Rapid imbibition of water in fractures within unsaturated sedimentary rock
Abstract
The spontaneous imbibition of water and other liquids into gas-filled fractures in variably-saturated porous media is important in a variety of engineering and geological contexts. However, surprisingly few studies have investigated this phenomenon. In this paper, we present a theoretical framework for predicting the 1-dimensional movement of water into air-filled fractures within a porous medium based on early-time capillary dynamics and spreading over the rough surfaces of fracture faces. The theory permits estimation of sorptivity values for the matrix and fracture zone, as well as a dispersion parameter which quantifies the extent of spreading of the wetting front. Quantitative data on spontaneous imbibition of water in unsaturated Berea sandstone cores were acquired to evaluate the proposed model. The cores with different permeability classes ranging from 50 to 500 mD and were fractured using the Brazilian method. Spontaneous imbibition in the fractured cores was measured by dynamic neutron radiography at the Neutron Imaging Prototype Facility (beam line CG-1D, HFIR), Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Water uptake into both the matrix and the fracture zone exhibited square-root-of-time behavior. The matrix sorptivities ranged from 2.9 to 4.6 mm s-0.5, and increased linearly as the permeability class increased. The sorptivities of the fracture zones rangedmore »
- Authors:
-
- University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, TX (United States)
- Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- China University of Geosciences, Wuhan (China)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1271882
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1249695
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Advances in Water Resources
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 77; Journal ID: ISSN 0309-1708
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Neutron radiography; Fractured porous media; Unsaturated flow; Capillarity; Fluid spreading; Rough surfaces
Citation Formats
Cheng, Chu-Lin, Perfect, Edmund, Donnelly, B., Bilheux, Hassina Z., Tremsin, Anton S., McKay, L. D., Distefano, Victoria H., Cai, J. C., and Santodonato, Louis J. Rapid imbibition of water in fractures within unsaturated sedimentary rock. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2015.01.010.
Cheng, Chu-Lin, Perfect, Edmund, Donnelly, B., Bilheux, Hassina Z., Tremsin, Anton S., McKay, L. D., Distefano, Victoria H., Cai, J. C., & Santodonato, Louis J. Rapid imbibition of water in fractures within unsaturated sedimentary rock. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2015.01.010
Cheng, Chu-Lin, Perfect, Edmund, Donnelly, B., Bilheux, Hassina Z., Tremsin, Anton S., McKay, L. D., Distefano, Victoria H., Cai, J. C., and Santodonato, Louis J. Tue .
"Rapid imbibition of water in fractures within unsaturated sedimentary rock". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2015.01.010. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1271882.
@article{osti_1271882,
title = {Rapid imbibition of water in fractures within unsaturated sedimentary rock},
author = {Cheng, Chu-Lin and Perfect, Edmund and Donnelly, B. and Bilheux, Hassina Z. and Tremsin, Anton S. and McKay, L. D. and Distefano, Victoria H. and Cai, J. C. and Santodonato, Louis J.},
abstractNote = {The spontaneous imbibition of water and other liquids into gas-filled fractures in variably-saturated porous media is important in a variety of engineering and geological contexts. However, surprisingly few studies have investigated this phenomenon. In this paper, we present a theoretical framework for predicting the 1-dimensional movement of water into air-filled fractures within a porous medium based on early-time capillary dynamics and spreading over the rough surfaces of fracture faces. The theory permits estimation of sorptivity values for the matrix and fracture zone, as well as a dispersion parameter which quantifies the extent of spreading of the wetting front. Quantitative data on spontaneous imbibition of water in unsaturated Berea sandstone cores were acquired to evaluate the proposed model. The cores with different permeability classes ranging from 50 to 500 mD and were fractured using the Brazilian method. Spontaneous imbibition in the fractured cores was measured by dynamic neutron radiography at the Neutron Imaging Prototype Facility (beam line CG-1D, HFIR), Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Water uptake into both the matrix and the fracture zone exhibited square-root-of-time behavior. The matrix sorptivities ranged from 2.9 to 4.6 mm s-0.5, and increased linearly as the permeability class increased. The sorptivities of the fracture zones ranged from 17.9 to 27.1 mm s-0.5, and increased linearly with increasing fracture aperture width. The dispersion coefficients ranged from 23.7 to 66.7 mm2 s-1 and increased linearly with increasing fracture aperture width and damage zone width. Both theory and observations indicate that fractures can significantly increase spontaneous imbibition in unsaturated sedimentary rock by capillary action and surface spreading on rough fracture faces. Fractures also increase the dispersion of the wetting front. In conclusion, further research is needed to investigate this phenomenon in other natural and engineered porous media.},
doi = {10.1016/j.advwatres.2015.01.010},
journal = {Advances in Water Resources},
number = ,
volume = 77,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jan 27 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Tue Jan 27 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}
Web of Science
Works referenced in this record:
Capillary Rise in a Single Tortuous Capillary
journal, May 2010
- Jian-Chao, Cai; Bo-Ming, Yu; Mao-Fei, Mei
- Chinese Physics Letters, Vol. 27, Issue 5
An NMR study of single- and two-phase flow in fault gouge filled fractures
journal, March 2002
- Chen, Q.; Kinzelbach, W.
- Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 259, Issue 1-4
Dispersion in Porous Media
book, January 1971
- Fried, J. J.; Combarnous, M. A.
- Advances in Hydroscience
Pore-Scale Simulation of Dispersion in Porous Media
journal, December 2009
- Garmeh, Gholamreza; Johns, Russell Taylor; Lake, Larry W.
- SPE Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 04
Water sorptivity of mortars and concretes: a review
journal, June 1989
- Hall, C.
- Magazine of Concrete Research, Vol. 41, Issue 147
Characterization of fluid flow in a shear band in porous rock using neutron radiography: LOCAL FLUID FLOW IN A SHEAR BAND
journal, June 2013
- Hall, Stephen A.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 40, Issue 11
Theoretical model for the wetting of a rough surface
journal, September 2008
- Hay, K. M.; Dragila, M. I.; Liburdy, J.
- Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Vol. 325, Issue 2
Wicking within forests of micropillars
journal, August 2007
- Ishino, C.; Reyssat, M.; Reyssat, E.
- Europhysics Letters (EPL), Vol. 79, Issue 5, Article No. 56005
Quantification of water penetration into concrete through cracks by neutron radiography
journal, June 2009
- Kanematsu, M.; Maruyama, I.; Noguchi, T.
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 605, Issue 1-2
Diffusivity and Sorptivity of Berea Sandstone Determined using Neutron Radiography
journal, March 2013
- Kang, M.; Perfect, E.; Cheng, C. L.
- Vadose Zone Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 3
An experimental study of spontaneous imbibition in fractured sandstone with contrasting sedimentary layers
journal, July 2009
- Karpyn, Z. T.; Halleck, P. M.; Grader, A. S.
- Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Vol. 67, Issue 1-2
Macrodispersion for two-phase, immiscible flow in porous media
journal, January 1994
- Langlo, Peder; Espedal, Magne S.
- Advances in Water Resources, Vol. 17, Issue 5
Liquids in porous media
journal, December 1990
- Lenormand, R.
- Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 2, Issue S
The Brazilian Disc Test for Rock Mechanics Applications: Review and New Insights
journal, May 2012
- Li, Diyuan; Wong, Louis Ngai Yuen
- Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, Vol. 46, Issue 2
Capillary Rise of Liquids over a Microstructured Solid Surface
journal, November 2011
- Liu, Wen; Li, Yulong; Cai, Yuguang
- Langmuir, Vol. 27, Issue 23
Models Relating Solute Dispersion to Pore Space Geometry in Saturated Media: A Review
book, October 2015
- Perfect, Ed; Sukop, Michael C.
- Physical and Chemical Processes of Water and Solute Transport/Retention in Soils, Vol. 56
Neutron imaging of hydrogen-rich fluids in geomaterials and engineered porous media: A review
journal, February 2014
- Perfect, E.; Cheng, C. -L.; Kang, M.
- Earth-Science Reviews, Vol. 129
The Theory of Infiltration: 4. Sorptivity and Algebraic Infiltration Equations
journal, January 1957
- Philip, J. R.
- Soil Science, Vol. 84, Issue 3
Experimental and analytical study of multidimensional imbibition in fractured porous media
journal, October 2002
- Rangel-German, E. R.; Kovscek, A. R.
- Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Vol. 36, Issue 1-2
Sorptivity: a reliable measurement for surface absorption of masonry brick units
journal, August 2001
- Taha, M. M. Rada; El-Dieb, A. S.; Shrive, N. G.
- Materials and Structures, Vol. 34, Issue 7
Bulk Density Determination by Automated Three-Dimensional Laser Scanning
journal, November 2008
- Rossi, Ann M.; Hirmas, Daniel R.; Graham, Robert C.
- Soil Science Society of America Journal, Vol. 72, Issue 6
Weathering and Porosity Formation in Subsoil Granitic Clasts, Bishop Creek Moraines, California
journal, January 2010
- Rossi, Ann M.; Graham, Robert C.
- Soil Science Society of America Journal, Vol. 74, Issue 1
Influence of microcracking on water absorption and sorptivity of ECC
journal, July 2008
- Şahmaran, Mustafa; Li, Victor C.
- Materials and Structures, Vol. 42, Issue 5
NIH Image to ImageJ: 25 years of image analysis
journal, June 2012
- Schneider, Caroline A.; Rasband, Wayne S.; Eliceiri, Kevin W.
- Nature Methods, Vol. 9, Issue 7
Visualization of water penetration in cementitious materials with superabsorbent polymers by means of neutron radiography
journal, August 2012
- Snoeck, D.; Steuperaert, S.; Van Tittelboom, K.
- Cement and Concrete Research, Vol. 42, Issue 8
Surface-zone flow along unsaturated rock fractures
journal, February 2001
- Tokunaga, Tetsu K.; Wan, Jiamin
- Water Resources Research, Vol. 37, Issue 2
Improved efficiency of high resolution thermal and cold neutron imaging
journal, February 2011
- Tremsin, A. S.; McPhate, J. B.; Vallerga, J. V.
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 628, Issue 1
High resolution neutron counting detectors with microchannel plates and their applications in neutron radiography, diffraction and resonance absorption imaging
journal, November 2012
- Tremsin, A. S.
- Neutron News, Vol. 23, Issue 4
Neutron radiography with sub-15μm resolution through event centroiding
journal, October 2012
- Tremsin, Anton S.; McPhate, Jason B.; Vallerga, John V.
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 688
High Resolution Photon Counting With MCP-Timepix Quad Parallel Readout Operating at $> 1~{\rm KHz}$ Frame Rates
journal, April 2013
- Tremsin, Anton S.; Vallerga, John V.; McPhate, Jason B.
- IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 60, Issue 2
Use of neutron radiography and tomography to visualize the autonomous crack sealing efficiency in cementitious materials
journal, July 2012
- Van Tittelboom, Kim; Snoeck, Didier; Vontobel, Peter
- Materials and Structures, Vol. 46, Issue 1-2
Water sprints uphill on glass
journal, December 2010
- Vorobyev, A. Y.; Guo, Chunlei
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 108, Issue 12
The Dynamics of Capillary Flow
journal, March 1921
- Washburn, Edward W.
- Physical Review, Vol. 17, Issue 3
Stochastic Analysis of Immiscible Two-Phase Flow in Heterogeneous Media
journal, December 1999
- Dongxiao, Zhang; Tchelepi, Hamdi
- SPE Journal, Vol. 4, Issue 04
Neutron imaging of water penetration into cracked steel reinforced concrete
journal, April 2010
- Zhang, P.; Wittmann, F. H.; Zhao, T.
- Physica B: Condensed Matter, Vol. 405, Issue 7
Observation and quantification of water penetration into Strain Hardening Cement-based Composites (SHCC) with multiple cracks by means of neutron radiography
journal, August 2010
- Zhang, P.; Wittmann, F. H.; Zhao, T. J.
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 620, Issue 2-3
Neutron radiography, a powerful method to determine time-dependent moisture distributions in concrete
journal, December 2011
- Zhang, Peng; Wittmann, Folker H.; Zhao, Tie-jun
- Nuclear Engineering and Design, Vol. 241, Issue 12