Analysis of fluid flow and solute transport in a fracture intersecting a canister with variable aperture fractures and arbitrary intersection angles

A multitude of simulations have been made for different types of rough-walled fractures, by using FEM-LAB((R)), to evaluate the mass transfer to and from water flowing through a fracture with spatially variable apertures and with an arbitrary angle of intersection to a canister that contains spent nuclear fuel. This paper presents and discusses only the results obtained for the Gaussian fractures. The simulations suggest that the intersection angle has only a minor influence on both the volumetric and the equivalent flow rates. The standard deviation of the distribution of the volumetric flow rates of the many realizations increases with increasing roughness and spatial correlation length of the aperture field, and so does that of the equivalent flow rates. The mean of the distribution of the volumetric flow rates is determined, however, solely by the hydraulic aperture, while that of the equivalent flow rates is determined by the mechanical aperture. Based upon the analytical solutions for the parallel plate model, it has been found that the distributions of both the volumetric and the equivalent flow rates are close to the Normal. Thus, two simple expressions can be devised to quantify the stochastic properties of fluid flow and solute transport through spatially variable fractures without making detailed calculations in every fracture intersecting a deposition hole or a tunnel.