A comparative study of dual-porosity model and discrete fracture network model

The dual-porosity model and the discrete fracture network model are being used for the analysis of groundwater flow in a fractured aquifer. The dual-porosity model assumes that the porous medium consists of two continua at the macroscopic level, namely, fracture and matrix block. Saturated water flow in the matrix as well as in the fracture pore system is described by using two flow equations which are coupled by water transfer term. The discrete fracture network model assumes that only fracture forms paths for seeping water and that the conductivity in matrix block is neglected. The cubic law describing water flow through fractures, yields system of equations at each node. In this paper, it is attempted to investigate the applicability of the dual-porosity model and the discrete fracture network model and to establish a relationship between the dual-porosity approach and the discrete fracture network approach with a view to bridging the gap between two models.

[1]  R. Wagenet,et al.  Simulation of water and chemicals in macropore soils Part 1. Representation of the equivalent macropore influence and its effect on soilwater flow , 1992 .

[2]  Allen F. Moench,et al.  Double‐Porosity Models for a Fissured Groundwater Reservoir With Fracture Skin , 1984 .

[3]  Ronald C. Dykhuizen,et al.  Transport of solutes through unsaturated fractured media , 1987 .

[4]  Paul A. Witherspoon,et al.  Steady state flow in rigid networks of fractures , 1974 .

[5]  P. Germann,et al.  WATER FLOW IN SOIL MACROPORES II. A COMBINED FLOW MODEL , 1981 .

[6]  Robert Bibby,et al.  Mass transport of solutes in dual‐porosity media , 1981 .

[7]  James O. Duguid,et al.  Flow in fractured porous media , 1977 .

[8]  Chin-Fu Tsang,et al.  Flow and Contaminant Transport in Fractured Rock , 1993 .

[9]  E. A. Klavetter,et al.  A continuum model for water movement in an unsaturated fractured rock mass , 1988 .

[10]  Cheng-Haw Lee.  Flow in fractured rock. , 1990 .

[11]  J. S. Y. Wang,et al.  Validity of cubic law for fluid flow in a deformable rock fracture. Technical information report No. 23 , 1979 .

[12]  M. V. Genuchten,et al.  A dual-porosity model for simulating the preferential movement of water and solutes in structured porous media , 1993 .

[13]  G. I. Barenblatt,et al.  Basic concepts in the theory of seepage of homogeneous liquids in fissured rocks [strata] , 1960 .

[14]  M. V. Genuchten,et al.  Mass transfer studies in sorbing porous media. I. Analytical solutions , 1976 .

[15]  J. Bear,et al.  1 – Modeling Flow and Contaminant Transport in Fractured Rocks , 1993 .

[16]  K. H. Coats,et al.  Dead-End Pore Volume and Dispersion in Porous Media , 1964 .

[17]  R. C. Dykhuizen,et al.  A new coupling term for dual‐porosity models , 1990 .

[18]  J. E. Warren,et al.  The Behavior of Naturally Fractured Reservoirs , 1963 .

[19]  One-dimensional transient flow in a finite fractured aquifer system / Ecoulement transitoire unidimensionnel dans un aquifere fracture en communication avec une riviere , 1998 .

[20]  Horst H. Gerke,et al.  Evaluation of a first-order water transfer term for variably saturated dual-porosity flow models , 1993 .

[21]  Ricardo E. Barbosa-Carrillo.  Discrete element models for granular materials and rock masses , 1990 .

[22]  Per-Erik Jansson,et al.  Modelling water and solute transport in macroporous soil. I. Model description and sensitivity analysis , 1991 .

[23]  M. V. Genuchten,et al.  Models for simulating salt movement in aggregated field soils , 1986 .