Natural micro-scale heterogeneity induced solute and nanoparticle retardation in fractured crystalline rock.

Abstract We studied tracer (Tritiated Water (HTO); Tritium replaces one of the stable hydrogen atoms in the H 2 O molecule) and nanoparticle (quantum dots (QD)) transport by means of column migration experiments and comparison to 3D CFD modeling. Concerning the modeling approach, a natural single fracture was scanned using micro computed tomography (μCT) serving as direct input for the model generation. The 3D simulation does not incorporate any chemical processes besides the molecular diffusion coefficient solely reflecting the impact of fracture heterogeneity on mass (solute and nanoparticles) transport. Complex fluid velocity distributions (flow channeling and flowpath heterogeneity) evo…