T23B-2947
Reactive Transport in a Pipe in Soluble Rock: a Theoretical and Experimental Study
Tuesday, 15 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Wei Li1, Michael Opolot2, Rita Sousa2 and Herbert H. Einstein3, (1)Graduate Student, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA, United States, (2)Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Masdar, United Arab Emirates, (3)Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cambridge, MA, United States
Abstract:
Reactive transport processes within the dominant underground flow pathways such as fractures can lead to the widening or narrowing of rock fractures, potentially altering the flow and transport processes in the fractures. A flow-through experiment was designed to study the reactive transport process in a pipe in soluble rock to serve as a simplified representation of a fracture in soluble rock. Assumptions were made to formulate the problem as three coupled, one-dimensional partial differential equations: one for the flow, one for the transport and one for the radius change due to dissolution. Analytical and numerical solutions were developed to predict the effluent concentration and the change in pipe radius. The positive feedback of the radius increase is captured by the experiment and the numerical model. A comparison between the experiment and the simulation results demonstrates the validity of the analytical and numerical models.
