Numerical modeling of fluid flow in a fault zone: a case of study from Majella Mountain (Italy)

Romano, Valentina; Hyman, Jeffrey De'Haven; Karra, Satish; Valocchi, Albert J.; Battaglia, Maurizio; Bigi, Sabina

doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2017.08.191

Title: Numerical modeling of fluid flow in a fault zone: a case of study from Majella Mountain (Italy)

Abstract

We present the preliminary results of a numerical model of fluid flow in a fault zone, based on field data acquired at the Majella Mountain, (Italy). The fault damage zone is described as a discretely fractured medium, and the fault core as a porous medium. Our model utilizes dfnWorks, a parallelized computational suite, developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory to model the damage zone and characterizes its hydraulic parameters. We present results from the field investigations and the basic computational workflow, along with preliminary results of fluid flow simulations at the scale of the fault.

Authors:

Romano, Valentina ^[1];

^[2];

^[2]; Valocchi, Albert J. ^[3]; Battaglia, Maurizio ^[1]; Bigi, Sabina ^[1]

Sapienza Univeristy of Rome (Italy)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (United States)

Publication Date:: Thu Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2017

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

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE; Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD)

OSTI Identifier:: 1530784

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-18-25846
Journal ID: ISSN 1876-6102

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Energy Procedia

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 125; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 1876-6102

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 58 GEOSCIENCES; fluid flow; fracture network; fault; numerical modeling; CO2 storage

Citation Formats


                    Romano, Valentina, Hyman, Jeffrey De'Haven, Karra, Satish, Valocchi, Albert J., Battaglia, Maurizio, and Bigi, Sabina. Numerical modeling of fluid flow in a fault zone: a case of study from Majella Mountain (Italy).  United States: N. p., 2017. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2017.08.191.

Copy to clipboard


                    Romano, Valentina, Hyman, Jeffrey De'Haven, Karra, Satish, Valocchi, Albert J., Battaglia, Maurizio, & Bigi, Sabina. Numerical modeling of fluid flow in a fault zone: a case of study from Majella Mountain (Italy).  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.08.191

Copy to clipboard


                    Romano, Valentina, Hyman, Jeffrey De'Haven, Karra, Satish, Valocchi, Albert J., Battaglia, Maurizio, and Bigi, Sabina. Thu .  
"Numerical modeling of fluid flow in a fault zone: a case of study from Majella Mountain (Italy)".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.08.191.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1530784.

Copy to clipboard


                    
@article{osti_1530784,

  title        = {Numerical modeling of fluid flow in a fault zone: a case of study from Majella Mountain (Italy)},

  author       = {Romano, Valentina and Hyman, Jeffrey De'Haven and Karra, Satish and Valocchi, Albert J. and Battaglia, Maurizio and Bigi, Sabina},

  abstractNote = {We present the preliminary results of a numerical model of fluid flow in a fault zone, based on field data acquired at the Majella Mountain, (Italy). The fault damage zone is described as a discretely fractured medium, and the fault core as a porous medium. Our model utilizes dfnWorks, a parallelized computational suite, developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory to model the damage zone and characterizes its hydraulic parameters. We present results from the field investigations and the basic computational workflow, along with preliminary results of fluid flow simulations at the scale of the fault.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.egypro.2017.08.191},

  journal      = {Energy Procedia},

  number       = C,

  volume       = 125,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Thu Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2017},

  month        = {Thu Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2017}

}

Copy to clipboard

Journal Article:

Free Publicly Available Full Text

Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Publisher's Version of Record

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.08.191

Other availability

Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 6 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Figures / Tables:

Figure 1: Geological map of Majella Mountain (modified after [7]).

All figures and tables (4 total)

Save / Share:

Export Metadata

Save to My Library

Figures / Tables found in this record:

Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.

Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections:

Hydraulic characterization of a fault zone from fracture distribution

Journal Article Romano, Valentina ; Bigi, Sabina ; Carnevale, Francesco ; ... - Journal of Structural Geology

A quantitative assessment of how faults control the migration of geofluids is critical in many areas of geosciences. Here we integrated geological fieldwork, quantitative analysis of the fractures distribution and numerical modeling to build a geometrical representation of a fault zone and to characterize its hydraulic properties. Our target is a fault located in the Majella Mountain (Italy). We collected 21 scan lines across the fault profile in order to characterize its architecture. The numerical modeling of the fracture network of the damage zones and their hydraulic parameters was performed using both commercial (Move^®) and open source software (dfnWorks andmore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2020.104036

Full Text Available
Studies of the role of fault zones on fluid flow using the site-scale numerical model of Yucca Mountain

Conference Wittwer, C S ; Chen, G ; Bodvarsson, G S

The three-dimensional grid of the site-scale model developed for the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain was used to perform two-dimensional simulations with the TOUGH2 computer program. The grid geometry consists of seventeen non-uniform layers which represent the lithological variations within the four main welded and non-welded hydrogeological units. The fault zones are explicitely modeled as porous medium using various assumptions regarding their permeabilities and characteristic curves. Matrix flow is approximated using the van Genuchten model, and the equivalent continuum approximation is used to account for fracture flow in the welded units. Steady state simulations are performed with various uniform infiltrationmore »« less
Multi-dimensional modeling of unsaturated flow in the vicinity of exploratory shafts and fault zones at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Conference Rockhold, M L ; Sagar, B ; Connelly, M P

Modeling studies were conducted to determine the potential effects of exploratory shafts on moisture distribution in the vicinity of an exploratory shaft facility, and the potential for development of perched water table conditions near fault zones in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Simulations were performed using PORFLO-3, an integrated finite-difference computer code designed to simulate fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transport in variably saturated porous and fractured media. Simulation results suggest that the modified permeability zones around exploratory shafts and faults may act as conduits for preferential flow of water in the welded tuff units at Yuccamore »« less
Preliminary numerical simulations of groundwater flow in the unsaturated zone, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Technical Report Rulon, J ; Bodvarsson, G S ; Montazer, P

Numerical simulations of the natural state of the unsaturated zone underlying Yucca Mountain, Nevada, were performed. The hydrogeology at Yucca Mountain is characterized by a fluid flow through heterogeneous, anisotropic, fractured tuff in an arid environment. The purpose of the study is to examine the general groundwater-flow patterns computed on the basis of the available data and to examine ideas contained in a proposed conceptual hydrologic model of the site. The model simulates two-dimensional liquid-water flow in a vertical cross section extending from the ground surface to the water table at a depth of about 650 m. Various fluxes representingmore »« less
The role of fault zone in affecting multiphase flow at Yucca Mountain

Conference Tsang, Y W ; Pruess, K ; Wang, J S.Y.

Within Yucca Mountain, the potential High Level Nuclear-Waste Repository site, there are large scale fault zones, most notably the Ghost Dance Fault. The effect of such high-permeability, large-scale discontinuities on the flow and transport is a question of concern in assessing the ability of the site to isolate radio-nuclides from the biosphere. In this paper, we present a numerical study to investigate the role of the fault in affecting both the liquid and gas phase flows in the natural state at Yucca Mountain prior to waste emplacement, as well as after the waste emplacement when the fluid flow is stronglymore »« less

Similar Records