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Transport of Neutrally Buoyant and Dense Variably Sized Colloids in a Two-Dimensional Fracture with Anisotropic Aperture

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Abstract

The transport of monodisperse as well as polydisperse colloid suspensions in a two-dimensional, water saturated fracture with spatially variable and anisotropic aperture is investigated with a particle tracking model. Both neutrally buoyant and dense colloid suspensions are considered. Although flow and transport in fractured subsurface formations have been studied extensively by numerous investigators, the transport of dense, polydisperse colloid suspensions in a fracture with spatially variable and anisotropic aperture has not been previously explored. Simulated snapshots and breakthrough curves of ensemble averages of several realizations of a log-normally distributed aperture field show that polydisperse colloids exhibit greater spreading than monodisperse colloids, and dense colloids show greater retardation than neutrally buoyant colloids. Moreover, it is demonstrated that aperture anisotropy oriented along the flow direction substantially increases colloid spreading; whereas, aperture anisotropy oriented transverse to the flow direction retards colloid movement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697-2175, USA

    Constantinos V. Chrysikopoulos

  2. Performance Assessment and Decision Analysis Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Carlsbad, NM, 88220, USA

    Scott C. James

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  1. Constantinos V. Chrysikopoulos
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  2. Scott C. James
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Chrysikopoulos, C.V., James, S.C. Transport of Neutrally Buoyant and Dense Variably Sized Colloids in a Two-Dimensional Fracture with Anisotropic Aperture. Transport in Porous Media 51, 191–210 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021952226861

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