Author(s)

V. Di Federico & G. Bizzarri

Abstract

Non-Newtonian fluid flow in fractured media is of interest to hydrologists, geophysicists, and mining engineers. Since laboratory and field investigations evidence a strong degree of variability in fracture aperture, a large body of literature is specifically concerned with evaluation of an equivalent aperture (or permeability), adopting different constitutive equations and aperture variability models. The equivalent aperture for non-Newtonian fluid flow is defined as the parallel plate aperture which would permit a given volumetric flux under an assigned pressure gradient, thereby generalizing the concept of hydraulic aperture used for Newtonian flow. In this paper, the Bingham model with yield stress τ0 has been adopted to describe the fluid rheology; the aperture is taken to vary

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