Shear induced flow path evolution in rough-wall fractures: A Particle Image Velocimetry examination
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Date
2022-07
Publication Type
Journal Article
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yes
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Abstract
Rough-walled fractures in rock masses, as preferential pathways, largely influence fluid flow, solute and energy transport. Previous studies indicate that fracture aperture fields could be significantly modified due to shear displacement along fractures. We report experimental observations and quantitative analyses of flow path evolution within a single fracture, induced by shear displacement. Particle image velocimetry and refractive index matching tecques were utilized to determine fluid velocity fields inside a transparent 3D-printed shear-able rough fracture. Our analysis indicate that aperture variability and correlation length increase with the increasing shear displacement, and they are the two key parameters, which govern the increases in velocity variability, velocity longitudinal correlation length, streamline tortuosity, and variability of streamline spacing. The increase in aperture heterogeneity significantly impacts fluid flow behaviors, whilst changes in aperture correlation length further refine these impacts. To our best knowledge, our study is the first direct measurements of fluid velocity fields and provides insights into the impact of fracture shear on flow behavior.
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published
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Volume
610
Pages / Article No.
127793
Publisher
Elsevier
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Date collected
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Subject
Shear displacement; Flow variability; Rough-walled fracture; Particle image velocimetry (PIV); Refractive index matching; Correlation Length (C.L.)
Organisational unit
09494 - Saar, Martin O. / Saar, Martin O.
Notes
Funding
172760 - Solute and Particles swarms in bifurcating fractures: A new paradigm in imaging and characterizing flow structures and solute transport in three dimensions (SNF)
177031 - Geosystem Reactive Transport (GREAT) Visualisation Lab (SNF)
177031 - Geosystem Reactive Transport (GREAT) Visualisation Lab (SNF)
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