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Unsaturated Flow through a Small Fracture–Matrix Network

Part 1. Experimental Observations

^a Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-2107
^b Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185

View larger version (29K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Schematic of set up for 12 block experiments. The fractures held open with shims in Test 4 are highlighted with bold lines.

View larger version (28K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Plot of discharge flux in milliliters per minute for Fractures V1, V2, and V3 for Tests 1 through 7.

View larger version (129K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. The photographic images above show the variation in wetting front patterns for tests conducted under nearly identical conditions. For all tests, the boundary conditions remained constant with 1 mL min–1 applied via needle to each of the three fractures and outflow carried from each fracture via a fiberglass wick.

View larger version (82K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Comparison of wetted structure development during four tests. The color bar represents the sequence of development in these composite images. Individual colors represent the sequence of development at 7 min 30 s, 22 min 49 s, 50 min 17 s, 1 h 47 min, 3 h 39 min, and 10 h 9 min.

View larger version (46K): [in a new window]   Fig. 5. Wetted structure development and a fluid cascade. The color images represent the development of the wetting pattern in Fracture V3 during Test 6. Individual colors represent the sequence of development at the indicated time. Water was retained at the fracture intersection of V3 and H2 between 413 and 1421 s (1008 s). At 1447 s a fluid cascade was observed that traveled 32 cm in 26 s. Graph shows the advance of the tip of the wetted area in Fracture V3 vs. elapsed time in seconds; the fluid cascade can be seen as a large step at 1421 s.

View larger version (18K): [in a new window]   Fig. 6. Percentage of wetted area vs. time. Each line traces the percentage wetting through time (wetted area divided by total area) for each test.