Modeling unsaturated flow in fractured rocks with scaling relationships between hydraulic parameters

作     者：Yi-Feng Chen Yuke Ye Ran Hu Zhibing Yang Chuang-Bing Zhou Yi-Feng Chen;Yuke Ye;Ran Hu;Zhibing Yang;Chuang-Bing Zhou

作者机构：State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science Wuhan UniversityWuhan430072China Key Laboratory of Rock Mechanics in Hydraulic Structural Engineering of the Ministry of EducationWuhan430072China School of Civil Engineering and ArchitectureNanchang UniversityNanchang330031China 

出 版 物：《Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering》 (岩石力学与岩土工程学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2022年第14卷第6期

页      面：1697-1709页

核心收录：

学科分类：08[工学] 0815[工学-水利工程] 081503[工学-水工结构工程] 

基　　金：financial supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.51925906 and 51988101) the National Key R&D Program of China(Grant No.2018YFC0407001) 

主　　题：Unsaturated flow van genuchten model Hydraulic properties Fractured rocks Continuum approach 

摘      要：Modeling unsaturated flow in fractured rocks is essential in various subsurface engineering applications,but it remains a great challenge due to the difficulties in determining the unsaturated hydraulic properties of rocks that contain various scales of *** is generally accepted that the van Genuchten(VG)model can be applied to fractured rocks,provided that the hydraulic parameters could be representatively *** this study,scaling relationships between the VG parameters(a and n)and hydraulic conductivity(K)across 8 orders of magnitude,from 10^(-10)m/s to 10^(-2)m/s,were proposed by statistical analysis of data obtained from 1416 soil *** correlations were then generalized to predict the upper bounds of VG parameters for fractured rocks from the K data that could be obtained more easily under field conditions,and were validated against a limited set of data from cores,fractures and fractured rocks available in the *** upper bound estimates significantly narrow the ranges of VG parameters,and the representative values of a and n for fractured rocks at the field scale can then be determined with confidence by inverse modeling using groundwater observations in saturated *** proposed methodology was applied to saturated-unsaturated flow modeling in the right-bank slope at the Baihetan dam site with a continuum approach,showing that most of the flow behaviors in fractured rocks in this complex hydrogeological condition could be properly *** proposed method overcomes difficulties in suction measurement in fractured rocks with strong heterogeneity,and provides a feasible way for modeling of saturated-unsaturated flow in fractured rocks with acceptable engineering accuracy.