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A constitutive-relationship model for film flow on rough fracture surfaces

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Abstract

Film flow on fracture surfaces may be an important mechanism for fast flow in unsaturated fractured rocks. Incorporating this mechanism into a numerical model requires knowledge of constitutive relationships for film flow. Based on fractal concepts and a conceptual argument of Tokunaga et al. that water films could be treated as analogues to water in unsaturated porous media, a simple constitutive-relationship model has been developed. The validity of the model is supported by excellent agreements between calculation results and experimental observations for two different fracture surfaces.

Résumé

L’écoulement en film sur les surfaces de fracture peut être un mécanisme important pour l’écoulement rapide dans les roches fracturées non saturées. L’incorporation de ce mécanisme dans un modèle numérique nécessite la connaissance des relations fondamentales pour l’écoulement en film. Basé sur des concepts fractals et sur un argument conceptuel de Tokunaga et al. selon lequel des films d’eau peuvent être considérés comme des analogues de l’eau en milieu poreux non saturé, un modèle simple des relations fondamentales a été développé. La validité de ce modèle est confirmée grâce à une excellente concordance entre les résultats du calcul et les observations expérimentales pour deux surfaces différentes de fractures.

Resumen

El flujo pelicular en la superficie de las fracturas puede ser un mecanismo importante para el flujo rápido en rocas fracturadas no saturadas. Incorporarlo en un modelo numérico requiere conocer las relaciones constitutivas del flujo pelicular. Se ha desarrollado un modelo de una relación constitutiva sencilla partiendo de conceptos fractales y de un argumento conceptual de Tokunaga et al., según el cual las películas de agua pueden ser tratadas como análogos del agua en medios porosos no saturados. La validez del modelo es corroborada por los excelentes ajustes entre los resultados numéricos y las observaciones experimentales en dos superficies de fracturas diferentes.

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Acknowledgments

We are indebted to Tetsu Tokunaga, Bo Bodvarsson and Guoping Lu at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for their critical and careful reviews of a preliminary version of this manuscript. We also appreciate the constructive comments from Managing Editor Perry Olcott, Dr. Fred J. Molz at Clemson University and an anonymous reviewer. This work was supported by the Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, US Department of Energy, through Memorandum Purchase Order EA9013MC5X between Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC, and the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The support is provided to Berkeley Lab through the US Department of Energy Contract no. DE-AC03-76SF00098.

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  1. Earth Sciences Division, MS 90–1116, Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California , 94706, USA

    H. H. Liu

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  1. H. H. Liu
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Correspondence to H. H. Liu.

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Liu, H.H. A constitutive-relationship model for film flow on rough fracture surfaces. Hydrogeology Journal 12, 237–240 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-003-0297-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-003-0297-x

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