Micro-scale studies of unsaturated flow in fractured media
- Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States); and others
Transport of water and solutes through fractured porous media is influenced by a wide variety of complex phenomena including preferential flow, fracture-matrix interactions, and entrapment of the air phase. We have developed a new method for constructing glass fracture-matrix micromodels which provide direct visualization and quantification of the aforementioned phenomena in fracture systems. In the fracture-matrix micromodels, sequential etching provides the necessary contrast between matrix pore-sizes and fracture apertures. Direct visualization of pore-scale flow fields and measurements of local velocity profiles were made possible through tracing trajectories of suspended fluorescent microspheres under a microscope. Results obtained thus far include direct measurements of parabolic velocity profiles in water-saturated fractures, details of flowlines associated with trapped air-water interfaces in partially-saturated fractures, and evidence for preferential unsaturated wedge flow along lines of contact between blocks. In general, micromodel experiments are useful for testing conceptual models concerning transport, and for detecting previously unobservable pore-scale phenomena.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098
- OSTI ID:
- 127084
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9504179-; TRN: 96:004725
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 6. annual international conference on high level radioactive waste management, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 30 Apr - 5 May 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of High level radioactive waste management: Proceedings; PB: 811 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Interpretation of chemical and isotopic data from boreholes in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada
Micro-PIV measurements of multiphase flow of water and liquid CO2 in 2-D heterogeneous porous micromodels