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Mechanical transport and porous media equivalence in anisotropic fracture networks

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5915169
;
The objective of this work is to investigate the directional characteristics of hydraulic effective porosity in an effort to understand porous medium equivalence for continuous and discontinuous fracture systems. Continuous systems contain infinitely long fractures. Discontinuous systems consist of fractures with finite lengths. The distribution of apertures (heterogeneity) has a major influence on the degree of porous medium equivalence for distributed continuous and discontinuous systems. When the aperture distribution is narrow, the hydraulic effective porosity is slightly less than the total porosity for continuous systems, and greater than the rock effective porosity for discontinuous systems. However, when heterogeneity is significant, the hydraulic effective porosity is directionally dependent and greater than total porosity for both systems. Non-porous medium behavior ws found to differ for distributed continuous systems and for continuous systems with parallel sets. For the latter systems, hydraulic effective porosity abruptly decreases below total porosity in those particular directions where the hydraulic gradient and the orientation of a fracture set are orthogonal. The results for the continuous systems with parallel sets also demonstrate that a system that behaves like a continuum for fluid flux may not behave like a continuum for mechanical transport. 3 references, 13 figures.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00098
OSTI ID:
5915169
Report Number(s):
LBL-18565; CONF-850101-9; ON: DE85008513
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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