41 research outputs found
Experimental Study of Heat Transport in Fractured Network
AbstractFractured rocks play an important role in transport of natural resources through subsurface systems. In recent years, interest has grown in investigating heat transport by means of tracer tests, driven by the important current development of geothermal applications. Many field and laboratory tracer tests in fractured media show that fracture - matrix exchange is more significantfor heat than mass tracers, thus thermal breakthrough curves are strongly controlled by matrix thermal diffusivity. In this study, the behaviour of heat transport in a fractured network, at bench laboratory scale, has been investigated
Correlation between late potentials duration and QTc dispersion: Is there a causal relationship?
Experimental Investigations of Heat Transport Dynamics in a 1d Porous Medium Column
The present study involves the experimental investigation of heat transport due to the forced convective flow through a thermally isolated porous medium column. The experiments regard the observation of thermal breakthrough curves obtained through a hot flow injection in correspondence of two thermocouples positioned along a thermally isolated column of porous medium. The experiment has been carried out for three flow rates in order to investigate the critical issues regarding heat transport phenomena such as the relationship between the thermal dispersion with the flow velocity and the validity of the local thermal equilibrium assumption between the fluid and solid phase
Groundwater recharge dynamics in unsaturated fractured chalk: a case study
The heterogeneity of the unsaturated zone controls its hydraulic response to rainfall and the extent to which
pollutants are delayed or attenuated before reaching groundwater. It plays therefore a very important role in
the recharge of aquifers and the transfer of pollutants because of the presence of temporary storage zones and
preferential flows. A better knowledge of the physical processes in the unsaturated zone would allow an improved
assessment of the natural recharge in a heterogeneous aquifer and of its vulnerability to surface-applied pollution.
The case study regards the role of the thick unsaturated zone of the Cretaceous chalk aquifer in Picardy (North of
France) that controls the hydraulic response to rainfall. In the North Paris Basin, much of the recharge must pass
through a regional chalk bed that is composed of a porous matrix with embedded fractures.
Different types of conceptual models have been formulated to explain infiltration and recharge processes in the
unsaturated fractured rock.
The present study analyses the episodic recharge in fractured Chalk aquifer using the kinematic diffusion theory
to predict water table fluctuation in response to rainfall.
From an analysis of the data, there is the evidence of 1) a seasonal behavior characterized by a constant increase
in the water level during the winter/spring period and a recession period, 2) a series of episodic behaviors during
the summer/autumn.
Kinematic diffusion models are useful for predict preferential fluxes and dynamic conditions. The presented
approach conceptualizes the unsaturated flow as a combination of 1) diffusive flow refers to the idealized
portion of the pore space of the medium within the flow rate is driven essentially by local gradient of potential;
2) preferential flow by which water moves across macroscopic distances through conduits of macropore length
[The therapeutic prospects of ischemic cardiopathy].
Having thoroughly reviewed the risk factors and pathophysiologic features of ischemic heart disease, the authors describe therapeutic protocols at present in use and take stock of the perspectives opened by new drugs with different kinetic and dynamic and more advanced properties compared to those at present in use
Laboratory experimental investigation of heat transport in fractured media
Low enthalpy geothermal energy is a renewable resource that is still
underexploited nowadays in relation to its potential for development in
society worldwide. Most of its applications have already been investigated,
such as heating and cooling of private and public buildings, road defrosting,
cooling of industrial processes, food drying systems or desalination.
Geothermal power development is a long, risky and expensive process. It
basically consists of successive development stages aimed at locating the
resources (exploration), confirming the power generating capacity of the
reservoir (confirmation) and building the power plant and associated
structures (site development). Different factors intervene in influencing the
length, difficulty and materials required for these phases, thereby affecting
their cost.
One of the major limitations related to the installation of low enthalpy
geothermal power plants regards the initial development steps that are risky
and the upfront capital costs that are huge.
Most of the total cost of geothermal power is related to the reimbursement of
invested capital and associated returns.
In order to increase the optimal efficiency of installations which use
groundwater as a geothermal resource, flow and heat transport dynamics in
aquifers need to be well characterized. Especially in fractured rock aquifers
these processes represent critical elements that are not well known.
Therefore there is a tendency to oversize geothermal plants.
In the literature there are very few studies on heat transport, especially on
fractured media.
This study is aimed at deepening the understanding of this topic through heat
transport experiments in fractured networks and their interpretation.
Heat transfer tests have been carried out on the experimental apparatus
previously employed to perform flow and tracer transport experiments, which
has been modified in order to analyze heat transport dynamics in a network of
fractures. In order to model the obtained thermal breakthrough curves, the
Explicit Network Model (ENM) has been used, which is based on an adaptation
of Tang's solution for the transport of the solutes in a semi-infinite single
fracture embedded in a porous matrix.
Parameter estimation, time moment analysis, tailing character and other
dimensionless parameters have permitted a better understanding of the
dynamics of heat transport and the efficiency of heat exchange between the
fractures and the matrix. The results have been compared with the previous
experimental studies on solute transport
Experimental investigation of heat transport through single synthetic fractures
A laboratory physical model has been set up to analyze heat transport dynamics through single synthetic fractures. The Synfrac program together with a 3d printer have been used to build several fracture planes having different geometrical characteristics that have been moulded to generate concrete porous fractured blocks. The tests regard the observation of the thermal breakthrough curves obtained through a continuous flow injection in correspondence of eight thermocouples located uniformly on one of the fractured blocks. The physical model developed permits to reproduce and understand adequately some features of heat transport dynamics in fractured media