Abstract
A number of laboratory, field, and theoretical studies have demonstrated that water flow through unsaturated rock fractures may proceed along localized preferential paths. We summarize results and observations from recent laboratory experiments conducted on analog fractures, transparent epoxy replicas of natural fractures, and actual rock fractures. Localized preferential flow channels were observed in all these experiments, with the exception of the experiments designed to examine film flow on rough fracture surfaces. In a number of the experiments, the flow channels underwent cycles of snapping and reforming, or intermittent flow, even in the presence of constant boundary conditions. Different modes of intermittent flow can occur during unsaturated flow in fractures, which have important implications for solute transport.
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