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Anomalous Transport in Three‐Dimensional Discrete Fracture Networks: Interplay Between Aperture Heterogeneity and Injection Modes
Author(s) -
Kang Peter K.,
Hyman Jeffrey D.,
Han Weon Shik,
Dentz Marco
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/2020wr027378
Subject(s) - tracer , mechanics , advection , aperture (computer memory) , tortuosity , lagrangian and eulerian specification of the flow field , eulerian path , geology , distribution (mathematics) , flow (mathematics) , mode (computer interface) , physics , lagrangian , geotechnical engineering , mathematics , mathematical analysis , thermodynamics , porosity , computer science , nuclear physics , acoustics , mathematical physics , operating system
We study how the interplay between fracture aperture heterogeneity and tracer injection mode controls fluid flow and tracer transport in three‐dimensional (3D) discrete fracture networks (DFNs). The direct 3‐D DFN simulations show that tracer injection mode has substantial effects on tracer spreading across all levels of aperture heterogeneity. The key controlling factor for effective transport is the initial Lagrangian velocity distribution, which is determined by the interplay between injection mode and aperture heterogeneity. The fundamental difference between initial Lagrangian velocity distribution and domain‐scale Eulerian velocity distribution plays a vital role in determining anomalous transport. We effectively capture the observed anomalous transport using an upscaled transport model that incorporates initial velocity distribution, stationary velocity distribution, velocity correlation length, and average advective tortuosity. With the upscaled transport model, we accurately capture the evolution of Lagrangian velocity distribution and predict longitudinal spreading in 3‐D DFN.