Fractured rocks in the subsurface are ubiquitous, and the dynamics of mass transfer in fractured rocks plays an important role in understanding the problem in engineering geology and environmental geology. In this study, the influence of shear displacement on fluid flow and solute transport in a 3D rough fracture was investigated. A 3D self-affine rough fracture was generated using the modified successive random addition (SRA) technology, and three sheared fractures with different shear displacements were constructed based on the mechanistic model. A direct numerical model based on the Navier-Stokes equation and the advection-diffusion equation was developed to solve the fluid flow and the solute transport. The results showed that shear displacement had a significant influence not only on the fluid flow but also on the solute transport. A global measure of the spatial variability of the flow velocity showed that the heterogeneity became weaker with decreasing shear displacement. All measured BTCs deviated from the Gaussian profile and exhibited the typical anomalous behaviors, such as the long tail and the early arrival. Although the best-fitted results of the advection-dispersion equation (ADE) model and mobile-immobile model (MIM) were generally consistent with those of the BTCs, the MIM was more capable than the ADE model for characterizing the shear-induced anomalous behavior of the BTCs. It was found that the mass exchange process between the immobile and mobile domains was enhanced in the sheared fractures while the fraction of the advection-dominant mobile domain decreased as the shear displacement increased. Furthermore, the deviation of the Taylor dispersion coefficient from the fitted dispersion coefficient by the ADE model and MIM in the sheared fractures was confirmed due to the influence of shear displacement.

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Soils and other geologic porous media often have contrasting grain size layers associated with a grain size transition zone between layers. However, this transition zone is generally simplified to a plane of zero thickness for modeling assumption, and its influence has always been neglected in previous studies. In this study, an approach combining a deposition process and a random packing process was developed to generate 3D porous media without and with consideration of the transition zone. The direct numerical models for solving the flow and concentration fields were implemented to investigate the influence of the grain size transition on flow and solute transport. Our results showed that although the transition zone occupied 13.6% of the entire layered porous medium, it had little influence on the distribution of flow velocity at the scale of the entire layered porous medium. However, the transition zone had a significant influence on the local flow field, which was associated with the increased spatial variability of velocity and the varied distribution of flow velocity. This varied local flow field could increase the solute residence time and delay the breakthrough time for solute transport. Although using both the advection-dispersion equation (ADE) and the mobile and immobile (MIM) models to fit the breakthrough curves (BTCs) for solute transport through layered porous media resulted in trivial errors, the ADE model failed to capture the influence induced by the local flow field, especially the influence of the transition zone. In contrast, the MIM model was shown to be able to capture the influence of the transition on solute transport. It was found that the mass transfer rate α, a parameter of the MIM model, was significantly improved by the presence of the transition zone, while it decreased as the transition zone fraction increased. Our study emphasized that the transition zone can vary the local flow field at the pore scale, while it has little influence on the hydraulic properties (e.g., hydraulic conductivity) of the macroscale flow field. However, the local flow field varied by the transition zone has a significant influence on solute transport.

Based on the proposed calculation method for determining the different dip angle fracture permeability coefficients derived from the well flow vibration equation and the self-developed slug test system, research on the slug test in a field in fractured rock mass was carried out based on the underground water sealed cavern project of the National Huangdao Petroleum Reserve. The formation lithology of the test site was granite gneiss, and the fractures were not developed, which is conducive to the research of slug tests on fracture permeability. On the basis of obtaining the geological information of boreholes by using the self-developed slug test system, comparative research on the segmented slug test and conventional water pressure test was carried out. The test results show that the proposed slug test method and self-developed test system has good accuracy and applicability for determining the fracture permeability coefficient, equivalent permeability coefficient and rock mass permeability coefficient tensor, which is more convenient and efficient than other test methods.

In large-scale water diversion projects, especially in the central and western regions of China, long-distance deep buried tunnels are generally involved. Therefore, it is essential to carry out field tests to obtain the permeability of the rock mass through which tunnels pass. However, the test holes of large-scale water diversion projects are basically located in mountain areas with complex hydrogeological conditions. Meanwhile, the test holes are far apart and large in depth. As a result, traditional pumping tests cannot meet the requirements. Therefore, the slug test was chosen as the main test method, and the calculation results of the water injection test, the water pressure test and the slug test are analyzed and compared. The calculation results of the three test methods are basically consistent. However, the water injection test and the water pressure test are difficult to implement at a large scale due to many environmental constraints, complex test equipment, long test periods and other factors. Furthermore, the Kipp model, the CBP model and the proposed HWS model, considering the effect of the finite thickness well-skin layer for the first time, were used to analyze and process the slug test data, respectively. The curve fitting effect of the Kipp model was the best, but the calculations were generally larger. The difference between the CBP model and the proposed HWS model is smaller in the calculation results; however, the curve fitting effect of the CBP model is the worst, and the CBP model needs to be further improved. The curve fitting effect of the proposed HWS model was between that of the Kipp model and the CBP model, and the proposed HWS model can be applied to the parameter calculations of the slug test with well-skin. In general, with reference to the criteria for the damping coefficient of the aquifer in the Kipp model, the Kipp model was applicable to the slug test for test holes without well-skin and an aquifer damping coefficient between 0.1 and 5.0. The CBP model was applicable to the slug test under the conditions of no well-skin and an aquifer damping coefficient greater than 2.0. The novel proposed HWS model was applicable to the slug test when the aquifer damping coefficient was greater than 1.0 under the conditions of no well-skin, positive well-skin and negative well-skin.