Implementation of Linear Pipe Channel Network to Estimate Hydraulic Parameters of Fractured Rock Masses

Abstract:

Modeling of fluid flow is important in geological, petroleum, environmental, civil and mining engineering. Fluid flow through fractured hard rock is very much dependent on the fracture network pattern in the rock mass and on the flow behavior through these fractures. This research deals with fluid flow behavior through fractures at an abandoned copper mine in southeast Korea. An injection well and three observation wells were installed at the mine site to monitor the hydraulic heads induced by injection of fresh water. A series of packer tests were performed to estimate the rock mass permeability and corresponding effective hydraulic aperture of the fractures. The three dimensional stochastic fracture network model was built and validated for the mine site. The two dimensional linear pipe network systems were constructed in directions of the observation wells using the fracture network model. A procedure of the fluid flow analysis on two dimensional discrete domain was applied to estimate the conductance, flow quantity and nodal head in the 2-D linear pipe channel network. The present results indicate that fracture geometry parameters (orientation, density and size) play an important role in the hydraulic characteristics of fractured rock masses.