The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
A transport model has been used to describe the migration of nonsorbing tracers in a non-uniform flow field in a natural fracture. A variable aperture channel model with particle tracking was used to characterize the aperture width of the fracture and to simulate solute transport. This model was validated using results obtained from a radionuclide migration experiment performed in a natural fracture in a quarried block of granite over a distance of 1 m. The hydraulic conductivity of the fracture was determined from the pressure differential required to maintain a given flow rate between pairs of boreholes. The results were used with a variable aperture channel model to map the aperture distribution. Pressure distribution and flow vector distribution are calculated for these experimental conditions. Groundwater containing 3 H 2 O and 131 I was injected into the fracture as a band at a flow rate of 3ml h -1 . The movement of the plume through the fracture was monitored by Geiger-Muller probes inserted in the boreholes. The calculated results for the migration plume and elution profiles were compared with experimental results.