Add Fracture Functionality

[inkenbrandt]

This is more of a suggested improvement rather than an issue. In their 2012 paper (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5a91/b7e3dc884928d1923bf6be28228bee42ae44.pdf) Marin, Wendland, and Strack show how fractures can be added to Analytic Element Models. If one of the elements, like inhomogeneity1d, already satisfies this request, please disregard this issue.

[mbakker7]

Thanks for the suggestion. Do I understand it correctly that the fractures are modeled with a constant width and uniform hydraulic conductivity? What would you suggest for vertical exchange between layers? Currently, the LineSinkDitch and LineSinkDitchString can do highly conductive fractures where the head is uniform in the fracture.

[inkenbrandt]

I believe your assumptions are correct in terms of width and conductivity. Unfortunately, the vertical exchange is not considered in the paper! Maybe @ispmarin can help?

This looks like the repo to start with: https://github.com/ispmarin/academic/tree/master/phd/pyaem

[ispmarin]

Hello @inkenbrandt, it's been a while. The paper does not address the vertical exchange, and as far as I know this fracture model is not capable of simulating it in its current form. Maybe you can find a way to integrate the vertical discharge on Strack's book (https://www.amazon.com/Analytical-Groundwater-Mechanics-Otto-Strack/dp/1107148839).

It would be great if you you could integrate this solution on the PyAEM code that Bakker provided above!