Articles techniques et présentations

Knowledge of the effect of fractures on fluid flow and transport is of great interest in many fields. In radioactive waste disposal the interest in fractures within concrete structure is because they are mostly more permeable than the matrix, there is less or no sorption and because long-term chemical concrete degradation could progress faster.

Assessment of long-term transport processes is feasible only by means of numerial modelling. However to increase confidence in calculated results the model should be thoroughly verified and if possible validated before applied to the case at hand. The goal of this paper is to discuss several verification and validation cases addressing water flow and mass transport in fractured porous media using COMSOL Multiphysics.