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Fracture intersections as integrators for unsaturated flow
Author(s) -
Wood Thomas R.,
Nicholl Michael J.,
Glass Robert J.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2002gl015551
Subject(s) - intersection (aeronautics) , flow (mathematics) , mechanics , volume (thermodynamics) , volumetric flow rate , geology , simple (philosophy) , fracture (geology) , integrator , capillary action , environmental science , geotechnical engineering , physics , computer science , thermodynamics , telecommunications , engineering , aerospace engineering , philosophy , epistemology , bandwidth (computing)
A simple experiment finds that fracture intersections can act to integrate unsaturated flows, such that regular, low flows entering the intersection from above are transformed into large, less frequent pulses below. At low flows, our simple intersection forms two capillary barriers. Water from above pools at the intersection until sufficient pressure builds to breach the barriers and discharge stored fluid. The barriers then reform and the process is repeated. At low flows, the volume discharged from the intersection remains relatively uniform across a range of flow rates. At higher flows, discharge volume is highly variable, and a viscous stabilized non‐pulsating regime occurs at the highest flow rate that we considered.