Nonuniversal conductivity exponents in continuum percolating Gaussian fractures

Abstract

We study the electrical and hydraulic conductivity percolation exponents in a Gaussian fracture using the method proposed in Plouraboué et al. [Phys. Rev. E 73, 036305, 2006]. Nonuniversal conductivity percolation exponents are found: they differ from the theoretical predictions for infinite system size for frozen power-law distributions of local conductivities, as with their finite size corrections. In the hydraulic case, we also find that the probability density function of the conductivity follows a power-law distribution near the percolation threshold.