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Detailed Reference Information |
Pan, L. and Bodvarsson, G.S. (2002). Modeling transport in fractured porous media with the random-walk particle method: The transient activity range and the particle transfer probability. Water Resources Research 38: doi: 10.1029/2001WR000901. issn: 0043-1397. |
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Multiscale features of transport processes in fractured porous media make numerical modeling a difficult task, both in conceptualization and computation. Modeling the mass transfer through the fracture-matrix interface is one of the critical issues in the simulation of transport in a fractured porous medium. Because conventional dual-continuum-based numerical methods are unable to capture the transient features of the diffusion depth into the matrix (unless they assume a passive matrix medium), such methods will overestimate the transport of tracers through the fractures, especially for the cases with large fracture spacing, resulting in artificial early breakthroughs. We have developed a new method for calculating the particle transfer probability that can capture the transient features of diffusion depth into the matrix within the framework of the dual-continuum random-walk particle method by introducing a new concept of activity range of a particle within the matrix. Unlike the multiple-continuum approach, the new dual-continuum particle tracking method does not require using additional grid blocks to represent the matrix. It does not assume a passive matrix medium and can be applied to the cases where global water flow exists in both continua. The new method has been verified against analytical solutions for transport in the fracture-matrix systems with various fracture spacing. The calculations of the breakthrough curves of radionuclides from a potential repository to the water table in Yucca Mountain demonstrate the effectiveness of the new method for simulating three-dimensional, mountain-scale transport in a heterogeneous, fractured porous medium under variably saturated conditions. |
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Abstract |
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Keywords
Mathematical Geophysics, Modeling, Mathematical Geophysics, Numerical solutions, Physical Properties of Rocks, Fracture and flow, Hydrology, Groundwater transport, Hydrology, Unsaturated zone |
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Publisher
American Geophysical Union 2000 Florida Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009-1277 USA 1-202-462-6900 1-202-328-0566 service@agu.org |
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