Experimental Investigations of Fracture Deformation, Flow, and Transport Using a Pressure‐Controlled Hele‐Shaw Cell and Digital Fabrication
Name
Water Resources Research - 2023 - Villamor‐Lora - Experimental Investigations of Fracture Deformation Flow and Transport.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
5.22 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
e0f47aabc960726300ab0934859db9fd
Author(s)
Villamor‐Lora, Rafael
Germaine, John T
Einstein, Herbert H
Date Issued
March 2, 2023
Journal
Water Resources Research
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Citation
Villamor‐Lora, Rafael, Germaine, John T and Einstein, Herbert H. 2023. "Experimental Investigations of Fracture Deformation, Flow, and Transport Using a Pressure‐Controlled Hele‐Shaw Cell and Digital Fabrication." Water Resources Research, 59 (8).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
In this paper we present a novel pressure‐controlled Hele‐Shaw cell to investigate different physical processes in rough fractures using 3D‐printed rock analogs. Our system can measure high‐resolution fracture aperture and tracer concentration maps under relevant field stress conditions. Using a series of hydraulic and visual measurements, combined with numerical simulations, we investigate the evolving fracture geometry characteristics, pressure‐dependent hydraulic transmissivity, flow channeling, and the nature of mass transport as a function of normal stress. Our experimental results show that as the fracture closes and deforms under increasing normal loading: (a) the contact areas grow in number and size; (b) the flow paths become more focused and tortuous; and (c) the transport dynamics of conservative tracers evolve toward a higher dispersive regime. Moreover, under the applied experimental conditions, we observed excellent agreement between the simulated‐ and the experimentally measured‐hydraulic behavior.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
10.1029/2022wr032290
