Hydrogeological Models of Water Flow and Pollutant Transport in Karstic and Fractured Reservoirs

Abstract

Water flow and solute transport models in fractured aquifers and rock outcrops have been extensively studied during the last 40 years. Many of these studies have focused on specific bedrock formations, such as the Stripa mine and Äspö Island, in Sweden, or the Yucca Mountain of Nevada, USA (Doughty, 1999), where radionuclide repositories have the potential to release radioactive pollutants into groundwater and/or surface water and pose a threat to human health. In particular, several studies concerning flow and transport models in fractured media have been published between 1980 and 2000(Moreno & Neretnieks, 1993Tsang et al., 2015). These studies mostly focused on fractured formations with few or discrete fractures (DF),

Karst water resources in a changing world: Review of solute transport modelling approaches

“…Model selection with a detailed understanding of its assumptions and limitations is one of the key steps for the successful transport modelling in karst systems. However, such a choice from a model plethora is not an easy task (Horton et al, 2022;Masciopinto et al, 2021) as each model has its own features (i.e., numerical formulations, parameters) that may be appropriate for a specific application and/or specified conditions (Figure 12). Certainly, the modeler's perceptual understanding on the karst flow and transport processes can also be judicious in selecting a candidate model structure (e.g., Cousquer & Jourde, 2022;Hartmann et al, 2013bHartmann et al, , 2014.…”

Network dynamics for modelling artificial groundwater recharge by a cluster of infiltration basins

“…A recent and simpler approach based on 1D Richards equation, together with a surface water balance equation as the upper boundary condition, has been proposed in (Farahi et al, 2017), by an implicit finite volume method. Even more complex would be a treatise of this peculiar problem by a Discrete Fracture Network approach (e.g., Berre et al, 2019; Masciopinto et al, 2021; Nordbotten et al, 2019), to be possibly combined with Richards' equation solvers (see for instance Berardi et al, 2020; Kumar et al, 2020).…”

“…Even more complex would be a treatise of this peculiar problem by a Discrete Fracture Network approach (e.g., Berre et al, 2019;Masciopinto et al, 2021;Nordbotten et al, 2019), to be possibly combined with Richards' equation solvers (see for instance Berardi et al, 2020;Kumar et al, 2020).…”

Implications of Local‐Scale Approximations on Describing Fluid Flow in Rock Fractures With Stress‐Induced Void Heterogeneity

“…Accurate description of fluid flow processes in fractured rock formations is essential to many subsurface applications for resource extraction and hazardous waste disposal (Acosta et al., 2020; Berkowitz, 2002; Brown et al., 1998; Gao, Xie, Gao, Lu et al., 2021; Gao, Xie, Guo, Wang et al., 2021; Pyrak‐Nolte & Nolte, 2016; Tsang, 1999; Zimmerman & Bodvarsson, 1996). In general, the discrete fracture network (DFN) approach manages to take into account the detailed geometric and hydraulic properties of individual fractures to compose more physically reasonable models for understanding and predicting complex flow‐related processes (Berkowitz, 2002; de Dreuzy et al., 2012; Jing & Stephansson, 2007; Masciopinto et al., 2021; Xu et al., 2018; Zareidarmiyan et al., 2021). Due to computational constrains, individual fractures of early DFN models are considered to have homogenous aperture fields, that is, constant apertures (Jing & Stephansson, 2007).…”

“…. In general, the discrete fracture network (DFN) approach manages to take into account the detailed geometric and hydraulic properties of individual fractures to compose more physically reasonable models for understanding and predicting complex flow-related processes (Berkowitz, 2002;de Dreuzy et al, 2012;Jing & Stephansson, 2007;Masciopinto et al, 2021;Xu et al, 2018;Zareidarmiyan et al, 2021). Due to computational constrains, individual fractures of early DFN models are considered to have homogenous aperture fields, that is, constant apertures (Jing & Stephansson, 2007).…”