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Laboratory investigation of matrix imbibition from a flowing fracture
Author(s) -
Tidwell Vincent C.,
Glass Robert J.,
Peplinski William
Publication year - 1995
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 - 10.1029/95gl01097
Subject(s) - imbibition , matrix (chemical analysis) , geology , fracture (geology) , hydraulic conductivity , flow (mathematics) , measure (data warehouse) , slab , geotechnical engineering , volcano , porous medium , mechanics , petrology , mineralogy , porosity , materials science , soil science , physics , geophysics , seismology , composite material , soil water , botany , germination , biology , database , computer science
Predicting fluid flow and transport behavior in unsaturated, fractured rock is greatly simplified where matrix imbibition can be modeled as a linear function of the square root of time (t 1/2 ); however, such treatment implicitly assumes homogenous matrix properties. To investigate matrix heterogeneity effects, we perform a simple experiment in which x‐ray imaging is used to measure the imbibition of water from a flowing fracture into a slab of volcanic tuff. Experimental results show matrix imbibition to follow a linear t 1/2 relationship even though the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the tuff varies by over four orders of magnitude.