Fractures are widespread in the subsurface of almost all Europe, and their complex morphology influences substantially the migration of liquid pollutants 
toward underground aquifers. The design and application of remedial technologies to fractured aquifers, contaminated by non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPL), 
is one of the most intractable problems. Reliable numerical simulators of the NAPL transport in fractured porous media are required for the implementation 
of rational and cost-effective risk assessment procedures to contaminated fractured sites. In spite of the progress that has been accomplished on the development 
of algorithms for the numerical solution of the macroscopic models of contaminant transport in fractured reservoirs, there is a lack of fundamental knowledge 
concerning the patterns of NAPL transport within single fractures and fracture networks as well as the interactive effects of the structural characteristics 
of fractures and fluid rheology on the mesoscopic transport coefficients (e.g. permeability) of fractured porous media.       
      
The overall objective of the present study is to perform a systematic experimental and theoretical analysis of the one-phase flow, immiscible two-phase 
flow and hydrodynamic solute dispersion in artificial and real fractured porous media to study the relations of the morphology of single fractures, fracture 
networks and fractures embedded into porous matrices as well as of the non-Newtonian fluid rheology with the flow pathways of organic liquid pollutants toward 
underground aquifers. All gained information will be quantified by deriving new and reliable phenomenological models about the fluid transport in fractured 
media. The new mesoscopic models will be integrated into an existing industrial macroscopic simulator of the multiphase contaminant transport in fractured 
porous media. The use of the new simulator as a numerical tool for the mapping of the contaminant transport in two generic NAPL-contaminated fractured sites 
will contribute to the development of a new generalized procedure of risk assessment and design of remediation strategies for fractured contaminated underground 
reservoirs. 
            

Accurate geostatistical properties and reliable effective transport coefficients of fractured soils and rocks are determined at multiple scales ranging 
from single fractures to fracture networks, by combining properly data from field-work and photo-geological analysis with lab-scale experiments and computational 
methods. This information is integrated into an updated numerical    
   
simulator of the organic pollutant transport in fractured media (SIMUSCOPP). The simulator is used as a tool for the cost-effective calculation of the spatial 
and temporal distribution of the saturation of the bulk non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) in the unsaturated / saturated zones, and concentration of NAPL compounds 
in groundwater. Long-term numerical predictions of the chemical status of groundwater under various scenarios of pollution, that simulate the site contamination 
history, are coupled with additional information (e.g. exposure pathways, potential receptors, toxicity of substances, etc) for the risk assessment of 
fractured sites contaminated by organic pollutants. Two very different highly heterogeneous fractured sites which have been contaminated by the waste oils 
of industrial facilities are investigated to assess the risks threatened for the human health and ecosystem: (i) one site overlying granite rock and situated 
in North Spain; (ii) one site overlying clay till sediment and situated in an urban area of Denmark. The results of the project are helpful in formulating protocols 
for the risk assessment of fractured contaminated sites, and setting the boundaries of the protection zones of aquifers underlying fractured areas.