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Experimental observations of fracture dissolution: The role of Peclet number on evolving aperture variability
Author(s) -
Detwiler Russell L.,
Glass Robert J.,
Bourcier William L.
Publication year - 2003
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 - 10.1029/2003gl017396
Subject(s) - dissolution , péclet number , materials science , permeability (electromagnetism) , advection , fracture (geology) , mineralogy , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemistry , composite material , thermodynamics , physics , chromatography , biochemistry , membrane
Dissolution of the surfaces of rock fractures can cause significant alteration of the fracture void space (aperture) and fracture permeability ( k ). Both surface reaction rates and transport of reactants within the fracture can limit local dissolution. We investigated the role of Peclet number ( Pe ), a measure of the relative importance of advective and diffusive transport of reactants, on fracture dissolution in two identical transparent analog fractures with different initial values of Pe ( Pe o ). High‐resolution light‐transmission techniques provided direct measurements of the evolving aperture field during each experiment. For Pe o = 54 distinct dissolution channels formed, while for Pe o = 216 we measured minimal channeling and a reduction in short wavelength aperture variability. The nature of the dissolution patterns strongly influenced the relative increase in k . A 110% increase in the mean aperture due to dissolution resulted in estimated permeability increases of 440% and 640% for the Pe o = 54 and Pe o = 216 experiments, respectively.