Three-dimensional analysis of variably-saturated flow and solute transport in discretely-fractured porous media

A review of model applications for structured soils: a) Water flow and tracer transport

“…A bypass routing approach accounts for PF to tile drains that depends on weekly rainfall, irrigation, and an empirical bypass fraction parameter. FRAC3DVS is a 3D DFM (3D matrix, 2D parallel fractures) for variably saturated ('VS') flow and solute transport in fractured porous formations (Therrien and Sudicky, 1996). Vertical, horizontal and inclined 2D fractures are incorporated into the 3D grid by superimposing 2D parallel plate elements onto 3D matrix block elements.…”

“…While this is a problem relevant to catchment scale, the experimental analysis of δ 18 O values in shallow groundwater focussed on one multi-port well in fractured saprolite. The DPM FRAC3DVS (Therrien and Sudicky, 1996) was applied to analyze the data. Results suggested that the δ 18 O content was not constant over the course of a storm event, and that most of the matrix water was isolated from flow in fractures.…”

Tracer tests in fractured rocks with a new fluorescent dye—pyrene-1,3,6,8-tetra sulphonic acid (PTS) / Tests de traçage en roches fracturées avec un nouveau produit fluorescent—l'acide pyrène 1.3.6.8 tétra sulfonique (PTS)

“…Under an assumption of a single flow path, a quantitative interpretation of the breakthrough curves was performed using the FRAC3DVS numerical model developed by Therrien & Sudicky (1995), which considers the 3-D tracer transport in discretely-fractured, saturated-unsaturated media. It includes advection, longitudinal and transverse dispersion and the tracer diffusion into the rock matrix.…”

A Continuous–Discontinuous Approach to Simulate Heat Transfer in Fractured Media

“…This observation stimulated the development of so-called discrete fracture flow models, where the geometry of the fracture network is explicitly modeled Carmeliet et al 2004). The discrete model can be coupled to the continuum transport model by employing interface elements (Segura and Carol 2008), by introducing a mass source term along the length of a discrete fracture (Therrien and Sudicky 1996;Roels et al 2006) or by inserting a strong (de Borst et al 2004;Alfaiate et al 2010) or a weak (Réthoré et al 2007(Réthoré et al , 2008) discontinuity in the pressure field.…”