Assessment of effectiveness of geologic isolation systems. Analytic modeling of flow in a permeable fissured medium

An analytic model was developed for two dimensional steady flow through infinite fissured porous media, and is implemented in a computer program. The model is the first, and major, step toward the development of a model with finite boundaries, intended for use as a tool for numerical experiments. These experiments may serve to verify some of the simplifying assumptions made in continuum models and to gain insight in the mechanics of the flow. The model is formulated in terms of complex variables and the analytic functions presented are closed-form expressions obtained from singular Cauchy integrals. An exact solution is given for the case of a single crack in an infinite porous medium. The exact solution is compared with the result obtained by the use of an independent method, which assumes Darcian flow in the crack and models the crack as an inhomogeneity in the permeability, in order to verify the simplifying assumptions. The approximate model is compared with solutions obtained from the above independent method for some cases of intersecting cracks. The agreement is good, provided that a sufficient number of elements are used to model the cracks.