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Influence of Small‐Scale Heterogeneities on Contaminant Transport in Fractured Crystalline Rock
Author(s) -
Mettier Ralph,
Kosakowski Georg,
Kolditz Olaf
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2006.00236.x
Subject(s) - advection , fracture (geology) , geology , scale (ratio) , continuous time random walk , aperture (computer memory) , mechanics , dispersion (optics) , geometry , geotechnical engineering , random walk , mineralogy , physics , mathematics , optics , thermodynamics , statistics , quantum mechanics , acoustics
We present a sequence of purely advective transport models that demonstrate the influence of small‐scale geometric inhomogeneities on contaminant transport in fractured crystalline rock. Special weight is placed on the role of statistically generated variable fracture apertures. The fracture network geometry and the aperture distribution are based on information from an in situ radionuclide retardation experiment performed at Grimsel test site (Swiss Alps). The obtained breakthrough curves are fitted with the advection dispersion equation and continuous‐time random walks (CTRW). CTRW is found to provide superior fits to the late‐arrival tailing and is also found to show a good correlation with the velocity distributions obtained from the hydraulic models. The impact of small‐scale heterogeneities, both in fracture geometry and aperture, on transport is shown to be considerable.