A new lumped-parameter model for flow in unsaturated dual-porosity media |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong;2. Center for Financial Engineering and Department of Mathematics, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, PR China;1. Chair of Thermal Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, 5 M. Skłodowskiej-Curie Sq., 60-965 Poznan, Poland;2. Institute of Aerospace Thermodynamics, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 31, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany;1. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus;2. Department of Mathematics, University of the Aegean, Karlovassi, 83200 Samos, Greece |
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| Abstract: | A new lumped-parameter approach to simulating unsaturated flow processes in dual-porosity media such as fractured rocks or aggregated soils is presented. Fluid flow between the fracture network and the matrix blocks is described by a non-linear equation that relates the imbibition rate of the local difference in liquid-phase pressure between the fractures and the matrix blocks. Unlike a Warren-Root-type equation, this equation is accurate in both the early and late time regimes. The fracture/matrix interflow equation has been incorporated into an existing unsaturated flow simulator, to serve as a source/sink term for fracture gridblocks. Flow processes are then simulated using only fracture gridblocks in the computational grid. This new lumped-parameter approach has been tested on two problems involving transient flow in fractured/porous media, and compared with simulations performed using explicit discretisation of the matrix blocks. The new procedure seems to accurately simulate flow processes in unsaturated fractured rocks, and typically requires an order of magnitude less computational time than do simulations using fully-discretised matrix blocks. |
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