US-France Cooperative Research: Fluid and Particulate Transport in Self-affine Fractures

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0233255KoplikThis three-year award for U.S.-France collaboration involves Joel Koplik of City College, City University of New York and Jean-Pierre Hulin of the University Marie and Pierre Curie in Paris, France. The investigators propose to study several interrelated problems centered on the relationship between the fractal characteristics of the geometry of rough fractures and the transport properties of fluids within them. The key geometrical feature of this work is the self-affine nature of fracture surfaces and the resulting correlations in the velocity field when fluid flows through such a fracture. The U.S. investigator brings to this collaboration theoretical and numerical expertise. This will be complemented by the experimental studies on reconstructed fractures conducted by the French group. The joint program will entail laboratory experiments on transparent rough surfaces copied from natural rock samples with theoretical and computational studies in corresponding model fractally-rough geometries. In addition, field experiments in a granite quarry will be conducted in collaboration with the French Institute for Physics of the Earth. The project will advance understanding of the motions of fluids and particles in geological formations, with application to water supply, hydrocarbon production, and waste disposal. The work is motivated by environmental concerns about groundwater contamination and safe disposal of nuclear waste in fractured rocks. This award represents the U.S. side of a joint proposal to the NSF and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). NSF will cover travel funds and living expenses for the U.S. investigator, a postdoctoral researcher and/or graduate student. The CNRS will support the visits of the French researchers to the United States.