Tracer transport test in simple fractured media

Scientific visualization is an important method for understanding complex hydrologic processes. A series of experiments was conducted using two-dimensional fracture networks built of transparent plexiglass blocks as a new approach to process visualization. A digital monitoring method was used to visualize transport of a tracer in the fracture networks. The approach for visualizing tracer transport in fractured networks provided both quantitative and quantitative data. From the experiments conducted it was found that tracer spreading in fractured media was complex even in simple networks consisting of equally spaced finite fractures. The combined effects of fracture orientation and aperture variability resulted in the complex tracer spreading.