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Beauheim 1987 - Waste Isolation Pilot Plant - U.S. Department of ...

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Pseudosteady-state and transient interporosity flow represent two extremes; all intermediate behaviors are<br />

also possible. Gringarten (1984), however, states that the majority <strong>of</strong> tests he has seen exhibit pseudosteadystate<br />

interporosity flow behavior.<br />

In recent years, Gringarten (1 984,1986) has suggested that the terms "restricted" and "unrestricted" interporosity<br />

flow replace the terms i pseudosteady-state" and "transient" interporosity flow. He believes that all<br />

interporosity flow is transient in €he sense that it is governed by the diffusivity equation. But in the case where<br />

the fractures possess a positive skin (caused. for example, by secondary mineralization on the fracture<br />

surfaces) similar to a wellbore skin that restricts the flow from the matrix to the fractures, theobserved behavior<br />

is similar to that described by €he pseudosteady-state formulation (Moench, 1984; Cinco-Ley et al., 1985).<br />

"Transient" interporosity flow is observed when there are no such restrictions. Hence, the terms "restricted"<br />

and "unrestricted" more accurately describe conditions than do the terms "pseudosteady-state" and "transient."<br />

The recent terminology <strong>of</strong> Gringarten is followed in this report.<br />

Restricted Interporosity Flow<br />

Warren and Root (1963) defined two parameters to aid in characterizing double-porosity behavior. These are<br />

the storativity ratio, w, and the interporosity flow coefficient A. The storativity ratio is defined as:<br />

(A-13)<br />

where:<br />

4, = ratio <strong>of</strong> the pore volume in the system to the total-system volume<br />

V = the ratio <strong>of</strong> the total volume <strong>of</strong> one system to the bulk volume<br />

Ct = total compressibility <strong>of</strong> the system<br />

with subscripts:<br />

f = fracture system<br />

m = matrix.<br />

The interporosity flow coefficient is defined as:<br />

A = arW2 k,-<br />

k f<br />

(A-14)<br />

where a is a shape factor characteristic <strong>of</strong> the geometry <strong>of</strong> the system and other terms are as defined above.<br />

The shape factor, a, is defined as:<br />

4n (n+2)<br />

a= (A-15)<br />

E2<br />

151

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