Impact of stress on solute transport in a fracture network: A comparison study

Zhao, Zhihong; Rutqvist, Jonny; Leung, Colin; Hokr, Milan; Liu, Quansheng; Neretnieks, Ivars; Hoch, A. R.; Havlíček, Jiří; Wang, Yuan; Zhen, Wang; Wu, Yichu; Zimmerman, Robert W.

doi:10.1016/j.jrmge.2013.01.002

Cited by 40 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…A few recent studies have investigated the role of stress on solute transport in fracture networks (Jing et al, ; Nick et al, ; Rutqvist et al, ; Wang et al, ; Zhao et al, , , ) and have shown that geological stress can be a key determinant for the transport of solutes. These effects were investigated systematically for the first time by Zhao et al ().…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress‐Induced Anomalous Transport in Natural Fracture Networks

Kang

Lei

Dentz

et al. 2019

Water Resources Research

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We investigate the effects of geological stress on fluid flow and tracer transport in natural fracture networks. We show the emergence of non‐Fickian (anomalous) transport from the interplay among fracture network geometry, aperture heterogeneity, and geological stress. In this study, we extract the fracture network geometry from the geological map of an actual rock outcrop, and we simulate the geomechanical behavior of fractured rock using a hybrid finite‐discrete element method. We analyze the impact of stress on the aperture distribution, fluid flow field, and tracer transport properties. Both stress magnitude and orientation have strong effects on the fracture aperture field, which in turn affects fluid flow and tracer transport through the system. We observe that stress anisotropy may cause significant shear dilation along long, curved fractures that are preferentially oriented to the stress loading. This, in turn, induces preferential flow paths and anomalous early arrival of tracers. An increase in stress magnitude enhances aperture heterogeneity by introducing more small apertures, which exacerbates late‐time tailing. This effect is stronger when there is higher heterogeneity in the initial aperture field. To honor the flow field with strong preferential flow paths, we extend the Bernoulli Continuous Time Random Walk model to incorporate dual velocity correlation length scales. The proposed upscaled transport model captures anomalous transport through stressed fracture networks and agrees quantitatively with the high‐fidelity numerical simulations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress‐Induced Anomalous Transport in Natural Fracture Networks

Kang

Lei

Dentz

et al. 2019

Water Resources Research

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“…Due to these limitations, we adopt a one‐way coupling between the stress field and hydraulic fracture apertures that does not require meshing the matrix surrounding the fracture network but still provides an avenue for a preliminary understanding of the interplay of stress with flow and transport in three‐dimensional fracture networks. We adopt the model presented in Baghbanan and Jing (2008) that was developed for two‐dimensional fracture networks and has been used in several studies including a benchmark comparison (Zhao et al., 2013). We provide the key features of the model here and refer the reader to Baghbanan and Jing (2008) for the complete derivation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, Min et al (2004) and Baghbanan and Jing (2008) used numerical modeling to show how flow channeling (i.e., focusing of fluid along a few preferred pathways Tsang & Neretnieks, 1998) can be altered under different stress regimes, caused by changes in permeability within the fracture network. More recent work has shown how solute migration is also strongly affected by different stress conditions (i.e., magnitude and orientation) (Jing et al, 2013;Kang et al, 2019;Nick et al, 2011;Rutqvist, 2015;Wang et al, 2014;Zhao et al, 2010Zhao et al, , 2011Zhao et al, , 2013. Kang et al (2019) studied solute transport through critically stressed two-dimensional fracture networks, which were based on actual field measurements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress Effects on Flow and Transport in Three‐Dimensional Fracture Networks

Sweeney

Hyman

2020

JGR Solid Earth

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We investigate the effects of various external stress regimes on fracture apertures, fluid flow, and solute transport in three‐dimensional fracture networks. We use well‐established geomechanics equations coupled with discrete fracture network modeling to characterize changes in primary flow paths within a complex network as a function of stress magnitude and orientation. These changes manifest in the alterations of the fluid flow field and are measured in terms of Eulerian and Lagrangian flow observables including solute transport, which is a key problem in many hydrologic applications. Changes in primary flow paths affect the solute transport in the network by promoting anomalously early arrival or long tailing behavior. However, early time arrival is not ubiquitous in anisotropically stressed networks and in most cases there is a delayed arrival of solute, which is attributed to (i) the presence of low‐velocity zones normal to the flow direction, (ii) the angle between flow direction and major compressive principal stress directions, and (iii) changes in the primary flow paths (i.e., increases in tortuosity and active network structure). Overall, flows become more channelized in anisotropically stressed fracture networks than in unstressed and isotropically stressed networks.

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“…To keep the quality of the developed code high, benchmark testing is necessary; especially if scientists from different disciplinary and different organizations are working on the same code (Kolditz et al 2012, concentrated on OpenGeoSys). The codes used in this paper participate in such procedures-Flow123d in Hudson and Jing (2012) and Zhao et al (2013) and PFLOTRAN in Steefel et al (2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Real-case benchmark for flow and tracer transport in the fractured rock

et al. 2016

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The paper is intended to define a benchmark problem related to groundwater flow and natural tracer transport using observations of discharge and isotopic tracers in fractured, crystalline rock. Three numerical simulators: Flow123d, OpenGeoSys, and PFLOTRAN are compared. The data utilized in the project were collected in a water-supply tunnel in granite of the Jizera Mountains, Bedřichov, Czech Republic. The problem configuration combines subdomains of different dimensions, 3D continuum for hard-rock blocks or matrix and 2D features for fractures or fault zones, together with realistic boundary conditions for tunnel-controlled drainage. Steady-state and transient flow and a pulse injection tracer transport problem are solved. The results confirm mostly consistent behavior of the codes. Both the codes Flow123d and OpenGeoSys with 3D-2D coupling implemented differ by several percent in most cases, which is appropriate to, e.g., effects of discrete unknown placing in the mesh. Some of the PFLOTRAN results differ more, which can be explained by effects of the dispersion tensor evaluation scheme and of the numerical diffusion. The phenomenon can get stronger with fracture/matrix coupling and with parameter magnitude contrasts. Although the study was not aimed on inverse solution, the models were fit to the measured data approximately, demonstrating the intended real-case relevance of the benchmark.

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Impact of stress on solute transport in a fracture network: A comparison study

Cited by 40 publications

References 35 publications

Stress‐Induced Anomalous Transport in Natural Fracture Networks

Stress‐Induced Anomalous Transport in Natural Fracture Networks

Stress Effects on Flow and Transport in Three‐Dimensional Fracture Networks

Real-case benchmark for flow and tracer transport in the fractured rock

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