We explore the contribution of fractures (joints) in controlling the rate of weathering advance for a low-porosity rock by using methods of homogenization to create averaged weathering equations. The rate of advance of the weathering front can be expressed as the same rate observed in non-fractured media (or in an individual block) divided by the volume fraction of nonfractured blocks in the fr...

We present a three-dimensional modeling study of gas flow in the unsaturated fractured rock of Yucca Mountain. Our objective was to estimate large-scale fracture permeability, using the changes in subsurface pneumatic pressure in response to barometric pressure changes at the land surface. We incorporate the field-measured pneumatic data into a multiphase flow model for describing the coupled p...

Nowadays, numerical modelings play a key role in analyzing hydraulic problems in fractured rock media. The discrete fracture network model is one of the most used numerical models to simulate the geometrical structure of a rock-mass. In such media, discontinuities are considered as discrete paths for fluid flow through the rock-mass while its matrix is assumed impermeable. There are two main pa...

This paper presents a large-scale modeling study characterizing fluid flow and tracer transport in the unsaturated zone of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, a potential repository site for storing high-level radioactive waste. The study has been conducted using a three-dimensional numerical model, which incorporates a wide variety of field data and takes into account the coupled processes of flow and tra...

The Los Alamos Hot Dry Rock Reservoir is an experimental geothermal project in north-central New Mexico. A fractured zone was created within otherwise impermeable igneous and metamorphic rock by injecting water into a borehole under high pressure, at about 3.5 km depth. During the injection process, the seismic waves created by the fracturing events were recorded by seismometers located in four...

rndetermination of rock mass deformation modulus is very important in different projects, especially in civil and mining engineering works. in-situ measurements such as dilatometer, plate load and flat jack methods may be applied to determine the deformation modulus. however, these methods are very expensive and time- consuming. analytical methods are very useful approaches which can also be us...

The stability analysis of rock slopes is a complex task for the geotechnical engineers due to the complex nature of the rock mass in a tropical climate that often has discontinuities in several forms, and consequently, in several types of slope failures. In this work, a rock mass classification scheme is followed in a tropical environment using the Rock Mass Rating (RMR) and Geological St...

Detailed numerical flow and radionuclide simulations are used to predict the flux of radionuclides from three underground nuclear tests located in the Climax granite stock on the Nevada Test Site. The numerical modeling approach consists of both a regional-scale and local-scale flow model. The regional-scale model incorporates conceptual model uncertainty through the inclusion of five models of...

Even with the significant progress made in modeling flow and transport in fractured rock in the last few decades, characterizing fractured reservoirs remains a great challenge. This is because of the inherent complexity within actual fractured reservoirs, from multiphase flow and transport to the spatial variability of the fracture network. To investigate coupled processes of fluid and heat flo...

A new temperature-profile method was recently developed for analyzing perturbed flow conditions in superheated porous media. The method uses high-resolution temperature data to estimate the magnitude of the heat-driven liquid and gas fluxes that form as a result of boiling, condensation, and recirculation of pore water. In this paper, we evaluate the applicability of this new method to the more...