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Flow and Chemical/Heat Transport in Fractured Rocks and Karst Formations

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydrology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 7768

Special Issue Editors

School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
Interests: seepage control of underground engineering; prevention and control and evaluation of groundwater environment; groundwater simulation modeling
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Guest Editor
Department of Environmental and Geosciences, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341
Interests: mass and heat transport in the fractured porous media; tracer elements and isotopes transport in deep-sea sediments

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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
Interests: solute/heat transport in fractured rocks; interactions between stream and groundwater; production of reactive oxygen species and its environmental effects

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Guest Editor
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, USA
Interests: groundwater hydrology; flow and transport in geological formations
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Understanding anomalous flow and chemical/heat transport behaviors through fractured rocks and karst formation are crucial for many environmental and hydrogeological contexts such as remediation of multi-phase liquids, geothermal reservoir exploitation and heat storage, geotechnical applications (including effects on underground reservoirs, tunnels, etc.), and carbon capture and storage. Yet, a certain ambiguity associated with fractured rocks and karst formations, and predictive capabilities relating to flow and chemical/heat transport processes remain limited. The objective of the Special Issue is to state recent advances in flow and transport in heterogeneous formations that include, but are not limited to, chemical/heat transport with the anomalous flow, validity and capacity of current models and theory under anomalous flow and transport in heterogeneous formations, and geological formation construction technique of fracture networks and karst formations. We invite authors to contribute original research and review articles on innovative numerical, laboratory, and field studies for flow and chemical/heat transport in fractured rocks and karst formations. Contributions on anomalous flow and reactive transport behaviors at different scales are of great value.

Dr. Zhou Chen
Dr. Renjie Zhou
Dr. Yonghui Zhu
Prof. Dr. Hongbin Zhan
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 3056 KiB  
Article
Spatial Variability of the Mechanical Parameters of High-Water-Content Soil Based on a Dual-Bridge CPT Test
by Haifeng Lu, Huiying Li and Xiangshuai Meng
Water 2022, 14(3), 343; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14030343 - 24 Jan 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2698
Abstract
Soft soil generally has a high water content, and the accurate quantification of its mechanical parameters is an important aspect of foundation design and disaster prevention. The mechanical parameters of soft soil have significant spatial variability or heterogeneity due to the complex deposition [...] Read more.
Soft soil generally has a high water content, and the accurate quantification of its mechanical parameters is an important aspect of foundation design and disaster prevention. The mechanical parameters of soft soil have significant spatial variability or heterogeneity due to the complex deposition process of soil, leading to the high uncertainty of the quantifications of its parameters. Therefore, understanding the spatial variability of the parameters is an important approach to reduce uncertainty. In this study, the high-resolution (0.1 m) tip resistance (qc) and side friction (fs) of 18 soft soils in coastal areas were measured using the Dual-bridge CPT in-situ test. The vertical and horizontal variabilities of qc and fs were investigated using the random field theory. The results showed that both qc and fs are stationary and ergodic. The coefficient of variation of vertical fs is much higher than that of qc. On the one hand, fs may be vulnerable to noise, and its test accuracy is lower than qc; on the other hand, it may be that the spatial variability of the residual strength of soft soil may be greater than that of its failure strength. The horizontal correlation distance and coefficient of variation of qc and fs have no obvious change trend along the depth direction, but compared with the coefficient of variation curve, it was found that the change trends of qc and fs are basically the same, which is considered to be related to the properties of the soil layer. The research results can provide support for the spatial variability evaluation and reliability analysis of soft-soil engineering in this area. At the same time, it can also provide a theoretical basis for the layout of exploration engineering and sampling spacing. Full article
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15 pages, 2634 KiB  
Article
A Thermal Effect Model for the Impact of Vertical Groundwater Migration on Temperature Distribution of Layered Rock Mass and Its Application
by Haifeng Lu, Yuan Zhang, Guifang Zhang and Manman Zhang
Water 2021, 13(9), 1285; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091285 - 1 May 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2021
Abstract
On the basis of the one-dimensional heat conduction–convection equation, a thermal effect model for vertical groundwater migration in the stratified rock mass was established, the equations for temperature distribution in layered strata were deduced, and the impacts of the vertical seepage velocity of [...] Read more.
On the basis of the one-dimensional heat conduction–convection equation, a thermal effect model for vertical groundwater migration in the stratified rock mass was established, the equations for temperature distribution in layered strata were deduced, and the impacts of the vertical seepage velocity of groundwater and the thermal conductivity of surrounding rocks on the temperature field distribution in layered strata were analyzed. The proposed model was employed to identify the thermal convection and conduction regions at two temperature-measuring boreholes in coal mines, and the vertical migration velocity of groundwater was obtained through reverse calculation. The results show that the vertical temperature distribution of the layered rock mass is subject to the migration of the geothermal water; the temperature curve of the layered formation is convex when the geothermal water travels upward, but concave when the water moves downward. The temperature distribution in the stratified rock mass is also subject to the thermal conductivity of the rock mass; greater thermal conductivity of the rock mass leads to a larger temperature difference among regions of the rock mass, while weaker thermal conductivity results in a smaller temperature difference. A greater velocity of the vertical migration of geothermal water within the surrounding rock leads to a larger curvature of the temperature curve. The model was applied to a study case, which showed that the model could appropriately describe the variation pattern of the ground temperature in the stratified rock mass, and a comparison between the modeling result and the measured ground temperature distribution revealed a high goodness of fit of the model with the actual situation. Full article
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13 pages, 14528 KiB  
Article
Effect of Shearing on Non-Darcian Fluid Flow Characteristics through Rough-Walled Fracture
by Biao Li, Weiya Xu, Long Yan, Jianrong Xu, Mingjie He and Wei-Chau Xie
Water 2020, 12(11), 3260; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12113260 - 20 Nov 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2210
Abstract
The heterogeneous fracture geometry induced by the presence of roughness and shearing complicates the fracture flow. This paper presents a numerical investigation of the non-Darcian flow characteristics of rough-walled fractures during shear processes. A series of fracture flow simulations were performed on four [...] Read more.
The heterogeneous fracture geometry induced by the presence of roughness and shearing complicates the fracture flow. This paper presents a numerical investigation of the non-Darcian flow characteristics of rough-walled fractures during shear processes. A series of fracture flow simulations were performed on four types of fractures with different joint roughness coefficients (JRCs), and the different shear displacements were imitated by degrees of mismatch on two fracture surfaces. The results show that the disorder of fracture geometries and the increase in flow rate are the main causes for the emergence of an eddy flow region, which can significantly reduce the fracture conductivity and change the fracture flow from linear to nonlinear. The Forchheimer equation provides a good model for the nonlinear relationship between the hydraulic gradient and the flow rate in the fracture flow. When the shear displacement or JRC increased, the linear permeability coefficient kv decreased, while the nonlinear coefficient β increased. A three-parameter equation of β was used to examine the inertial effect induced by the fracture roughness JRC and the variation coefficient of aperture distribution σs/em. The critical Reynolds number was a combined effect of aperture, viscous permeability, and inertial resistance, assuming the flow becomes non-Darcian when the inertial part is greater than 10%. Full article
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