On non-Darcian flow behavior in a rough-walled fracture filled with a porous medium

Abstract

Fluid flow through filled rock fractures is relevant to numerous engineering applications and geophysical processes. However, a proper understanding of the flow behaviors in filled fractures is still far from being completed. To investigate the fluid flow in a rough-walled fracture filled with a porous medium, we systematically compare the micro- and macroscopic flow behaviors within filled fractures and corresponding open fractures and porous media based on a series of pore-scale simulation results. We find that the filling medium has a dual role in altering the flow regime, as the filling particles can not only cut the flow domain into several pore channels and thus limit the generation of large-span eddies, but also force the fluid to flow around them and promote the generation of local eddies. Compared with porous media, the fluid flow within filled fractures is confined by fracture walls, which greatly alters the media permeability and the flow nonlinearity therein. By introducing the hydraulic radius and Darcy-Weisbach equation, we develop a new semi-empirical model to estimate the fluid flow through filled fractures using phenomenological coefficients of corresponding open fractures and porous media. The proposed model, satisfying dimensional consistency, shows high fidelity in predicting water flow through filled fractures. More importantly, this model can be successfully reduced to the typical form of the Forchheimer equation applied to open fractures and porous media. The results and findings are expected to be useful in predicting and evaluating the fluid flow in complex geological setting.