Abstract
Tracer experiments were performed in a fracture zone, extending several hundred metres, in crystalline rock in Sweden. This paper describes modellings of tracer experiments (radially converging and dipole test) and their numerical results. We have applied a variable aperture channeling model to both tracer tests and evaluated steady-state channel flows in the fracture zone. Solute transport in the channel flows was simulated by a particle-tracking technique considering matrix diffusion. Calculated breakthrough curves and pressures were compared with experimental ones. The calculated breakthrough curve obtained by an equivalen porous medium model was also compared with data from the dipole experiment. Our models seem to explain the experimental results well, but some important assumptions are necessary for calibration of the breakthrough curves. Further experimental data related to the assumptions and geostatistics would be needed for the full validation of the flow and transport model. Study shows that the mean apertures of fractures calibrated with the tracer tests increase with increasing flow rates.
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