual elements, HIPSTER is now able to assign material properties to element sets as well.
• The range of output files has been extended to include the syntax of the MOOSE Framework.
• Several minor improvements in functionality and readability have been included:
− The main function has been cleaned and code was outsourced.
− A sanity check for the provided input is included.
− Several functions were cleaned and made more comprehensive.
− Additional comments have been included.
