Characterization of Pore Water Flow in 3‐D Heterogeneous Permeability Fields
Abstract Subsurface heterogeneity could influence groundwater flow with implications on structure and productivity of aquifer ecosystems. Here we investigate effects of multifractal heterogeneity on topology of groundwater flow through MODFLOW simulations within a Monte Carlo framework. The results...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2020-02-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086879 |
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| author | Xiaolong Geng Michel C. Boufadel Kenneth Lee Chunjiang An |
| author_facet | Xiaolong Geng Michel C. Boufadel Kenneth Lee Chunjiang An |
| author_sort | Xiaolong Geng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Subsurface heterogeneity could influence groundwater flow with implications on structure and productivity of aquifer ecosystems. Here we investigate effects of multifractal heterogeneity on topology of groundwater flow through MODFLOW simulations within a Monte Carlo framework. The results show that heterogeneity leads to focused groundwater advection and the creation of hotspots of bending‐type vortex flow in the fields. We demonstrate for the first time that the vortex structures characterized by Q criterion are 3‐D distributed and greatly deform surrounding pore‐water flow. The structures exhibit scale‐invariant features in multifractal fields and in stationary fields below the correlation scale, indicating that such vortex flow might be widely present with no characteristic scale. Complex spatial patterns of kinetic energy dissipation rate are identified for pore water flowing through heterogeneous porous media and correlate strongly with preferential flows. These findings are important for understanding solute fate and transport in aquifer systems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2cb44a3e52ac411db5e780c4487f3aad |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-02-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-2cb44a3e52ac411db5e780c4487f3aad2025-08-20T03:10:10ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072020-02-01473n/an/a10.1029/2019GL086879Characterization of Pore Water Flow in 3‐D Heterogeneous Permeability FieldsXiaolong Geng0Michel C. Boufadel1Kenneth Lee2Chunjiang An3Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Center for Natural Resources New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights Newark NJ USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Center for Natural Resources New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights Newark NJ USADepartment of Fisheries and Oceans Bedford Institute of Oceanography Dartmouth Nova Scotia CanadaDepartment of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering Concordia University Montreal Quebec CanadaAbstract Subsurface heterogeneity could influence groundwater flow with implications on structure and productivity of aquifer ecosystems. Here we investigate effects of multifractal heterogeneity on topology of groundwater flow through MODFLOW simulations within a Monte Carlo framework. The results show that heterogeneity leads to focused groundwater advection and the creation of hotspots of bending‐type vortex flow in the fields. We demonstrate for the first time that the vortex structures characterized by Q criterion are 3‐D distributed and greatly deform surrounding pore‐water flow. The structures exhibit scale‐invariant features in multifractal fields and in stationary fields below the correlation scale, indicating that such vortex flow might be widely present with no characteristic scale. Complex spatial patterns of kinetic energy dissipation rate are identified for pore water flowing through heterogeneous porous media and correlate strongly with preferential flows. These findings are important for understanding solute fate and transport in aquifer systems.https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086879multifractalityheterogeneous aquifersgroundwater flowscale invarianceenergy dissipationQ criterion |
| spellingShingle | Xiaolong Geng Michel C. Boufadel Kenneth Lee Chunjiang An Characterization of Pore Water Flow in 3‐D Heterogeneous Permeability Fields Geophysical Research Letters multifractality heterogeneous aquifers groundwater flow scale invariance energy dissipation Q criterion |
| title | Characterization of Pore Water Flow in 3‐D Heterogeneous Permeability Fields |
| title_full | Characterization of Pore Water Flow in 3‐D Heterogeneous Permeability Fields |
| title_fullStr | Characterization of Pore Water Flow in 3‐D Heterogeneous Permeability Fields |
| title_full_unstemmed | Characterization of Pore Water Flow in 3‐D Heterogeneous Permeability Fields |
| title_short | Characterization of Pore Water Flow in 3‐D Heterogeneous Permeability Fields |
| title_sort | characterization of pore water flow in 3 d heterogeneous permeability fields |
| topic | multifractality heterogeneous aquifers groundwater flow scale invariance energy dissipation Q criterion |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086879 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xiaolonggeng characterizationofporewaterflowin3dheterogeneouspermeabilityfields AT michelcboufadel characterizationofporewaterflowin3dheterogeneouspermeabilityfields AT kennethlee characterizationofporewaterflowin3dheterogeneouspermeabilityfields AT chunjiangan characterizationofporewaterflowin3dheterogeneouspermeabilityfields |