Fracture Analysis 2D

Description

This QGIS plugin can be used to extract lineament & fracture size, abundance and topological parameters from two-dimensional GIS polylines along with their topological branches and nodes. The results will be given as graphical plots.

The plugin is experimental and installation requires the installation of a few external python libraries. Installation is done using a Python script but requires some manual setup.

This plugin uses four types of vector data as inputs: traces (Polylines), branches (Polylines), nodes (Points) and areas (Polygons).

Traces can be manually or automatically digitized GIS polyline features from e.g. Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) digital elevation models (DEMs) or from drone orthophotography of bedrock outcrop surfaces. Branches and nodes are derived from NetworkGT. Areas are the interpretation boundaries of the traces and branches.

Example plots

Installation

The plugin is experimental and installation requires the manual installation of a few external Python libraries. Installation requirements and guide below.

• Installation Guide
  • Requirements and warnings
  • Installation using the installation script

Legacy Installation

WARNING

This is the legacy installation method without the complementary installation script. Usage entirely at your own risk. Updates to this guide are not guaranteed when Python dependencies change.

• Legacy Installation Guide
  • Requirements and warnings
  • External Python module installation with administrator access
  • External Python module installation without administrator access
  • Plugin installation from .zip file

Usage Guide

The plugin is controlled using a QGIS GUI interface. Guide below.

• Usage Guide
  • Outputs
  • Set limits
  • Grouping data and cut-offs for length distribution modelling
  • Input data table
  • Miscellanous

Updating Guide

Contains guide for updating the plugin.

• Updating Guide
  • Warning
  • Updating

Dependencies and References

References

Both branches and nodes are derived from NetworkGT. For their definition along with the definition of the plots and the plotted parameters, I refer you to multiple sources.

• Nyberg et al., 2018

  • NetworkGT Plugin introduction and guide.

  • NetworkGT GitHub

• Sanderson and Nixon, 2015

  • Trace and branch size, abundance and topological parameter definitions.

• My Master’s Thesis, Ovaskainen, 2020

  • Plots used in my Thesis were done with an older version of the same code used for this plugin.

• Sanderson and Peacock, 2020

  • Information about rose plots.

• Alstott et al. 2014

  • Length distribution modelling using the Python 3 powerlaw package.

  • powerlaw GitHub

• Bonnet et al., 2001

  • Length distribution modelling.

NetworkGT

This plugin has been built to only work with data extracted using another QGIS-plugin, NetworkGT (see: Nyberg et al., 2018):

The NetworkGT (Network Geometry and Topology) Toolbox is a set of tools designed for the geometric and topological analysis of fracture networks.

If the input data (traces) you have can be processed in NetworkGT into branches and nodes it is suitable for this plugin. NetworkGT is available for both QGIS and ArcGIS and branch and node data from both should be valid inputs into this plugin (as of 15.2.2020).

External Python modules

This plugin is dependant on external Python libraries (and their subsequent dependancies) that are not installed by default in QGIS.

• GDAL

• Fiona

• geopandas

• Python-ternary

• sklearn

• seaborn

• powerlaw

See Installation for installation guide.

Development

This plugin has been developed in PyCharm by setting the Python environment to mimic the environment of OSGeo4W Shell. Good guide for setup here.

Documentation for Python modules has been created using Autodoc. Autodoc has trouble running without setting the matplotlib backend to Qt5Agg. If you wish to remake documentation: Check conf.py and replace my ‘QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH’ with your own path.

The requirements_dev.txt file contains all pip packages (custom) installed within my QGIS environment. It is therefore not clean and contains packages that are not required for development. It should contain all required packages however when complemented with the QGIS environment Python 3 packages.

Tests

To successfully run the plugin tests using pytest:

• Open ./tests/__init__.py

• Change to these Path variables to point to your QGIS installation:

  qt5_plugins = Path(r'F:\OSGeo4W64\apps\Qt5\plugins')
  qt5_path = Path(r'F:\OSGeo4W64\apps\Qt5')
  qgis_apps_path = Path(r'F:\OSGeo4W64\apps')
  

• Installation folder of QGIS differs based on whether you installed with:

  • OSGeo4W Network Installer or QGIS Standalone Installer

  • Standalone installation typically in C:\Program Files\QGIS or similar path

make.bat

The make.bat file in the root directory runs with plain:

make

• Tests using pytest

• Updates requirements_dev.txt for currently installer pip packages

• sphinx to build documentation

• For pb_tool to archive the plugin as an installable .zip file:

  make zip
  

  • Requires a zip installer (e.g. 7zip) on PATH

• To deploy the plugin to your QGIS plugin folder:

  make deploy
  

  • This is the primary source installation method. See: pb_tool

  • And check ./pb_tool.cfg first

For Developers: Plugin documentation

• fracture_analysis_2d package
  • Subpackages
    • fracture_analysis_2d.fracture_analysis_kit package
      • Submodules
      • fracture_analysis_2d.fracture_analysis_kit.analysis_and_plotting module
      • fracture_analysis_2d.fracture_analysis_kit.main module
      • fracture_analysis_2d.fracture_analysis_kit.multiple_target_areas module
      • fracture_analysis_2d.fracture_analysis_kit.qgis_tools module
      • fracture_analysis_2d.fracture_analysis_kit.target_area module
      • fracture_analysis_2d.fracture_analysis_kit.tools module
      • Module contents
  • Submodules
  • fracture_analysis_2d.config module
  • fracture_analysis_2d.fracture_analysis_2d module
  • fracture_analysis_2d.fracture_analysis_2d_dialog module
  • fracture_analysis_2d.install_script module
  • fracture_analysis_2d.resources module
  • Module contents

Indices and tables

• Index

• Module Index

• Search Page