Rock Fractures and Fluid Flow


Book Description

Scientific understanding of fluid flow in rock fractures--a process underlying contemporary earth science problems from the search for petroleum to the controversy over nuclear waste storage--has grown significantly in the past 20 years. This volume presents a comprehensive report on the state of the field, with an interdisciplinary viewpoint, case studies of fracture sites, illustrations, conclusions, and research recommendations. The book addresses these questions: How can fractures that are significant hydraulic conductors be identified, located, and characterized? How do flow and transport occur in fracture systems? How can changes in fracture systems be predicted and controlled? Among other topics, the committee provides a geomechanical understanding of fracture formation, reviews methods for detecting subsurface fractures, and looks at the use of hydraulic and tracer tests to investigate fluid flow. The volume examines the state of conceptual and mathematical modeling, and it provides a useful framework for understanding the complexity of fracture changes that occur during fluid pumping and other engineering practices. With a practical and multidisciplinary outlook, this volume will be welcomed by geologists, petroleum geologists, geoengineers, geophysicists, hydrologists, researchers, educators and students in these fields, and public officials involved in geological projects.







Convective Heat and Mass Transfer in Porous Media


Book Description

The rapid growth of literature on convective heat and mass transfer through porous media has brought both engineering and fundamental knowledge to a new state of completeness and depth. Additionally, several new questions of fundamental merit have arisen in several areas which bear direct relation to further advancement of basic knowledge and applications in this field. For example, the growth of fundamental heat transfer data and correlations for engineering use for saturated media has now reached the point where the relations for heat transfer coefficients and flow parameters are known well enough for design purposes. Multiple flow field regimes in natural convection have been identified in several important enclosure geometries. New questions have arisen on the nature of equations being used in theoretical studies, i. e. , the Validity of Darcy assumption is being brought into question; Wall effects in high and low velocity flow fields have been found to play a role in predicting transport coefficients; The formulation of transport problems in fractured media are being investigated as both an extension of those in a homogeneous medium and for application in engineering systems in geologic media and problems on saturated media are being addressed to determine their proper formulation and solution. The long standing problem of how to adequately formulate and solve problems of multi-phase heat and mass transfer in heterogeneous media is important in the technologies of chemical reactor engineering and enhanced oil recovery.










Theory, Modeling, and Field Investigation in Hydrogeology


Book Description

The refereed and edited proceedings of the symposium Schlomo P. Neuman: Recent Advances After 30 Years of Exceptional Contributions to Well Hydraulics, Numerical Modeling, and Field Investigations, which was held in Tucson, Arizona, in October 1998. Among the topics are four decades of inverse problems in hydrogeology, a connected-network paradigm for the alluvial aquifer system, the influence of multi-scale structure in non-ergodic solute transport in heterogeneous porous media, the Gaussian analysis of one-dimensional unsaturated flow in randomly heterogeneous soils, and the type-curve interpretation of transient single-hole pneumatic injection tests in unsaturated fractured tuffs at the Apache Leap Research Site. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR




Issues in Rock Mechanics


Book Description




Rock Mech 26 Us-Rsch & Eng Apl


Book Description




Characterization, Modeling, Monitoring, and Remediation of Fractured Rock


Book Description

Fractured rock is the host or foundation for innumerable engineered structures related to energy, water, waste, and transportation. Characterizing, modeling, and monitoring fractured rock sites is critical to the functioning of those infrastructure, as well as to optimizing resource recovery and contaminant management. Characterization, Modeling, Monitoring, and Remediation of Fractured Rock examines the state of practice and state of art in the characterization of fractured rock and the chemical and biological processes related to subsurface contaminant fate and transport. This report examines new developments, knowledge, and approaches to engineering at fractured rock sites since the publication of the 1996 National Research Council report Rock Fractures and Fluid Flow: Contemporary Understanding and Fluid Flow. Fundamental understanding of the physical nature of fractured rock has changed little since 1996, but many new characterization tools have been developed, and there is now greater appreciation for the importance of chemical and biological processes that can occur in the fractured rock environment. The findings of Characterization, Modeling, Monitoring, and Remediation of Fractured Rock can be applied to all types of engineered infrastructure, but especially to engineered repositories for buried or stored waste and to fractured rock sites that have been contaminated as a result of past disposal or other practices. The recommendations of this report are intended to help the practitioner, researcher, and decision maker take a more interdisciplinary approach to engineering in the fractured rock environment. This report describes how existing tools-some only recently developed-can be used to increase the accuracy and reliability of engineering design and management given the interacting forces of nature. With an interdisciplinary approach, it is possible to conceptualize and model the fractured rock environment with acceptable levels of uncertainty and reliability, and to design systems that maximize remediation and long-term performance. Better scientific understanding could inform regulations, policies, and implementation guidelines related to infrastructure development and operations. The recommendations for research and applications to enhance practice of this book make it a valuable resource for students and practitioners in this field.