Particle tracking approach for transport in three-dimensional discrete fracture networks: Particle tracking in 3-D DFNs
Abstract
The discrete fracture network (DFN) model is a method to mimic discrete pathways for fluid flow through a fractured low-permeable rock mass, and may be combined with particle tracking simulations to address solute transport. However, experience has shown that it is challenging to obtain accurate transport results in three-dimensional DFNs because of the high computational burden and difficulty in constructing a high-quality unstructured computational mesh on simulated fractures. We present a new particle tracking capability, which is adapted to control volume (Voronoi polygons) flow solutions on unstructured grids (Delaunay triangulations) on three-dimensional DFNs. The locally mass-conserving finite-volume approach eliminates mass balance related problems during particle tracking. The scalar fluxes calculated for each control volume face by the flow solver are used to reconstruct a Darcy velocity at each control volume centroid. The groundwater velocities can then be continuously interpolated to any point in the domain of interest. The control volumes at fracture intersections are split into four pieces and the velocity is reconstructed independently on each piece, which results in multiple groundwater velocities at the intersection, one for each fracture on each side of the intersection line. This technique enables detailed particle transport representation through a complex DFN structure. Verifiedmore »
- Authors:
-
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1234426
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1265666
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-14-28539
Journal ID: ISSN 1420-0597; PII: 9525
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396; AC05-00OR22725
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Computational Geosciences
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 19; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 1420-0597
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; flow transport; discrete fracture network; control volume method; subsurface flow; numerical modeling; advective transport; particle tracking
Citation Formats
Makedonska, Nataliia, Painter, Scott L., Bui, Quan M., Gable, Carl W., and Karra, Satish. Particle tracking approach for transport in three-dimensional discrete fracture networks: Particle tracking in 3-D DFNs. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1007/s10596-015-9525-4.
Makedonska, Nataliia, Painter, Scott L., Bui, Quan M., Gable, Carl W., & Karra, Satish. Particle tracking approach for transport in three-dimensional discrete fracture networks: Particle tracking in 3-D DFNs. United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10596-015-9525-4
Makedonska, Nataliia, Painter, Scott L., Bui, Quan M., Gable, Carl W., and Karra, Satish. Wed .
"Particle tracking approach for transport in three-dimensional discrete fracture networks: Particle tracking in 3-D DFNs". United States. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10596-015-9525-4. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1234426.
@article{osti_1234426,
title = {Particle tracking approach for transport in three-dimensional discrete fracture networks: Particle tracking in 3-D DFNs},
author = {Makedonska, Nataliia and Painter, Scott L. and Bui, Quan M. and Gable, Carl W. and Karra, Satish},
abstractNote = {The discrete fracture network (DFN) model is a method to mimic discrete pathways for fluid flow through a fractured low-permeable rock mass, and may be combined with particle tracking simulations to address solute transport. However, experience has shown that it is challenging to obtain accurate transport results in three-dimensional DFNs because of the high computational burden and difficulty in constructing a high-quality unstructured computational mesh on simulated fractures. We present a new particle tracking capability, which is adapted to control volume (Voronoi polygons) flow solutions on unstructured grids (Delaunay triangulations) on three-dimensional DFNs. The locally mass-conserving finite-volume approach eliminates mass balance related problems during particle tracking. The scalar fluxes calculated for each control volume face by the flow solver are used to reconstruct a Darcy velocity at each control volume centroid. The groundwater velocities can then be continuously interpolated to any point in the domain of interest. The control volumes at fracture intersections are split into four pieces and the velocity is reconstructed independently on each piece, which results in multiple groundwater velocities at the intersection, one for each fracture on each side of the intersection line. This technique enables detailed particle transport representation through a complex DFN structure. Verified for small DFNs, the new simulation capability enables numerical experiments on advective transport in large DFNs to be performed. Furthermore, we demonstrate this particle transport approach on a DFN model using parameters similar to those of crystalline rock at a proposed geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel in Forsmark, Sweden.},
doi = {10.1007/s10596-015-9525-4},
journal = {Computational Geosciences},
number = 5,
volume = 19,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Sep 16 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Wed Sep 16 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
Web of Science
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