The scale dependence of dispersivity in multi-faces heterogeneous sediments

Dai, Zhenxue; Dong, Shuning; Li, Jingsheng

Title: The scale dependence of dispersivity in multi-faces heterogeneous sediments

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Abstract

Early work on stochastic modeling of the transport of inert solutes in porous media assumed that log conductivity could be characterized by a single, finite integral scale representing the spatial correlation of log conductivity. In this study, we focused on representing log conductivity across different scales so that the integral scale may be neither finite nor single valued. We characterize the scaling of the variance and correlation of log conductivity, and the macrodispersivity, through considering a multitude of field observations and scaling experiments. Based on a general composite covariance function of log conductivity in multi-faces sediments, we developed the macrodispersion coefficient equations for the solute transport in three-dimensional porous formations. Then we derived the longitudinal dispersivity to show the scale dependence of this parameter. With an example, the time evolution trends and the relative contributions of the auto- and cross-facies transition terms to the macrodispersion have been discussed. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the values of the longitudinal dispersion coefficient are positively correlated to facies mean length and the difference of the mean log conductivity between different facies. The longitudinal dispersivity coefficient also shows clearly a linear dependence on the composite variance of the log conductivity in the multi-facies sediments. Themore »« less

Authors:

Dai, Zhenxue ^[1]; Dong, Shuning ^[2]; Li, Jingsheng ^[3]

Los Alamos National Laboratory
CHANGAN UNIV
COAL MING RESEARCH

Publication Date:: Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2008

Research Org.:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE

OSTI Identifier:: 960452

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-08-04833; LA-UR-08-4833
TRN: US201006%%1124

DOE Contract Number:: AC52-06NA25396

Resource Type:: Journal Article

Journal Name:: J. of Hydrogology and Engineering Geology (in Chinese)

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Name: J. of Hydrogology and Engineering Geology (in Chinese)

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 58 GEOSCIENCES; AQUIFERS; CORRELATIONS; DISPERSIONS; EQUATIONS; INTEGRALS; LENGTH; SCALING; SEDIMENTS; SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS; SIMULATION; SOLUTES; STOCHASTIC PROCESSES; TRANSPORT

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                    Dai, Zhenxue, Dong, Shuning, and Li, Jingsheng. The scale dependence of dispersivity in multi-faces heterogeneous sediments.  United States: N. p., 2008. 
        Web.

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                    Dai, Zhenxue, Dong, Shuning, & Li, Jingsheng. The scale dependence of dispersivity in multi-faces heterogeneous sediments.  United States.

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                    Dai, Zhenxue, Dong, Shuning, and Li, Jingsheng. 2008.  
        "The scale dependence of dispersivity in multi-faces heterogeneous sediments".  United States.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/960452.

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@article{osti_960452,

  title        = {The scale dependence of dispersivity in multi-faces heterogeneous sediments},

  author       = {Dai, Zhenxue and Dong, Shuning and Li, Jingsheng},

  abstractNote = {Early work on stochastic modeling of the transport of inert solutes in porous media assumed that log conductivity could be characterized by a single, finite integral scale representing the spatial correlation of log conductivity. In this study, we focused on representing log conductivity across different scales so that the integral scale may be neither finite nor single valued. We characterize the scaling of the variance and correlation of log conductivity, and the macrodispersivity, through considering a multitude of field observations and scaling experiments. Based on a general composite covariance function of log conductivity in multi-faces sediments, we developed the macrodispersion coefficient equations for the solute transport in three-dimensional porous formations. Then we derived the longitudinal dispersivity to show the scale dependence of this parameter. With an example, the time evolution trends and the relative contributions of the auto- and cross-facies transition terms to the macrodispersion have been discussed. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the values of the longitudinal dispersion coefficient are positively correlated to facies mean length and the difference of the mean log conductivity between different facies. The longitudinal dispersivity coefficient also shows clearly a linear dependence on the composite variance of the log conductivity in the multi-facies sediments. The scientific results from this study provide a methodology to compute the effective dispersivity using aquifer structure and statistical parameters.},

  doi          = {},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/960452},
  journal      = {J. of Hydrogology and Engineering Geology (in Chinese)},
number       = ,

  volume       = ,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2008},

  month        = {Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2008}

}

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