scholarly journals Characterizing fractured rock for fluid-flow, geomechanical, and paleostress modeling; methods and preliminary results from Yucca Mountain, Nevada

1993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Cramer Barton ◽  
Eric Larsen ◽  
W.R. Page ◽  
T.M. Howard
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Flow ◽  
Fractured Rock ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Modeling Methods

Migration of Solutes in Unsaturated, Fractured Rock at Yucca Mountain: Measurements, Mechanisms, and Models

1995 ◽  
Vol 412 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Wolfsberg ◽  
B. A. Robinson ◽  
J. T. Fabryka-Martin
Keyword(s):  
Solute Transport ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Fractured Rock ◽  
Yucca Mountain ◽  
Nuclear Waste Repository ◽  
Transport Studies ◽  
And Performance ◽  
High Level ◽  
A Site

AbstractCharacterization and performance assessment (PA) studies for the potential high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain require an understanding of migration mechanisms and pathways of radioactive solutes. Measurements of 36C1 in samples extracted from boreholes at the site are being used in conjunction with recent infiltration estimates to calibrate a site-scale flow and solute transport model. This exercise using the flow and solute transport model, FEHM, involves testing different model formulations and two different hypotheses to explain the occurrence of elevated 36Cl in the Calico Hills unit (CHn) which indicates younger water than in the overlying Topopah Spring unit (TSw). One hypothesis suggests fast vertical transport from the surface via fractures in the TSw to the CHn. An alternative hypothesis is that the elevated 36C1 concentrations reflect rapid horizontal flow in the CHn or at the interface between the CHn and the TSw with the source being vertical percolation under spatially isolated regions of high infiltration or at outcrops of those units. Arguments in favor of and against the hypotheses are described in conjunction with the site-scale transport studies.

Validation of the Stress Predictions in Rolling EHL Contacts Having In-Line Roughness Using the Inverse Method

2006 ◽  
Vol 128 (4) ◽  
pp. 745-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Hooke ◽  
K. Y. Li
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Flow ◽  
Inverse Method ◽  
Rough Surfaces ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Plane Flow ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Rolling Contacts ◽  
Out Of Plane ◽  
Transverse Roughness

Using modern EHL programs it is relatively simple to determine the pressures and clearances in rough EHL contacts. The pressures may then be used to calculate the subsurface stresses in the two contacting components. However, the results depend on the assumptions made about the fluid’s rheology. While it is possible to measure the clearances using interferometric techniques, measurement of either the pressures or stresses is extremely difficult. However it is these, rather than the clearances, that determine the life of the contact. In previous papers the authors have described how the inverse method may be used to validate the stress predictions for contacts with transverse roughness. This type of contact has fluid flow in only one plane and it remained necessary to check the results for more general rough surfaces where the flow is three-dimensional. Accordingly, the inverse method is extended, in this paper, to a situation where out-of-plane flow is significant. The paper describes the approach and presents some preliminary results for rolling contacts.

scholarly journals A Novel Numerical Model for Fluid Flow in 3D Fractured Porous Media Based on an Equivalent Matrix-Fracture Network

Geofluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi Yao ◽  
Chen He ◽  
Jianhua Yang ◽  
Qinghui Jiang ◽  
Jinsong Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Porous Media ◽  
Fluid Flow ◽  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Fractured Rock ◽  
Fracture Network ◽  
Numerical Approach ◽  
Porous Matrix ◽  
Fractured Porous Media ◽  
Hydraulic Aperture ◽  
Matrix Fracture

An original 3D numerical approach for fluid flow in fractured porous media is proposed. The whole research domain is discretized by the Delaunay tetrahedron based on the concept of node saturation. Tetrahedral blocks are impermeable, and fluid only flows through the interconnected interfaces between blocks. Fractures and the porous matrix are replaced by the triangular interface network, which is the so-called equivalent matrix-fracture network (EMFN). In this way, the three-dimensional seepage problem becomes a two-dimensional problem. The finite element method is used to solve the steady-state flow problem. The big finding is that the ratio of the macroconductivity of the whole interface network to the local conductivity of an interface is linearly related to the cubic root of the number of nodes used for mesh generation. A formula is presented to describe this relationship. With this formula, we can make sure that the EMFN produces the same macroscopic hydraulic conductivity as the intact rock. The approach is applied in a series of numerical tests to demonstrate its efficiency. Effects of the hydraulic aperture of fracture and connectivity of the fracture network on the effective hydraulic conductivity of fractured rock masses are systematically investigated.

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