This talk will be devoted to the the simulation study of wormhole formation in fractured media. We employed the 3D numerical model developed earlier (Starchenko et al., 2016) where the explicit interface between solid and fluid allows precise control of surface evolution due to the reactive dissolution. Since the majority of the subsurface solute transport occurs in fractures, understanding how to model fracture dissolution in rocks accurately will allow predicting the changes in fracture topology, channel formation, and can help to explain the early stages of cave formation and estimate the stability of underground storages and dams. We have found two characteristic shapes of the wormholes beside the regimes when the reactive instability driving the wormhole formation is suppressed by the extreme conditions of dissolution rate or flow in fractures. The distribution of fluid velocities inside the fracture defines which pattern will be preferable during dissolution. Also, presenting the data in a form of inverse effective Damköhler (1/Daeff) and Péclet (Pe) numbers reveals that at low Pe numbers 1/Daeff is a universal parameter to define the transition between different regimes. However, at high Pe numbers the universality does not hold. The comparison with laboratory scale experimental results (Detwiler et al., 2003; Elkhoury et al., 2013; Garcia-Rios et al., 2015; Osselin et al., 2016) will be discussed as well.

Wormhole formation in fractured media: control via reaction rate and flow regime

2019 Spring National Meeting

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