This report presents the development of a new analytic model for simulating groundwater flow in fractured crystalline rock. The work addresses a major challenge in hydrogeology and rock engineering, namely that most groundwater flow in hard rock occurs through fractures rather than in the surrounding rock matrix, making the flow highly heterogeneous and difficult to model accurately.
The report also contains some practical applications, particularly tunnel inflow analysis and hydraulic upscaling. In the tunnel case, the model is used to simulate inflow to a tunnel; across 50 realizations, the results show that tunnel inflow is spatially variable and strongly dependent on fracture connectivity, not only on fracture transmissivity.
The study is funded by BeFo, KTH, and WSP, and the engagement of the reference group consisting of Tomas Bym, Robert Earon, Åsa Fransson, Caroline Karlsson, Jessica Lindmark, Jan-Olof Selroos, Martin Stigsson, Björn Stille, Maryam Zamzami and Patrik Vidstrand is acknowledged.
