Dual-continuum models have been widely used in modeling flow and transport in fractured porous rocks. Among many other applications, dual-continuum approaches were utilized in predictive models of the thermal-hydrological conditions near emplacement tunnels (drifts) at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the proposed site for a radioactive waste repository in the U.S. In unsaturated formations such as thos...

Ackermann et al. (1975) described the subsurface structure of Meteor Crater and identified a fractured rock zone extending to about 1 km deep. The depth of the fractured/damage zone can be used to extract information about the impact cratering process. We impacted rock samples (San Marcos gabbro) in the laboratory and imaged the damage structure using both dicing and tomography methods. We prop...

We present an analytical approach for pressure transient test analysis in naturally fractured vuggy reservoirs. This analysis approach relies on a triple-continuum concept, using observed geological data from carbonate oil formations in western China, to describe transient flow behavior in fracture-vugmatrix reservoirs. In the conceptual mathematical model, fractured vuggy rock is considered as...

[1] Accurate and efficient simulation of contaminant transport in fractured rock is practically important, yet current approaches suffer from numerical constraints that limit the full inclusion of fracture network properties at the regional scale. We propose a multidimensional transport model, nonlocal in space and time, which describes complex transport behavior in fractured media at regional ...

To address regulatory issues regarding worker safety, radon gas concentrations have been monitored as part of the operation of a deep tunnel excavated from a highly fractured tuff formation. The objective of this study was to examine the potential use of the radon data to estimate large-scale formation properties of fractured rock. An iTOUGH2 model was developed to predict radon concentrations ...

based on volume-averaging concepts, liquid migration along subvertical fractures typically is predicted to be Field and laboratory tracer experiments were conducted to investisubject to strong matrix imbibition into the partially satugate the extent of tracer imbibition and penetration into unsaturated, fractured rock matrix at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Field experiments rated rock (e.g., Wang an...

An important issue for the performance of underground nuclear waste repositories is the rate of seepage into the waste emplacement drifts. A prediction of this rate is particularly complicated for the potential repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, because it is located in thick, unsaturated, fractured tuff formations. Underground openings in unsaturated media might act as capillary barrie...