A comparative study of dual-porosity model and discrete fracture network model

Abstract

The dual-porosity model and the discrete fracture network model are being used for the analysis of groundwater flow in a fractured aquifer. The dual-porosity model assumes that the porous medium consists of two continua at the macroscopic level, namely, fracture and matrix block. Saturated water flow in the matrix as well as in the fracture pore system is described by using two flow equations which are coupled by water transfer term. The discrete fracture network model assumes that only fracture forms paths for seeping water and that the conductivity in matrix block is neglected. The cubic law describing water flow through fractures, yields system of equations at each node. In this paper, it is attempted to investigate the applicability of the dual-porosity model and the discrete fracture network model and to establish a relationship between the dual-porosity approach and the discrete fracture network approach with a view to bridging the gap between two models.