Experimental investigation of heat transport through single synthetic fractures

A laboratory physical model has been set up to analyze heat transport dynamics through single synthetic fractures. The Synfrac program together with a 3d printer have been used to build several fracture planes having different geometrical characteristics that have been moulded to generate concrete porous fractured blocks. The tests regard the observation of the thermal breakthrough curves obtained through a continuous flow injection in correspondence of eight thermocouples located uniformly on one of the fractured blocks. The physical model developed permits to reproduce and understand adequately some features of heat transport dynamics in fractured media.