In hydrogeology, the application of reliable tracer transport model approaches is a key issue to derive the hydrodynamic properties of aquifers. Laboratory- and field-scale tracer dispersion breakthrough curves (BTC) in fractured media are notorious for exhibiting early time arrivals and late time tailing that are not captured by the classical advection-dispersion equation (ADE). These "non-Fickian" features are proven to be better explained by a mobile-immobile (MIM) approach. In this conceptualization the fractured rock system is schematized as a continuous medium in which the liquid phase is separated into flowing and stagnant regions.
The present study compares the performances and reliabilities of the classical MIM and the explicit network model (ENM), taking expressly into account the network geometry for describing tracer transport behavior in a fractured sample at bench scale. Though ENM shows better fitting results than MIM, the latter remains still valid as it proves to describe the observed curves quite well.
HydrISE, Institut Polytechnique LaSalle Beauvais, 19 rue Pierre Waguet, 60026 Beauvais cedex, France; Polytechnical University of Bari, Bari, Italy
Recommended Citation:
Cherubini C,, Giasi C,I,et al. On the reliability of analytical models to predict solute transport in a fracture network[J]. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences,2014-01-01,18(6)