Experimental and numerical aqueous flow through a partially saturated fracture

Partially-saturated aqueous flow through rough-walled fractures is studied by means of physical experiments and numerical simulations. Experiments are performed with epoxy replicas of the fractures. The rate of fluid advance through the fracture is measured and fluid patterns are visualized. Permeability and capillary pressure fields are generated from measured aperture distributions. Capillary pressure boundary conditions of varying strength are applied, and both transient and steady-state flow of water are simulated. The anisotropy ratio is calculated as a function of average liquid saturation. Resulting water content distributions, as well as flow fields, are compared with those obtained from physical experiments