Experimental Reproducibility and Natural Variability of Hydraulic Transport Properties of Fractured Sandstone Samples
Flow and transport processes in fractured systems are not yet fully understood, and it is challenging to determine the respective parameters experimentally. Studies on 10 samples of 2 different sandstones were used to evaluate the reproducibility of tracer tests and the calculation of hydraulic tran...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Geosciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/10/11/458 |
| _version_ | 1797547967347949568 |
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| author | Sascha Frank Thomas Heinze Mona Ribbers Stefan Wohnlich |
| author_facet | Sascha Frank Thomas Heinze Mona Ribbers Stefan Wohnlich |
| author_sort | Sascha Frank |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Flow and transport processes in fractured systems are not yet fully understood, and it is challenging to determine the respective parameters experimentally. Studies on 10 samples of 2 different sandstones were used to evaluate the reproducibility of tracer tests and the calculation of hydraulic transport properties under identical boundary conditions. The transport parameters were determined using the advection–dispersion equation (ADE) and the continuous time random walk (CTRW) method. In addition, the fracture surface morphology and the effective fracture aperture width was quantified. The hydraulic parameters and their variations were studied for samples within one rock type and between both rock types to quantify the natural variability of transport parameters as well as their experimental reproducibility. Transport processes dominated by the influence of fracture surface morphology experienced a larger spread in the determined transport parameters between repeated measurements. Grain size, effective hydraulic aperture and dispersivity were identified as the most important parameters to evaluate this effect, as with increasing fracture aperture the effect of surface roughness vanishes and the experimental reproducibility increases. Increasing roughness is often associated with the larger effective hydraulic aperture canceling out the expected increased influence of the fracture surface morphology. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:52:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-33e66972cb1d400ba9862d5e4e309b98 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3263 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:52:39Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geosciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-33e66972cb1d400ba9862d5e4e309b982023-11-20T20:50:41ZengMDPI AGGeosciences2076-32632020-11-01101145810.3390/geosciences10110458Experimental Reproducibility and Natural Variability of Hydraulic Transport Properties of Fractured Sandstone SamplesSascha Frank0Thomas Heinze1Mona Ribbers2Stefan Wohnlich3Institute for Geology, Mineralogy and Geophysics, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44801 Bochum, GermanyInstitute for Geology, Mineralogy and Geophysics, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44801 Bochum, GermanyInstitute for Geology, Mineralogy and Geophysics, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44801 Bochum, GermanyInstitute for Geology, Mineralogy and Geophysics, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44801 Bochum, GermanyFlow and transport processes in fractured systems are not yet fully understood, and it is challenging to determine the respective parameters experimentally. Studies on 10 samples of 2 different sandstones were used to evaluate the reproducibility of tracer tests and the calculation of hydraulic transport properties under identical boundary conditions. The transport parameters were determined using the advection–dispersion equation (ADE) and the continuous time random walk (CTRW) method. In addition, the fracture surface morphology and the effective fracture aperture width was quantified. The hydraulic parameters and their variations were studied for samples within one rock type and between both rock types to quantify the natural variability of transport parameters as well as their experimental reproducibility. Transport processes dominated by the influence of fracture surface morphology experienced a larger spread in the determined transport parameters between repeated measurements. Grain size, effective hydraulic aperture and dispersivity were identified as the most important parameters to evaluate this effect, as with increasing fracture aperture the effect of surface roughness vanishes and the experimental reproducibility increases. Increasing roughness is often associated with the larger effective hydraulic aperture canceling out the expected increased influence of the fracture surface morphology.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/10/11/458tracer testssingle fracturedispersiondispersivityfracture surface |
| spellingShingle | Sascha Frank Thomas Heinze Mona Ribbers Stefan Wohnlich Experimental Reproducibility and Natural Variability of Hydraulic Transport Properties of Fractured Sandstone Samples Geosciences tracer tests single fracture dispersion dispersivity fracture surface |
| title | Experimental Reproducibility and Natural Variability of Hydraulic Transport Properties of Fractured Sandstone Samples |
| title_full | Experimental Reproducibility and Natural Variability of Hydraulic Transport Properties of Fractured Sandstone Samples |
| title_fullStr | Experimental Reproducibility and Natural Variability of Hydraulic Transport Properties of Fractured Sandstone Samples |
| title_full_unstemmed | Experimental Reproducibility and Natural Variability of Hydraulic Transport Properties of Fractured Sandstone Samples |
| title_short | Experimental Reproducibility and Natural Variability of Hydraulic Transport Properties of Fractured Sandstone Samples |
| title_sort | experimental reproducibility and natural variability of hydraulic transport properties of fractured sandstone samples |
| topic | tracer tests single fracture dispersion dispersivity fracture surface |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/10/11/458 |
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