Collaborative Research: Unraveling the Connections Between Flow Channelization and Dynamic Heterogeneity in Fractured Media: An Integrated Experimental and Modelling Approach

Many important Earth processes—including groundwater flow, geothermal energy production, carbon storage, and subsurface contaminant transport—depend on fluid flow through fractured rock. As fluids move through fractures, they react with surrounding minerals, changing fracture geometry and permeability. These changes alter subsurface flow paths, making it difficult to predict how fractured systems evolve over time. This project will advance fundamental understanding of the coupled physical and chemical processes that control reactive flow in fractured rock. The researchers will combine laboratory experiments with computational models to determine how fracture heterogeneity influences mineral dissolution and precipitation, permeability, and fluid flow. The project will also develop openly available educational modules and a short course on reactive transport in fractured systems. Graduate students will receive interdisciplinary training in experimental methods, computational modeling, and geoscience communication. Reactive transport in fractured rock remains a fundamental challenge because interactions among fluid flow, geochemical reactions, and evolving fracture geometry create complex behavior across multiple scales. The central hypothesis is that feedbacks among fracture heterogeneity, mineral reactions, and flow reconfiguration produce network-scale behavior that cannot be captured by existing models. Current approaches either oversimplify geochemical processes or represent fractured media too coarsely, and few have been rigorously tested against laboratory data. To address these limitations, the project integrates three complementary research aims. First, laboratory experiments will measure how fracture geometry influences dissolution, precipitation, and permeability evolution under representative subsurface conditions. Second, these experimental data will be used to calibrate and validate discrete fracture network models that explicitly represent evolving fracture geometry and coupled hydrologic and geochemical processes. Third, the validated models will be used to investigate how dynamic fracture evolution controls reactive transport at scales beyond those accessible in the laboratory. The resulting predictive framework will improve fundamental understanding of reactive transport in fractured rock and provide new knowledge for subsurface hydrology, geochemistry, and rock mechanics. This work will establish a stronger scientific basis for managing groundwater, geothermal systems, carbon storage, and other subsurface resources. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.