Improved Scheme for Modeling Mass Transfer between Fracture and Matrix Continua with Particle Tracking Method

The dual-continuum random-walk particle tracking approach is an attractive simulation method for simulating transport in a fractured porous medium. In order to be truly successful for such a model, however, the key issue is to properly simulate the mass transfer between the fracture and matrix continua. In a recent paper, Pan and Bodvarsson (2002) proposed an improved scheme for simulating fracture-matrix mass transfer, by introducing the concept of activity range into the calculation of fracture-matrix particle-transfer probability. By comparing with analytical solutions, they showed that their scheme successfully captured the transient diffusion depth into the matrix without any additional subgrid (matrix) cells. This technical note presents an expansion of their scheme to cases in which significant water flow through the fracture-matrix interface exists. The dual-continuum particle tracker with this new scheme was found to be as accurate as a numerical model using a more detailed grid. The improved scheme can be readily incorporated into the existing particle-tracking code, while still maintaining the advantage of needing no additional matrix cells to capture transient features of particle penetration into the matrix